Where the heck am I?
There I was — lost in the middle of nowhere in México.
Well, not nowhere but somewhere between Cancún and Puerto Morelos, in Tulum and between Tulum and Yucatán, Las Coloradas.
Maybe double-check if you got the location right
I love to plan and organize. In fact this is part of my nature and also business. As an advocate and consultant for optimizing business processes and knowledge management I live and breath organization. This vacation however I tried something different, I wanted to see where the wind blows me and to just go with the flow. I only booked a car, my first night in Puerto Morelos and the following 5 in Tulum, leaving one week and any activity to chance or to how I am feeling that day. Even now writing this article — I got 2 more nights in my Tulum house and no clue where to next.
Okay, back to my journey to my first AirBnB. I inputted the address of the first house and was pretty confident that I got it right and started my journey to realize I messed up and ended up in the wrong place. Since I had to get Google Maps to load again while driving and quickly selected one of the last destinations I missed to double-check if that is the correct one.
The trip from Cancún airport to Puerto Morelos is actually super simple when you pay attention. Basically just a 30–40 min drive down road 307. It can be tricky if you don’t double-check.
So what I learned ending up in a not so nice looking neighborhood in Cancún is that sometimes it is smart to use a Google Maps pin instead of inputting the location yourself.
The shopping fail — lost in the hood
Getting lost while wanting to do groceries was my lowest point in Tulum. The place that I went to was just 7 min by car but that area had no LTE coverage and while I got there while Maps all downloaded, getting back was a different story…
As my second time getting lost was very ridiculous, I learned again about the importance of physical maps and the familiarize yourself with the area that you are staying at.
Remember to load all of Google Maps and add stops!
-Yes, loading Maps half way will come back and bite you on the butt.
The third time I got lost was on road 180 — my navigation failed me. The scenery was beautiful, no cars, no street signs, no markings on the ground. Nature seemed to reclaim the road again. Bushes and trees slowly started growing over the pavement. It was very beautiful but also started to concern me because I was a single female driving through Mexico without any cell service, navigation or any idea where I might find the next exit or city. Luckily after a while, approx. 30 plus min., my phone found service again and started to load maps again.
Believe me it was a major relief. I continued on 180 and made sure to load the map all the way to my first destination.
Yet again, the way from Tulum to Las Coloradas is not a difficult one, basically two different roads to follow. Nevertheless, when your navigation is failing you in a country that you have never been to before, where cell service is very spotty and you are driving through some sort of jungle you start being a little concerned.
Creative exploration
All in all getting lost 3 times was not as bad as one might think.
— Well, in that exact moment it was uncomfortable but hey, I am back in my vacation home, aren’t I?
I like to see the 3 ways that I recently got lost as creative exploration as a way of learning by getting lost or failing to do proper planing. As much as going with the flow is needed at times, maybe not when it comes to solo travel in another country ;).
