How much did we spend in 2024?

We'll start off with our monthly breakdown of the month of December, then I'll give you a recap of our totals for the entire year. We knew December was going to be an expensive end to the year due to our vacation with our daughter and grandkids in Playa del Carmen. There weren't any surprises and we came in pretty much right on budget! That doesn't happen very often!

We spent a total of $5,475 CAD ($3,800 USD), which was our second most expensive month of the year.

What's in the plans for 2025...?

Obviously, we are starting 2025 in Valle de Bravo, Mexico.

But on January 2nd, we are heading west towards the Pacific Coast. It will probably take us the full month of January to get there, because we have a stopover planned at Valle de Juarez... one of our other favorite places in Mexico!

Market day!

We love going to the once a week Sunday tianguis market here in Valle de Bravo!

So around 11:00am, we said goodbye to friends Paco and Oti. They were getting ready to head back to Toluca and would be gone by the time we got back from the market. We are hoping to see them again late January around Mazamitla or maybe even Guadalajara.

I had to sneak a photo through the bushes!

One of the kitchen items that Ruth had purchased before we set out with Igor was a small 2 Quart Electric Crock Pot. She's used it a few times already, but yesterday she did a small pork loin. So it was on cooking all day. With clear skies and sunshine, the rooftop solar panels combined with the new portable one put out enough power to keep our batteries nicely charged up, even with the crock pot cooking away.

Fantastic views above Valle de Bravo!

I was going to tell you about our plans for 2025, but since we did a little excursion yesterday, the 2025 blog post can wait until we have a quiet day.

We've definitely been feeling like we're lacking in the exercise department so yesterday we went and did some hiking! 

2024 Year in Review

We started the year 2024 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and we ended the year in Valle de Bravo, Mexico.

And in total, we were in 15 different countries during the year. Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Maldives, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Turkiye, France, England, Albania, Italy, Portugal, Canada, and Mexico. Several of these were new countries, and we have increased our total countries visited count to 72.

Well that was a bit of a marathon travel day!

We got up at 3:30am Wednesday morning. Then we had to do a one hour drive from Playa del Carmen to the Cancun airport in order to get there early enough for Lindsey and the kids to get their 8:00am flight to Montreal.

We said our goodbyes, then headed to a nearby beach parking lot where we had a snooze for a couple of hours in the car!

What Every Traveler Should Know About Health Risks

Traveling offers freedom, adventure, and discovery. However, even the most seasoned travelers can face unexpected challenges that disrupt their plans. Whether it's a minor health issue like a cold or a more serious complication, staying informed about potential health risks is essential.

According to a UN Tourism report, over 1.3 billion international travelers crossed borders in 2023, making travel preparedness more important than ever.

One last day at the beach!

We relaxed for much of the morning, then headed to the touristy southern end of Playa del Carmen. There's an upscale area called Playacar where there are some small Mayan ruins that are actually part of the residential complex there, and we remembered from our last visit to this area that there were a lot of iguanas hanging out on the rocks in the sun.

Akumal, Mexico

Ruth found out that there is a Sunday tianguis (traditional market) here in Playa del Carmen. I was skeptical, since it's such a touristy area, but when we arrived I was pleasantly surprised. It was much like the tianguis that we have been to in non touristy areas, and there were very few other gringos.

Busy day with lots of photos!

A highlight for many visitors to the Playa del Carmen area is the fabulous Xcaret theme park. 

Xcaret is part water park, part zoo, part cultural exhibition. There is a lot do see there, in fact you can't see it all in one day. And it's all very well done.

It's also VERY expensive!

Beach photos

 Just a few beach photos today!

Coba ruins and cenote swimming

We were up early, and on the road by 9:00am. We had an hour and forty minute drive to the Coba ruins, and there was heavy traffic getting out of Playa del Carmen. In fact, it was heavy all the way to Tulum.

It's unbelievable how much this area has developed since the first time we were here in 2003. In fact, even since we were here in 2018 it seems a lot busier. Especially the Tulum area.

Off to the beach!

The kids were looking forward to going to the beach, so we set off just after 10:00am to drive down to the central tourist area of Playa del Carmen.

The entire central area is pay parking on the street, and you have to pay at a machine and then leave the slip of paper on your dash that displays the time that your parking expires.

I saw a guy standing there with a sign with my name on it!

Up at 4:15am Tuesday morning along with Paco and Oti who were so nice to take us to the airport at that ungodly hour. 

No traffic at that hour of course, it took only twenty minutes or so to get to the airport from their house. It was only a local flight so no need to get there too early. We already had our boarding passes, and we didn't have any bags to check. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 6:10am.