The Cold Open
There's an older man in a vest at the grocery store in Playa del Carmen, and he bagged our groceries like it was something that mattered. I almost walked right past it. Then I found out he doesn't get a paycheck. Mexico has a program that gives seniors a place to stand at the end of the checkout, bagging for tips, so they keep their work and their dignity at the same time. Nobody prints the rule on a sign. The whole town just knows it: if someone bags your groceries, you take care of them, because that tip is the income.
You don't learn that from a lounge chair behind a gate. You learn it in line with everyone else, buying the same eggs, when someone who's from there tells you what you're looking at.
That's the whole difference in what I do. I'll book you the resort, and I'll tell you the truth about it. I can also walk you past the wall, because I know the people on the other side of it.
The People
Other advisors know Mexico. I know who's in it.
Joaquin and John run an excursion company on the coast called Living Dreams Mexico, and they take my travelers out on the water. Ben and Darrin each have a villa I can put you in, the kind with a gate, a cook, and nobody you didn't invite. Jeremie works in real estate and private investments down there, so when something needs arranging that was never on a menu, I have a call to make. Henri tends bar at one resort, Diego waits tables at another, and Fernando works for the company that runs several of the resorts and the transfers between them, which means when a flight runs late or a plan changes, the person fixing it already knows my name.
I remember the number and the story and sometimes forget the title. What I don't forget is who treats people right.
What I Can Open
Things I can arrange that you can't book on your own:
- A private chef in your villa, cooking what your family actually eats.
- A cenote to yourselves before the day crowds, just the water and the light coming down through the rock.
- A private cooking class or tequila tasting that's yours, not a busload's.
- A daybed or a table at a day club or a lagoon, already handled before you walk up.
- A wedding for everyone you love, or a girls' trip for six, run start to finish by people I can vouch for by name.
I've planned the big private wedding and the small girls' getaway out of the same address book.
The Honest Fit
Here's what I won't do. I won't decide for you.
Some families want the all-inclusive with the buffets, the activities, and a hundred people to talk to, and that's a genuinely good trip for them. I'll find the right one and tell you which rooms actually face the water. Other families want the opposite: a private villa for a reunion, the chef and the housekeeping and the spa coming to them, nobody at the pool they didn't bring. Both are right. The work is figuring out which one is right for you, and that starts with understanding what you actually need, which is the whole point of the quiz below and the conversation after it.
When I travel, my family comes with me. As long as I'm with them, I'm already home.
Proof
I book people who live in Mexico to other parts of Mexico. When the locals hire you to show them their own country, that tells you something.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Depends on your family, and I'll tell you honestly which fits. The all-inclusive is a great trip for some; a private villa with a chef is right for others.
Yes. A private chef in your villa, cooking for your group only.
Open doors a wristband doesn't reach: a cenote before the crowds, a chef in your kitchen, and the people who actually live there.
Riviera Maya, Tulum, Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Isla Mujeres, Holbox, Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos, Oaxaca, and Mexico City.
Yes. I won't promise a place is perfectly safe, because nobody honest can, but I won't send you in blind either.
Yes. If your client wants Mexico and you'd rather hand it to someone who knows the ground, that's a call I'm glad to take.
So here's my question.
Do you want the trip everyone takes, or the one only the people who live there could have shown you?
Tell me which, and let's build it.
For travel advisors: if your client wants Mexico and you'd rather hand it to someone who knows the ground, email me at nicci@travelghr.com or text 618-954-7979.