Hello Tangerineys from the beautiful tropical paradise of Isla Holbox.
We are here on this island in Mexico and today we're going to be telling you what
not to do so that you have a better time on your vacation, you don't get scammed,
and you don't spend more money than you have to. First thing not to do is forget
to plan your transportation to the island, it's a little more complicated
than you might expect. If you're like most people you're going
to be flying into the cancun international airport but you're going
to have to do a little bit more to get to Isla Holbox from there.
So your options are taking a cab, a bus, or a shuttle from Cancun
to Chiquilá and then taking a ferry or a boat from there to the island.
You also have the option to fly although that's the most expensive option.
So how long will it actually take to get to Holbox?
Well, taking into consideration the time you'll need for customs, getting and
loading your luggage several times, buying tickets, and waiting around a
little bit, it will be about three hours to get from the airport to
the town of Chiquilá. From there, you'll be taking a ferry to
the island and that experience will be around 45 to 60 minutes.
Finally, once you arrive on the island you'll likely want to hail a golf cart
taxi to take you and your luggage to your rental
which will be another 30 minutes or so. In total, you're looking at four to five
hours of traveling to arrive in paradise. Another thing you shouldn't
do here at Isla Holbox is expect to be a digital nomad because the wi-fi
is notoriously bad, the power goes out frequently, and even
the cell tower has been out for the last day and
a half. So if you're coming to Isla Holbox just
expect to disconnect and don't expect to be
online much. Okay, we're back here in the room again
cooling off and I had just come inside, I was sitting out on the patio and the
ac went off and I was like "Oh my gosh Jordan, thank you so much I was freezing
in here." Because it's a pretty powerful little AC.
And then it was like "Wait, no, I didn't turn it off, what?"
So as it happens the power went out again.
For the second time. For the second time in
four days I believe? And about a few minutes ago the
The cell towers also went down.
No service, no power, this is the island life you guys. [Laughs]
Something else you shouldn't do is skip sunscreen because the uv
index is really high here and you're going to burn very very quickly.
[And now, an excerpt from our upcoming Holbox vlog]
How did we get sunburned today can't we take our own advice?
I'm like beating myself up "Like seriously, how many times can we say
"The uv index is high put sunscreen on like seriously"
Liberally apply it all the time. But then we were like "We were!"
It was constant, we were putting sunscreen on like crazy.
This should be a testament to the fact that it's so easy to get sunburned in
this region because the uv index, the sun is so much
stronger. I think we were applying it at least every hour and it was SPF 50.
Yeah, at least. So, watch out! Next thing not to do is forget to pack
bug spray. Seriously, the strongest stuff you can find
whatever works for you. For me it's "OFF Deep Woods" Because that has the most
amount of deet. I realize that's not good for you but it's the only thing that's
going to prevent me from getting eaten alive
by the mosquitoes, and the noseeums, and I really don't want dengue. That's a very
real concern in this area. But here on Holbox, the mosquitoes and
bugs are especially bad even by comparison to other places
in this region where they are bad already. Where they're already bad.
They are particularly bad at sunset though. Oh and speaking of the sunset
something else not to do is miss seeing a sunset while you're here on Isla
Holbox. So often people will recommend that you
go to Punta Cocos to see it and that's on the western point of the island
however you can see the sunset on basically the whole main beach of Isla
Holbox, that's on the northern side. You don't have to go to Punta Cocos
although that is the most panoramic view of it.
Something else you shouldn't do at Holbox is coming the wrong time of
year we're here in mid-september and let me tell you this is the wrong time.
This is still in the heat of summer when it's the most hot and the most humid and
even the uv index meaning the strength of the sun
is the strongest in this time of year too. This time of year does have its
benefits. It's going to be a little bit cheaper for hotels, there's not going to
be as many people. But what has coming when it's this hot
and humid meant for us? Well, we'll go out to breakfast and then
by the time we're done with breakfast we're
drenched in sweat and so hot that we have to go back to our hotel and take a
shower and cool off in the ac for a while
before we go do something else. Then we go to lunch and the same thing happens.
We come back, we take a shower, or jump to the pool. And you know the
crazy part too is that we'll feel like we've almost done nothing in
the day but we're exhausted just because the sun and the heat, it
just really takes it out of you. So in our opinion, the mistake you'd be
making would be coming during this hot time of year which is approximately
march april-ish to the end of september and it
kind of starts cooling down in October. Yeah, best time of year probably November
to April or sometime around there. Yeah, something like that. Even though
you're gonna be fighting the crowds a little bit more and you're gonna be
paying more, I think it'd be worth it, I think we
would actually we would be enjoying and liking
Holbox way more if the weather was nicer. A very
very important note when it comes to booking the right time of year, we forgot
this at the time because we've already seen the whale
sharks. But in the middle of summer is the prime time, the time, the only time
during the year where you can see the whale sharks. And also it's the prime
time to see bioluminescence so that's
something you're going to want to consider as well.
For us though, the weather is a huge factor and when you're hot
and it feels miserable outside that doesn't make for as desirable of a time
so definitely do consider and weigh all of these factors before booking.
That brings us to our next point is don't get a hotel
or a place to stay without air conditioning. You're going to want a
place to go back and cool off. That's been our saving grace. Every time
we're feeling like we're about to die out here because it's just a little bit
too much. What's the next thing not to do Jordan?
Don't double tip everywhere you go because many of the restaurants here
include a suggested tip on the bill. Then if you pay with cash
they'll return your change minus the suggested tip or having the
suggested tip already taken out of the bill. So I didn't say exactly
what i meant in the original clip but basically what we're getting at here
is that when they put a suggested tip on there you give them a big bill and they
return your change with that tip already taken out. What's
happening in these circumstances are that they're
not returning the original receipt so that you know
what type of change you should have gotten and what was or was not taken out.
And they're not doing the honest thing which is just telling you "Hey we took
this 10% tip out just so you're aware." Okay I have
to make an amendment to my amendment, really the most honest thing to do would
be to allow you to tip whatever you wanted to, whatever percentage you want
on the total based on the service that you received.
And if they want to put a suggested tip that's fine but then obviously they
would return all of your change because the point is
you are deciding about the service that they gave you.
So we always like to give people the benefit of the doubt but in this case i
think it's kind of a scammy situation that you should definitely just
pay attention to what the total is or even take a picture of the receipt so
you know what type of change you should be getting back.
But basically look on the receipt to see if it says "servicio"
"prop" or "propina" something along those lines. Or a lot of times "propina sugerida"
abbreviated as "prop suger". Just pay attention to your receipt so that you know
what type of thing is being taken out because that can add a lot of cost to
your trip if you're double tipping everywhere unknowingly.
We had to come back to the room to cool off. My back is hurting a lot too so
i'm glad we brought our chirp wheel, chirp roller. It's like a
back roller sort of thing but better because it's got this groove for your
spine and it targets the muscles that are just
along your spine. So it gives a lot of relief, gets you
some pops, and some cracks, and stretches your back out. I'll show you how it works
Let's see if i can get any pops here
Yep, and then you can just also like stretch out. Okay.
I'm just gonna stay here forever, it feels so good!
Okay. But anyway this thing is so perfect for when you travel. This is
just one of the three that we have. They get bigger in size which
targets different muscles and things. But a lot of people have asked us about
these because we use them all the time, basically every single day, especially
when we're traveling.
So we set up a link that forwards to this product. It's
thosebackrollers.com highly recommend if you have back pain you just want to
improve your flexibility thosebackrollers.com
We are now walking around the town square
and what i believe i see behind me is the most unique
kiosko ever. It's like half of a globe painted on both sides.
So you know what time it is! El Centro Del Centro! [Laughs]
It doesn't look anything like your typical kiosko that you see in most
Mexican towns. But this is awesome! What a unique town
square thingymabobber! What else shouldn't you
do at Holbox? Don't forget to bring pesos. Not a lot of places here accept
cards almost every single business is cash
only and the few that do accept cards, pretty much all charge a five percent
fee on top of the bill in order to use a
card, and that's even if it works at all because
like we said earlier, the power is often out or the cell towers are down here so
a lot of times they don't have the capacity to run a card.
That leads us right into the next one which is, do not
whatever you do, don't pay in us dollars. We have seen
some seriously crappy exchange rates here on the island
like 16 pesos to the dollar. Which you might be thinking
"okay like five or six pesos per dollar, not that much." But
it adds up. Yeah like if you're spending a week here on Isla Holbox
it is not out of the question that you might be spending a thousand dollars.
And if you're using their exchange rate and paying in dollars over the course of
a week, you might be losing an extra 200 or 250 dollars versus paying in pesos.
With an exchange rate like that 16 pesos to the dollar you would actually be
better just pulling money out of the atm
pulling pesos out of the atm, taking your bank's crappy exchange rate
and whatever type of a hit, whatever type of a fee you'd be paying
to withdraw that currency, than taking that 16 pesos to the dollar.
Yeah, the very best thing you can do is
have a bank account like we have. We have Charles Schwab. Schwaaab! Which not only
charges no atm fees worldwide, it also
refunds all atm fees. So that's the best case scenario, you
withdraw with a bank account like that and pay in pesos. Next best scenario
is you use a card where you can here. But again, most places don't, and most places
that do accept cards charge a five percent fee or so.
So even that's going to be a better option than
paying in dollars or withdrawing pesos from your own bank account here.
And this actually leads us into the next one which is
don't bank on Holbox being just as uh "mexico prices" as other places in
mexico like oaxaca city, morelia, guadalajara, especially central
mexico places. Yeah, if you've been watching our videos, which if you haven't
please subscribe and go watch them all. [Laughs] But if you've been watching our videos
across Mexico you'll see that some of the prices around Mexico or a
lot of them are very very good. Very attractive if you're coming from the US
Like maybe a half or a third of the price that you would pay
in the US and Canada. Yeah, but coming to Holbox here
it's about the same prices as Cancun or Playa Del Carmen
if not more. Or something like that, yeah. Something else you should not do here
is use Dollar ATMs. Walking around town i've noticed that most of the ATMs
dispense us dollars and it will say that. It'll say US Dollars or Dollars on the
front of it. Look for one that gives you pesos if you're gonna use an ATM.
The next thing you should not do is plan on renting a car to get around the
island. The only vehicles that are on the island
the only cars and trucks and things are for necessary purposes like Telmex and
for internet, and deliveries, and things like that.
instead you can rent a golf cart by the hour,
for a couple hours, for the day. You can rent bicycles,
you can hail a golf cart taxi, or you can walk everywhere.
Although that does lead me into another one not to do
which is walk everywhere. [Laughs] The island is small
so even from our hotel which is located in a very good location we could pretty
much get to most main places on the island in about 30 minutes walking.
But because of the heat, because of the humidity, and
because of these type of roads you're going to get blisters all over your feet,
you're going to get to your destination in an absolute
puddle, and you're going to be exhausted, and you probably won't be able to do as
many things as you want to do during the day.
So we recommend to get one of these golf cart taxis, they'll be about
50 to 70 pesos to most destinations on the island.
Another thing you should not do is take the advice of people who say that you
can come to the island and enjoy it in just
one to three nights. We respectfully disagree after coming here because this
is a place to relax, to unplug from technology and stuff, not
to be going for a place to place a place a place to place to do all the things
that you would want to do like bioluminescence, and sunsets, and three
island tour. [Waving bugs away from face] Maybe whale sharks, things like that. Yeah
before coming to holbox this is advice that we got
a lot that two or three days is enough to see the whole island.
And maybe that's true but this is a place for relaxation and enjoying this
beautiful beach that you have here. To slow down and I think in one to three
days you would you wouldn't leave yourself any buffer
time to like lay in a hammock or like sit on the beach. Sit in a you know
lounge chair on the beach or something like that. You would basically have to
plan every second if you wanted to like
maximize the trip or soak in everything that the island
has to offer. The next piece of advice we have for you
is don't overpay for a tour. We we're just talking about these tours like whale
sharks, or the three islands, or a bioluminescence tour
because this is a tourist destination and that's very likely to happen, so what
we suggest is asking your airbnb host or some
locals what the price should be for the tour that you want to take,
that way you're armed with that knowledge when you go up there and
you're not going to accept a price that's
double what you should be paying. Like for example, at the
hotel we're staying at we asked someone and they said
for the three islands tour 500 pesos is a gringo price
250 pesos is a really good price. You probably shouldn't pay more than 300.
So when you go up to one of these people and you
ask how much the tour is, inevitably they're probably going to say something
like 500 pesos. You don't even have to negotiate, you
just walk away. Just say no thank you and walk away. And then
inevitably - surprise surprise, they'll negotiate against themselves and drop
the price down closer to what it's supposed to be.
If you guys want to see more videos from this area, from the Riviera Maya and
nearby places, we're going to link that playlist on the
end screen here in just a moment. And if you want to see more from us hit
that subscribe button but one more thing before you go.
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Gong that bell! So you'll be notified the next time we release a new video
and we'll see you soon!