Get Thee to Mexico! Ahora Mismo!Jun 15 '04 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line Where in North America should a frugal traveler go in Summer 2004??? MEXICO!! That's where the deals are! Here's where to find 'em... Gas prices are up! Hotel prices are up! The cost of your summer vacation is probably going to be quite a bit higher than last year's vacation. Disney World raised their gate prices again this year. Ditto with lots of other theme parks around the country. Is there nowhere to take the family where you can escape the endless spiral of travel expenses? Yes there is! Pack 'em all up, and head South of the Border! Those of us who love traveling to Mexico have been hammered mercilessly by high air fares to Mexico over the past two years, but for whatever reasons, the Travel Gods are smiling on us Mexican sojourners right now and giving us some of the most incredible deals we've seen in years for travel NOW through this coming October. If you're thinking about enduring yet another same old vacation to the same tired beach houses in the same old places you've been before, you might be due for a serious change of attitude --- just change the latitude a few degrees south. I call myself The World's Cheapest Traveler(tm), and it's for a reason. It's because I KNOW when to jump on a great deal, and the "when" happens to be RIGHT NOW. You folks here on Epinions are my buds, so I want to make sure y'all are able to scarf on the deals too. No sense being one of those saps who waits around and ends up paying three and four times what smart folks like you and me pay, eh? Nowadays, I can travel from Houston to anywhere in Mexico for LESS than even a short flight to a nearby state. Forget about visiting the folks back east! Not when the flight to Baltimore or Washington costs me double what it costs to get to truly GREAT beaches in Mexico. No family reunions for me this summer! ITINERARIES TO SAVE YOU MONEY! No matter where in the U.S. you might be, chances are good that you can vacation this summer in Mexico for less than you'd pay to have a lesser vacation in the good ole U.S. of A. Here are a few suggestions... Simmering in the midwest? From Detroit, you could hop a Fun Jet charter to Cancun and kick up your heels on the stunning white beaches and turquoise blue waters that you've read so much about here in the Epinions travel section (www.funjet.com). For $599 per person, you get round-trip airfare plus 7 nights hotel in Cancun. From Chicago, book a direct flight on Mexicana to Cancun for $315 round trip, then go whereever you want on the Mayan Riviera --- Cancun, Playa del Carmun, Isla Mujeres --- let your imagination run wild. Snag on those $10 hostel rooms if you want, the $30 motels, or what the heck, splurge on the Hyatt Regency Cancun for as little as $80/night (rate showing on www.travelocity.com as of today). Lights of L.A. got you down? No problem, from LAX you've got a bevy of bewitching alternatives to you, with some of the best deals in the air coming from Mexicana, who will whisk you away to the golfing and fishing meccas of Los Cabos for a mere $165 round trip. Heck! That's almost cheaper than a weekend in Vegas! And speaking of Vegas, why not get out of the casinos and get a little real culture? You could hop an easy 2-hour flight down to the cosmopolitan capital of Mexico City for a mere $204 round trip on USAirways, or scrap the connection and try the Mexican low-fare carrier Aviacsa with direct flights for just $224. If I were in Denver this summer, I'd be jetting out to the fun, funky fishing village of Zihuatenejo, or maybe to its classy, modern, beach resort neighbor, Ixtapa. Either way, the roundtrip airfare from Denver will run you just $188 on Frontier if you can leave before June 30, but if that's pushing it, don't sweat it --- Frontier has round-trip fares of just $193 good for travel all the way through October (book now, fly later --- I love it!) And of course, all us cowboys in the southwest have it good, which is a tough concept to believe with sizzling summer temperatures upon us, but one look at the airfare deals out of Houston or Dallas have me believing! I managed to escape to Mexico City for Memorial Day weekend for a mere $168 round trip. Those fares are still out there for anyone heading to the capital, but even if beaches are more your style, Aviacsa currently has roundtrip airfare to Cancun for $213. Not just low-fare Aviacsa either, Continental is getting in on the action with $231 roundtrips into Merida, which would be awesome for anyone who just wants to explore the Mayan ruins or Yucatan backcountry. And with Sun Country Airlines back in the sky with incredible vacation deals, my friends from Dallas can meet me in Cancun with roundtrip airfare for a mere $203. Everywhere I look, deals to Mexico abound. Yep! No matter where you're coming from in the U.S. right now, chances are very, VERY good that you can snag incredible deals to just about anywhere in Mexico at prices that are the lowest they've been in years. Gas prices might well be up, but FINALLY prices for travel to Mexico are down...and down dramatically (these prices are often 1/2 what we paid last summer, and 1/3 what we paid 18 months ago). If you've ever thought of taking a vacation to Mexico, but the prices stopped you, now is the time to look and book. In fact, that's some darn good advice. I think I'll go ahead and book at least TWO vacations this year.... Until next time, see you on the plane. As always, I'll be sitting in the cheap seat. No excuse for you not to be right next to me... Closely Related Reviews... I have photos of all these resort areas (and more) on my travel pics web site (www.tiogringo.com). Of course, you can find out more recommendations on things to see and do in any of these great vacation destinations by checking out a few of the following links... CANCUN AREA: Isla Mujeres / Maya Riviera / Chichen Itza / Coba / Tulum / Xcaret / Isla Contoy IXTAPA/ZIHUATENEJO: Ixtapa Resort Area ACAPULCO: Acapulco Area / Cliff Divers at La Quebrada MEXICO CITY: Teotihuacan / Chapultepec / Museum of Anthropology AIRLINES: Aviacsa / Sun Country / Mexicana  |
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