- Who's been told it's super dangerous in Mexico.
Do not go.
It's not a good idea.
We were.
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 create
the life that you want.
If this is your first time here,
hi welcome, thank you for watching.
You're probably on your way to Mexico and you're trying
to learn some things.
So I'm going to help you out with that.
If you like traveling,
if you like making goals,
if you like just positive vibes,
please consider subscribing.
I've had way too much caffeine already so here we go.
You can also find me on Instagram,
@livingonaoneway and I post stories all the time,
a little bit in between these Wednesday videos.
So if you're watching this video,
you're probably on your way to Mexico for the first time
and I want to tell you all the things that I learned because
we were just there.
We were in Playa del Carmen last week.
There is going to be three videos like this.
There is going to be one about safety in Mexico.
One about like kind of overall things.
And then one about, oh a day trip to Cozumel.
And kind of how you can save some money on that.
This week we're going to talk about general things
that you need to know.
So I'm going to start with before you even leave
what are the things that you need to do.
Thing number one, you need Pesos.
The airport is literally the worst place to get Pesos.
So what I would recommend is go into your local bank
and telling them that you need Pesos.
You have to go a little bit ahead of time
so they have time to get you the currency.
Why do you need to get pesos before you even leave
on your trip?
Tipping everyone all the time is a thing.
You're tipping at restaurants, housekeepers, taxi, everyone.
The second thing that I think you should do
also related to Pesos is figuring out the conversion.
So figuring out how many Pesos to U.S. dollars.
This will fluctuate everyday.
It will fluctuate depending on which restaurant you go to.
But currently it's about one to 20ish.
Technically 18 but everyone rounds to 20.
I'm just so excited to tell you all this stuff.
Download Google Maps on your iPhone.
Actually, I'll talk you through it.
Go to your Google Maps,
then you're going to click on those three bars
in the top left corner.
And you're going to press offline maps.
Then you'll say custom map.
That will load and you're going to want to zoom out
as far as you can just to get the biggest area that you can.
Where is Mexico?
But this should cover
Cancun all the way down to Tulum.
More than what you need.
Just download that.
This way if you're in Mexico
and you don't want to use data
you can easily find everything that you need to do.
It works perfectly offline.
I do this all the time I travel.
I do this on road trips through the U.S.
It's awesome.
The next thing that I recommend is an electronic converter.
If you're from the U.S. and you use
I don't know even know what they're called.
The kind of plugins that we use
it also works in Mexico just fine.
But if you're from anywhere else
you want to make sure that you get that converter.
Travel insurance is something that you should consider.
If you guys are doing ATV's
if you're going to go out in the ocean
you want to make sure that you are covered.
The site that I've used before is World Nomads,
and you say where you're from
where you're going and how long you're going to be there.
And it gives you a flat rate.
Some people say if you can't afford travel insurance
you can't afford travel.
I've done it, sometimes with, sometimes without.
At your discretion.
Water, everybody is freaking out about the water.
Don't drink the water.
Don't do this, don't do that.
One trick that I learned that is super helpful is
that the ice cubes with the hole through the middle
are purified so you don't have to worry about that.
You don't really have to worry about brushing your teeth.
If you're in a hotel that should be purified.
Some people get worried about like their vegetables
being washed in the water so
if you want stick with things with peels like bananas,
and avocados and oranges.
Most people that get sick in Mexico
it's because they've had too much sun
or too much hot/cold.
So that's not as much as a concern
from what I understand anymore.
We didn't get sick.
We both got a little diarrhea like briefly
but I think it was, I really think it was due to the sun.
Whoo, that's a lot if information.
And I'm zipping through it.
I hope this is helpful so far.
What you need bring.
Remember hand sanitizer,
and you want to bring toilet paper.
The little toilet paper is what your
grandma might have in a purse.
That's great.
Why do you need this?
Because sometimes you'll go into a bathroom.
If there's like a toilet paper roll
when you're waiting in line
grab toilet paper,
because that means it's not in the stall.
So it's nice to have your own so you don't have to
worry about that.
Also, the piping is different there
so you have take the toilet paper
and put it in the trash can, not down the toilet
and then hand sanitizer is just great
if need to clean your hands.
I also think it's handy
when I do the last minute bathroom stop
before I get on the airplane.
Quick run to the bathroom then run out,
everyone in the bathroom is like eww.
Try to pull my hand sanitizer out
while I'm still in the bathroom,
so everyone knows that getting my hands sanitized.
Charger, charger oh I would recommend,
GoalZero, do I have mine?
Shoot I don't have mine.
I will put the link below
but it's basically a battery charger
that you can just stick in your backpack.
It will charge your camera, it will charge your phone,
it will charge all the things that you need on the airplane
or if you do any day trip.
I love it, I love the thing.
I recommend it in a lot of my videos.
Sky Roam.
This I do have.
You are going to want
service.
Some U.S. plans are good in Mexico
so check with your carrier.
Otherwise, there is something called Sky Room.
This is so much more than just being able to
post to Instagram.
It looks like this.
This is a pocket Wi Fi
and pocket Wi Fi's are handy for multiple reasons.
For me it's about safety.
And that's what I say in all of my videos.
If anything were to happen,
I wanted to make sure that I was able to contact Seth,
Contact home.
What do I tip the waitress?
What do I tip the cab?
Currency conversion.
You obviously need some swimsuits and on my Instagram
I asked a lot of you what's the swimsuit that I need.
CUPshe had extremely affordable prices.
It was like, 20 to 30 dollars.
One of my suits, the,
the stitching got a little bit messed up,
but it was when I had diarrhea and had to yank it
to the side real quick.
Too much information?
Maybe.
I'll link all my swimsuits and I'll show you
some of them in the clips.
- [Seth] Hm, hm, hm, hm.
- I'll be like.
- [Seth] Oh oh.
- So let me tell you two things about the airport.
You're going to go through customs.
You're going to get your bag and then you're going to end up
at a spot where you press a button.
And the button is either going to give you a green light go,
or a red light put your stuff through an extra security.
It's not that big of a deal.
It just takes a little extra time.
Second thing, when you get out to the taxis
people will start grabbing your bags
to bring you to their taxis.
So keep your stuff close.
If you have a car or a hotel and somebody guides you
to your vehicle you want to tip them a dollar or two.
And you do that because when you're with them
no one else bothers you.
If you're taking the bus
it's going to happen.
People are going to ask you if you need a ride.
Just say no gracias and you're good to go.
So let's talk about transportation.
I can tell you the rates from Playa del Carmen
to the airport.
I can't tell you any other rates.
But it will give you good gauge for what to know.
We're on our way to the airport.
And there are a few ways to get there.
You can take the shuttle from your hotel.
You could take a taxi.
You can take a bus or you could take a colectivo.
Tell you about how much each of those are.
So this is what I know.
You can get a private shuttle.
If you're a group of like six or more this is probably
the most effective way.
It keeps you all together.
It picks you up and drops you off
exactly where you need to go.
I don't know the prices for that.
Our hotel which is was in Playa del Carmen,
going to the airport costs us $60 total.
You can get
a taxi,
I read were about $45.
In the morning somebody offered us $15 a person
also not bad.
We took the bus and the bus was super simple as well
and the bus is called ADO, ADO.
It will take you to Playa del Carmen,
it will take you to the airport.
It will take you all over the place.
And it's very comfortable and very easy and cheap.
The last option is called a colectivo.
It just means a collective van.
That will cost you 45 pesos which is like $2 or $3 a person.
They also make stops along the way so
it will take you a little bit longer.
So those are kind of your options.
Totally up to you and what kind
of experience you want to get.
A few have asked me what words do you need to know
when you're in Mexico?
So, Hello, goodbye is Hola and Adios.
Nice to meet you is Mucho gusto.
Good is bien.
Something you might hear is como esta
That means how are you and you can say bien.
And thank you, that's a really good one to know.
Gracias.
Those are the ones I would say to know.
And if you know extras, Amazing.
What else?
Oh buying scams.
Someone told me that they look up the local scams
before they go somewhere.
I think that's genius.
The things that I looked up and read about
before I went and what I saw when I was there, spot on.
When you're buying something
they're going to offer you the highest price first.
Let's say I wanted to buy this water bottle,
and they said $20.
If you feel comfortable paying $20 for this water bottle
just buy it.
If you are like,
ahh I think I would pay $10 for that water bottle.
Probably go to $15.
You just kind of barter back and forth.
Don't be an asshole.
If you go they'll give you the top prices
and then they'll say oh where you from?
Say Minnesota, they will know somebody from Minnesota.
Oh my friend over here is from Minnesota.
They're finding common ground.
Smart.
There will be sings everywhere that say
50% off opening sale.
50% off closing sale.
Those are there year round.
And then where to stay.
Cancun is at the top.
Tulum is at the bottom.
Playa del Carmen is in the middle.
For me Playa del Carmen was very touristy.
I wasn't a super fan of it honestly.
But what I did like about it
was that it was central to everything.
So if we wanted to go up to Cancun
and then go to Isla Mujeres we could.
Take the ferry across to Cozumel we could.
It was and hour away from like everything.
I wish that we had stayed a little bit south in Tulum.
Just like kind of a hippie beachy chill spot
and I would do Airbnb.
And I have an Airbnb link blow.
Honestly we waited too long
and by the time we were looking
it was really expensive stuff
or like literally camping on the beach for $60 a night.
I will be working on my next videos
about the day trip to Cozumel.
And how to stay safe in Mexico.
If this video is helpful for you please like it.
Please share it with anyone you know going to Mexico.
And if you're interested follow me on Instagram
on my Instagram stories.
It's @livingonaoneway.
So, thank you guys all so much for watching.
I hope you have a great week
and I'll see you next Wednesday.
Bye.
- Seth what just happened?
- We just found out that the car rental place
has no cars.
- [Shayla] No cars.
We're all signed up for our trip.
Look at how handsome you are.
Okay.
- You're funny.
- We're all signed up for our trip to Cozumel.
What are you doing Seth?
- It's a crepe.
Seth, it's like a waffle crepe.
- I know.