Isla Mujeres

Isla Mujeres

We've found a little slice of cheap heaven on earth, and it's called Isla Mujeres, Mexico.  To get to Isla you fly into Cancun.   After you clear customs and immigration you will exit the terminal.  There will be many people there attempting to earn your " business " for transport away from the airport, and they will charge you a lot of money (estimate $60-75 for a taxi to the port).  Walk right past them, go directly to the right and there will be a little podium parked ADO.  This is for the bus.  Pay $5.00(U.S.) per person to take the bus to Cancun Central.  The bus is very nice, luggage goes underneath, it's air conditioned and they even will be playing a movie (although it will be in Mexican :).  The bus will take about 20-30 minutes.

When you arrive at Centro, walk straight through the bus terminal to the taxi's.  A taxi will cost about $6.00-8 (U.S.)  from here to The Porto.  (Altimar). From airport to ferry is less than an hour...usually it's less than45 minutes.

When you leave the island, the taxi situation is different.  NEGOTIATE, but never pay more than $40 from the ferry to the airport.  We usually get it for $35.  If you have any problem with the taxi's at the ferry, walk outside the ferry area to the street and directly across the street you will find a taxi that will take you for $35.  It's roughly 30 minute drive to the airport, but allow more than that, traffic gets bad and we made it one trip by like 2 minutes before check in...and don't forget your traveling international, so check in is earlier (I can't recall though if it's 1 hour or 1.5 hours).

The ferry (Altimar) will cost $15 round trip.  Make sure you keep your return ticket.  Also I pay cash for the ticket as my credit card into was stolen once in Mexico and it was either here or at the Senior Frogs store on Isla, not sure which, but I just don't use my credit card anymore here.

I always bring small american money for all these fees. I bring a couple $100 bills and exchange them for pesos at the port here (we've found the exchange rate here is actually good....don't exchange at the airport, it's the worst)*note, as of March 9, 2012, the exchange rate at the ferry was 12 to 1...on the island it was in the 11's .  If you don't like to carry cash on you, there are 2 ATM's close to the ferry when you get to Isla.  Few places take credit cards on the island and we have learned to love using correct currency when we travel.  We find it makes the experience more fun and we learn lots from it.  I travel with an IPhone and I use an app called Quid, which you can set to any currency, then when you are trying to figure out how much things are, you can input the peso amount for example and it will tell you how much in U.S. dollars it is.

The island is roughly 5 miles long by a half mile wide.  You can walk anywhere downtown. If you are going to the south side of the island I believe the most expensive taxi ride is about $5(U.S.) or $65 pesos. You can always ask how much things are before you decide on anything.
You can rent golf carts or scooters are the island,  prices are about the same everywhere and usually pretty firm as they are all the same.  A golf cart is roughly $45 a day.  It is fun to do 1 day.
If your a budget traveler, contact Marla at IslaMujeresBudgetRentals.com for reserving a room.  (Please let her know Jodi Anderson referred you :) the website does have some of the properties on it, but she has many more she works with.  We have paid $30-35 a night low season for a small studio apartment and $45-50 a night for a hotel.  Hotel Rocamar is nice and in this price point,  all the balconies have hammocks and are on the ocean wall.  This hotel also has a pool, Internet (most everywhere has Internet), small fridges, but no TV's.   Also, if you book with Marla, she can get you good deals on golf carts and other things...just ask her :)

If your looking to spend more, we highly recommend Nautibeach Condos.  Most are 2 bedroom condos, they are beach front, and there is also a pool.  You can contact Katie at katy@nautibeachcondos.com for availability and prices (roughly $200-$300 a night)....once again please let her know I referred you :). These condos have a really nice kitchen and you can bring your own beer and snacks on the beach here easily.  It really is nice for the extra money.

1 other option, which we haven't done, but we've checked out is a bed & breakfast called Casa Sirena.  It's very nice and the owner puts on a happy hour outside on the roof each night.  He requests everyone bring something to share and it's just a wonderful social event.
For restaurants, we haven't found a bad one.  We recommend Qubano, it is downtown between Hidalgo and Guerrero.  It is Cuban sandwich's.  They have these Hungarian Potaoes that are crazy amazing, so try them.  The owner Vivian is an interesting gal.  She has a huge case of "Red Rope" syndrome.  You COULD probably get in and out of here in 30-45 minutes, but it WILL NOT happen! Plan on spending 1 to 1.5 hours here for lunch. BUT, I promise you not only is the food worth it, if you open to talking to people, and having a good time, you WILL do both these here.  Also, right next door is a little convenience shop that sells beer, so we get beers next door and settle in and mingle while we wait....we have met soo many great people here.

Restaurant food is very comparably priced on the Island as the states.  Lots of places have happy hour all day and offer 2 beers for roughly 35 pesos ($3u.s.). In the convenient stores we pay roughly $13 pesos a cervaisa (beer) ($1u.s.).  The street food is usually really good and super cheap.  I can't recall what street, but right off the front street (closest to the ferry) is a taco stand with an orange top, and the Pollo (chicken) tacos were AMAZING, and I believe we paid like $35 pesos for 3...but I can't recall, exactly....lots of cervaisa's will do that to you :). You will also find bacon wrapped hot dogs, and people on bikes pulling food carts.  Try them, you will love them! O' the banana and nutella wrapped thing was crazy good and once again, I can't recall the cost but we laughed it was soo cheap.
For breakfast I highly recommend either crepes place on the main restaurant strip.  The lime green place is the best, but is open less often.  They have these crepes that are fruit filled, or nutella and banana, etc.  they are HUGE! And crazy good and like $75 pesos ($5.75 us).

Everywhere you ask for water you will get a bottle of water,it is cheap (like $13 pesos ($1 u.s.). We always keep a couple of bottles and bring them back to the hotel or condo with us, as they have large water dispensers that we just refill them with for free,  they are great to have for the beach then.  we haven't had any issue with bad ice anywhere, so do what you want with that.

If you dive, go to the dive shop at.... crap I can't think of the name...well I'll get it in 2 weeks when we are there and then update this :)  They do a really nice job, Caseys paid roughly $55 for a 2 tank dive, which included all the equipment.  The 1st dive he did they went to the underground museum.  I don't dive, but they let me pay $2.50 and just come with and hang on the boat.  So basically I got to lay in the sun on a boat for $2.50, pretty good :)

O.k. With all that great your now wondering what sucks.  I have only found 1 thing that maybe makes people uneasy, and that's the bathroom "deal".  The island is small and the septic is not great, so ALL toilet paper goes in the trash can...you never flush any of it.  This could be unpleasant, but it really usually isn't.  They are really good about changing trashes often.  1 trip we had 5 of us sharing a condo, and we made a bathroom rule, if you were doing anything other than peeing, you did it in the bathroom that was by the office, that way it was never unpleasant for anyone to use, and honestly I think not only was everyone ok with that, but it never smelt bad in our condo, how often can ya say that after say 20 cervasa's each :)

On a safety note, because the rumors about Mexico are always bad, the island is very safe.  I've travelled alone here with my teenage daughter.  We leave our condo unlocked all day while at the beach and pool.  It's a very small place and honestly we've never even seen anything happen that would make us uneasy.   Also, most hotels and condos have a safe in the them, we always lock up our laptop, extra money, etc, so we never worry.

High season is mid Nov to about 1st of April, Hotels/condos are more then.  Also there are lots of direct flights a day from Minneapolis During this time, however in the low season sometimes only a couple.

NYC via Newark Airport

I just finished a 4 day trip that had me laying over in Newark, NJ (For the 1st time ever!) I was pleasantly surprised to learn that getting into NYC from Newark was far easier, faster, and the same price (I think) as it is from LGA or JFK (Especially if your coming from a hotel near those airports).

Newark has an airtrain that circles the airport.  It is free. It has a start and a finish, so you really can't get lost on it.  You take the train to the end, which is the Amtrak/NJ Transit stop.  Once here you buy a $12.50 ticket ($25 round trip) and board either the 1 or the A train.  The train makes 3 stops and end at NY's Penn Station. It takes roughly 20-25 minutes.  It is literally that easy and quick.  You can't really screw up and get off at the wrong stop, cause this is the end of the line again :)

There are a couple of great iPhone apps for NYC getting around, I like "New York" its a transport map for the subways. and "NYC Subway" which is also for the subways. 

If your considering catching a show in NY, you can check out the "TKTS" app or just go to the ticket kiosk in Times Square.  They have same day tickets for up to 50% off for a lot of both Broadway and Off-Broadway shows.  I've used this place to buy tickets for about 14 years now, and I've seen some amazing shows!  If your traveling alone, you can score crazy great tickets for half off.  A lot of times there are single seats within the first few rows of a performance.  I saw Annie from the best box seat in the house years back...cause there was 1 seat open there!  O the benefits to traveling alone really are wonderful!

This recommendation may seem odd, but o'well.  Virgil's BBQ at 152 W 44th St @ Broadway (Times Square) has amazing BBQ Nachos!  Also, it's a great portion for $12.95.  NY restaurants are expensive (had a burger once for $24, no joke) so if your looking for a reasonable app or snack for 2, try these nachos....they rock!

Well that's all I can think of for now...I'm sure more thoughts will come to me, and please let me know things I can/should add. JodiSophiaAnderson@Gmail.com

Welcome

Well, after writing out some travel info for about the 8th time on the same topic, this morning for a person, I decided maybe it's time to just start a place where I can just give people the address and have them come here to find the info. 

My intention with this blog is to make budget travel easier for more.  If you have suggestions or tips for me to add, please feel free  to comment or email at JodiSophiaAnderson@Gmail.com and I will add them.

Thanks for reading...and happy travels!