Nadines Travel Blog

Cancun is a great place to vacation.  We have been coming here for decades, wow I just really dated myself there.  In fact, we first came to Cancun in 1995, almost 30 years ago and it has not lost its allure yet.  When I booked that summer holiday in 1995, I had never even heard of Cancun Mexico.  Neither had anyone else in my friendship and family circle.  I had been to PV and Mazatlan, Mexico before but Saskatchewan was not familiar with Cancun.  I fell in love quickly with a few things.  I played a lot of beach volleyball so that was a good fit, I loved the beach and I have always loved the Mexican people.  The weather is perfect, warm and humid with a breeze.  I love history and the sites of the Mayan pyramids are abundant here.  I also fell in love with margaritas, the perfect cocktail. We continued coming to Cancun and longed to own a little piece of Cancun and finally purchased a timeshare here in 2008. The Caribbean waters are turquoise and I never get tired of gazing at the wa

 The Royal Sands in Cancun Mexico has been our Christmas home for  2 decades.  We love it here!  The Sands does an incredible job of decorating the place for the holidays.  Once we enter the lobby of the Sands, we can see right through the front windows of the breathtaking Caribbean waters and we know we are home.  The colour of the water just never gets old. Even riding up the glass elevator and seeing the vast expanse of the lagoon is pretty. The quick rain storms that sometimes sweep by provide some very dramatic skies like you see below.   The beach changes every year that we return to the Royal Sands. It ebbs and flows just like a giant sandbar. There are many daily activities at the Sands that our family partakes in.  There is Beach Volleyball at 3:00 pm every day except check-in day.  Darren sometimes does the Blackjack at 4:00 pm.  There is Happy Hour down at the Beach from 3-6:00 pm.  They do make the best Margaritas and Chocolate Monkeys.   The Sports bar has Karaoke twice a

 The Royal Islander in Cancun is a great place to stay on the beach in the Hotel Zone of Cancun.  We had a two-bedroom/two-bathroom timeshare unit that we very much enjoyed.  The balconies are very large with lots of space to move around and watch the waves of the turquoise Caribbean waters.  The balcony has two lounge chairs and a table with 4 chairs and there is plenty more space for other furniture. The C shape of the building, opening up to the beach and water is fairly typical of the Royal Resorts.  This way every unit gets an ocean view and the pool areas are in the center of the C shape. The kitchens are very well equipped so that you can make most types of meals.  This kitchen does include an oven which a lot of Mexican timeshares do not.  There is a large dining area and living room which has access to the balcony.  Each bedroom side includes a large walk-in closet, and the sink area which is quite large is separated from the tub and the toilet area.  This allows two people to

 We needed one night and a close shuttle to LAX.  This was a fairly new hotel with a new design in its studio rooms that we have never seen before.  In fact, there were quite a few things that we had never seen before in a hotel at this stop. This place had a great lobby with a beautiful panorama shot of LA. The kitchen was a full kitchen and we could have cooked a gourmet meal in it.  This had a larger kitchen, better equipped and newer than most timeshares that we have been in.  It had tons of counter space, which was kind of a shame because we did not get a chance to cook in the kitchen. The bathroom was one of the larger bathrooms that we have seen with a gigantic shower, it was really impressive and I liked the design.  The bed was really comfy but we had to get up early to catch a flight so we did not get to enjoy it long enough. We were on the 11th floor with great views of LA and the surrounding airport.  Watching planes land and take off is super cool when you are high up in a

 If you have never been to Palm Springs, then it is time that you checked it out.  We have been here at least 6 times and we have stayed in different cities in the Greater Palm Springs area each time.  There are 9 cities that make up this area.  We liked each one of them. The views of the snow-capped mountains are breathtaking.   If you look at the photo to the right more carefully, you can see the windmills that create energy for the Palm Springs area. Palm Springs arguably has the prettiest bougainvillea plants anywhere in the world.  The plants, flowers and cactuses make this desert area very pretty. There is tons of shopping and Outlets in this area if you are into binge shopping, you can shop till you drop. There are countless things to do here.  It is a mecca for hiking trails, climbers and joggers because there is no snow except at about 8000 feet up in the mountains.  There are hot springs to visit and soak in.   Joshua Tree National Park is close and it is a must-see.  There i

Tahquitz Canyon was a great one-and-a-half-hour hike that leads you up into the canyon. This Canyon is on the Agua Calienti Reservation land so there is a cost and it is $15 per adult.  We had $2.50 off each of us, because we went to another trail on reservation land, so they gave us the discount. A good view of Palm Springs even at the bottom of the Canyon.  If you look you can see thousands of Palm trees There is free parking and a Visitor Center where you can watch a quick little movie about theTahquitz legend.  There is a small gift shop and this is where the bathrooms are located.  You have to have 16 oz of water per person on you or they won't let you up into the canyon.  You can buy water there for $2 per bottle.   The rocks and the boulders here are sublime and I stopped numerous times just to stare at these gigantic things.   There are ancient irrigation systems up in this Canyon that the Agua Calienti used. There is a lot of history in these canyon walls. In some areas, i