Adventure VS Vacation

As many of you know by following me on social media and knowing me in real life, I’m not much of a risk taker (other than in business). With that said, this last weekend I decided to take off on an adventure to Mexico BY CAR. I was excited and nervous at the same time. So many thoughts were going through my head, like “am I going to get killed?”, “the pics of Baron in a sombrero are going to be killer”, “omg what if my passport is stolen?!” and about a million more. Initially it wasn’t a trip to Mexico, it was just an adventure, but we ended up in Rocky Point, Mexico, about 4 hours south of Phoenix, and it wasn’t that bad!

Risk taking in life is something I left in my early thirties. I’ve chosen to play it pretty safe since then, but this year has led me to many new adventures and I’m not mad at it. The ups and downs of 2021, left from the damage of 2020, has kept me on a roller coaster of emotions, both good and bad. I got rid of my house and all the BS that came with it, moved on from bad relationships with fake friends, got a new PR team, and have added to my social team, started my “build your brand” program, and every day is a new adventure for me.

So, back to the trip. Two stressed out people on the road with my little Baron. Here’s how it began.

I woke up and we were very late leaving. At this point my friend and I really didn’t know where we were going, so why bother with time? Lol. I was chatting with Michelle who came to my house to grab lights for my social media gals (Jules and Danielle), and we were laughing so hard that we lost track of time.

So, we decided to start our adventure and just started driving… We threw out Mexico and laughed. We joked about going there and never coming back, lol. The laughs were plentiful. About four hours later we found ourselves in Wickenburg AZ. This was a cute little town with tons of antiques and places to shop. We stopped there to eat and decided to keep going and head south of the border. Here we goooooo anxiety! I also knew from the successes I’ve had that pushing myself to take risks has always reaped nothing but rewards for me, so we went for it.

***NOTE: If you do this drive from Las Vegas or northern Arizona, don’t speed in Wickenburg at all! They’re apparently known for pulling people over.

We gassed up and took off, we were already about halfway there! The roads to the border were empty and long, not to mention they had terrible cell service. AT&T needs to step up their game, thank god my friend had Verizon (I heard the phrase, “my phone works fine about 6000 times” mad face). As we approached the border, we saw signs for border insurance. WTF?! I had a complete anxiety attack. OMG my cars gonna get stolen… I’m not gonna make it back… I am going to end up like Heidi and Spencer downtrodden in Mexico! So, we pulled over and bought $49 insurance on my car, lol, and as I read the policy my anxiety got worse. “Complete theft!” I screamed, “we have to turn around! But my friend said, “No, we’re on an adventure!” Oh lord. Here we go, across the border.

We approached the border and were immediately stopped. I was in shock. The agents at the border are no joke and looked very scary. I think I need to mention that the last time I crossed the border was probably when I was a child with my sitter who had to take me to Tijuana on the weekends when no one was around to take care of me, sooooo it’s been a minute by car. I also need to mention that it’s very strict with masks at the border, so don’t mess around with that. They searched our car and looked around, but it wasn’t that bad. I mean, I’ve roamed the streets of Dar Es Sallam, and I was having a panic attack about the border? “Come on Heather!” I thought.

We finally made it to our destination, and let me tell you, while the drive was a tad scary, once we arrived at the place we booked online it wasn’t that bad! We stayed at Manny’s Beach Club and our room was super nice and re-done. Seriously was not bad at all. We checked out the bar and went to bed after a full day of driving. The next few days were filled with fun and lots of pictures of Baron.

A few of my personal notes about staying at Manny’s:
– It’s super safe and gated.
– The food is so-so, but decent.
– The rooms are very nice.
– The staff is incredibly sweet.
– The beach is very clean, and the low tide was perfect for Baron. He loved walking in the puddles!
– It’s relaxing.
– The weather was great, and the beach was mainly shells and not super sandy (which we all know I hate).

Honestly this trip was an adventure, not a vacation. As the title says there IS a difference. The definition of adventure is, “an unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity.” That definitely implies risk, and as we know this was a risky adventure for me. I encourage all of you to take more risks and adventures in life. It’s so worth it! However, if you want to head down to Mexico for a proper vacation, the only choice is Las Ventanas! We all know where to adventure at now!

XOXO,
HM