Any travel day can be strenuous on you. Even for a “short trip”, you will likely have some changes from your daily routine that can throw you out of whack. Take our last trip to Riviera Maya Mexico, for instance. It was a 3 hour non-stop flight to get there. Should be a piece of cake, right? Not really.
Our flight was scheduled to leave at 6am. Factor in a 2-hour drive to our departure city the night before, and dinner, and it was already late when we arrived at the hotel. We got to bed, only to have to wake up at 3am so we could arrive at the airport 2 hours before our international flight. After an uneventful flight, in cramped seats (they were pre-reclined and had a 17 inch pitch though) we arrived in the Cancun, Mexico airport only to make our way through customs and immigration and find our shuttle. I had forgotten the part about the hour drive to the resort. Luckily, on our commute we only had to stop off at one other resort to drop people off on our way.
By the time we arrived at The Grand Palladium, we were starving and exhausted. We found one restaurant that was still open for lunch and then made our way to one of the adult “quiet” pools to wait for check-in. Yeah, even though we arrived early enough to enjoy the afternoon, we were too early for our room to be ready. Enter the pool area, Miguel! He was one of the Zentropia Spa staff and was taking reservations for spa appointments. Boy, if that wasn’t right on time for our tired bones! He was all booked for the day, but said he could schedule us in for the next morning for massages and use of the spa facilities for 3 days. We set it up for the next morning.
Once we did get into our room, we mustered up enough energy to go to dinner, but couldn’t stay awake long enough to even sit through the entertainment that evening. Bedtime came very early. The next morning we were more refreshed. We walked to breakfast and then headed up the beach to one of the other resorts in our complex, White Sands. They have rooms on a small lagoon and have to take gondolas to get around.
After checking out their pool and restaurants, we headed back to our resort taking a different way. We found the spa on our way, and even though we were still 2 hours early, we went in. We figured we would just hang at the spa pool until our appointment.
After putting our stuff in one of the lockers, we discovered the spa had a hydrotherapy circuit. 
Jackpot for us! We love hydrotherapy! In that 2 hours, I think we used everything but the cold immersion tub. (It was really just too cold!) The relaxing pediluvium was one of our favorites. You walked through on rocks and pebbles with cool water jets massaging your legs.
It really helped our sore and tired feet feel better. The rest of the circuit was very relaxing. By the time we finished and headed to the infinity pool we were so relaxed, we were both ready for naps.
Salma and Nicole came to get us, they said they would be our massage therapists for the next 80 minutes. They went through aromatherapy, acupressure, lomi lomi, and shiatsu. They started with us face down and then halfway through, we flipped to face up. It was so relaxing, I think I may have dozed off a couple of times. If you ever go to a resort with a spa and massage services, make that appointment. Your body will thank you!
When our massages were finished Salma and Nicole handed us each a glass of champagne and we returned to the infinity pool.
What a way to end a massage session! The best part is, our spa pass is still good for two more entries to the hydrotherapy circuit. You can bet we’ll be using those before we leave here!
Travel tidbits from my life