April 25, 2024 • 29 mins
This week on the podcast, we’re doing a bit of a life update, sharing about our recent trips to Hawaii and Cabo, as well as giving you some big personal news and show updates. We kick off the episode by talking about our first trip of 2024, which was a family trip to Maui, Hawaii. We talk about what it was like to visit Mauii post-pandemic and after the Lahaina fires, as well as share a little bit about what we did while we were there. We also talk about our trip to Cabo San Lucas, comparing it with other Mexican beach destinations and discussing travel logistics, accommodations, and activities. The episode concludes with some big personal news of expecting a second baby very soon, preparations for welcoming a second baby to the family, and discussing a temporary pause on the podcast to focus on family life. Enjoy!
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Episode Transcript
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(00:02):
Hello and welcome to the World Wanderspodcast, a proud part of the Wanderbarn
podcast network. I'm Ryan, I'mAmanda, and we're your hosts. We're
a traveling couple and digital nomad's takingyou on our adventures as we explore locations,
destinations, and careers. Enjoy theshow. Hello and welcome to the
(00:24):
World Wanders podcast. Thanks again forjoining us. Today. We're going to
be talking about a couple of recenttrips as well as some life updates and
show updates for the upcoming few months. So with that in mind, let's
jump into it. Yeah, wheredo you want to start? So?
Yeah, when was the last timewe had kind of an update podcast?
(00:49):
I think the last kind of lifeupdate podcast would have been our year in
Review, but I mean that wasmore like a year in review than a
life update, but we kind ofdidn't really tell people what we were doing
in twenty twenty four. Yeah,so blessed bit. We've had interviews them
before that. We talked about Argentina. Argentina was our last trip in twenty
(01:12):
twenty three, and then at thestart of this year, we took a
family trip to Hawaii. Yeah,so fun fact your parents like to go
to Maui every January, and thisyear they invited us to come along and
see them because it'd been a numberof months since they had seen lou and
(01:34):
since they'd seen us. And Imean, we live in Mexico, so
winter is not like the winter thatwe think about when it comes to Canada
and being Canadian and being from thenorth and stuff like that. But it
gets a little chilly here and getat the dough and we don't have central
heating or anything like that. Sowe were like, yeah, a nice
(01:56):
warm beach trip in January sounds awesome. We're definitely down for that. And
it's been a number of years sinceeither of us have been to Hawaii.
I haven't been since twenty fifteen,and it's been more more time for you,
right twenty ten, Yeah, twentyten, we went together with your
family, and I mean it's reallybeen like a family destination. I think
(02:21):
I've been a couple times with myfamily. I've been now a couple times
with your family. And then Idid go for a yoga festival, which
is when I went in twenty fifteen. But yeah, I wasn't really sure
what to expect, kind of justpost pandemic Hawaii and then also going to
Maui after the big fires that happenedin Leahina last year. Wasn't really sure
(02:42):
what things were going to be like. But maybe before we get to that,
we can talk a little bit aboutthe sort of epic travels to get
there, because well, Hawaii isa fantastic destination when you're in western Canada
or the Pacific northwest western US,which is where a lot of the tourists
do come from. It's pretty farfrom where we live. Yeah, it's
(03:04):
actually was kind of surprising when wewent to go. We're like, okay,
yeah, we'll come, and thenwe went and looked at flights and
there's no flights from the country ofMexico to Hawaii, which I have to
be quite surprising that there's no directflights. You either have to go to
like the mainland US, La Dallas, et cetera. Or I mean you
(03:25):
could go to Canada. That wouldmake absolutely no sense. So all in
all, it ended up being verylong flight to go from here to Mexico
City, Mexico City to La Lato Hawaii and then do all of that
in reverse on the way back.I think it ended up taking substantially longer
than it took us to get toJapan. Yeah, which is kind of
(03:46):
crazy to think about since you know, obviously Hawaii's it's far out there,
like when you look on a map, it's like quite west and you go
back, what did we go back? Like three hours of time? Think
so, so it's like a significanttime change as well. But you think
like, oh, we're just goingto some you know, beautiful tropical islands
(04:08):
and in the US, it shouldn'tbe that far from Mexico. But yeah,
definitely a hall to get there.But I would say I feel like
it was worth it, Yeah,really really solid. Yeah, not a
terrible long time in terms of flight, it's just with all the the layovers
along the way, but yeah,it was. We were there two weeks.
I took some time off work andthen did a bit of remote work
(04:29):
from there, and we stayed inMaui near Wailea, which is kind of
the south west part of the island, so pretty far away from where the
main thrust and damage from the Mauifires. What were was and you know,
just a really beautiful, perfect weather, super calm, like everything you
(04:55):
could want out of a Hawaiian trip. Yeah, absolutely, And I think,
you know, like we've mentioned,it's been quite a while since either
of us have been there, andwe haven't really been super interested in going
to Hawaii because I don't really thinkthat it's good value for your dollar.
(05:15):
It's quite expensive to go there,especially in terms of accommodation and food,
or at least that's what I wasthinking kind of prior to this trip.
But and it is quite expensive,which we can talk about, but I
feel like going there, I waslike, oh, I'm reminded of you
know, every time I've been therebefore, I've really enjoyed it and all
that type of stuff, And Ireally understand, you know, why people
go there, because I think thatas much as Mexico and Mexican beach destinations
(05:41):
are great, and I think thatthey're way better like bang for your buck,
there's something about Hawaii that's just waymore like peaceful tranquil like Mexico always
has a little bit of chaos goingon. I think, Yeah, I
think in Hawaii too, you probablyget maybe a bit more of that in
like Honolulu and on Wahoo, butespecially in Maui, you felt like everywhere
(06:02):
you went was like just still theseamount of people there, but you know,
things are nice. Things are clean, the roads are nice, people
are nice. Everything's just like reallykind of chill and good and high quality,
well taking care of all that typeof stuff. Yeah, so I
(06:24):
think, like the it's it's hardto say about value for money because I
do think there's very little like it. I don't know, maybe a place
like Fiji in terms of like justbeautiful, pristine, tropical but not too
hot. Especially that time of year. It was just like perfect. Yeah,
we had really really great weather whilewe were there, and while we
(06:46):
don't live in Canada, as youguys know, Canada had like an insane
polar vortex while it happened, andthere were so many Canadians talking about how
cold it was, and you know, my parents were at home messaging and
talking to friends and stuff, andI was like, oh, it feels
really nice to be in this warmspace in this nice tropical weather. So
(07:08):
maybe we can talk just a littlebit about some of the highlights of what
we did, so for anyone who'smaybe looking to plan a trip to Maui,
we could just share some of thethings that we did while we were
there, because I feel like wehad a really good balance of like some
just really chill days going either downto the beach or going to the pool
with lou or just you know walkingaround. And then we also did we
(07:28):
also did some fun adventure stuff.Yeah. So obviously Maui is relatively small,
so there's not like a ton ofdifferent areas. There's like the Caunapolis
kind of seems to be like wherea number of resorts are. That's a
big area. Lahaina was obviously massivelyaffected by the fires Keih and then why
(07:49):
Leah seemed to be like the mainareas. And then there's like lots of
smaller towns and different spots kind ofon the other side of the island or
like even further north, but thoseseem to be kind of like the main
places where you looked at look atTo stay, we stayed in Wilea,
which was really nice. Probably alittle bit on the expensive side, but
I mean everywhere in now he's onthe expensive side. Rented a car,
(08:13):
which I think was really good andactually relatively affordable. I think we might
have gotten in at a moment wherethat you couldn't really plan for this,
but the rental cars were really affordable, I think because lots of people probably
had planned to come and then cancelthe trip in the aftermath of the fires
there, but having a rental carwas super nice to be able to drive
(08:33):
around. We drew up the volcano, we drove up to near where the
PGA tournament was. We drove overto like where the Jaws waves are and
that name of that town. It'slike, pai paie, Pai paie.
Somebody's cringing, I'm so sorry,and just kind of got all over the
island, which is really fun.Yeah, for sure. I feel like
(08:56):
one of the highlights was going upto the volcano. And I think you
had not been there before, butI, okay, we'd both been there
before. But it was fun totake lou up there. Obviously she's still
really small at the time. Shewas just a little bit under too,
but she was talking about how coldit was at the top, and she
was like pointing at all the birdsthat are up there, and you know,
(09:18):
just enjoying the view. And it'squite windy from the top, So
I feel like it was it wasfun to go up there with her.
We had a pretty like fun trip, and it's just it's really interesting because
Maui is like I guess kind ofmountainous but also kind of flat. You
see kind of just these significant likemountains sticking up, but Haliakala doesn't strike
(09:41):
you as like, hey, we'regoing up pretty significantly. But then you
go up and you're like, ohwow, we've gotten quite high. It
had that sort of effect, youknow, for us, and I feel
like that was definitely a highlight.And then yeah, just going and exploring
different areas it was really nice.We kind of would pick an area and
an activity to you and drive outthere and walk around or have a meal
(10:03):
or whatever whatever, And I feellike it's just like everything is just like
you said, nice, you know, well kept taken care of whether it
was great like we said, andI feel like it was just a yeah,
just like a nice reminder of Okay, this is like a great vacation
destination. And I also think goingthere with a kid was nice. I
(10:24):
think it's a really good family spot, yeah for sure. And the only
downside, like you mentioned at thestart, was the cost of things and
into a number of things that werethe same amount in dollars as they were
in paces in Mexico, whether it'sdrinks or entrees at restaurants, tennis lessons,
(10:46):
things like that. So things arequite expensive. It seems like,
really, maybe I don't know thedynamics between the islands, but maybe things
will start to like even off alittle bit as kind of this idea we
have, like Hawai super expensive.It's really hard to do things because there
isn't much staff. Everything costs somuch money. And maybe they'll start to
(11:07):
be like more opportunities to find bettervalue on trips there. But you can't
certainly see why so many people wantto be in Hawaii. Yeah, for
sure, And I feel like it'skind of like basic economics like supply and
demand, right, But yeah,it is kind of crazy some of the
prices, and I think obviously withinflation that's happening, it's impacting you know,
(11:30):
the prices as well. But wewent to a sushi restaurant that was
nice, but I wouldn't say it'slike the most high end place I've ever
been. They had no joke arole on well, a couple of rolls
on the menu there were like fortyfive to fifty USD and so I was
like, this must be like afamily size role, Like how else could
(11:50):
this cost as much? And soI asked the girl how many pieces,
and she's like, yeah, it'slike eight big pieces. I was like,
what that's like actually wild me.And I'm sure it's like, you
know, really tasty. It's probablygreat fish and stuff, but I was
just like, I cannot. Ifeel like just having fish tacos for you
know, like twenty five dollars waskind of a little bit of a shock
(12:13):
to the system coming from Mexico,and Mexico has also gone through like inflation
and price increases over the last coupleof years too, So I feel like
that is like saying a lot,But I think it's just going in with
the expectation that you know, you'repaying quite a bit for accommodation, and
you're paying quite a bit for yourfood if you're eating out at restaurants.
(12:37):
You know, groceries are gonna belike pretty standard. But like you said,
you know, rental car was prettyaffordable. Gas not particularly affordable,
but our rental car went pretty faron gas, which was great. We
got good gas, milage and stuff, and then you can do lots of
things like once you're in your accommodation, like going to the pool doesn't cost
extra money. You know, andlike going to the beach is free and
(12:58):
stuff like that, So there islots of stuff that you can kind of
do, especially with a small child, that doesn't cost a bunch of money.
Yeah, And so that was inJanuary, and then in start of
March we went to Cabo San LucasSan Jose lol Cabo here in Mexico.
(13:18):
We'd never been to Baja California Southor north before, so it was our
first time over there. We spentsome time with your family at one resort
and then moved to a different hotelfor a few days before we went home.
Both kind of in the space inbetween Cabo San Lucas and San Jose
lol Cabo. For anyone who doesn'tknow, Cabo San Lucas kind of has
(13:39):
like that's what that area ends upbeing called. The main airport's actually in
San Jose de lol Cabo. Themajority of the resorts i'd say are in
between the two, and then CaboSan Lucas is a bit more of like
what would have been a maybe smallerplace in the start, more bars,
partying and has a marina. Yeah, it's kind of an interesting vibe going
(14:03):
there because the demographic that Cabo attractsis very diverse. There's a lot of
young people that go there. It'ssuper easy and affordable to get to from
a lot of destinations in the USand in Canada. In fact, it
took my parents less time to getthere from Western Canada than it took us
(14:24):
to get there from Cannetado because unfortunatelywe couldn't get direct flights. Flight time
would have been less. Could wehave done that, but we had to
go through Mexico City, so theygot there quicker than us, which is
just pretty crazy. But it justshows you, like how much demand there
is for that. And so Ifelt like we kind of explored a little
bit San Jose del Cabo and thenCabo San Lucas, and then we stayed
(14:46):
both times kind of sort of inthe middle, and it seems like if
you are on the younger side,if you're looking more for like you know,
a girl's trip or a guy's trip, or a couple strip or a
party trip or something like that,Cabo San Lucas is definitely the place that's
where like the Senior Frogs is,you know other bars that are like that.
(15:07):
Walking through there, it just feelsa little bit like I guess like
a little more grungy, a littleless like family friendly that type of thing
versus San Jose del Cabo feels likejust a little bit better cared for,
a little safer, more family friendlystuff like that. And there's lots more
(15:30):
in that area that I would haveloved to explore. And I kind of
feel like for me, Cabo SanLucas is like I'm good at least in
this chapter of life. But inbetween. So driving in between probably takes
about an hour, and just you'redriving along the coast, and just the
coast is just like peppered with youknow, condos, resorts, hotels,
(15:50):
every type of accommodation that you couldimagine there, you know, golf courses,
all this type of stuff, andso there's lots of variety and it's
it's really beautiful. I wasn't reallysure what to expect of the area,
and in general, we kind ofprefer, you know, the more untouched
areas of Mexico, the more kindof I guess like authentic areas that are
(16:11):
as touristic. But I definitely getthe appeal just with like one climate into
like the landscape. It's stunning there. Yeah, and so because it's by
the kind of northern part, wellnot that northern, but you're in the
Pacific Ocean, so the water's cooler, which kind of helps moderate the temperatures.
But it's very like almost a desertlike onlind so a lot of cactuses,
(16:33):
a lot of dry stuff, doesn'train much, and so when we're
there in March, we got kindof mid twenties during the day, high
teens at night, which was reallywonderful because it's kind of a touristic place.
There's a lot of like activities andthings to do, go quatting,
go tequila tasting, go horseback riding, et cetera, et cetera. So
(16:53):
tons of that type of stuff todo, but also just good place to
like hang out by the beach andhave a future. It seems like depending
on the exact like placement of thebeach a hotel is on that some are
better for swimming than others, Likeobviously Baja has a reputation as being a
(17:15):
great surf spot. The first beachwe were on, really big waves.
We didn't go swimming at all there. The second beach we were on was
a little bit better, but thewaves are still pretty intense, so something
worth it if you're planning a tripthere and you're like, oh, i'd
really have to swim the ocean.Obviously these places have wonderful, extraordinary,
extensive pools, but if you wantto swim in the ocean to put some
(17:37):
research into there. And then ifyou were going to Airbnb, I don't
know. I think probably San JoseDeo Cabos where I look and there must
be some cool beaches out there,but especially if you were Airbnb, and
I think you'd want for sure tohave a rental car to be able to
like go out explore, get tosome beaches, that type of thing.
Yeah, definitely, And we endedup getting a rental car for a trip.
(17:59):
I don't think we necessarily needed one. We could have done like hotel
transfers and stuff. But the placewe rented for a week with my parents,
we decided to not do all inclusive. We decided to have like a
two bedroom sort of I guess condoor villa within the hotel that we were
staying at, so we could doa little bit of like cooking in our
own snacks and stuff, and sowe wanted to have a car to be
(18:21):
able to like grocery shop and maybego off the resort and eat and explore
a little bit. And I reallyliked that because we were really easily able
to get to San Jose del Caboto Cabo San Lucas. We also took
a day trip up to Toto Sentos, which is a pueblo Mexico, probably
about an hour. It was aboutan hour from where we were staying,
(18:42):
maybe a less a little less fromCabo San Lucas, still on the coast,
really popular for surfing, and Ifelt like I was really happy that
we were able to like, youknow, kind of one day at the
resort, just chilling, going tothe pool, hanging out. Next day,
do a little activity something like thatto explore. And we did do
(19:03):
like kind of a boat trip togo see like the arches which are in
Cabo San Lucas. I feel likethe particular boat trip we took I wouldn't
do again, but I really likethe idea of like going out there,
and there's so many options in termsof like glass bottom boats and snorklean and
et cetera, et cetera. Wewere just trying to figure out something that
would work for us, especially withhaving a Toddler. So yeah, I
(19:27):
think what we did was fine,and the arches are really worth it to
go see, I think for meat least. Yeah. And so we've
been to Plaettlecarmen, we've been toTuloom, We've been to Parta Aarda.
We've not been to Cabo. Haven'treally done Cancun that much. I think
it's Mazetland might be the other kindof like Acapulco, Cordes Candido. Have
(19:51):
been to many different beach towns andcities in Mexico. I think like Cabo
stacks up really well, especially climatewise, climate wasn't made. The things
that kind of I notice, especiallycompared to a part of Varada, were
prices being quite high. I'm surethis really depend on your situation, but
if you're thinking, like, hey, I want an airbnb and kind of
not be at a resort and maybedo a slightly more affordable trip, I
(20:17):
think that'd be nicer trip to doin part of a Varada, just because
Cabo feels like a place you wantto be in a hotel or resort,
and then you're going to pay hoteland restore prices. Obviously the same thing
can happen in port of Verida.But Porta Verda just has you know,
the zono Romantica and feels kind ofmore of like a city right there on
the ocean that you can enjoy andbe you know, a part of just
(20:40):
by having an airbnb. Yeah,for sure, I think it definitely felt
I feel like I really liked Cabo, but I feel like it felt a
little more like California to me thanit felt like Mexico, just based on
like some of the other destinations we'vebeen to, and like, you know,
there is lots of tourism and Englishspeaking and stuff like that in many
(21:03):
of the places that we just listed, particularly like pliat A, carbon to
Loom, you know, Porta Viorta, that type of thing, And so
you know, I wasn't turned offby that or not not expecting that,
but I think just having everything bevery westernized, you know. Even we
stayed the second hotel we stayed at, like all the prices were like listed
(21:27):
in US dollars. I'm just like, where are we just like very very
strange, and on top of that, it's very expensive. So we went
to this coffee shop that was inour hotel and they had like a latte
for example, listed at like tenUSD, which I mean maybe that's like
on pire for California these days,but let me tell you that is a
(21:48):
very expensive lata in Mexico. Iwas like, huh what so just yeah,
kind of like an interesting cultural vibein that way. But one of
the nights, when we were onour own, we went, you know,
not far from our hotel. Ithink we only drove like five minutes
maybe and went to this like reallycool plaza that had a bunch of restaurants
(22:10):
and we got some delicious food there, and I felt like, you know,
people were speaking Spanish and everything wasin pesos, and the prices were,
you know, I think, onpar with probably any other beach town
and even Mexico City, which hashigh prices, and it felt much more
like, okay, like this islike Mexico, and the resorts are more
like westernizes because they're catering to Americansand Canadians that are coming here. Yeah.
(22:34):
Yeah, So overall, really enjoyedCabo. I definitely see myself going
back, especially that time of year, like I know, March in part
of Erda is starting to get prettyhot. Obviously, King Kun that neck
of the woods is always really hot, so some beautiful weather, really great
ease of access from so many differentplaces. I think for my like Mexico
(22:56):
touristy beach town rankings tie, butpart of Arda is going to be still
on the top. Yeah for sure. And I think if we were to
go back, I would love theidea of like exploring somewhere that's a bit
more like away from the resorts,like maybe going and staying in Toto Santos,
or maybe going to La Paz,which we didn't get a chance to
(23:17):
go to. You know, there'slots of like cool little towns kind of
around there that you just have togo a little further for And I think
that I could really see that meetinglike kind of all of our needs where
it's like a little bit more costeffective. We could still have kind of
a more Mexican experience, you know, still very safe, climate is still
(23:40):
great, all that type of thing. So I could definitely see us going
back and maybe going to one ofthose smaller towns as opposed to like staying
kind of right in that main touristarea in like a bigger resort. Yeah,
for sure. If you have anyspecific questions though about planning a beach
trip in Mexico or Cabo specifically afeel free to reach out on social media
(24:00):
message. We can answer any questionsand give any tips, which leads us
into the final thing for today's littlemini episode, which is some personal news.
Yeah, what's up? What's upwith us? So we are awaiting
the arrival of another member of ourfamily. We have a baby coming in
(24:22):
June ish time range, and yeah, she will be a girl and will
be the fourth member of our family. Yeah, so we've had kind of
I think we were a little secretiveabout our plans at the end of at
our year and review episode, andthe reason for that is that we I
think by the time we recorded,we had told my parents that we were
(24:48):
having another baby, but we hadn'ttold yours. We actually waited until we
went to Hawaii and told them inperson. And I was almost twenty weeks
pregnant by that point, so showingall the things obviously, you know,
all the neighbors and friends here newand stuff like that. But we didn't
want to let that news slip inlike a personal internet way before our famili's
(25:14):
knew. And so when we gotback from January, we had our anatomy
scan, we made sure baby girlwas all good, we confirmed that she
was a girl, all that typeof stuff, and then we announced kind
of with kind of our bigger circle. But we still just didn't really talk
about it on the podcast. Itjust didn't feel like, I guess,
I guess we just didn't have anepisode to share about it. And it's
(25:36):
been interesting because the start of thisyear has been very family focused. As
you guys have heard, We've donetwo very you know, g rated kind
of domestic trips, one with yourfamily, one with my family, and
that's been really nice. And thenobviously we've got baby coming, so we're
not going to be traveling a tonin the next couple of months. We're
planning to go back to Canada laterin the summer, and then you know,
(26:00):
hopefully we'll maybe do something a littlebit closer to home, maybe like
a beach destination in Mexico or somethinglike that in the fall, but really
just going to be settling into havinga toddler and a newborn over the next
couple months. Yeah, so we'regonna do a bit of a pause on
the podcast, so this will bethe last episode for a bit and then
(26:26):
really try to like figure out whatdoes life and travel look like as a
family of four. So we've dida few trips in the first year with
our first daughter, and then inher second year, we've kind of went
out did everything last year, andso I think we'll probably follow a similar
rhythm or maybe not much travel forthe next twelve or so months and then
(26:48):
kind of diving back into more tripsto take advantage of that under two don't
buy a plane ticket situation. Yeah, finding the balance of like I don't
know, the first year with louisreally I mean, it was like huge
growth for us, I think,just stepping into parenthood and learning to manage
all of that. But it wasjust a lot. I mean, we
were very, very tired, andso I honestly didn't feel like a huge
(27:11):
call to do a bunch of bigtravels. Like little travels were nice and
it was nice to get her accustomedto road trips and get her on flights
and stuff like that. So wedid do some stuff, but I feel
like once we kind of hit likealmost that one year mark of parenting,
it was like, Okay, wegot one more year of free flights,
Like let's do this, Like Ifeel like, you know, we kind
(27:32):
of know what we're doing a littlebit, and we kind of feel like
we're a bit more settled. We'vegot like some stable ground under our feet.
Let's like get out as much aswe can, which was very much
twenty twenty three. So we hadso much content for last year, and
now we're kind of going back intoa little bit of nesting, not traveling
as much for the next little bittype of mode. So yeah, like
(27:56):
Gren said, we've decided to takea little pause from the podcast. We
don't have any like structured plans oranything, so we will just keep you
guys posted both on social media andvia email and via the podcast and stuff.
I'm sure we'll be back with contentat some point, but I think
at this point we're just focusing onthis next chapter and getting settled in with
(28:18):
that, and once we are backout doing some more adventures and I'm sure
they'll be more content. Yeah,So definitely stay in touch with us on
social media, stay subscribed, anda new episode will hit your inbox in
a couple of months, and that'sI think the biggest thing. Anything else
you want to add, no,I don't think so. Just wanted to
you know, update everyone and saythank you to everyone who's been listening over
(28:42):
the last couple of months. We'vereally enjoyed the interviews that we've got to
put out so far this year intwenty twenty four, and you know,
we've enjoyed the trips that we've taken. And now, at least for me,
I'm really ready to just be nestingand stepping into this next chapter and
excited to be taking a little pauseand you know, just having some family
(29:06):
time. Really. Yeah, sothank you for listening, stay in touch
on social media, and we willsee you later on this year. Yeah,
thanks guys,
Hello and welcome to the World Wanderspodcast, a proud part of the Wanderbarn
podcast network. I'm Ryan, I'mAmanda, and we're your hosts. We're
a traveling couple and digital nomad's takingyou on our adventures as we explore locations,
destinations, and careers. Enjoy theshow. Hello and welcome to the
(00:24):
World Wanders podcast. Thanks again forjoining us. Today. We're going to
be talking about a couple of recenttrips as well as some life updates and
show updates for the upcoming few months. So with that in mind, let's
jump into it. Yeah, wheredo you want to start? So?
Yeah, when was the last timewe had kind of an update podcast?
(00:49):
I think the last kind of lifeupdate podcast would have been our year in
Review, but I mean that wasmore like a year in review than a
life update, but we kind ofdidn't really tell people what we were doing
in twenty twenty four. Yeah,so blessed bit. We've had interviews them
before that. We talked about Argentina. Argentina was our last trip in twenty
(01:12):
twenty three, and then at thestart of this year, we took a
family trip to Hawaii. Yeah,so fun fact your parents like to go
to Maui every January, and thisyear they invited us to come along and
see them because it'd been a numberof months since they had seen lou and
(01:34):
since they'd seen us. And Imean, we live in Mexico, so
winter is not like the winter thatwe think about when it comes to Canada
and being Canadian and being from thenorth and stuff like that. But it
gets a little chilly here and getat the dough and we don't have central
heating or anything like that. Sowe were like, yeah, a nice
(01:56):
warm beach trip in January sounds awesome. We're definitely down for that. And
it's been a number of years sinceeither of us have been to Hawaii.
I haven't been since twenty fifteen,and it's been more more time for you,
right twenty ten, Yeah, twentyten, we went together with your
family, and I mean it's reallybeen like a family destination. I think
(02:21):
I've been a couple times with myfamily. I've been now a couple times
with your family. And then Idid go for a yoga festival, which
is when I went in twenty fifteen. But yeah, I wasn't really sure
what to expect, kind of justpost pandemic Hawaii and then also going to
Maui after the big fires that happenedin Leahina last year. Wasn't really sure
(02:42):
what things were going to be like. But maybe before we get to that,
we can talk a little bit aboutthe sort of epic travels to get
there, because well, Hawaii isa fantastic destination when you're in western Canada
or the Pacific northwest western US,which is where a lot of the tourists
do come from. It's pretty farfrom where we live. Yeah, it's
(03:04):
actually was kind of surprising when wewent to go. We're like, okay,
yeah, we'll come, and thenwe went and looked at flights and
there's no flights from the country ofMexico to Hawaii, which I have to
be quite surprising that there's no directflights. You either have to go to
like the mainland US, La Dallas, et cetera. Or I mean you
(03:25):
could go to Canada. That wouldmake absolutely no sense. So all in
all, it ended up being verylong flight to go from here to Mexico
City, Mexico City to La Lato Hawaii and then do all of that
in reverse on the way back.I think it ended up taking substantially longer
than it took us to get toJapan. Yeah, which is kind of
(03:46):
crazy to think about since you know, obviously Hawaii's it's far out there,
like when you look on a map, it's like quite west and you go
back, what did we go back? Like three hours of time? Think
so, so it's like a significanttime change as well. But you think
like, oh, we're just goingto some you know, beautiful tropical islands
(04:08):
and in the US, it shouldn'tbe that far from Mexico. But yeah,
definitely a hall to get there.But I would say I feel like
it was worth it, Yeah,really really solid. Yeah, not a
terrible long time in terms of flight, it's just with all the the layovers
along the way, but yeah,it was. We were there two weeks.
I took some time off work andthen did a bit of remote work
(04:29):
from there, and we stayed inMaui near Wailea, which is kind of
the south west part of the island, so pretty far away from where the
main thrust and damage from the Mauifires. What were was and you know,
just a really beautiful, perfect weather, super calm, like everything you
(04:55):
could want out of a Hawaiian trip. Yeah, absolutely, And I think,
you know, like we've mentioned,it's been quite a while since either
of us have been there, andwe haven't really been super interested in going
to Hawaii because I don't really thinkthat it's good value for your dollar.
(05:15):
It's quite expensive to go there,especially in terms of accommodation and food,
or at least that's what I wasthinking kind of prior to this trip.
But and it is quite expensive,which we can talk about, but I
feel like going there, I waslike, oh, I'm reminded of you
know, every time I've been therebefore, I've really enjoyed it and all
that type of stuff, And Ireally understand, you know, why people
go there, because I think thatas much as Mexico and Mexican beach destinations
(05:41):
are great, and I think thatthey're way better like bang for your buck,
there's something about Hawaii that's just waymore like peaceful tranquil like Mexico always
has a little bit of chaos goingon. I think, Yeah, I
think in Hawaii too, you probablyget maybe a bit more of that in
like Honolulu and on Wahoo, butespecially in Maui, you felt like everywhere
(06:02):
you went was like just still theseamount of people there, but you know,
things are nice. Things are clean, the roads are nice, people
are nice. Everything's just like reallykind of chill and good and high quality,
well taking care of all that typeof stuff. Yeah, so I
(06:24):
think, like the it's it's hardto say about value for money because I
do think there's very little like it. I don't know, maybe a place
like Fiji in terms of like justbeautiful, pristine, tropical but not too
hot. Especially that time of year. It was just like perfect. Yeah,
we had really really great weather whilewe were there, and while we
(06:46):
don't live in Canada, as youguys know, Canada had like an insane
polar vortex while it happened, andthere were so many Canadians talking about how
cold it was, and you know, my parents were at home messaging and
talking to friends and stuff, andI was like, oh, it feels
really nice to be in this warmspace in this nice tropical weather. So
(07:08):
maybe we can talk just a littlebit about some of the highlights of what
we did, so for anyone who'smaybe looking to plan a trip to Maui,
we could just share some of thethings that we did while we were
there, because I feel like wehad a really good balance of like some
just really chill days going either downto the beach or going to the pool
with lou or just you know walkingaround. And then we also did we
(07:28):
also did some fun adventure stuff.Yeah. So obviously Maui is relatively small,
so there's not like a ton ofdifferent areas. There's like the Caunapolis
kind of seems to be like wherea number of resorts are. That's a
big area. Lahaina was obviously massivelyaffected by the fires Keih and then why
(07:49):
Leah seemed to be like the mainareas. And then there's like lots of
smaller towns and different spots kind ofon the other side of the island or
like even further north, but thoseseem to be kind of like the main
places where you looked at look atTo stay, we stayed in Wilea,
which was really nice. Probably alittle bit on the expensive side, but
I mean everywhere in now he's onthe expensive side. Rented a car,
(08:13):
which I think was really good andactually relatively affordable. I think we might
have gotten in at a moment wherethat you couldn't really plan for this,
but the rental cars were really affordable, I think because lots of people probably
had planned to come and then cancelthe trip in the aftermath of the fires
there, but having a rental carwas super nice to be able to drive
(08:33):
around. We drew up the volcano, we drove up to near where the
PGA tournament was. We drove overto like where the Jaws waves are and
that name of that town. It'slike, pai paie, Pai paie.
Somebody's cringing, I'm so sorry,and just kind of got all over the
island, which is really fun.Yeah, for sure. I feel like
(08:56):
one of the highlights was going upto the volcano. And I think you
had not been there before, butI, okay, we'd both been there
before. But it was fun totake lou up there. Obviously she's still
really small at the time. Shewas just a little bit under too,
but she was talking about how coldit was at the top, and she
was like pointing at all the birdsthat are up there, and you know,
(09:18):
just enjoying the view. And it'squite windy from the top, So
I feel like it was it wasfun to go up there with her.
We had a pretty like fun trip, and it's just it's really interesting because
Maui is like I guess kind ofmountainous but also kind of flat. You
see kind of just these significant likemountains sticking up, but Haliakala doesn't strike
(09:41):
you as like, hey, we'regoing up pretty significantly. But then you
go up and you're like, ohwow, we've gotten quite high. It
had that sort of effect, youknow, for us, and I feel
like that was definitely a highlight.And then yeah, just going and exploring
different areas it was really nice.We kind of would pick an area and
an activity to you and drive outthere and walk around or have a meal
(10:03):
or whatever whatever, And I feellike it's just like everything is just like
you said, nice, you know, well kept taken care of whether it
was great like we said, andI feel like it was just a yeah,
just like a nice reminder of Okay, this is like a great vacation
destination. And I also think goingthere with a kid was nice. I
(10:24):
think it's a really good family spot, yeah for sure. And the only
downside, like you mentioned at thestart, was the cost of things and
into a number of things that werethe same amount in dollars as they were
in paces in Mexico, whether it'sdrinks or entrees at restaurants, tennis lessons,
(10:46):
things like that. So things arequite expensive. It seems like,
really, maybe I don't know thedynamics between the islands, but maybe things
will start to like even off alittle bit as kind of this idea we
have, like Hawai super expensive.It's really hard to do things because there
isn't much staff. Everything costs somuch money. And maybe they'll start to
(11:07):
be like more opportunities to find bettervalue on trips there. But you can't
certainly see why so many people wantto be in Hawaii. Yeah, for
sure, And I feel like it'skind of like basic economics like supply and
demand, right, But yeah,it is kind of crazy some of the
prices, and I think obviously withinflation that's happening, it's impacting you know,
(11:30):
the prices as well. But wewent to a sushi restaurant that was
nice, but I wouldn't say it'slike the most high end place I've ever
been. They had no joke arole on well, a couple of rolls
on the menu there were like fortyfive to fifty USD and so I was
like, this must be like afamily size role, Like how else could
(11:50):
this cost as much? And soI asked the girl how many pieces,
and she's like, yeah, it'slike eight big pieces. I was like,
what that's like actually wild me.And I'm sure it's like, you
know, really tasty. It's probablygreat fish and stuff, but I was
just like, I cannot. Ifeel like just having fish tacos for you
know, like twenty five dollars waskind of a little bit of a shock
(12:13):
to the system coming from Mexico,and Mexico has also gone through like inflation
and price increases over the last coupleof years too, So I feel like
that is like saying a lot,But I think it's just going in with
the expectation that you know, you'repaying quite a bit for accommodation, and
you're paying quite a bit for yourfood if you're eating out at restaurants.
(12:37):
You know, groceries are gonna belike pretty standard. But like you said,
you know, rental car was prettyaffordable. Gas not particularly affordable,
but our rental car went pretty faron gas, which was great. We
got good gas, milage and stuff, and then you can do lots of
things like once you're in your accommodation, like going to the pool doesn't cost
extra money. You know, andlike going to the beach is free and
(12:58):
stuff like that, So there islots of stuff that you can kind of
do, especially with a small child, that doesn't cost a bunch of money.
Yeah, And so that was inJanuary, and then in start of
March we went to Cabo San LucasSan Jose lol Cabo here in Mexico.
(13:18):
We'd never been to Baja California Southor north before, so it was our
first time over there. We spentsome time with your family at one resort
and then moved to a different hotelfor a few days before we went home.
Both kind of in the space inbetween Cabo San Lucas and San Jose
lol Cabo. For anyone who doesn'tknow, Cabo San Lucas kind of has
(13:39):
like that's what that area ends upbeing called. The main airport's actually in
San Jose de lol Cabo. Themajority of the resorts i'd say are in
between the two, and then CaboSan Lucas is a bit more of like
what would have been a maybe smallerplace in the start, more bars,
partying and has a marina. Yeah, it's kind of an interesting vibe going
(14:03):
there because the demographic that Cabo attractsis very diverse. There's a lot of
young people that go there. It'ssuper easy and affordable to get to from
a lot of destinations in the USand in Canada. In fact, it
took my parents less time to getthere from Western Canada than it took us
(14:24):
to get there from Cannetado because unfortunatelywe couldn't get direct flights. Flight time
would have been less. Could wehave done that, but we had to
go through Mexico City, so theygot there quicker than us, which is
just pretty crazy. But it justshows you, like how much demand there
is for that. And so Ifelt like we kind of explored a little
bit San Jose del Cabo and thenCabo San Lucas, and then we stayed
(14:46):
both times kind of sort of inthe middle, and it seems like if
you are on the younger side,if you're looking more for like you know,
a girl's trip or a guy's trip, or a couple strip or a
party trip or something like that,Cabo San Lucas is definitely the place that's
where like the Senior Frogs is,you know other bars that are like that.
(15:07):
Walking through there, it just feelsa little bit like I guess like
a little more grungy, a littleless like family friendly that type of thing
versus San Jose del Cabo feels likejust a little bit better cared for,
a little safer, more family friendlystuff like that. And there's lots more
(15:30):
in that area that I would haveloved to explore. And I kind of
feel like for me, Cabo SanLucas is like I'm good at least in
this chapter of life. But inbetween. So driving in between probably takes
about an hour, and just you'redriving along the coast, and just the
coast is just like peppered with youknow, condos, resorts, hotels,
(15:50):
every type of accommodation that you couldimagine there, you know, golf courses,
all this type of stuff, andso there's lots of variety and it's
it's really beautiful. I wasn't reallysure what to expect of the area,
and in general, we kind ofprefer, you know, the more untouched
areas of Mexico, the more kindof I guess like authentic areas that are
(16:11):
as touristic. But I definitely getthe appeal just with like one climate into
like the landscape. It's stunning there. Yeah, and so because it's by
the kind of northern part, wellnot that northern, but you're in the
Pacific Ocean, so the water's cooler, which kind of helps moderate the temperatures.
But it's very like almost a desertlike onlind so a lot of cactuses,
(16:33):
a lot of dry stuff, doesn'train much, and so when we're
there in March, we got kindof mid twenties during the day, high
teens at night, which was reallywonderful because it's kind of a touristic place.
There's a lot of like activities andthings to do, go quatting,
go tequila tasting, go horseback riding, et cetera, et cetera. So
(16:53):
tons of that type of stuff todo, but also just good place to
like hang out by the beach andhave a future. It seems like depending
on the exact like placement of thebeach a hotel is on that some are
better for swimming than others, Likeobviously Baja has a reputation as being a
(17:15):
great surf spot. The first beachwe were on, really big waves.
We didn't go swimming at all there. The second beach we were on was
a little bit better, but thewaves are still pretty intense, so something
worth it if you're planning a tripthere and you're like, oh, i'd
really have to swim the ocean.Obviously these places have wonderful, extraordinary,
extensive pools, but if you wantto swim in the ocean to put some
(17:37):
research into there. And then ifyou were going to Airbnb, I don't
know. I think probably San JoseDeo Cabos where I look and there must
be some cool beaches out there,but especially if you were Airbnb, and
I think you'd want for sure tohave a rental car to be able to
like go out explore, get tosome beaches, that type of thing.
Yeah, definitely, And we endedup getting a rental car for a trip.
(17:59):
I don't think we necessarily needed one. We could have done like hotel
transfers and stuff. But the placewe rented for a week with my parents,
we decided to not do all inclusive. We decided to have like a
two bedroom sort of I guess condoor villa within the hotel that we were
staying at, so we could doa little bit of like cooking in our
own snacks and stuff, and sowe wanted to have a car to be
(18:21):
able to like grocery shop and maybego off the resort and eat and explore
a little bit. And I reallyliked that because we were really easily able
to get to San Jose del Caboto Cabo San Lucas. We also took
a day trip up to Toto Sentos, which is a pueblo Mexico, probably
about an hour. It was aboutan hour from where we were staying,
(18:42):
maybe a less a little less fromCabo San Lucas, still on the coast,
really popular for surfing, and Ifelt like I was really happy that
we were able to like, youknow, kind of one day at the
resort, just chilling, going tothe pool, hanging out. Next day,
do a little activity something like thatto explore. And we did do
(19:03):
like kind of a boat trip togo see like the arches which are in
Cabo San Lucas. I feel likethe particular boat trip we took I wouldn't
do again, but I really likethe idea of like going out there,
and there's so many options in termsof like glass bottom boats and snorklean and
et cetera, et cetera. Wewere just trying to figure out something that
would work for us, especially withhaving a Toddler. So yeah, I
(19:27):
think what we did was fine,and the arches are really worth it to
go see, I think for meat least. Yeah. And so we've
been to Plaettlecarmen, we've been toTuloom, We've been to Parta Aarda.
We've not been to Cabo. Haven'treally done Cancun that much. I think
it's Mazetland might be the other kindof like Acapulco, Cordes Candido. Have
(19:51):
been to many different beach towns andcities in Mexico. I think like Cabo
stacks up really well, especially climatewise, climate wasn't made. The things
that kind of I notice, especiallycompared to a part of Varada, were
prices being quite high. I'm surethis really depend on your situation, but
if you're thinking, like, hey, I want an airbnb and kind of
not be at a resort and maybedo a slightly more affordable trip, I
(20:17):
think that'd be nicer trip to doin part of a Varada, just because
Cabo feels like a place you wantto be in a hotel or resort,
and then you're going to pay hoteland restore prices. Obviously the same thing
can happen in port of Verida.But Porta Verda just has you know,
the zono Romantica and feels kind ofmore of like a city right there on
the ocean that you can enjoy andbe you know, a part of just
(20:40):
by having an airbnb. Yeah,for sure, I think it definitely felt
I feel like I really liked Cabo, but I feel like it felt a
little more like California to me thanit felt like Mexico, just based on
like some of the other destinations we'vebeen to, and like, you know,
there is lots of tourism and Englishspeaking and stuff like that in many
(21:03):
of the places that we just listed, particularly like pliat A, carbon to
Loom, you know, Porta Viorta, that type of thing, And so
you know, I wasn't turned offby that or not not expecting that,
but I think just having everything bevery westernized, you know. Even we
stayed the second hotel we stayed at, like all the prices were like listed
(21:27):
in US dollars. I'm just like, where are we just like very very
strange, and on top of that, it's very expensive. So we went
to this coffee shop that was inour hotel and they had like a latte
for example, listed at like tenUSD, which I mean maybe that's like
on pire for California these days,but let me tell you that is a
(21:48):
very expensive lata in Mexico. Iwas like, huh what so just yeah,
kind of like an interesting cultural vibein that way. But one of
the nights, when we were onour own, we went, you know,
not far from our hotel. Ithink we only drove like five minutes
maybe and went to this like reallycool plaza that had a bunch of restaurants
(22:10):
and we got some delicious food there, and I felt like, you know,
people were speaking Spanish and everything wasin pesos, and the prices were,
you know, I think, onpar with probably any other beach town
and even Mexico City, which hashigh prices, and it felt much more
like, okay, like this islike Mexico, and the resorts are more
like westernizes because they're catering to Americansand Canadians that are coming here. Yeah.
(22:34):
Yeah, So overall, really enjoyedCabo. I definitely see myself going
back, especially that time of year, like I know, March in part
of Erda is starting to get prettyhot. Obviously, King Kun that neck
of the woods is always really hot, so some beautiful weather, really great
ease of access from so many differentplaces. I think for my like Mexico
(22:56):
touristy beach town rankings tie, butpart of Arda is going to be still
on the top. Yeah for sure. And I think if we were to
go back, I would love theidea of like exploring somewhere that's a bit
more like away from the resorts,like maybe going and staying in Toto Santos,
or maybe going to La Paz,which we didn't get a chance to
(23:17):
go to. You know, there'slots of like cool little towns kind of
around there that you just have togo a little further for And I think
that I could really see that meetinglike kind of all of our needs where
it's like a little bit more costeffective. We could still have kind of
a more Mexican experience, you know, still very safe, climate is still
(23:40):
great, all that type of thing. So I could definitely see us going
back and maybe going to one ofthose smaller towns as opposed to like staying
kind of right in that main touristarea in like a bigger resort. Yeah,
for sure. If you have anyspecific questions though about planning a beach
trip in Mexico or Cabo specifically afeel free to reach out on social media
(24:00):
message. We can answer any questionsand give any tips, which leads us
into the final thing for today's littlemini episode, which is some personal news.
Yeah, what's up? What's upwith us? So we are awaiting
the arrival of another member of ourfamily. We have a baby coming in
(24:22):
June ish time range, and yeah, she will be a girl and will
be the fourth member of our family. Yeah, so we've had kind of
I think we were a little secretiveabout our plans at the end of at
our year and review episode, andthe reason for that is that we I
think by the time we recorded,we had told my parents that we were
(24:48):
having another baby, but we hadn'ttold yours. We actually waited until we
went to Hawaii and told them inperson. And I was almost twenty weeks
pregnant by that point, so showingall the things obviously, you know,
all the neighbors and friends here newand stuff like that. But we didn't
want to let that news slip inlike a personal internet way before our famili's
(25:14):
knew. And so when we gotback from January, we had our anatomy
scan, we made sure baby girlwas all good, we confirmed that she
was a girl, all that typeof stuff, and then we announced kind
of with kind of our bigger circle. But we still just didn't really talk
about it on the podcast. Itjust didn't feel like, I guess,
I guess we just didn't have anepisode to share about it. And it's
(25:36):
been interesting because the start of thisyear has been very family focused. As
you guys have heard, We've donetwo very you know, g rated kind
of domestic trips, one with yourfamily, one with my family, and
that's been really nice. And thenobviously we've got baby coming, so we're
not going to be traveling a tonin the next couple of months. We're
planning to go back to Canada laterin the summer, and then you know,
(26:00):
hopefully we'll maybe do something a littlebit closer to home, maybe like
a beach destination in Mexico or somethinglike that in the fall, but really
just going to be settling into havinga toddler and a newborn over the next
couple months. Yeah, so we'regonna do a bit of a pause on
the podcast, so this will bethe last episode for a bit and then
(26:26):
really try to like figure out whatdoes life and travel look like as a
family of four. So we've dida few trips in the first year with
our first daughter, and then inher second year, we've kind of went
out did everything last year, andso I think we'll probably follow a similar
rhythm or maybe not much travel forthe next twelve or so months and then
(26:48):
kind of diving back into more tripsto take advantage of that under two don't
buy a plane ticket situation. Yeah, finding the balance of like I don't
know, the first year with louisreally I mean, it was like huge
growth for us, I think,just stepping into parenthood and learning to manage
all of that. But it wasjust a lot. I mean, we
were very, very tired, andso I honestly didn't feel like a huge
(27:11):
call to do a bunch of bigtravels. Like little travels were nice and
it was nice to get her accustomedto road trips and get her on flights
and stuff like that. So wedid do some stuff, but I feel
like once we kind of hit likealmost that one year mark of parenting,
it was like, Okay, wegot one more year of free flights,
Like let's do this, Like Ifeel like, you know, we kind
(27:32):
of know what we're doing a littlebit, and we kind of feel like
we're a bit more settled. We'vegot like some stable ground under our feet.
Let's like get out as much aswe can, which was very much
twenty twenty three. So we hadso much content for last year, and
now we're kind of going back intoa little bit of nesting, not traveling
as much for the next little bittype of mode. So yeah, like
(27:56):
Gren said, we've decided to takea little pause from the podcast. We
don't have any like structured plans oranything, so we will just keep you
guys posted both on social media andvia email and via the podcast and stuff.
I'm sure we'll be back with contentat some point, but I think
at this point we're just focusing onthis next chapter and getting settled in with
(28:18):
that, and once we are backout doing some more adventures and I'm sure
they'll be more content. Yeah,So definitely stay in touch with us on
social media, stay subscribed, anda new episode will hit your inbox in
a couple of months, and that'sI think the biggest thing. Anything else
you want to add, no,I don't think so. Just wanted to
you know, update everyone and saythank you to everyone who's been listening over
(28:42):
the last couple of months. We'vereally enjoyed the interviews that we've got to
put out so far this year intwenty twenty four, and you know,
we've enjoyed the trips that we've taken. And now, at least for me,
I'm really ready to just be nestingand stepping into this next chapter and
excited to be taking a little pauseand you know, just having some family
(29:06):
time. Really. Yeah, sothank you for listening, stay in touch
on social media, and we willsee you later on this year. Yeah,
thanks guys,
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