Sports Equipment–Rent or Bring, part 1, Golf
First off, I need to say I’m not a golfer. But having spoken to golfers, I’ve been told that they choose their clubs specifically for their strengths, gender, and even height. It’s definitely NOT a one size fits all here. Even though all the courses have pro shops and rentals available, avid golfers probably plan on bringing their own clubs. I did some searching to find out the various costs of getting a bag, clubs and shoes to your vacation location.
At all the Mayan resorts, golf is a BIG draw. For instance Read more »
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not practical
In my quest to not ruin my iPhone on vacation, yet still listen to my favorite songs and audiobooks, I thought I found an answer. Nope.
Two Perfect Margarita Recipes
Perfect Margarita Two Different Ways
Ingredients for the second PERFECT Margarita recipe (dont' forget the powdered sugar.)
Mexican Vacation and Margarita are almost synonyms. We will give you two ways to make the perfect Margarita. Both of them come out ten times better than using Margarita or Sweet and Sour Mix.
The first one is a simple recipe for use in the U.S. or Canada if you want make one at home to get you in the mood for Mexico.
- 6 ounces of frozen limeade
- 6 ounces of tequila
- 3 ounces of triple sec
All you do is dump the ingredients into a blender and fill with ice. Blend until smoot. Add a little bit of water if needed to thin it to pouring texture.
Some people like to add a little powdered sugar. I personally don’t think it needs it.
Recipe Number Two
If you want more authentic or if you are vacationing (say in a MayanRental luxury suite 
) here is a recipe for you. If your vacation rental has a blender, there’s a good chance you’ll find a lime squeezer in a utensil drawer somewhere. Check out the picture for a little help in what to look for. Next up is a shopping trip. For each batch you will need:
- 2 limes
- ½ cup of tequila
- ¼ cup of triple sec
- 4 tablespoons of powdered sugar
Look for one of the larger grocery stores and find a quality Tequila (price really does mean something). You will definitely need powdered sugar for this recipe , plus triple sec (any licor naranja will do) and, limes take the place of the limeade in our first recipe.
But don’t act like a gringo. DO NOT get limas. Those are only for cooking food like the Yucatecan sopa de lima. Lime soup, De Lima, get it?
The word for limes is limon (say “lee-moan”). The word for lime and lemon is the same, so you should specify limon verde (green limon). Don’t say “Vur-dee” or you will get a blank stare from the nice person in the grocery store. Say “bare-day” and they you will be on the way to the check out.
Now for that squeezer you found earlier. We’re not embarrassed to say it took us a few tries to figure out this gadget (o.k. maybe a little embarrassed). You’ll be a step ahead. The best we can figure is those little holes aren’t for the juice to come out of; they are there so that squeezing the lime doesn’t create a suction and make it stick in the squeezer. Just cut the limes in half and squeeze them over the blender. Not too many though. 2 limes (four halves) are all it takes for ¾ of a blender of frozen margaritas. Add ½ cup of tequila, ¼ cup of triple sec and 4 heaping tablespoons powdered sugar (more or less to taste). Didn’t bring your measuring spoons with you? Just give a generous guess, hey, you’re on vacation. Last up is ice to fill the blender ¾ full, then blend away. If you need to add a little extra sugar here, you still can, then gently stir or blend in. Are you more of an “on the rocks” purist? Play around with the above recipe, all the great bartenders do.
Arriba!!
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The media panic surrounding the swine flu turned out to be completely overblown. The swine flu everyone was panicking over , turned out to be just another normal flu year with a lot more attention. The CDC canceled their travel warnings to Mexico in May.
Safety of Travel to Mexico
There has been an increase of news stories about drug violence in Mexico. Is vacationing in Mexico still safe? We think so , but here is the information we have. Most of the drug violence is on the border near the cities of including cities such as Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, Nogales, Reynosa, Matamoros, and Monterrey. This area should be traveled with great caution.
According to Mayan Reservations, there have been no incidents amont the hundreds of guests that drive to Puerto Penasco each week.
There is sigificant crime in other cities, notably Mexico City and Acapulco. It is important to know what areas to avoid, much like large cities in the U.S.
The latest travel advisory starts with the fact that “millions of U.S. citizens safely visit Mexico each year (including thousands who cross the land border every day for study, tourism or business)”
They go on to note that “violence in the country has increased recently. It is imperative that travelers understand the risks of travel to Mexico, how best to avoid dangerous situations, and whom to contact if one becomes a crime victim. Common-sense precautions such as visiting only legitimate business and tourist areas during daylight hours, and avoiding areas where prostitution and drug dealing might occur, can help ensure that travel to Mexico is safe and enjoyable.” Note that they do not recommend against going.
The full document can be found by Clicking Here
Note: We are not qualified to give travel advice. It is our opinion that travel to mexico is still safe. We do agree that asking resort concierge about areas in the big cities to avoid is wise and that travelling during the day in all but the main tourist routes is probably a good idea. Driving into Playa del Carmen or Puerto Vallarta or Cabo at night should still be as safe as ever.
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When we go to Mexico, we love to explore as much as we possibly can. That means renting a car is for us, a necessity. Some people worry about all the things that can go wrong, but you can read horror stories about a trip to the Peoria, Illinois on the internet.
Two common problems that really do occur:
• They don’t want to honor the rate you found on the internet. We always take a printout of the price with us. Internet prices often don’t include insurance. So see insurance info below.
• They don’t have the car you ordered. We get this about 50% of the time. Just don’t take something you really don’t want. (one time they tried to give us a minivan instead of the compact we reserved. We held out for a Jeep Liberty). You should get the same price if the car is better. Negotiate a lower price if the car is smaller.
However, the real challenge is figuring out the darn Mexican car insurance.
WARNING: The information following is gleaned from forum postings and from our own experience. We think it is all correct, but we cannot guarantee the accuracy 100%.
A lot of this information comes from a very thorough post in the tripadvisor Cabo San Lucas forums the link is http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g152515-i84-k204282-o210-Mexico_Insurance_and_Credit_Card_Coverages_REVISED-Cabo_San_Lucas_Los_Cabos_Baja_California.html
In Mexico, there generally 4 kinds of insurance. (see below) We will also explain credit card free rental car insurance, which you may be able to use in place of #3 and #4 below.
There are four types of insurance (sometimes the terminology varies)
(1) Personal Liability, which covers 3rd party damages, including medical costs or other claims/lawsuits against you
As far as I can tell, this is absolutely required and is included with all rentals. However, it is often not included in the dirt cheap prices you see on some car rental websites or consolidators like Hotwire.
Note: Personal Liability is NOT COVERED by any credit card insurance. You must purchase this. According to the post in tripadvisor: “This is also important because this proves to the police that you can pay for someone else’s damages. If you don’t have this coverage, they may detain you until you can prove you are not responsible or you can pay for the damages.”
(2) Personal Accident Insurance (PAI) which covers medical costs for the renter and passengers, but not 3rd parties (since that is covered under Liability below) . You may want to check with your helath insurance as to what they will cover in Mexico. We personally don’t buy it.
(3) “Partial” Loss Damage Waiver (LDW) otherwise known as Collision Damage Waiver (CDW), which includes damages and theft to the rental unit, less a deductible of 10% or 20% Some companies will put a hold on your card for the amount of the deductible of your insurance (This will count against your credit limit until it is removed at the end of your trip) A buddy of mine with only a debit card ended up very short of cash due to having to put a deposit of $2000 down.
(4) Complete” LDW/CDW which simply eliminates the deductible from the partial LDW/CDW. and of course adds dramatically to the price.
<h2>Credit Card Free Car Rental Insurance </h2>
We have always opted to use our credit card rental insurance coverage instead of LDW/CDW. However, there are some important issues. This coverage is available on the Visa Standard Credit, Visa Rewards Credit, and Visa Premium Rewards cards. It was also available on our Visa Signature card. Here are the advantages and important rules.
1. There is no deductible and it is free! As compared to $70 to $100 /week and a large deductible.
2. You must completely pay for the rental with your rental card.
3. We recommend taking a printed copy of your coverage with you. We have never needed it, but we have heard occasionally rental agents want to see it http://usa.visa.com/personal/cards/benefits/bft_dmg_waiver_personal.html
4. You must clearly refuse LDW or CDW on the rental agreement Purchase of any LDW/CDW insurance eliminates all benefits from the program!!!
#4 is is tricky part!! Many car rental agencies mandatorily include LDW/CDW in their rates. You cannot use your credit card free insurance with these agencies. Avis is one that we found that separates out Liability from the Collision.
So, to summarize, you have two options:
Worry Free / Hassle Free / Expensive: Just take all the Collision insurance and pay up.
Minor hassles / Cheap: Find a rental agency that you can purchase only liability insurance and use your credit card free, no deductible insurance. I would rather spend the extra $100 or $150 or more on something fun
The information for specific agencies below are abbreviated from the tripadvisor post.
National Car
Personal Liability cannot be purchased separately – you must purchase “partial” LDW/CDW coverage at $11 a day, The deductible ranges from $1,500 to $4,000, based on vehicle cost. That means there is no way to use your credit card coverage with National, since the liability coverage also includes LDW/CDW, which voids your credit card coverage! Although it is definitely a drag that they don’t offer liability insurance alone, their total coverage of $22 is fairly reasonable.
AVIS
Avis is one of the only companies that “includes” 3rd party liability insurance, which is relatively small – up to MXN 350,000 (approximately $33,000 USD). Unfortunately their rental rates are also typically higher. In this case, most credit cards will cover 100% of all other damages “to the vehicle” (including theft). Note that 3rd party health costs are covered in the liability insurance. If you want additional liability insurance up to MXN 5,000,000 (approximately $470,000 USD), it will cost you an additional $11 a day. Partial LDW/CDW ranges from $14 to $21 a day with a deductible ranging from $1,000 to $3,000, depending on the car. Complete LDW/CDW will run between $20 and $27 a day, depending on the vehicle.
Thrifty
Third party liability is offered for $11 a day and includes coverage up to MXN 950,000 (about $90k USD). Partial LDW/CDW is offered at $24 a day with a 10% deductible (on vehicle value) for accidents and a 20% deductible on total loss or theft. Personal accident insurance (PAI) is $4 a day and covers up to MXN 200,000 per event (about $19,000). Complete LDW/CDW costs $30 a day. Evidently Thrifty requires you to purchase 3rd party liability if you do not purchase the partial or complete LDW/CDW, which leads me to believe their LDW/CDW may include 3rd party liability, but I cannot confirm that.
Advantage
I could not determine the cost of 3rd party liability – I have to call the Mexico office and cannot get through with their (624)146-0700 office number. Partial LDW/CDW is $11 a day and covers the costs of theft and accident, less a deductible ranging from $1,500 to $4,000. Personal Accident Insurance (PAI) is $4 a day and covers medical costs to the renter and passengers only – up to $9,000 (per event?). Complete LDW/CDW does not eliminate the deductible for theft and costs an extra $7 a day ($18 total). So CDW + PAI + EPC is $22 a day, but you would still have to pay a deductible in the event of theft. Also, this does not cover the most important thing – 3rd party liability.
Payless
Could also not determine if Payless offered any coverage for 3rd party liability since I cannot dial internationally. Their office number is 011 52 624 1465290, if anyone can help here. This may also only be offered at the counter in Mexico. They do offer partial LDW/CDW at $14 a day with a deductible of 10% of vehicle’s value. For complete CDW/LDW, it will cost you $23 a day. PAI is an additional $3 a day. At Payless, if you cannot provide proof of insurance coverage, you must pay for the partial CDW.
Dollar
For most Dollar insurance coverage, you need to inquire at the counter. The only stated coverage is Partial LDW/CDW, which ranges from $14 a day to $17 a day, depending on vehicle type. It has a 10% deductible on damage on 20% deductible on theft.
I didn’t look at some of the other renters, such as Hertz, because they were way more expensive at the time of my quotes. If anyone else has something to contribute based on personal experiences, please let me know! Also, if you can find out the liability coverage costs for Advantage, Payless, or Dollar, please report it.
Thanks!