Yes, our international travel to beautiful Yucatan, Mexico will be our first stop! Merida will be the first stop for international travel on our grand adventure! Tickets bought -Check! Initial housing set up – Check! We are so psyched right now. We have been patiently waiting all through 2020 for the world to get back to normal & finally decided what will ‘normal’ be? What the heck, lets buy tickets & get a flight. So we made the decision to jump out on our grand international travel in May of this year! Coming from south central Texas, we are ready for whatever type weather greets us!
How Did Mexico Make The First Top for International Travel?
Mexico has been on our Bucket List since day one for our first stay. Not any city in particular had priority over another at first. But after research, watching videos & hearing from expats who made the jump, Merida seems to fit all our wants for our first jump. Of course, other cities we had considered were Mexico City, Lake Chapala, Ajijic & more but in the end Merida seemed to be calling our names in regards to what we are looking for in a longer stay. I’m not saying we will not but we may well visit these cities at another time.
Pueblo, for instance. The photo below is calling us. How lovely are the colors! We’ll see if they get a visit from us?
We love the warmness of the Mexican culture & that was our main draw along, of course, with all the gorgeous sights to see. Really, just because it was our first stay our of country we decided to stay closer to US for the first jaunt. Other countries that were top contenders are still on our Bucket List – Portugal & Thailand are definitely up for an extended stay as well. Back to Mexico….
Why Did Mexico Rate at Top of Our List?
Quite simply, economically it is a no brainer when you compare Mexico to the U.S. for so many reasons. If you are a homeowner as we were until January of this year, you know the forever costs to maintain a house & the bills that go along with it. Real estate taxes, personal taxes, insurance for health – auto – property, utilities, groceries alone are absolute necessities for day to day life. If you are in the lucky percent who have great employment that allows you health & the monies to support your family then you can count yourself lucky.
Don’t get me started on the “keeping up with the Jone’s mentality” of folks who have to have the next best material item on the market but continuously complain of debt, etc. Phones, electronics, gadgets, please my brain goes numb just thinking of the dollars blown by folks everyday just trying to keep up with the next. What does this get you? More bills, higher credit cards, having to work longer to pay off those cards, etc. Just doesn’t make sense to us.
We were one of those families who maintained a somewhat low key lifestyle. We have at times splurged on ‘things’ like the Suburban or iPhones but were able to pay down quickly or in full vs making monthly payments foreverrrrrrrr. As I have mentioned plenty of times before it was all about setting goals & a budget to allow The Big Guy & I to not have to work in order to travel internationally albeit on a budget. We set our goals to pay off what we owe, sell everything & move [or at least do some extensive international travel] instead of just living our years out. We want to LIVE our years enjoying every moment making memories & not really have a care in the world other than to worry about which country to visit next. After having traveled & seeing how others live in foreign countries for much less our eyes were opened.
Mexico is just one of the countries that checked off everything we have been looking for us. Basically Mexico was a YES for almost everyone of our Top 20 Concerns we put together prior to our selecting a country for a stay. We have an initial 3 week place when we land in May but plan to be out & about looking/comparing if we want an apartment or small house to rent for balance of our stay. We are also going to look at hotel rentals as that may well be an option as well. Follow us on YouTube as we check out the housing options once we have landed!
Merida – How we decided on our initial Mexico city!
It sometimes feels like we just did closed our eyes & point at the map! There are so many cities we want to visit in Mexico that honestly I see us spending as much time as possible in that country. You saw the photo above of Pueblo! What’s not to love about that photo?
San Miguel de Allende was initially going to be our first stop. The big pull was the Monarch Butterfly migration but that is basically from November to March – outside of our time-frame on this first visit so that will be another trip.
Mexico City was given some serious thought but again maybe a shorter stay would be warranted for this city in the future. From what I’ve read it looks like we probably should do a week to ten day stay here but even in a short few days I think we would be able to see a lot with
All three cities addressed MOST of all our desires along with many other cities but Merida was the over the top choice for our initial international travel on a budget!
Here is what we know…
We do not want to be close to the US & Mexico border, Baja peninsula or in a heavily touristy area.
We knew we wanted to be close to a major airport for our initial flight. We did want to have access to travel options for walkabouts & to be able to educate ourselves within the locals, culture & language. We have specific sights we want to see in the Yucatan – ruins, anything nature, water, etc.
Bottom line, we liked everything we have been hearing & reading about Merida & thought why not? Here we come! 45 days & counting!
Happy Travels! Follow along to see what we see.