Our Crazy First Adventure
I was 19 and falling in love. I wanted to impress this beautiful girl named Kelly, who had captivated me with her smile and her desire for adventure. I decided to show her the world, or at least a part of it. I booked an all-inclusive trip to Ixtapa, Mexico, and we were ready to take our first adventure together.
The Night Before the Trip
For some reason, our flight departed at 1:00 am. Kelly was working that night while I was out to dinner with some friends. We ran into one of our old high-school classmates who was working as a waitress at the restaurant. When we were ready to go she seemed to be busy with other tables and we couldn’t find her anywhere. One of my friends suggested that we just leave without paying. It sounded like a harmless prank, so we agreed.
Running out on a check in a restaurant that you have been going to since you were five, with a classmate as your waitress, that is next door to the police station, turns out not to be the perfect crime.
When we pulled into our driveway the police we waiting for us.
Kelly gets off work and hears this story right as our ride to the airport shows up. A stretch limo. So she hops in the limo, comes blasting into the police station, pulls out the bundle of cash we have for our trip, bails me out, and we head off to Mexico.
Lessons in All-Inclusive Travel
The first time you book an all-inclusive trip, the chance that you screw it up is pretty high. I did not book a great hotel. It was clean, it was on the beach, and all the booze was included so we did have a great time. We had one of the most amazing meals of our life in a restaurant next door and still laugh about our $300,000 bill (that was in pesos). I just checked and the place is still open 30-some years later (Bogart’s in the Krystal Hotel).
The Road Trip to Acapulco
Of course, the adventures were not over then. I looked on a map and saw that we were “only” 150 miles from Acapulco. So we rented a Jeep and figured it would be a 2-2.5 hour drive each way. An easy day trip.
The roads in Mexico are a bit different than the interstates in the US. We drove through some beautiful coastal areas and went through many small towns. Road signs are rare but the one we learned how to read quickly was “Topes”. We come into the first town at highway speeds and hit the speed bumps, we never forgot that Spanish word. Small children and Donkeys would regularly wander onto the road on any blind corner. It was an exciting drive. Then we came to the first checkpoint.
In the middle of nowhere Mexico, we come up to a group of 17-year-olds holding machine guns. Luckily Kelly spoke some Spanish and after sharing a few of the cervezas out of the cooler we were safely back on our way. Four hours later we made it!
We had a great day exploring Acapulco but managed to get lost trying to get back to the highway home. Right as the sun was setting. People drive very differently in Mexico than we were used to. You might come across a truck piled high with cargo and people, slowly climbing a hill, or one might pass you doing 90 MPH. This still applies at night. The roads were dark and dangerous, and our Jeep had a problem with its headlights. They only worked when we turned on the high beams, which blinded other drivers and made them constantly flash their high beams back at us angrily.
Lessons Learned
Writing this, I am realizing how transformative this trip was for us. Managing the many stupid decisions I made gave me the confidence to continue to seek out new ways to see the world. These first adventures were thrilling and while we try to make better decisions, we don’t shy away from making the wrong one.
We learned some valuable lessons from our trip, such as:
- Don’t run out on a check at a restaurant, especially if you know the waitress and the police station is next door.
- Don’t believe everything you see when booking a resort
- Don’t drive in other countries without a sense of adventure.
- Don’t underestimate the distance or the time it takes to get from one place to another when traveling.
- Don’t forget to have fun and enjoy the adventure, even if things go wrong.
What about you? Have you ever had a crazy adventure with your partner? Let us know in the comments below!
