- Do not do it in Mexico because there are,
it's just a bad idea.
I feel like those are common, that just,
that just makes sense to me.
Hey guys, my name is Shayla
and I make these videos every Wednesday.
I've been traveling full time since 2015
and I make these videos every Wednesday
to inspire you and encourage you
to go create the life that you want.
If this is your first time here, welcome.
Thank you so much for joining.
You're probably on your way to Mexico
and you're hearing a million things
about how dangerous it is.
This is one of three videos so I also did a video
on what you need to know the first time you go to Mexico.
Tipping, transportation, and then I'm doing another video
about a day trip to Cozumel.
There's an easy way
and then there's like a little bit harder way
that will save you literally $100 a person.
I've already made this video and edited it
and Seth and I were going over it,
I just felt weird about it, okay
because I was saying Mexico is dangerous,
Mexico in general, Mexico, Mexico.
First of all, Mexico is a giant country
so if you're from the US that's like saying,
"Oh, Detroit's dangerous, don't go to the United States."
I was in Playa del Carmen specifically
and so that's really all that I can talk about
and I can tell you about my experience
as well as just general tips that I have
about staying safe in a place.
I have five things that I want to tell you.
Number one, just use your common sense.
Number two, Playa del Carmen specifically
where you should stay to stay safe.
Number three, about the water.
Number four, how to stay connected to home.
Number five, different things that you should send
to your people at home and then there's a bonus.
So let's start with number one common sense, you guys.
I think that when people go traveling
they're like,
"Time to do all the things I won't do at home."
This is not the time to do that,
this is definitely not the time.
So what I tell people
is think about going to the biggest city in your home state.
So for me it's Minneapolis.
Would I walk around Minneapolis alone at night
when I'm a little bit drunk?
Definitely not, don't do that in Mexico.
For those people that are like,
"I'm going to try all the drugs, I'm going to try all the,"
don't do that here.
You don't know the people that you're buying them from.
Drugs are not my MO but I would imagine
that you don't want to buy drugs from a stranger
and you'll get offered it a lot in Playa del Carmen.
Don't make it a big deal, it's not a big deal,
it's just is, "Hey, do you want some?
"No, thank you, bye."
- Did it happen?
Oh yeah, want to get high?
(giggles)
- [Shayla] How many times do you think so far?
- Over 20.
- The other thing is that I always tell people
is don't flash around expensive things.
So if you're walking around don't walk with your iPhone.
Where's this place?
Count all your money really big in front of everyone.
Try and keep your stuff concealed
when you're not using it.
Seth even called me out on this
because I was walking around like this
with my phone on my little thing
and he's like, "Why are you doing that?
"Don't you tell everybody not to do that?"
And I'm like, yeah I do but I was kind of keeping it close.
No, it was bad.
Somebody literally could have came up and snatched it.
And, we were told if someone does steal your stuff
let it go, let it go.
Don't go after it,
that's where you're going to get in a little more trouble.
So those are my general tips, use common sense
and do the things that you would normally do in any city.
I think a lot of the problems come from drinking
and being by yourself.
So number two,
let's talk about Playa del Carmen specifically.
There are two things that I can say.
We were told to stay between the bounds of the beach
and four blocks in.
The best way to stay safe in Playa del Carmen
is to stay within the bounds of tourism and I hate that.
I'm the one that wants to go 15 blocks in
and find like the really local places
and just do all the things.
Four blocks is what he said, he recommended.
The other thing, which this is not specific to Mexico,
this is a good tip in general,
beaches at night are not safe places.
They're dark, they're not well lit, there's an ocean.
Like there's lots of things
that you can get into trouble on the beach.
So, don't go walking around the beach at night.
It's kind of cool to go out to the beach at night
but just know that that's not the safest place to be.
Cancun has a lot more people, a lot more going on.
Like anything, the closer to the city you get
the more action there is.
So Cancun is kind of the hub
and then you go to Playa del Carmen a little bit further,
and then Tulum even further.
Further away you can get from the action,
obviously the safer you're going to be.
Number three water.
People always freak out about the water and it's justified.
You're going to get sick.
That's common everywhere but in Mexico
you want to make sure that you're drinking bottled water,
that's just what you want to do.
Bottled water, bottled beer, whatever you're going to drink
just don't drink out of the tap.
You don't think about the ice.
You're like, oh can I have a soda?
Or a smoothie, a margarita or whatever
and they put ice in it and then you're like oh my gosh,
is this ice purified?
First of all, you can always ask.
Purific... purif.. purificado
and purified are like almost the same word
so they'll understand.
Or you could learn it
and like learn their language a little bit, that's not bad.
A good tip that I learned.
If the ice has a little hole in it
that means it's purified water.
It's like manufactured somewhere
and that the water is purified.
Somebody asked, "How can you be eco friendly
"if you're having to drink water bottles all the time?"
Two tips for that.
There's something called a Lifestraw.
So it's a filtered straw
that you could drink out of a stream if you wanted to
but you could hypothetically fill up your water bottle
from the sink and then just drink out of the Lifestraw
and that would save a lot of plastic.
Or you can buy bigger gallons of plastic water bottles.
Bring your own water bottle and just fill it up.
What I've kind of read is that the water in general
is good in the tourism areas.
What most people are getting sick from is the sun,
is the change of hot and cold, is the dehydration.
We would go from coffee to a beer to whatever
and we were out in the sun.
So we're like we need to hydrate.
So we would just go buy Pedialyte.
We had two glasses of wine, which isn't a lot.
Seth insists that we get some Pedialyte.
- Got to be ready to function.
- Just to stay hydrated and I think that helped a lot.
Number four, how to stay connected.
Pocket WiFi, let me go get mine.
Okay so I use Skyroam, are we still recording, we are.
And this is super dope
and I have a discount code for you duh.
If you're from the US there's some US carriers
that have good carrier plans with Mexico
but if you don't this is Skyroam.
I left all the stuff on there still.
You can connect like five devices to it,
throw it in your bag,
or you throw it in this handy-dandy thing
that they send you.
Also don't flash this around.
Then you can stay connected and this to me
is not about posting to Instagram
and making sure everyone knows what cocktail you're drinking
at the beach.
No, this is to stay safe.
This is a way that I can communicate with my family at home.
I can let them know that I'm safe,
to let them know that I need help.
When you arrive you can get off the airplane
and just have service and know how to get to your hotel.
When we were getting shuttled to our hotel
from the airport
I would punch it and make sure that the taxi
was still on the path to our hotel.
I also always pin my hotel so that when we go walk around
we know how to get home super easily.
Number five, different documents that you should have.
You want to make a copy of your passport.
This could be a picture in your phone.
This could be a picture in your phone so that you have it
in case you lose your passport.
You should also like have an actual photocopy with you
or leave it at home with your family
but it will expedite the process of getting a new passport
or like getting out of the country.
The other document that you want to share with your family
is your itinerary.
Give them the address of where you're staying,
what activities you're going on
if you know your itinerary before you leave.
(scoffs)
Who does that though?
You should do that.
So that if something happens they know that you're okay
or that maybe you're not okay.
You don't want your friends and family being like,
"What are they doing today?
"Where are they even staying?
"How can I get a hold of them?"
Just email it to them, it's so simple.
And then your bonus tip is know the local emergency number.
And what if something happens
and you need to call the local emergency like people?
You need to be able to do that.
Something that I learned that is if you take your phone
if you have an iPhone and if you have a seven or lower
you can press this side button right here five times,
one, two, three, four, five and then it will say,
"Hey, do you want to call the local emergency number?"
And you're like, yeah call.
It will just call whatever local emergency number.
If you have a newer iPhone, an eight or newer
you hold the side button and like a volume button,
hold it, and it'll do the same thing.
Otherwise, in Mexico it is 911 like it is
in the United States.
Those are my tips.
If you are so nervous about going to Mexico
and you just think it's going to be like terrifying,
don't go, go somewhere else.
But if you're like,
okay I understand that if something happens in one city
that doesn't mean that the whole country's dangerous.
So just kind of do your research
but I just want you to do what you feel comfortable with.
If you've been to Mexico
please put any more tips that you have below,
that would be super great.
If you have any questions about this
please ask them in the comments.
Also if you're interested in joining my Patreon
it's a smaller group that I talk with people.
We do live video chats once a month.
We talk about travel, we dive into some trips
that people are going on to help them plan it,
and then we do another video
talking about how to grow your social media.
This Thursday we are talking specifically
about how to grow someone's YouTube.
So I'm going on their YouTube,
checking out things that I would recommend for them,
and then everybody gets to watch.
If you're interested in that there's a Patreon link below.
Thank you guys so much for watching,
I'm so grateful for you.
I hope this was helpful and it keeps you safe in Mexico
and I will see you all next Wednesday.
(smooch) Bye.
What are you doing?
What are you?
- Don't make fun of me.
- [Shayla] Seth, what are you doing?
Settin' a booby trap?
- I don't trust people.
(laughing)
- [Shayla] Do you want to share your new bar trick?
- Is the circumference of the base of the wine glass
greater than the length?
- [Shayla] Yes, prove it, ready.
I like your measuring material.
- [Seth] This was Shayla inspired.
- [Shayla] MacGyver, 'kay.
- [Seth] Okay, so boom, so right here.
- [Shayla] What?