Cancun Trip 2026 - A Week to See Them All
Day 1 (March 25, 2026) - We’re Back!
After far too long a hiatus, Jenn, Elle, and I are back on the road for our first (of hopefully many) trips of 2026. Our destination is Cancun. We first visited in 2009, when we stayed at the Excellence Playa Mujeres for a few nights. On that trip, we mistakenly missed going to one of the 7 Wonders of the World, Chichén Itzá. It was shortly after that trip that Jenn made it one of her life’s goals to reach all 7 and we’ve been waiting for the right time to go back to Cancun and put a check mark next to it. We’ve thought about going several times, and at some point in early January, we decided to book it, and so this morning we packed the Mercedes and drove down to LAX for our five-night trip to Cancun.
Our flight to Cancun left on Alaska Airlines a little after 8 AM. Although Elle’s still a little under 2 years old, we decided that instead of having her sit on our laps, we’d buy her a seat for Economy. We were at the very back of the plane, and after grabbing breakfast in the terminal, we boarded first and settled in for the 4-hour flight. Elle did great for 98% of the flight, getting a little frustrated towards the middle when she decided to take a nap. Otherwise, Jenn did a phenomenal job of having lots of toys for her to play with and switching them out every 10-15 minutes. The flight otherwise was not all that memorable, and we arrived in Cancun at 3 PM, went through customs, grabbed our bags, and were off to our driver to take us to the JW Marriott Cancun.
It was a short 20-minute drive to the hotel, where we checked in and unpacked in our 9th-floor ocean-view room with a balcony. We made sure to upgrade to a room with a view and a nice balcony, knowing that Elle would need her 2-3 hours of naps each day, and that Jenn and I could enjoy it while she did. After unpacking, we walked around the resort before having dinner at Gustino Italian Grill. Jenn made sure we went Italian tonight so Elle could have two of her favorite foods, soup and pasta. Elle ate extremely well from our calamari starter, to the soup, to both Jenn’s pasta and my black dough pizza. Elle ate everything. Jenn had a glass of white wine, and I had a red. We closed out the night by walking around the resort to help Elle fall asleep.
Day 2 (March 26, 2026) - The Return of the Power Outage
Today was always meant to be a slow ramp-up into our time in Cancun. With Elle (nearly 2 years old), we abide by her schedule. She slept in until a little after 7 AM this morning. A few minutes before grabbing her from her crib, we noticed a loud noise and that we couldn’t turn the lights on. Within a few minutes, we texted the hotel and learned that a power outage was affecting most hotels in the area. This brought back horrible memories of our time at the W Barcelona when the AC went out, and we had to make an 11 PM move to another hotel.
We stayed optimistic, closed the blinds to keep the room cool, and went downstairs to the included breakfast. It was far better than we thought it would be, with a great omelet and waffle station. Jenn got Elle some fresh scrambled eggs and waffles, and she loved them both. Jenn ate whatever Elle didn’t (although she could have easily gotten her own fresh food), and I had an omelet and an assortment of other items from the buffet. We came back up with the power still out and got ready for the pool. We haven’t taken Elle to the pool much, but every time we did, she seemed to enjoy it. What we weren’t expecting was the pure joy she had the minute she put on her life jacket and went through the winding pool. Jenn and I would take turns carrying her through the pool up to the end of the infinity edge that looked out on the crystal clear blue ocean. It was magical to see the pure smile on her face.
At noon, we brought her back to the room where she immediately fell asleep. Fortunately, even with the power off, the room stayed cool, and Jenn and I hunkered down on the balcony. A few minutes into her nap, the power came back on, and the lights all turned on in the room. Fortunately, Elle is still a great sleeper, so she didn’t notice, but we rushed to make sure the lights were off and the AC was on. During her nap, Jenn and I started planning our next trip to Europe for late June. We didn’t get far with the slow internet, but we started to map out what sounds like an amazing trip.
Elle woke herself up at close to 3 PM, and we went back down to the pool for a few more laps before getting dressed and having dinner at the hotel’s Thai restaurant, Sasi Thai. We got a beautiful spot on the ocean front. We started off with fried shrimp, while Jenn got a steak with peanut sauce, and I had their chicken pad thai. Sadly, unlike the first night, most of the food was mediocre at best, as evidenced by the fact that Elle barely ate any of it, aside from the white rice. We were still hungry and wanted dessert, but decided to cut our losses and take a last walk around the rest before calling it a night.
Day 3 (March 27, 2026) - Lion!
The day we finally arrived here arrived. Today was the day Jenn would be able to complete her goal of seeing the 7 Wonders of the World, and for Elle to see her first. One of the big concerns was getting there. It’s a 2+ hour drive from our hotel and is an hour behind Cancun. I reached out to a few tour organizers and landed on Prestige Cancun, which would arrange a private driver to take us to and from Chichén Itzá. They suggested an 8 AM pickup, and so our alarms went off at 6 AM, and we were down at breakfast at 7 AM. The best part of the early morning was a much quieter breakfast at the hotel. Almost no one was there, and we were able to slowly wake up and get ready for the day.
We had a giant white Suburban ready to pick us up at the hotel a few minutes before 8 AM. We told our driver not to stop and to get us there as quickly as possible, knowing we’d be getting close to Elle’s nap time. He was an incredibly kind and understanding driver, but was so slow. Buses were passing us left and right, and I’m pretty sure he added at least 15-minutes to our transit. Eventually, we arrived at the entrance only to find that today was the day they were opening a brand-new entrance. We had to backtrack for another 15 minutes before we were dropped off and made our way to get our tickets and enter the site. It was hot but not nearly as hot as we expected, probably in the mid-80s. As we entered, a lady leaving commented that Elle would need to get ready to walk a lot because it was far to Chichén Itzá. That freaked Jenn and me out, so we elected not to bring her stroller or carrying pouch, instead planning to let her walk and carry her. With that new intel, we decided to carry her through much of the shops, only later to find it was a less than 10-minute walk to the main and famous pyramid.
When we turned the corner and first glimpsed the pyramids, both Jenn and I had the immediate “we did it” moment. After so many years of travel and visiting so many amazing places, we are finally able to say we have visited all 7 Wonders of the World. And to have this moment with Elle, which added an extra degree of difficulty, made this conclusion even more satisfying. We reached the Pyramid, took a ton of photos, and continued around the site to a few of the other ruins. Out of all the wonders, this might be one of the most well-preserved. It is stunning, and even more impressive as you start to take it in from every angle.
One of the memories that will stick with me the longest was the animal whistles, which felt like every stall on the site was selling. Most used them to make Jaguar sounds, which Elle would subsequently yell, “Lion.” Throughout our nearly 2 hours at Chichén Itzá, she probably yelled " lion “ more than 50 times. And most of the vendors would see her engage and make more noise. At first, it was hilarious, but by the time we were heading to the exit, we were over it. I’ll never forget a rather profound moment as we were exiting and seeing Chichén Itzá for the last time. I remember thinking, “I’ll likely never see this again in my lifetime.” I’ve never had that thought at any of the other wonders of the world. But I think, with my 40th birthday coming and knowing there are so many other places I want to travel to over the next 40+ years, I doubt I’ll be back in Cancun, let alone Chichén Itzá. Jenn wasn’t as sure about it, but it hit me like a ton of bricks when I looked back the last time.
Elle did amazing for almost the entire time we were there. She loved walking around, grabbing rocks, and loving taking pictures with both Jenn and me. It wasn’t until we were nearing the road back to the entrance that she hit her limit and started to lose it. We knew we were playing with fire the longer we cut into her nap, and by the time we reached the exit and had to make the 5-minute walk back to the car, she had a full-blown meltdown. That continued for the first 10-15 minutes of the drive back to the JW Marriott before she eventually fell asleep and woke up like a new girl over an hour later. She was an angel for the rest of the drive back to the hotel, singing her ABC’s, 123’s, and Wheels on the Bus. We were very lucky to have such an understanding driver who let us do everything we could to troubleshoot Elle’s meltdown while he navigated traffic out of Piste.
We arrived back at our hotel at 3 PM, put on our swim trunks, grabbed a burger (and a beer for me) by the pool, and had a very relaxing hour and a half before heading back to the room. Elle was a new person at the pool, laughing, giggling, and wanting to play in the water. Quite the turnaround from Chichén Itzá. Jenn was right to suggest having room service for dinner. Elle had a kid’s pasta with red sauce, Jenn had a quesadilla, and I had a club sandwich. We could tell Elle was fading fast, so we put her to sleep without a bath right before 7 PM and spent the next few hours relaxing. Jenn worked on her Instagram post commemorating the big milestone, and I watched two episodes of the fourth season of The Lincoln Lawyer.
Day 4 (March 28, 2026) - Spa Day
Once we returned from Chichén Itzá, we knew the rest of the trip would be much more relaxing. We had nothing planned for today (or the rest of the trip). We let Elle sleep in and went down to breakfast at 9 AM. When Elle woke up, she said, “Dada snores,” and repeated it over and over until we were at breakfast. I guess I’ll need to wear my snore strip tonight. We lucked out and got a table near the pools with an ocean view at a very crowded breakfast this morning. I had a coffee and an omelet, and Jenn had her normal split with Elle: eggs, blueberry muffins, and waffles. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this yet, but Elle loves syrup and will dip everything from her muffin to her waffles and even bacon in it. She ends every breakfast a sticky mess, and Jenn gets the fun job of cleaning her up.
We went to the pool straight after breakfast and were in there from 10 - 11:30 AM before coming back to the room. Elle and I split the kids’ sliders while Jenn went to the spa for an hour massage. We tried to time the spa treatment so it would coincide with when Elle would go down for a nap, allowing Jenn ample time to use the extremely nice facilities. While Jenn was pampered at the hotel spa, I hung out on the balcony and watched The Lincoln Lawyer (Season 4). Elle has been having really good naps in Cancun, thanks to being worn out from the pool, so Jenn got a little extra time at the spa before we all met back at the pool for an afternoon swim.
After exhausting most of the restaurants at the JW Marriott, we decided to go to their Spanish restaurant. We were a little concerned, given that it was the breakfast buffet in the morning and an American restaurant in the afternoon, that it wouldn’t be great, but we were thankfully wrong. We had a waiter who knew how to serve a family with a toddler, and she had her spaghetti with our potato and cured meat appetizer. For our main course, Jenn had the meat paella, and I had the shrimp. To close out the lovely evening, we had churros. I think this might have been Elle’s first churro experience, but like her Mom, she’s a big fan.
Day 5 (March 29, 2026) - Late Checkouts
Even though today is officially our last day in Cancun, it didn’t feel like it. Our flight home tomorrow doesn’t leave until 5 PM, so we have plenty of time to enjoy tomorrow as well. Speaking of that, the morning started off a little dodgy. One of the reasons we felt OK with our late departure was that our reservation was through AMEX, which nearly guarantees you a late check-out. When I pinged their front desk this morning, I was told they were fully booked for tomorrow and couldn’t offer a late check-out. That set off a panic in me about how we’d give Elle a nap before our flight home.
The day went on, and we went down to breakfast later than we wanted, then went to the busiest day of our trip. After a quick breakfast, we were back at the pool and making our laps up and back from one end of the pool to the other. Elle is now at the routine level with the pool, with certain expectations at certain parts of the pool. Under the bridge, we rock her up and down and let her touch the top of the bridge. When we get close to the infinity edge, we have to let her sit on the steps and walk back and forth. And we do that routine over and over again.
When it was time for Elle’s nap, we were back in the room. We once again ordered room service and forwent walking to McDonald's, which I was halfway to before receiving a call from Jenn that she’d prefer Elle to have room service. During Elle’s nap, Jenn and I sat on the balcony and nearly finished booking our summer trip to Europe. Between the internet being slow and the back-and-forth we had on the itinerary, we finally arrived at a point where we both agreed it would be an unbelievable trip.
We went back down to the pool shortly after Elle woke up, then to dinner at the Italian restaurant, Gustino. Elle loved it the first time and felt like a safe way to end our last full day there. Jenn had lasagna, Elle had pasta, and I had the same pizza I got on our first night. It wasn’t nearly as big a hit as the first time, but it did the trick. On the way back to our room, Jenn stopped by the front desk while I waited with Elle off to the side. She came back and deadpanned that they couldn’t give us a late check out the next day, and my heart dropped. She could have kept me going longer, but she immediately busted out laughing and gave us the late check-out, allowing Elle to nap tomorrow before going home.
Day 6 (March 30, 2026) - All Good Things
Sadly, we’ve reached the end. After waking up this morning and having breakfast downstairs, we made our way to the pool one last time. Elle has the full routine down to a science now, and we made sure we hit all the highlights before taking her back to our room and packing up for our trip home. We ordered room service for lunch, Elle and I split the sliders again, and Jenn got a cheese quesadilla. With Jenn able to secure us a late check-out, we made our way on the balcony to let Elle have a good nap before heading to the airport.
Jenn and I finished booking our trip to Europe during that last afternoon nap, and at 2:45 PM, we got into the private transport we booked and headed to the airport. When we arrived, we found a Starbucks, and Jenn got herself her first-ever Mexico mug. Sadly, I later left said mug on the flight home, and am still hoping they find it. Everything went smoothly through security, and we had dinner at TGI Friday’s before heading to our gate and waiting for our 1-hour-delayed flight home.
Elle did really well on the flight home. She had a few moments when she was fighting sleep that she got a little fussy, but for the most part, Jenn did a great job of mixing up the toys and trying to make the flight home as fun for her as possible. We arrived back at LAX with a very tired baby and eventually made it through customs (where we realized we had left the mug on the plane), lugged our furniture on a bus to the parking lot, and finally made it home at 11 PM. Nothing is easy about traveling with Elle, but I am so grateful and proud of us for making it work and having such a great trip. Elle was a rockstar through almost all of it, and we made memories that I wasn’t sure possible before we became parents. We had such low expectations for Cancun that it was so fun to see Elle loving the pool and experiencing new places. Not to mention how great it is that while Elle got to see her first wonder of the world, Jenn and I got to close out the list.
