I used to be your typical vacationer. Take my 7 day all inclusive trip to a beautiful destination and be waited on hand and foot, lay on the beach, and go on day excursions. Slowly I started to realize the most memorable part of my vacation would be my excursion. I was fascinated by the culture outside the walls of the resort. It got to the point where I would be irritated while in the resort and would just drink out of boredom; waiting for my next chance to escape.
The change came after taking my husband on his first trip to Mexico. I figured play it safe and take him to an all inclusive resort where he could do the typical vacationer activities. Break him in slow, was my thinking. Boy was I wrong. Within a day my husband wanted to leave the resort. First we started on a long walk, where we met expats and locals who were more than happy to pass on their expertise of where to go and what to do. Than we ended up on an excursion which showcased the beauty of the area. That was it, my husband was busting out and I couldn't have been happier.
We first rented a side by side and drove around the city like lunatics for a day. Than we rented a car and drove out of the city where we experienced real driving in Mexico and saw some amazing beaches and he was dumb struck by the difference between city and small town Mexico. Than we went on another excursion which by now was not enough freedom for my husband and we convinced our tour operator to drop us off in the middle of the city and we ended up at an aquarium in the city and had a ton of fun.
The trip was a success. My husband wanted nothing to do with the vacationer ways and he wanted to experience the countries we visited. From than on we only rented cars and used AirBnB wherever we went.
In 2018 we left Canada to road trip around the states for the winter on our motorcycles. We ended up in Cabo San Lucas (yes from Alberta Canada to Cabo San Lucas Baja California Sur on our Harley Davidsons). That's a story for another time. But the result of that trip was an addiction to the Mexican lifestyle. That laid back small beach town vibe. In 2019 we decided to buy our first motorhome and spent the winter in the States. It was great, it was amazing, but I had other plans for further south.
Than Covid hit.
We spent our time in Canada as the government dictated but I went crazy. To go from constant travel to being trapped in the same 4 walls over a freezing cold winter was not good for my sanity. I started to plot. We traded in our motor home for our 5th wheel (you can read that amusing story in "Third times the Charm") and started making plans for permanent travel. We sold our home with the assumption that restrictions would lift but we all know that story.
We moved into our RV full time and had no where to go. My sanity was depleting from already low levels to a dangerous dip. In order to boost my spirits I went back to plotting; this time researching Mexico RV travel and was pleasantly surprised by what I found (this is covered in "Run for the Border(s).
As my husband as going as bat shit crazy as me it was not hard to convince him to drive to Mexico. It actually gave us something to look forward too; the adventure our souls needed. As we had already experienced Mexico on motorcycle and by car, my husband had an unnerving confidence about how the travel with the 5th wheel would go. I planned and plotted; schemed and devised; prayed and wished for luck and we made it. It was intense, scary, amazing and exciting; and the reward was life changing. And I recommend everyone do it.
I hope that reading stories like mine, encourages more people to step out of their comfort zones and truly experience the country they are visiting. To be honest, I don't know to many people in my age group that have jumped into the nomadic lifestyle but what I do notice is a lot more of the younger generation embracing this lifestyle due to the amount of information that is now available on the internet and the freedom it allows. With remote work becoming more and more popular people have more opportunity to travel extensively; so why not try? Because like with everything in life you don't know until you know. Our crazy travel experiences have had a natural progression from playing it safe to going with the flow. But the most important part of any experience is that you learn and grow along the way and most importantly; enjoy the ride.