Travel Blog

Actually, I don’t have my passport yet, but I pulled all the documents together yesterday and applied for one. For whatever reason, this feels important to me. Other than Mexico and Canada, I have never been to a foreign country, but I desperately want to travel.

The good thing is that they are functional down there. I wouldn’t let anything I just said about the damage stop any one from going. The service was outstanding. The people were just fabulous. The beaches everywhere looked picturesque.

If you haven't heard about Juan Manuel Lozano perhaps you should. Lozano has devoted most of his life to building a personal jetpack at his home 50 miles south of Mexico City. Along the way he has invented and sold a distiller for 90% pure Hydrogen Peroxide (which he uses to fuel his jetpack) and a super efficient "Penta M" catalyst pack which converts the fuel into steam.

The second week was pure luxury: fully inclusive at the Aventura Palace. Cocktails, snacks and meals virtually 24/7. Apart from sunbathing and swimming we walked and cycled to the nearby port where we swam with dolphins. What an experience! We also took the courtesy bus to a sister hotel to visit their zoo and snorkel in their lagoon.

In a different dream I was visiting the family ranch in Mexico, again finding myself without my camera. The dream was lush and haunting and beautiful in a way I’ve never dreamed before, intense and, ultimately, so melancholy my heart wanted to break; in the dream my every sense was hyperalert, and the details of the arid and rolling scrub of northern Mexico were clearer, broader, more vivid, more alive than at any previous time in any of my dreams before. Breathtaking, the dream may have been visualized more clearly than any of the times I’ve physically visited Mexico. My Spanish was fluent, my grandmother and uncles and cousins were wonderful to interact with, to speak to, to listen to, but ultimately the unyielding theme of the dream was: I was never going to return, this was the last time I would be able to dream of Mexico, of the desert, this would be the last time this place and I could be together. In the dream itself I could scarcely breathe, at this realization, and on waking I nearly wept, as if there was some prophecy in it, as if I honestly would never be able to again set eyes on my grandmother…

A week ago we were in Chiapas in the south of Mexico with no plans to venture into Central America, but again proximity got the better of us, and now we’re in Antigua quite close to Guatemala city for the next two weeks.

Most travellers we have met along the way who have been to Mexico advised us to skip Acapulco... but I'm glad we didn't listen to them. The place has a real kitch appeal that could only be achieved after years of exploitation by a money hungry tourism industry. Now, in the aftermath of Acapulco's hey-day, stands a town built on mosaic tiles and impractical 1980's playboy architecture.

The storm is expected to remain a Category 4 storm until it makes landfall, meteorologist Chris Landsea of the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. That’s now predicted for Saturday somewhere between northern Mexico and western Louisiana, most likely in Texas.

If there is one thing I am learning in México, it is how to answer this question. Guilt, in its infancy, is a small, persistent pain, like needle pricks. The dullness of these pricks leaves me with a tangible fear of having been given too much. Walking the streets of Mexico City, a woman, missing an eye, holds our her hand, her other eye rolling miserably in its socket. A man, shamelessly sits with his jeans rolled up to display a leg that has eaten itself, the skin clinging unnaturally to the bone. Children dance around your legs, asking for money so they can get high on glue in the alleys at sundown. Men huddle in the parks, the burning stakes of the Inquisition looming within the shadows of the trees. A prostitute, her face surreal with blue and purple makeup, walks with her eyes vast and empty, knowing too much and owning too little, not even her own life.

But despite this, France remains the most popular holiday destination for Britons, with 83 per cent of people having visited the country, followed by Spain at 77 per cent. The USA is the third most-visited country for people in the UK, with Italy and Greece making up the rest of the top five.

But while European destinations dominate the top 20 most-visited countries, Canada, Australia, Tunisia, Thailand and Malaysia also make it on to the list. Mexico, Morocco, Singapore, Egypt, South Africa, the Dominican Republic, India and Jamaica are all in the top 30.

Have I also mentioned that I’m thinking of a trip to Mexico this fall? I’m planning on a cost of about $3,000.. That’s including airfare for me and half of someone else. Cause I know that no one I know can afford it, so I think if I offer to pay half they could. Plus the hotel is only $25 american a night. So that’s dead cheap. I’m just not sure WHO to ask, or WHEN to go. I kinda want to ask Jed, or Jenkins, cause they would both be fun to go with. But I haven’t hung out with Jed in years, and well they are both...

Before boarding her flight to Mexico, she notified authorities about the .25-caliber handgun in her fanny pack.

The Puerto Vallarta Fideicomiso de Turismo announces that in addition to its current flight program, United Airlines will now offer additional flights from Denver, Colorado and San Francisco, California into Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on its low fare service carrier, TED. These new flights are on track to launch this December, just in time for warm winter vacations.

Ted, the new low-fare service from United Airlines, has added the highly demanded daily flights from these west coast cities, both key travel origins for Puerto Vallarta. The Puerto Vallarta Tourism Trust is pleased with the mutual benefits of United Airline’s added flights and views this as an opportunity to expand the destination’s tourism reach even further.

Alfredo Rosas, Director of the Puerto Vallarta Tourism Trust stated, “We recognize and appreciate the great potential of these new United Airlines flights. The Puerto Vallarta Tourism Board is looking forward to working closely with United Airlines in order to appropriately and effectively market these new flights.”

Whether vacationing travelers are heading to Mexico in search of a warmer holiday season or simply to bask in its tranquil setting, United Airlines will continue to make Puerto Vallarta even more accessible for travelers.

The Gulf of Mexico is off there to your right as you cruise this part of the Gulf Coast, and the great state of Mississippi gives you plenty of access to the water – unlike my hometown, but that’s another story. Well, here goes anyway: If Florida politicians got ahold of this stretch of property, they’d sell out to the highest bidder before the ink was dry and the people be damned. The entire view would be blocked out by blocky, generic, high-rise condominiums, and only the rich would get salt air in their lungs.

“I love Mexico,” Hilton, star of the TV reality series “The Simple Life,” told reporters in Mexico City Tuesday. “The people are so nice.”

Read more at Paris Hilton promotes wares in Mexico

Any dish in Mexico that's labeled "suiza" can be attributed to the country's Swiss immigrants. Many of these immigrants gravitated to the dairy country and ended up producing cheeses, yogurt and a version of creme fraiche called crema Mexicana. These enchiladas are some of the richest and most delicate in Mexico. Accompany with a green salad and a small serving of beans or rice.

US President George W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, and Mexican President Vicente Fox unveiled the proposal after talks at Baylor University, to be followed by lunch at Bush's nearby ranch.

But the road looms as large as a 16-lane superhighway in Mexico's political landscape as the country contemplates who's likely to emerge victorious in next year's presidential election.

"I love Mexico," Hilton, star of the TV reality series "The Simple Life," told reporters in Mexico City Tuesday. "The people are so nice."

The American football league would shift a home game of the Arizona Cardinals against the San Francisco 49ers to Mexico City's 100,000-seat Aztec Stadium under a proposal in the works.

Sébastien Loeb and his Citroen are the comeback kings of the Rally of Mexico at the weekend (11-13 March 2005) after a staggering final day performance saw the Frenchman take an average of half a second per kilometre out of his two main rivals to leap frog into fourth place after a disastrous first day had dropped him back to 18th place in the second round of the World Rally Championship.

And when Bogut (19 points, 16 rebounds) triggered a 9-2 run that gave the Utes a 49-48 lead with 3:35 left — their first since midway through the first half — New Mexico responded. Alfred Neale slammed home a miss for a 50-49 lead. David Chiotti made a move that felled Bogut and led to an easy layup.

Armin Schwarz ended the opening day of Rally Mexico -- the third round of the 2005 World Rally Championship - in 12th position as the �koda Motorsport World Rally Team debuted the new Fabia WRC05. Armin has had no technical problems today but, as this is his first time competing in Mexico he has not yet been able to find full speed on stages that are fast and slippery.

Slim, the son of Lebanese immigrants, first made his money in retail then branched into telecommunications with the purchase of former telephone monopoly Telefonos de Mexico, or Telmex, which remains Mexico's dominant carrier. It was the start of a buying spree targeting other telecom companies throughout the Americas.

From Air Travel Center Airfare Specials.

Ida e volta: Taxas incluidas: Precios en los USD a menos que este observado: Buenos Aires (EZE) to: Santiago (SCL) 159, San Pablo (GRU) 276, Navegantes (NVT) 293, Rio de Janeiro (GIG) 326, Florianopolis (FLN) 322, Lima (LIM) 333, Bogota (BOG) 477, Salvador (SSA) 492, Maceio (MCZ) 494, Ciudad del Cabo (CPT) 519, Johannesburg (JNB) 536. Sao Paulo (GRU) to: Buenos Aires (EZE) 328, Salvador (SSA) 503, Santiago (SCL) 519, Recife (REC) 652, Lima (LIM) 669, Miami (MIA) 860, Nova ...

From MSNBC.com: Travel.

After years of planning, Brian Mayers was finally able to escape the pressures of his job with the Anne Arundel County, Md., Fire Department to take a well-deserved break from his three kids. He had arranged for the pet, house, and baby sitters. He and his wife were finally headed to the paradise called Cancun to celebrate an anniversary. But when Mayers landed in the tropical paradise on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, he found he wasn't alone.