First Day in Paradise

It’s hard getting back to reality, we were spoiled with living in paradise the last 5 days. First thing in order was to buy groceries and food to last us a week, before we leave again next Wednesday. Next was to take the wedding dress to the cleaners. We did a trash the dress session after the wedding, and even though my dress isn’t trashed, it could use a thorough cleaning.

I cooked last night and it was nice to use our kitchen again. As much as I enjoyed having all the food served to me, I do miss cooking my own food. There was even a paella cooking class offered that I really wanted to partake in, but just didn’t have the time.

Enjoy the vacation recap. They are very detailed, more for me than anything else. It was a great vacation and I want to remember every detail.

Puerto Vallarta – Day 1 Recap

Day 1 of our vacation, which was 3 days before the wedding, started Friday morning. We drove to Chris’s parents house and they dropped us off at LAX. With wedding stuff in tow, we had 5 luggage, 3 carry-on bags + my wedding dress.

We were flying out of LAX on Memorial Day holiday weekend and it was packed. But we planned ahead and got to our gate with plenty of time to spare. Breakfast was eaten while waiting to board. Starbucks oatmeal, including all the toppings + fresh strawberries and nut butters I brought with me.

We made sure we were first in line to board the plane because I was carrying my wedding gown and need to hang it in the first class closet space. The closet space is on a first come first serve basis.

We were both so excited for our trip that we didn’t get any sleep the night before. After we took the picture below, we both slept until we landed.

We woke up in time to complete all the immigration forms for entry to Mexico before we landed.

We missed the on-flight snacks while sleeping so I munched on ginger chews and Dr. Crackers at the end of our flight.

We landed at Puerto Vallarta 3pm local time. I’ve been to Cabo and I am much more impressed with the cleanliness of Puerto Vallarta’s airport.

They randomly check luggage by having the passengers push a button. Green light means go, red light means all your luggage will be inspected. We got the red light of course.  No problemo, the whole process just took a long time.

After clearing customs, we passed by the “shark tank”, the place where all the aggressive time share folks come up to you, but we arranged for our transportation ahead of time so we can avoid the shark tank.

It was hot, hot, hot and humid! I’ve never been so happy to be drinking cold and purified bottled water.

Chris and I and all our wedding guests stayed at Dreams Resort & Spa in Puerto Vallarta.  It is an all-inclusive hotel. The hotel grounds are nice and clean, service is great and all the staff were very friendly. I would recommend this hotel for vacation because it’s affordable.

We stayed in a suite in the Preferred Tower. It was beautiful, spacious and very comfortable.

After we unpacked, we put on our beach outfit and  headed out to the water to get our feet wet and have some play time. We also met up with other wedding guests who checked-in the same day.

For dinner, we headed out to the Oceana Grill seaside restaurant. We have been craving fresh seafood all day long.

The view from our table. Prime seats to watch the sunset.

Mojitos for me. Sweet and refreshing.

Cheers to our first night in paradise.

Then time to chow down.

We started with appetizers to share around the table. Clams, Escargot and shrimp rolls.

During dinner, we watched the sunset.

My dinner was delicious. I love fish and this seabass plate was moist and flaky.

Chris’s plates. Yes, I said plates.

Desserts for everyone. Plaintains were used for the banana dessert plate so the texture was little different. The chocolate mouse cake was the best one of the four we ordered.

The hotel has themed parties every night and it was Fiesta Night that night, so after a 3 hour dinner (it’s a slow pace while your on vacation, especially the dining service during dinner time), we headed out to the party.

It was almost over at this point but the boys were in searched of some authentic Mexican tacos. You know, the one where the meat is shaved directly on your plate on top of your tortillas.  They found the tacos and said it was the best they tasted during the whole trip.

At this point, I was overwhelmed with all the food around us. I only wanted one thing and one thing only, churros. I took one bite and it was enough. I could taste the oil before the sugar and cinnamon. I’m glad I tried it though.

Puerto Vallarta is on Central time, ahead 2 hours local time for us, so we were always up late each night.

What a great night to begin our Mexico vacation.

Day 2 recap coming soon. Our 2nd day included an early wake up call to get ready for our first visit to the wedding venue, meeting my wedding coordinator for the first time and arrival of the rest of our wedding guests.

P.S. Chris is the writer in our family and had some of his stories published in the past. He recently started his own blog, where he post the stories he has written (old and new).

Today’s story is about surfing with manta rays. They were swimming and playing in the ocean during our stay. Chris was all over it and took great pictures and videos. He wrote about it here, if you want to check it out. It’s very cool.

If you are interested, you can check out his blog, Oakpower, by clicking—-> here. Say hi and let him know I sent ya 🙂

Have a great Friday!

Have you ever stayed at an all inclusive resort? Where? Did you have a good experience?