Savannah, Tybee, and Hilton Head

Since the first post about Tulum and Soliman Bay was so well received, I thought I'd write a few more reports that might help people out. We have vacationed in Savannah twice, and I don't waste a lot of time going back places unless they are really worth it! Especially not a place that is going to be that far of a drive with 2 kids in the back seat! But Savannah is totally worth it! It is a dream town and destination that should be on everyone's list of places to see. For this trip I budgeted about $200 a day (including gas) and had free hotel nights. So we had a total of $1500 to spend while there. I did go ahead and buy the tickets to 6 flags before we left, so they are not included in our budget.

Since Savannah is such a long drive from home, we stop along the way in Atlanta to spend the night. I got us tickets online to Six Flags at a pretty good rate, and we spent another night in Atlanta after. I would recommend Six Flags to those that haven't taken their kids to the ones in St. Louis or Dallas, because it is a fun day for kids. The other year we stopped there and toured the Coca Cola Museum and the Georgia Aquarium. I love me some Coke, but didn't find the museum to be as cool as I thought it might be. The Aquarium on the other hand was awesome! Highly recommend that for kids of all ages. From Atlanta, we left our hotel after breakfast and were to Savannah by lunch.

The first time we went to Savannah, we just booked a hotel online with points and thought that would be a good base of operations for our trip. It ended up being fine, but not ideal. Since we were unfamiliar with Savannah we didn't know we really wanted to be around River Street. So on our second trip to Savannah we remedied that. We booked the Staybridge on River Street- one of our favorite hotels chains on the most beautiful street. But that wasn't all we expected either- for those who have stayed on beach front locations before you will understand when I say that everything in there felt damp and smelled a little musty. The proximity to the bay just made it impossible for anything in our room to dry out. But we didn't spend a lot of time in the room, and I figure most everywhere in the area would have been the same situation.

While in Savannah, one MUST eat at The Lady and Sons. It is Paula's place, and does not disappoint. You must go and get in line outside in the morning to get a reservation, and you will get a time. Whatever your time is, plan the rest of your day around that! Her chicken is to die for and the vegetables are all great and VERY southern. We eat there every time we go at least once. One trip we ate at Love's Seafood, of Forrest Gump fame. it was really good, but took a long time- so bear that in mind. We also ate at a neat pirate bar aptly named The Pirate's House. There was a pirate that took you on tours and told the history of the place, which originated the term "Shanghaied" after several sailors got a little too drunk there and found themselves sold into servitude on a ship headed to Shanghai. Neat place, great food, historic atmosphere, and also prominently featured on the ghost tours...

Speaking of ghost tours, that's what Savannah is famous for. It's the most haunted city in America! We have taken the Ghosts and Graveyards tour each time, and really enjoyed it. Lots of haunted history and a good time too. We also toured the world famous Bonaventure Cemetery, which is beautiful and eerie. There are many other sights to be seen for free in Savannah, to walk river street, window shop, take in one or a few of the squares, it is a beautiful place to walk. We found Savannah Honey shop and other cool places just walking the squares. I love the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and to walk past the homes mentioned in the book and to see their grandeur was a real book nerd moment for me.Speaking of the squares, one square has a plaque stating that in this place in 1776 the Declaration of Independence was read. Amazing!

We toured a revolutionary war fort, Fort Jackson. It was cool, and a great way to spend a couple hours learning about the wars of 1812, the Revolutionary War, and the Civil War, when the fort was in use. We saw Indian Mounds on the way there as well. And of course, we also hit the beach. Tybee is just a 20 minute jaunt from town and Hilton Head, though a little further, is very unique and awesome to go to as well. I love Tybee! It is everything that Gulf Shores isn't- it is calm, family oriented, no angry drunk people yelling at my kids, and it is not very crowded. We spent a couple days there and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves each time. Hilton Head was a day trip for us into a wonderland. Everyone staying there parks their cars and rides bikes all week. At the outlet mall, at TGIFridays, there are bikes parked everywhere! Bicycles, bicycles built for 2, etc. It is really cool and had an awesome vibe to it. We took a dolphin tour (I found online for less than half price) and swam and shopped and had a great day. Again, these are family places as opposed to condos full of frat boys. Much more my vibe and with some history built in too.

Many nights in Savannah we would do little caesars hot and ready pizzas. Ok- don't judge! That $10 supper meant I was saving money for other things, especially when the kids are kind of picky about food. I also found great deals on living social and groupon for the candy stores on river street, River Street Sweets and Savannah's candy kitchen. I bought some "$10 for $20 worth of candy" coupons from each site and we got several gifts there to bring back to family and friends plus some pralines and other sweets for us. There are lots of jokes about me couponing vacation, but hey- I have a set amount I will spend and no more! And all these little things mean my kids get to do more than they would have. I love it and truthfully they do too. Generally we try and eat one or maybe 2 "nice" places per vacation and the kids are tolerant of that as long as we have other meals like pizza they would prefer on other days. It also saves our budget for other experiential things to not be spending so much money on food every day. We took a cooler in the truck so on the beach we had sandwiches and snacks and drinks. We did buy ice cream and other snacks at the beach too, but I remember one day when we went to Tybee, we spent $12 out of our $200 budget that day. That meant a lot more money for the outlet malls at Hilton Head ;) The key is to stick to your budget so you don't feel guilty later, but to also be sure you have enough money in there so you are not scrimping on important things.

Tulum and Soliman Bay Mexico, Summer 2015

Well here it is- the trip review of summer vaca 2015. I have had lots of people ask me to put this together so I'm giving it a shot. Feel free to message or email me with any specific questions that aren't covered.

First thing first- planning the vacation... I start a year out and sometimes more planning our summer vacations. I decide on the place then immediately figure out my price point for that summer. I pay for everything with money I already have, so I don't want to get myself into a situation where I overspend and charge things that end up taking away from the next summer's vacation. So the planning is where I start, about a year in advance, and keep in mind the entire time what my budget is.

This year's vacation in Tulum was no accident- Cy has always wanted to go to a place "where the water looks like that." This is generally uttered as a commercial of beautiful Caribbean ocean is displayed. So I knew I wanted the Caribbean for him, as he was such a good sport last year going to his least favorite spot in the world, Disney. I looked at several Caribbean islands and things we could do at each, but none had the draw of Mexico and Central America because that's where the Mayan ruins were. I like to plan vacations that have a learning or historical aspect to them, and seeing Mayan pyramids was a lifelong wish of mine. So Cy would get his water and I would get my ruins.

Of course, from Mexico or Central America I needed to narrow some more. I knew the back to back hotels of Cancun did not appeal to us as a family. Playa del Carmen is getting to be more and more like Cancun, so I knew I wanted to stick south of there. Tulum was on the radar again and again because it is such a hot spot right now. An hour and a half or less south of the bustle of Cancun, full of movie stars, hippies, supermodels and Iguanas, this laid back dusty little Mexican town sounded like a place I had to see. I knew I didn't want to stay in a hotel, I wanted a beach house with a private beach (again for Cy who does not like crowds and yet did Disney last year anyway because he loves me, lol). I got on websites such as homeaway, trip advisor, and others to look at beach houses. Turns out the homes on the beach in Tulum were very limited and very pricey. Say $7,000 a week and up. So I expanded the search a bit to include beach side communities nearby Tulum. Tankah and Soliman Bay came up, with homes that were much more reasonable (and some just as pricey) and I started to email folks.

We wanted at least 2 bedrooms and bathrooms, air conditioning, a beach front/ocean front location, and a pool. You can enter all these things into the search filters, and I came up with Casa Gordon, or Villa Paraiso Tankah, for $1300 for 7 nights. Well within my price point and he was willing during "Shoulder season" (the season after their busy season and right before hurricane season) to allow us to book a Wednesday-Wednesday rental. That made airfare 40% cheaper. Always try and fly on Tuesdays or Wednesdays if you can, as it will save a lot of money. I had free flights with Southwest Airlines rapid rewards points. Even so, the points amounts required to book a flight from Memphis to Cancun were considerably cheaper on Wednesdays than on Fridays. So always keep this in mind if you have flexibility with when you can fly. We were only required to pay the taxes on our flights, which amounted to about $74 per person. There are flights out of Memphis on Southwest for $400 or under round trip, and I have heard recently that other airlines like American are flying there for around $300 round trip. So if this is within your budget, Tulum would be a good place to consider.

Next thing to figure out was rental car. There are many, many horror stories about renting cars in Mexico. Don't be afraid. I rented from Hertz and got a pretty decent discount by googling "Hertz discounts June 2015." Found codes online and booked. Our rate was under $200 for the week and the car and service were just fine. No changing of our rates or acting like we had to have an extra $200 in insurance once we got there. The rate I booked was what we were charged. I did contact my credit card company before hand and made sure I had extra insurance through them (I did) just in case something happened while in Mexico. We were safe, covered, and had no issues driving there after the first day. The first day was a bit shocking, just seeing how everyone drove around us (lol) but once I figured that out I just drove defensively and aggressively and we were fine.

We got to the house and LOVED IT. For the price we paid it could not be beat. The bedrooms were the only things that were air conditioned, but this is very common in that area. Everyday we opened the front door and the sliding glass beach front doors and had a wonderful breeze through the living room. It was plenty comfortable in there. We would retreat to the bedrooms once it got pretty dark and we thought we should shut the doors. The area was the north end of Tankah, just a couple hundred meters and 3 houses south of Soliman Bay, and we were in a gated, heavily guarded community. There were probably 30 or more security guys on the length of the road and we never once felt unsafe at the house or in the Tulum area, about 10 minutes to our south. We had beautiful rocks right outside the house where Sports Illustrated shoots have taken place. A short 200 meter walk to the north and we were at Soliman Bay, a beautiful sheltered cove and wonderful snorkeling area with lots of reefs and wildlife. We saw lobsters, 2 different types of sting rays, dozens if not more kinds of brightly colored tropical fish, and more. In addition, Chamico's, a wonderful restaurant I read reviews about online, was right there on the bay. We walked to it once to eat and again to take Caroline's senior pictures. Close access to Chamico's and the bay was really by accident, but we are so glad we stayed where we did. Tulum to the south of us was experiencing a terrible seaweed bloom and the beaches at our house and the bay were virtually seaweed free. We didn't realize how bad it was to our south until we visited the beach at the Tulum ruins (seaweed floating in the water from the shore to at least 30 meters out) and also further south on Tulum Beach. So we had planned to spend at least a day or two there, but quickly changed our plans once we saw the seaweed situation. Luckily, we did not have to go there for a beach as we had a great one right out our door at the house. Just goes to show you sometimes all the research in the world and even Trip Advisor's best beaches in the world lists can be wrong and you have to be flexible.

Activities- of course me being me I way over researched things to do. I contacted people who had stayed in the area (and in the house) before to get ideas. Everyone agreed on the same things that were awesome. 1- swimming with sea turtles at Akumal; 2) swimming in a cenote, and Dos Ojos was the highest ranked; and 3) going to ruins, Coba if you can so you can climb them. We did all three, and everyone was right. I believe it cost us $12 for all four of us to enter Coba. We climbed the tallest pyramid in Mexico and it was AWESOME. Indescribable feeling and just the best experience. It was not easy, and it was dangerous. People fall off and die every year, so taking Kaiser up there was nerve wracking, but he understood the seriousness and was fine up and down. Also Cy is deathly afraid of heights, so 130 steps to rise 138 feet was a major mind over matter challenge for him. But he is a great sport and did fine as well. Swimming with the turtles at Akumal we paid a guide $100 for the four of us, and that included our snorkeling equipment, an hour and a half tour around Akumal bay and photos of the turtles as well. After the fact Cy felt like we could have done this on our own and saved the $100. This is true- it is free access in and if you have your own equipment you could do the same things. We did not have life jackets with us, but had everything else. If and when we return, we would definitely save the $100 and do it on our own for free. Having said that, I was told it would cost $200 for the 4 of us beforehand and had set that money aside. So I didn't feel like we got a bad deal! The the last day we went to Dos Ojos cenote- it was just a few miles from our house and we paid $100 again for a guide and an hour and a half tour through 3 cenotes. They asked us if we were all good swimmers, and Cy answered that we were. They had life jackets, but acted like we would not need them. I would encourage everyone who goes to get the life jackets! We made it just fine, but treading water in 35 foot deep areas while wearing fins was challenging for Caroline, Cy and myself and an impossibility for Kaiser. At the end of the second cenote Kaiser was holding onto me and dragging me under! I got our guide to give Kaiser a life preserver and from there on out we were all ok, but very,very tired. We had planned to also do another cenote, Casa cenote which was right by our house, after we got back but the kids were worn out and vetoed Cy on that one right away. So all in all, we spent $212 on three days worth of activities and that wasn't so bad I didn't think. The other days we snorkeled at the house, swam in the ocean, walked the beach, went to town and window shopped, etc. We lazed in the hammocks, swam in the pool, read our beach books, and sunned a little. It was a perfect mix of relaxation and activity! There is plenty to do anytime you want, and if you would rather stay at the house you can't beat the view.

Eating- aside from Chamicos, we just ate another couple places. We had a wonderful lunch at Don Carletos, a local joint in Tulum that is rumored to be owned by a local Mafia don. I don't know about that, but they had live music and great food, and the four of us got out of there for under $35 with tip and several drinks included. We also ate in Tankah Bay at Casa Cenote, and did not like it. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good, and with lots of great choices in the area we would not recommend it or go back there again. Chamicos, we had SO much food including lobster (Kaiser), ceviche (me), and shrimp plates (Caroline and Cy) and it was AWESOME. If in the area this is a MUST do. We also had Gianni (home owner) cook for us one night and he made enough chicken fajitas for probably 8 people! We ate that one night, then warmed it up for breakfast tacos with our eggs the next 2 mornings. Speaking of eggs, we stopped at the local grocery store Chedraui and got all the things we needed food wise for the entire week. We found the Chedraui to be super clean and have a very good (if not a little different than at home) selection of food. Many things were priced super cheap compared to home (20 oz cokes in the coolers by the registers less than 50 cents,compared to $1.59 or so at home) and other things like bacon were pretty expensive comparably speaking. Mexican eggs were FANTASTIC! They tasted a lot better than the eggs I usually buy in America, and the yolks were super super yellow. I don't know if it's because they were laid by "Real" non genetically engineered chickens or what, but they were great. As for the rest of our groceries, we got the usual stuff we do at home. Cy cooked burgers one night, I made spaghetti, and Cy cooked chicken one night as well. We cooked breakfast everyday (bacon and eggs some, cinnamon rolls some, and cereal) and never had to worry about dishes as Gianni and his girlfriend Sue came in each day at 11 to wash them and clean the house.

I would be remiss not to mention that our house sat on the point which is renowned for its number of turtle nests. We had at least 6 turtles lay eggs during our stay right in front of the house. They were everywhere! It was exciting to get up in the morning and run out to see if one had been there. Cy tried to stay up the last night to catch a turtle coming up out of the sea. He got up every 15 or 20 minutes til midnight and did not see one. In the morning FOUR had come in and laid their eggs and he missed them! haha they were probably watching him and waiting until the house lights were off. At any rate, it is a magical special place. I hope this report gives you an idea price wise of how you could get there and also about the things to do. We truly enjoyed it and I am 100% sure we will return.

If you have any questions please ask! And I would be happy to give you Gianni's contact info if you are interested in the house. All photos are our own from vacation.