So now I guess it’s my turn to write a TR.
I’ve been in LA for a couple of weeks now and I had in mind before I came here to use up my two free Hyatt signup nights. My wife and I figured that we would leave our 22 month old by my in-laws for three days and we would go on vacation somewhere. Unfortunately for us though, in the end my mother in law was not be available to watch our son so we now had to make the hard choice: sell the two nights or take him with us. There was a strong option to bring along my wife’s younger sister as a baby-sitter, but this would only be possible if Hyatt would upgrade us to a suite so she can have her own room. Because we had no way of knowing if we would get that kind of upgrade (I’m only a Platinum member), we couldn’t take that chance. In the end we decided to take him with us, brave of us we know, but we figured how bad could it be. Yes there will be some places and things we cannot do, but oh well. We were long overdue for a vacation so we just decided to go for it.
After a quick call to The Hyatt Ziva in San Jose del Cabo to reserve the two nights, I then booked an AA flight using Avios from LAX>SJD for a total of 31,500 points plus $190 in taxes, and booked a standard class car from Hertz for $12 a day. I used Qatar airlines to add my AAdvantage number to our reservation to get everything that comes with it. Free bag, priority access, etc. I only got the free bag on the outbound flight cuz that was considered a domestic booking while on the way back it cost us $25 cuz it's considered international. (Does that make sense?) We had decided to rent a car because a cab to the hotel alone would cost nearly $40. Having a car would also give us the freedom of coming and going as we pleased. Turned out to be a great decision.
We got to the airport Monday morn well within enough time to catch our “international” flight but the agents were taking for freakin ever with each passenger. The lines weren’t even that long. I’ve never in my life seen such slow service from AA agents. By the time it was our turn we had missed the flight, and being that we had booked with Avios the agent told us that it was our responsibility now to call up British Airways and rebook the tickets ourselves. I was stunned and surprised at this, for it didn’t make any sense that it was now my responsibility to rebook this flight. I finally got ahold of British Airways and when the BA CSR had asked to speak to the AA rep, AA said “I’m sorry we are not allowed to take calls from private passengers.” WTF was I supposed to do now? Eventually a supervisor got involved and we overheard her scolding at the agent for making us call BA. “These are your customers and you have to make sure to take care of them properly.” Something like that. We finally got rebooked to the next nonstop, which was only 90 min later. Not to bad. Wouldn’t really mess with our plans anyway.
Nothing like flying on a plane that has barely 30 ppl on it!
Empty Flight by
Ben Smith, on Flickr
View of the resort from the plane
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Ben Smith, on Flickr
We finally arrived in Cabo to disembark onto the tarmac.
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Ben Smith, on Flickr
The weather was gorgeous. Not to hot, not to cold. The immigration process wasn’t complicated at all. We had filled out the forms on the airplane and gave them to the agents. They gave us back half the form, which was our tourist visa that we would need for the return flight. We then moved onto the next line, which is basically racial profiling. They ask you some questions about your purpose in Cabo. You then press a button, if it turns green, they don’t check your luggage and you’re free to go. If it turns red they stop you and check your bags. We were green and good to go! We stepped out of the terminal and were met with taxi drivers from every company offering you rides and timeshares! As long as you do not make eye contact with them they wont really bother you. We walked outside and among the music and vendors we found the Hertz driver waiting there with a sign with our name on it.
Bienvenido y Los Cabos by
Ben Smith, on Flickr
At the Hertz counter I asked if there was any chance of getting upgraded. At that point we were gonna get a Nissan Versa. He pointed to a Jeep Patriot or a Chrysler 200. He said for an extra $10 dollars a day he would give us those cars. Not worth it. I declined CDW as my CC covered that. We also got just theft insurance (it is Mexico after all) and rented a GPS. It really came in handy and I recommend you get one. We were told that my wife’s T-Mobile phone would work but in the end all we got was 3G speeds. Not to great. So a GPS is a must if you decide to rent a car. In the end the guy did in fact upgrade us for free to the Jeep Patriot. Nice!
our Jeep Patriot by
Ben Smith, on Flickr
And we were off the to the hotel. There are two main highways that go from the airport to the hotel. One is a toll road the other is free. We decided to take the toll road because we wanted to support the Mexican government. Kidding that would be crazy! We arrived at the resort and were brought into a private room to get our rooms. Guess that’s what you get for being Platinum. We had reserved a standard king room with a Garden View and was upgraded to a Grand Master King with an Ocean Front view. Absolutely gorgeous!
view from our room by
Ben Smith, on Flickr
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Ben Smith, on Flickr
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Ben Smith, on Flickr
view from the lobby by
Ben Smith, on Flickr
View from the Lobby
Some non kosher amenities were waiting for us, and we were able to get the fridge emptied out so we can put our stuff in it.
In room amenities by
Ben Smith, on Flickr
They don’t have any microwaves for the rooms but I was able to get them to heat up our pasta dishes for us. Double wrapped and sealed and brought back the same way I gave to them ensured a kosher v’yosher dish. It was already getting late by the time we were settled so we decided to take a stroll around the property and maybe check out the night life in downtown Cabo san Lucas which was about a 35 min drive from the hotel. We didn’t really get a chance to go into town cuz we got kinda lost on the way. Not many street signs and the GPS was acting a little loco. We ended up finding the Wal Mart, which was reportedly going to have some kosher food. It didn’t. We just got fresh produce instead.
20160111_185214 by
Ben Smith, on Flickr
It was always a dream of DW to go swimming with dolphins and Dolphin Discovery in Cabo is as good a place as any to try it out. We made the reservation in the hotel and a van came to pick us up and would drop us off when we were done. We weren’t skimping out on a dump “Dolphin Encounter” where all you get to do is touch them. We bought the Swim package for about $150 pp (our son was free) and this is when things got real.
Viewer Discretion Advised. As our tour got in the water down the staircase, I was still standing on the platform while my wife took our son into the water. As soon as his feet hit the water he started to cry, standard. I didn’t want to startle the rest of the group so I quickly jumped in to try and calm him down. As I landed in the water, my leg scraped against the railing slicing my leg open and leaving a deep gash.
20160113_113825 by
Ben Smith, on Flickr
It didn’t really hurt and I didn’t want to tell the trainer because he would not let me swim with them if I told him about it. So I didn’t. It looks a lot worse than it is I assure you. The actual swim was an incredible experience and I highly recommend you guys try it. At one point you lie flat on a boogie board and two dolphins push you with their noses flat up against the palm of your foot. So flippin’ cool. When I got out of the water I was like “hey, apparently I got bit by a dolphin”, JK I scraped my leg.” As soon as I got out of the water to look at my leg I knew I would need stitches. But hell no am I trusting a Mexican with my leg. So I bandaged it up and waited to return to the US to get the appropriate medical attention. As it turned out, it was too late for stitches so ill probably end up having a nice big scar. There was a photographer taking pictures the whole time and they were asking $40 per picture or $160 for a CD of 175+ pictures. Heck, I went for it and bought the CD. I’ll print them out for free from Walgreens or Snapfish when I get home.
Entrance to the San Jose del Cabo port by
Ben Smith, on Flickr
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Ben Smith, on Flickr
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Ben Smith, on Flickr
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Ben Smith, on Flickr
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Ben Smith, on Flickr
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Ben Smith, on Flickr
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Ben Smith, on Flickr
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Ben Smith, on Flickr
We got back to the hotel and then drove down to Cabo san Lucas where we took a private boat tour of Medano Beach. We stopped along the way for fresh coconuts, which a vendor was selling right off the highway. I can’t stand the taste of coconuts but at $3 each it was worth the Kodak moment.
20160112_151945 by
Ben Smith, on Flickr
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Ben Smith, on Flickr
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Ben Smith, on Flickr
Cocos Frios by
Ben Smith, on Flickr
We found a glass bottom boat tour online called Aries Tours, and for $12 pp we ended up getting our own private tour of the tip of Baja California. Down there you can find areas called Lovers Beach, vihamayven yavin,
Divorce Beach by
Ben Smith, on Flickr
Divorce Beach because it’s very dangerous to swim there
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Ben Smith, on Flickr
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Ben Smith, on Flickr
Pelican’s Rock
El Arco by
Ben Smith, on Flickr
Window to the Pacific by
Ben Smith, on Flickr
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Ben Smith, on Flickr
The famous El Arco and Window to the Pacific, where the Sea of Cortez meets the Pacific Ocean.
20160112_161040 by
Ben Smith, on Flickr
The tour guide said that the locals call this Scooby Doo. I’m not sure if he’s talking about the rock or the negative space between the two rocks.
upside down Baja California by
Ben Smith, on Flickr
Upside down Baja California
When the tour ended they asked us what else we wanted to do. But being that we were with out kid we couldn’t do what we really do anything else. They even told us that they have a harness for our kid if we wanted to go parasailing!!! Only in Mexico! By then we were pooped so we went back to the hotel to call it a night.
Checkout was at 12 pm so we couldn’t really go anywhere in the morning and our flight was not too long after that. I had wanted to go to the Glass Blowing factory, which can be found along the main highway on the way to Cabo but we didn’t have enough time. We ended up staying on the resort and took our son to the kid’s water park that they had on the premises. Very cute little area.
20160113_103923 by
Ben Smith, on Flickr
you can look online for proof but apparently about a month before we got to the hotel there was a massive birth of many sea turtles right on the hotel's beach. Pretty cool!
We checked out, returned the car, and went to the airport. There is a lounge club for ppl with Priority Club Lounge Access in the gate area, but I had forgotten my card at home. After another uneventful empty flight we were back home. The End
If you have any questions you can pm me. I would love to try and answer some of them.