Honeymoon at Paradise Village

It was a beautiful fall day in Chicago. My wife and I had a 1:30am flight out of Chicago into Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, stopping at Mexico City. We arrived in Puerto Vallarta at approximately 10:00am where we trying to figure out what in the world we should be doing now. Mind you we're in another country, not just another city. After getting our bearings we were able to get a taxi to our desination - Paradise Village.

Paradise Village is more than just a resort, it is an experience. We got to enjoy seven days of each other, and our vacation spot. The staff there was very friendly. They made sure we were comfortable at every step of our honeymoon. Our room was very clean and the view from our one-bedroom suite was great. Being that it was our honeymoon we exercised the room service there quite a bit. We probably did this at least half of the time we were at the hotel. You know how some places have poor room service options and/or service? Paradise Village's room service was great! It wasn't just Mexican fare, but a number of typical foods were offered as well - pizza, hamburgers, chicken wings, desserts, etc. Great room service is definitely a bonus at a resort, AND on a honeymoon!

One of the days we were there we were able to go to a timeshare presentation and we were offered free breakfast as participants. Let me tell you! My wife and I still talk about this breakfast to this day, especially the hash browns. My God! They were so good. They had fresh fruit, pancakes, sausage, pastries, most of your typical breakfast items which were very good... but the hash browns... and the salsa that you could put on top of them made the whole breakfast for us. Granted, we didn't sign up for any timeshares that day but needless to say, that was one of the best breakfasts we've ever had.

The resort had nightly themes as well. One night it was seafood, another night it was BBQ, another night it was pizza... and the list goes on and on. If that wasn't enough, nearby from the resort, there was a mall with more restaurants and food options. We had a ball! We went to this churrascaria in the mall one of the nights (for those that don't know, a churrascaria is a place where they serve meat, meat, and more meat... along with salads, sides, and... meat). Another night we tried this Italian restaurant. This was probably the only negative aspect of our vacation there. The food wasn't favorable to either of us and we would up leaving there and finding something else to eat. Probably room service ;) But the resort was so gracious that they allowed reimbursed us for the dinner that night. That is what you call memorable customer service.

If I don't insert it here, I feel like I'll forget it... but the resort also had an incredible spa. We were able to get a few services as it came with our package. So I got to try out the whirlpool and also had a face massage. My wife, I think, had a body massage. I'm not a big spa person; typical of some guys. I did have a great time though. If I had some more money to work with I would have definitely tried a couple more things and let my wife try some more things as well.

We did do things outside of the resort mind you. We didn't just stay in the bedroom the entire time! Puerto Vallarta has some of the same features that most major American cities have - yes, even a Walmart. The beaches there were beautiful. We were able to go hiking, horseback riding, did boat tours, and other fun things like that. Whatever we decided to do on a given day however, we were definitely looking forward to coming back to our room. What I would recommend though, and this is general for travelling into a foreign country, get cash in your current country and then get it exchanged at the travelling country's foreign exchange if one is available. Most will have ATMs but then you're at the mercy of their fees, and usually it's a double fee. One for their bank, and one from your bank. I'd also advise knowing the climate of where you're going and take appropriate clothing. The last thing you want is to be caught in a foreign country unprepared for the weather, agriculture, insects, things like that. Also, be sure to know a little bit about the language of where you go; there's nothing worse than looking idiotic because you can't speak the language slightly intelligibly. Don't rely on there to be English-speaking people in the country you travel to. Bottom line - do your homework before you go to a foreign country.

The day we left, we definitely made it a note to visit this resort again. After we checked out, the staff took care of our bags and got us in a taxi and we were off to the airport to return home to Chicago. We took plenty of pictures of the room, the experience, the city, and each other. We will definitely remember Paradise Village and look forward to returning again.

If you'd like to learn more about this resort, go to http://www.paradisevillage.com. Whatever your definition of paradise, I'm sure you and your new bride will find some part of it there together.