The Dreaded Question - Did We Make a HUGE Mistake Going to Mexico? (VIDEO)
The first few days of our journey through Mexico weren't all sunny beaches and tasty Mexican food. To be honest, they were nothing short of an exhausting shitshow. Before finally getting our TIP just outside of Guaymas, we started to ask ourselves the difficult question...did we make a giant mistake by selling all our things, packing up the car, and moving here? If every single day is going to be like these first few, we're not sure if we can do it.
In this video, we share some of our advice to fellow travelers considering driving through Mexico and what we'd do differently if we got a do-over. We also talk about why we believe using Airbnb is the best way to find a place to stay while traveling through Mexico.
Are we calling it quits? Find out in our video below.
Spoiler alert: Although the start of this trip was physically and mentally taxing, we made it past the roughest part and have no plans to call it quits anytime soon. ;)
Up next on our Tangerine Travels...
What we thought about Guaymas, Mexico, more awkward conversations in Spanish, and vendors selling things on the side of the road.If you enjoyed this video, follow us @TangerineTravels for more.
@sharingeverybite (Maddie)
@shenanigator (Jordan)
(and Laska the Siberian Husky)
It's a big change. Kudos to both of you for being bold enough to take the plunge.
Day by day, it's starting to become a little less of a daunting change and a little more of a welcomed adventure. Thanks for your continued support and encouragement, means a lot to us!
Dont you feel more alive though traveling thru Mexico compared to your "normal " perhaps boring life you had back home? Looks like you folks managed each obstacles and challenges well already.
Thanks for always taking the time to comment! It's now a couple weeks after this video was shot. The first few days were pretty rough and consisted of a lot of driving, but now, we are thrilled to be where we're at!
Don't give up! (I'm glad you're not) Things will go horribly wrong sometimes, but you're doing something awesome that very few people get to do - or make happen. You'll have stories for the rest of your lives :-) Best of luck!
Thank you for those kind words. It was really rough at first, but we're not going down that easily. ;) Like you said, this is an opportunity most people never get—we hope to make the most of it, even when it's a little tough. And with any luck, sharing our hiccups and missteps will help other travelers have an easier time if they plan similar travels.
Love the fact that you can't even speak Spanish! I'm reliving my youth vicariously through you two :-) Big up!
Cg
Welllll we like to think we're at least conversational in Spanish, but when it comes to getting stopped at checkpoints by the Federales, all that goes out the window when we roll it down to talk to them! Lol
Thanks for your continued support and encouragement. It really makes our day when we get comments from you!
I have a little trick when it comes to conversing with people in a language you are semi familiar with; whom may also be semi familiar, or more at English.
So obviously, initially you try and speak as much Spanish as possible, and then instead of saying hablas ingles? You say, lo siento, es possible hablamos ingles?
The subtext of the first one is: I can't be bothered to try/or learn your language, let's speak mine.
The second says: I'm really trying to speak your language and am a bit embarrased that I can only speak this much, would it be OK to try English for awhile?
It's subtle, but I find it works really well for breaking the ice and getting people to see you for the nice person you are! Even if the person answers that they don't speak any English, their attitude (if it was negative) will change and they'll warm to you. :-)
I look forward to more instalments! :-)
Cg
@cryptogee that is really great advice. We tend to feel ourselves getting to a "deer in the headlights" point sometimes where it seems like even talking in English isn't an option. We'll definitely try this out next time we get to that point.
It's amazing the shift that happens when you help people realize that you aren't being disrespectful/ignorant/entitled. Tends to soften the mood like you said. We've also gotten some pretty shocked looks when servers and vendors start speaking English to us and we come back with well-spoken (i.e., not gringo-sounding) Spanish. We might not have all the vocab down, but we certainly aren't giving ourselves away with a thick US accent.
Sometimes in those situations, it ends up morphing into a Spanglish-type conversation, which we have found to be really helpful in learning more.
By the way, what other languages do you speak?
I am excited for you all. It is an amazing opportunity to live out your dreams.
Blessings as you continue to travel and enjoy life together.
We really appreciate you saying that @ sumatranate! Most days, it still doesn't quite seem real that we are fortunate enough to be doing this.
I lived overseas for over 10 years. We all have different lengths of a honeymoon period when we first arrive in a new country. Sounds like you did not have one at all.
I saw a lot of people go through culture shock. Most people had a 4-week honeymoon, and then major culture shock until month #6. Of course, the length of time is different for different people.
But after culture shock subsided, I still had culture stress. Some events were culturally challenging, but they no longer stopped me in my tracks.
Keep pressing on and keep sharing on Steemit!
The first few days were pretty rough for us, but now (a couple weeks after this video was shot) we're definitely in the honeymoon phase that you described.
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I absolutely love you two, so glad you're documenting this :-)
Cg