As the ball dropped in Times square at 9PM PST signaling the end, finally to 2020, I asked my 4 and 5 yr old daughters what they remember most about 2020. Swimming in Mexico with Shaelyn and Mason was the immediate answer. And I thought to myself about the power travel has to anchor our memory. 2020 was a tough year for us, for the world, but despite the disappointments and uncertainty, my girls remember adventure. Flashback to October 2019, before the world shut down because of Covid. My husband and I were at the Miracles for Kids fundraiser to support families with terminally or seriously ill children and bid on a week long family vacation to Mexico. Spring Break 2020 was the planned trip…until it wasn’t. “Pivot” is the word I’d learned to love to hate in 2020. Pivot to online learning. Pivot to work from home. Pivot to survival mode for restaurants, local shops, gyms, etc. UGH. We pivoted to Thanksgiving for our trip, hopeful the world would be heading to normalcy by then…and coordinated with our friends the Tavakolis to join us with their two kids ages 4 and 3: Shaelyn and Mason. Up until the day before we left we were debating whether to go. Multiple text messages from my mom with articles on Mexico’s Covid response and CDC warnings not to travel later, we arrived at the nearly empty international terminal at LAX and added our carry-ons and kids to the pile of Tavakoli carry-ons and kids spread out in front of the only open “restaurant” in the terminal: Starbucks.
Covid travel with kids point 1 = for international travel, get to the airport 2 1/2 hours early. Trust me. I’m a million mile flier on United and am always skeptical of airport “timing” recommendations. It took us a over an hour and a half to check in at Delta, go through security, WALK and SHUTTLE from Delta terminal 3 to international terminal 5…new protocols, more lines, social distancing measures. Our daughters are troopers, but it was enough to test the fortitude of any pair of little legs! Now, that being said, my husband and I flew United to Cabo 5 days after getting back from Cancun and it took us 30 minutes to check in and get to our gate, BUT not knowing which is the anomaly, I’d err on the side of caution when traveling with kids! Flights are boarded back to front now with exceptions being first class and people who need extra time. Masks had to be worn the whole time.
Covid travel with kids point 2 = buy the kids’ contour masks like the ones we got from the Gap. They were much more comfortable keeping these on versus the cloth masks we’d used on domestic flights in the summer of 2020. And the airlines are very strict about everyone, including kids over 2 yrs old, keeping their masks on unless chewing food or drinking a beverage. My kids don’t have ipads or iphones for entertainment…never went down that rabbit hole. For flights, I bring a bag full of crayons, coloring books, blank paper, sticker books, storybooks and colored pencils. It’s become our tradition and the girls look forward to it. Their activities are always a surprise until we sit in our airplane seats.
Covid travel with kids point 3 = my husband booked 2 aisle and 2 window seats in the same row for us in hopes Delta wouldn’t book the middle seat, which they didn’t. We had 6 seats for 4 people on our 5 1/2 hour non-stop flight to Cancun. Plenty of space! We arrived in Cancun and had the hotel transportation reserved…unfortunately, they booked us a smaller vehicle at first. Securing a larger vehicle took about an hour, while we waited outside at the airport transportation area…and had to keep 4 kids who just got off a long flight safe and entertained.
When we arrived at Grand Mayan, Cancun, we were required to wear masks in the lobby, indoor restaurants (there were only a couple inside) and at the gym/spa. There wasn’t a kids club, but they had kids activities in the pool and in at least 2 other outdoor locations. This hotel is a kid paradise. I wouldn’t recommend it for couples, but 100% for families. It’s giant. Multiple pools, multiple restaurants, Jungala water park (HUGE HIT with the kids and parents) and multiple crafts and activities. Some of the pools are really shallow…perfect for the under 2 year old set. One pool has an “island” in the middle that our 3-5 yr old kids loved to swim out to, do cartwheels on top of and take running leaps off the edges to the water below. The food at the resort is OK. Hit or miss. Tacos in the pool area are excellent, the nachos are excellent, ceviche is excellent…salads, not so great, healthy menu options in general, not so great. There are restaurants for every palate at the resort and it’s worth trying each one.
Covid travel with kids point 4 = Unless your kids are huge eaters or over the age of 10, order one meal for 2 kids to split at the pool and restaurants here. We had way too many leftovers on day one and wasted money. Portions are huge. Jungala requires a reservation and isn’t open every day, so book it when you check into the hotel if you want to go. We booked a cabana there too so we’d have a private place to throw our stuff and hang out. Highly recommended. We felt totally safe at the water park. All outdoors, lots of activities and very few people. They have something for every age child including a lazy river with parent/child inner tubes. We’re all a bit dare devil-ish so we did the family giant inner tube crazy slide with our 5 yr old because the 4 yr old was too short to qualify AND my husband and I did a couple of the adult steep slides and shoots. So fun! Jungala is a golf cart ride away from the main resort. Golf carts are definitely the way to get from point A to point B. We got lost walking on the resort paths so often that it became comical. Honestly, I threatened to hack down the rain forest trees several times so we could see where we were going. Signage was terrible. I refuse to admit user-error. And with kids, when you get lost, especially on the way back from a dinner in the dark, when everyone has been swimming in the sun all day, it’s not pretty! The resort has an app that is helpful, sort of, to get around…sort of. The gym was nice. Virtually empty all 4 times I went there to run on the treadmill and lift weights. They had everything including a separate room with multiple treadmills and a separate room with multiple ellipticals and bikes AND a separate juice/health food bar. As I said before, masks required in the gym at all times. I’m used to it now, but I do recommend a mask with contour again. I use the Under Armor mask that makes me feel like a pro athlete and is breathable when running. The gym is located near the beach.
Covid travel with kids point 5 = Covid-time or any time, research the beach ahead of time if the resort has one. We assumed this would be kid-friendly and it was not. Giant waves, rocky surface…nice to look at, but that’s it. Ultimately, this vacation was, as my daughters said, the highlight of a generally disappointing year and I think a big part had to do with the kid-centric activities at this hotel.
Covid travel with kids point 6 = if you can find a good family to travel with, whose kids are around the same age as yours, do it. The kids played together for most of the day in the pool while the parents enjoyed margaritas, sunshine and adulting. Our friends brought their nanny’s teenage granddaughter which was an added bonus…and we paid part of her compensation. She babysat the kids one evening so the adults could enjoy the cirque du soleil performance at the resort, she would take the 3 yr old in for his daily afternoon nap and she helped entertain the kids during the day. In the past, we had only traveled with a “helper” when we skied Whistler, Canada in 2016 when the girls were 6 months old and 1 yr old. It was really nice to have an extra pair of hands to help with 4 kids while in Cancun! We were supposed to leave on Friday after Thanksgiving, but our flight was cancelled.
Covid travel with kids point 7 = flexibility during Covid-times is key. Our Friday afternoon flight was cancelled, so they booked us on the very early (wake up at 5AM) flight instead on Friday. My husband called Delta and for a very small per person fee (under $50 per), was able to rebook us on the afternoon flight Saturday…the same flight the Tavakolis had scheduled. We had planned to leave a day early despite having an additional day booked at the resort (remember charity auction: 7-days in Cancun) because flights were much cheaper at the time of booking for Friday departure vs Saturday. Since this was no longer a factor, we took the extra day at the hotel and got another night in. We DID go to Cancun, city-proper, that Friday night with the kids to experience a dinner somewhere other than the resort. I would NOT recommend this. Cancun didn’t feel safe. Lots of people walking around without masks. Crowded. We had to watch the kids like hawks. Vendors tried to lure us into their shops for jewelry, Cuban cigars…all that.
Covid travel with kids point 8 = at least in Mexico, best to stick to the resort with little kids. Had it been my husband and I in downtown Cancun, besides the Covid risk factor, maybe we would have enjoyed it more. With kids…nope. Flight home was uneventful and same seating situation: 6 seats for 4 people, one whole row. Arrived back in California at 7PM with two wiped out, but very happy daughters.
We Don’t Sit Still 