The Trekking Pawns' Diary

Sorry it’s been a little quiet over here — life decided to throw some curveballs and blessings at the same time. New job, new routine, new schedule… and whew 😅 adjusting has been a journey . With less free time, I am suddenly understanding why some people just pay travel planners and show up. Imagine the luxury of simply arriving with zero research stress! …Although, let’s be real — I don’t know if I could actually do that. I like knowing what I’m walking into. Maybe one day I'll try an all-inclusive resort experience, but for now cruises feel like the perfect balance: semi-all-inclusive, lots to do, food ready and waiting, and no scrambling to book hotels or hunt for restaurants. Plus, with the NCL app and the nightly daily cruise newsletter , I still get that little thrill of planning and circling activities like a kid picking summer camp electives. 😂 That said… I do still need to plan our time in port — and it looks like we get long days at each stop — close to 10 full ...

Exciting news, fellow adventurers — The Trekking Pawns are back at it and planning our next ocean escape! This time, we’re heading south for some serious sun and surf on a 7-day Mexican Riviera cruise , round-trip from beautiful San Diego . Our ports of call? The vibrant and beachy Cabo San Lucas and the tropical charm of Puerto Vallarta — two destinations we can’t wait to explore. We cashed in our CruiseNext deposits and scored a smoking deal — talk about a win! For this sailing, we treated ourselves to one night of fancy dining (because, why not?) and added an internet package just in case we need to peek at work emails. But truth be told, we’re hoping to unplug, soak up some November sunshine, and fully embrace that off-the-grid cruise life. One big reason we picked this cruise? On a past trip to Puerto Vallarta , we noticed a cruise ship docked in port for the day — and it sparked something. We realized how much more of Mexico's Pacific coast we wanted to see. Our last...