Women Traveling alone

Luggage suggestions. Making it light. 

Places to relax after a tough trip in Maya México and Belize.

To and from  the Cancún airport. Ways to save money and do it easily.

Cancún day trip suggestions by Mike Reed

     Mexican car rentals

Other Useful Links

What about traveler's checks?

Onebag.com" the art and science of traveling light."

The first time I ever went to Mexico, my (then) wife and I took standard suitcases, which we filled up and ended up lugging along with us all over the place, even breaking the wheel on a small luggage cart. When I got back, I looked at all the items I had taken, but had never used. I also looked at the things that I took and did use, but did not really need.

Since then, I have generally been much more careful in what I take with me and this has resulted in my standard for years to take only one carry-on item when going. However, I always take an empty duffle bag of varying sizes in the likely event that I pick up odds and ends here and there. 

During this earlier time, I read an intriguing book, The Lost World of Quintana Roo, by Michel Peissel, in which he took a very large bag with what he thought he would need and went down the coast of the Quintana Roo section of Mexico. During this trip, he managed to see much of the Maya pre-Riviera, but he always had to pay someone to carry his belongings in the big bag. After all the treks and travel, Michel looked into the bag to find unused items on the bottom which had rotted and were useless anyway.

One thought to keep in  mind is that if you think something only might come in handy, it can easily be left behind. These travel catalogues that, for example,  harp on what might happen if you end up needing a travel sized curler set leave me cold. It is what you will  really need that is more important and, believe me, you won't see that in a catalog.

My idea about what clothing to bring for 1-4 weeks involves a couple of extra t-shirts, two extra pairs of pants, at least one of which should be shorts. Lately, I have gotten lazy and have begun taking 3-4  pairs of underwear and sox. The drying time in the Yucatán area is not long unless one wears denim, so a person can wash and air dry clothes most nights without much of a problem.

Some may ask "why bring long pants at all?" For someone hanging around a resort area, such an approach would be fine. However, for going into non-resort areas, I find it best to dress similar to the locals, because in a Maya village real men don't wear shorts. 

There is a certain freedom in not having to pack so heavily that one is at the mercy of others. I am often mistaken for someone who has overlooked that damned carousel as I head for Customs. Well, I have missed it and it is always intentional.

I think it is also a good idea to take a journal to write in and a book to read. A journal does wonders later to remind a person of the joys of a trip and a book is great for down times, such as a long bus ride or a quiet evening.

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However, I always like to rest up for a couple of days, preferably at a beach of some sort after any trip, particular to a Maya area. Anything more would be too much of a good thing for me. Here are my favorite ideas as to where to take it easy:

For Belize, Caye Caulker.  This beats the life out of Belize City and is somewhat better than Ambergris Caye for relaxing. Be sure to try the many variations of lobster when there, but don't pass up the lobster burgers and sweet and sour lobster.  It is simple to fly back from Caulker to the international airport, which is especially handy if you somehow got tired of relatively inexpensive lobster dinners and breakfasts.

For Guatemala, Antigua may seem an obvious choice. Although it is nowhere near a beach, it easily accessible to the Guatemala City airport in a cab or shuttle.  However,  if you are mostly heading to the Petén area, you might do better to fly in and out of Belize. If you want to see the highlands, an open jaw flight into Guatemala City, seeing what you want, followed by a bus trip or flight to Flores and a subsequent departure from Belize will allow for some snorkeling. If you deal with a consolidator or website, it may not cost much more to do it that way. The hassle is that Belize just raised its airport exit fee to $35 US.  

For my favorite area in Mexico, I prefer Isla Mujeres if there is not enough time to get to Punta Allen. To me, almost anything is better than staying in Cancún, or Snake Bar, which is what the name means in Yucatec Mayan. Although Isla is getting more and more touristy, it hasn't  gotten to the level of Cancún yet. 

You can also easily take a ferry back to the mainland and get a taxi to the airport after some particularly pleasant swimming and snorkeling for several days. A person does not even have to spend a lot of money, because this is a small island and most places are close to an ocean view. In fact, any place in town is relatively close to the North beach, and there are plenty of restaurants, both relatively cheap and expensive. However, you can spend a lot of money there if that is what makes you happy.

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You come into the airport at Cancún wondering what is going on. If you are going through customs, you may be tempted to change money at the one you see before that. Don't. That will be the worst exchange rate you see anywhere in Mexico. Even waiting a few minutes to get through customs will save you money. 

If you are already through customs when you fly in, that means that you were probably in Mexico City. If you were smart, you will have exchanged quite a bit of money at the bank there.  You are unlikely to get a better rate in Cancún.

If you come into the Cancún airport planning to go south, you may want to exchange a good amount of money at the airport, because you are unlikely to see anything much better if you are heading south of Playa del Carmen and are not going to Chetumal.

If you are going to Cancún or elsewhere nearby, you may want to exchange some money and get more, once you are situated.

There is a regular bus into Cancún that stops only at the first class bus station. There is also one going to Playa del Carmen. These are both at the far end of the domestic arrivals and departures area. If you are going south, you are probably best off heading to Playa and switching to a bus or combi there.

See this map of the airport. 

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It used to be outrageously expensive to rent a vehicle in Mexico. However, although it has gotten more reasonable in recent years, I do not foresee it getting cheaper than in the US. The bribery costs there will probably preclude that. Some suggestions to consider:

A basic car should do, unless you are taking a couple of weeks and want to get into the hinterlands with camping gear. Just rent the smallest car you need. 

Be sure to make arrangements at home on the Internet to have the best selection and you can do this with a Mexican company. By doing this, you get to see all the prices, not just those at the kiosks that have someone at them and you will not need to rely on the kindness of strangers.

In anywhere but Mexico, I would normally advise using a gold card and declining the extra insurance they want to soak you with. However, there, if there is an accident, there is a law that requires that drivers involved in an accident be held in lieu of posting a bond large enough to cover costs to other vehicles and property.

Plus, if you count on a gold card in Mexico and you don't make it perfectly clear that the insurance reimbursement should go directly to you, they will send it to the rental company in Mexico, who will supposedly credit your card. Right.  

This is something that can be done well. Keep in mind that if a woman traveler here or in much of Latin America wants to attract sexual attention, she should dress attractively. She should ignore how locally respectable women dress, show some skin and wear makeup. In this pursuit, shorts or a short dress are a must. If she believes such attention is inappropriate, she should do otherwise. It is all a matter of choice.

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