Planning: Mazatlan

I've never been to Mexico for a vacation; kinda hard for me to believe! I have been on two missions trips to Mexico (which were great experiences), but I feel like everyone I know has been to Mexico on vacation - and now it's my turn!

For about the last year, my friends and I had talked about doing a girls getaway next spring. Next May just happens to be 10 years since we graduated from college (ummm, wha?!), so that seemed like as good a reason as any to ditch the snow and celebrate.

We started talking more seriously about it for the last few months, but you know how a lot of times you just talk and talk and then you never end up doing those fun plans with your friends?? Well. We decided to NOT let that happen and now we finally have some solid plans in place! 

Because my parents are being very generous and allowing us to use their timeshare to save some major cash, I was kinda in charge of finding the place. And it was INTIMIDATING! Maybe it's because I've never been a vacationer in Mexico so I didn't really have any experience to draw off of, or maybe it's because I didn't want to disappoint anyone with the place that I chose, but MAN, it took quite a bit of time to find a place that seemed like it would work. 

Some of the "work" was done for me - there would probably be 8 of us and we wanted some kind of kitchenette, so that ruled out quite a few places right away. I think ideally we would have liked to be in Cabo or in Puerto Vallarta, but there were no openings for the times we wanted to go. So Mazatlan it is! 

There were a few options of places in Mazatlan, so I spent hours reading reviews, checking out the pictures, finding the resorts on a map, making sure we'd be on the beach, etc, etc, etc. I'm crossing my fingers that the place we booked will be great!

I finally decided to forget about the pressure of finding the perfect place. The point of the trip is to be together and to be in the sun, so I know whatever the accommodations end up being like, we'll make the most of it. 7 of us already have our tickets booked, so I'm really happy this is actually happening!

What are your "research" strategies when you travel to a new place? Do you always travel to places that are recommended to you? Have you been to Mazatlan? What should we plan to do....other than read books on the beach? 

Now we just wait until January! I'm excited!! Viva la Mexico!