In the fall of 2022, my wife and I embarked on a 4-day journey to Mexico. When traveling, we always decide to stay in a city. Going to an all-inclusive resort just isn’t my thing. If I wanted an all-inclusive resort in Mexico, I could find a similar experience here in the United States. I want something that allows me to truly experience the culture, see how people live, what they do and eat, hear the language. So, we went to Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. We stayed from a Thursday through Sunday. It was just long enough; a perfect amount of time. We flew on a Mexican airline (Volaris) and had a direct flight from Charlotte, NC to Guadalajara. We rode an Uber from the airport on a 45-minute ride to our AirBnb apartment. Quite honestly, the ride was intimidating. We of course, spoke very little Spanish and our Uber driver spoke no English. It was around 11pm at night, driving through the “rough and real” parts of the city to reach our apartment. Once we arrived at the apartment, everything changed. The apartment has a full-height, solid-steel gate and fence, paired with 24-hour fully armed security. It put my mind at ease. The apartment itself was clean, well-kept, had hot water with good pressure, and all the amenities we needed.
Waking up the first morning we ordered breakfast through DoorDash. The breakfast was fantastic and….super cheap. It’s no surprise that the average American would be considered a millionaire in Mexico. We continued our vacation by walking through downtown, seeing the university, eating great food, trying some new drinks, and again, eating more food. The food there is like nothing you can find here. The tacos are of course genuine and traditional, and extremely fresh. They tasted so much different, and in the best way imaginable. We didn’t go hungry at any point, and barely spent any money at all for the amount of food we received. In the evenings, we would open our glass wall window in the apartment and simply enjoy the views overlooking the city. We were about 80 feet in the air so we had a great view of the city and were able to see the mountains and simply people-watch. Throughout our stay, we never once physically went to eat at a restaurant. Our anxiety deterred us from that due to the fear of not being able to communicate with a waiter or waitress. So we ordered our food and ate in the apartment, which was great.
I had some friends and family that were slightly concerned about our safety simply because of us being “deep down in Mexico”. While we did take the trip before the recently-announced political issues Mexico has experienced, we didn’t feel unsafe at any point. But again, we didn’t make any poor decisions that would give us a reason to feel unsafe. We were in our apartment by sunset and only ventured out during the daytime. We took a few Uber rides to various markets and each was fine.
Mexico is a place of beauty, and if you get the chance to go, I would recommend it. Don’t let the questionably-false news media influence your decision. Go on your trip, be polite and respectful, and enjoy yourself without creating a scene or drawing too much attention.