Mexico Surf Vacation Rental With Staff!

I have a new kind of vacation favorite: the vacation rental with staff. That is, you turn over cleaning, marketing and cooking to the pros. That means everyone gets to surf, go horseback riding on the beach, play in the pool, kick a soccer ball around or just sit back, sip a cool one and watch the sun set into the Pacific.
We rented a drop-dead gorgeous house, Creando Olas (http://casasaladita.com/). It’s about an hour north of Ixtapa-Zihuatenejo on La Saladita Beach, a quirky mix of grand houses, campgrounds, beach front restaurants and surf shacks.
Creando Olas is a white-washed three-story house with a huge thatched roof, ornate wooden doors that would look great in a cathedral and beds surrounded by airy clouds of mosquito netting. It was a subtropical dream house, smack on the beach with its own pool. It was big and airy, open to cool breezes, with plenty of room for tossing a ball around or lounging in hammock.
It had a magnificent kitchen, the centerpiece being a six-burner stove overlooking the Pacific. It is such a great kitchen that Bon Appetit is scheduled to run photos of it in its July issue. Reigning supreme over the household and the kitchen, the ever-gracious Augustina, assisted by her husband, Poli.
Now, renting a house with staff might sound pricey, but it doesn’t have to be out of this world. In fact, renting a house with staff with other families kills two birds with one stone. You get the staff, meaning it really is a vacation, nobody’s stuck with cooking and cleaning, and you get built-in playmates for everyone. And it’s not necessarily the dads with the other dads, moms with the other moms and kids with kids. Sometimes it might be a dad who’s still got a lot of 12-year-old in himself playing with someone else’s 12-year-old. Sometimes it’s you hanging out with your own 16-year-old. And sometimes it’s the whole gang. The point is, nobody is stuck in the ktichen while everyone else is out playing.
That meant early risers could mosey down the beach to watch the dawn light up the waves while late risers slept in. We’d all reassemble for Augustina’s breakfast. We arranged to have Augustina cook most dinners; once she trusted us in her kitchen, she let us make a few on our own. One night, the adults came upstairs after toasting the sunset poolside to discover the kids making dinner on their own, right down to making tortillas from scratch.
Staffing arrangements vary. At Creando Olas, Augustina prepared breakfast daily and dinner when we arranged it. She had an associate who made beds and in general kept the house neat. Typically, when houses are staffed, the cook will prepare two meals daily, says Noelle Michaud, senior travel specialist with VacationRoost, which specializes in vacation rentals. To get the full flavor of the experience, watch the video below. And then, book your own! If you need help, call me.

Mexico Surf Vacation Rental With Staff!

I have a new kind of vacation favorite: the vacation rental with staff. That is, you turn over cleaning, marketing and cooking to the pros. That means everyone gets to surf, go horseback riding on the beach, play in the pool, kick a soccer ball around or just sit back, sip a cool one and watch the sun set into the Pacific.
We rented a drop-dead gorgeous house, Creando Olas (http://casasaladita.com/). It’s about an hour north of Ixtapa-Zihuatenejo on La Saladita Beach, a quirky mix of grand houses, campgrounds, beach front restaurants and surf shacks.
Creando Olas is a white-washed three-story house with a huge thatched roof, ornate wooden doors that would look great in a cathedral and beds surrounded by airy clouds of mosquito netting. It was a subtropical dream house, smack on the beach with its own pool. It was big and airy, open to cool breezes, with plenty of room for tossing a ball around or lounging in hammock.
It had a magnificent kitchen, the centerpiece being a six-burner stove overlooking the Pacific. It is such a great kitchen that Bon Appetit is scheduled to run photos of it in its July issue. Reigning supreme over the household and the kitchen, the ever-gracious Augustina, assisted by her husband, Poli.
Now, renting a house with staff might sound pricey, but it doesn’t have to be out of this world. In fact, renting a house with staff with other families kills two birds with one stone. You get the staff, meaning it really is a vacation, nobody’s stuck with cooking and cleaning, and you get built-in playmates for everyone. And it’s not necessarily the dads with the other dads, moms with the other moms and kids with kids. Sometimes it might be a dad who’s still got a lot of 12-year-old in himself playing with someone else’s 12-year-old. Sometimes it’s you hanging out with your own 16-year-old. And sometimes it’s the whole gang. The point is, nobody is stuck in the ktichen while everyone else is out playing.
That meant early risers could mosey down the beach to watch the dawn light up the waves while late risers slept in. We’d all reassemble for Augustina’s breakfast. We arranged to have Augustina cook most dinners; once she trusted us in her kitchen, she let us make a few on our own. One night, the adults came upstairs after toasting the sunset poolside to discover the kids making dinner on their own, right down to making tortillas from scratch.
Staffing arrangements vary. At Creando Olas, Augustina prepared breakfast daily and dinner when we arranged it. She had an associate who made beds and in general kept the house neat. Typically, when houses are staffed, the cook will prepare two meals daily, says Noelle Michaud, senior travel specialist with VacationRoost, which specializes in vacation rentals. To get the full flavor of the experience, watch the video below. And then, book your own! If you need help, call me.

Moon Doggie Training

It's only just that I work off the pounds gained on our last few trips of the summer--eating my way down the coast of Maine from lobster shack to lobster shack, enjoying lobster rolls and fried clams and then continuing on to New Orleans (ostensibly for work) for fried oysters washed down by AllyGator beer while sitting in a bar watching the Packers beat the Saints. But the time has come to pay the piper now that I'm having a little trouble with my zippers. 

Our family and a few others are getting ready to ride El Saladita north of Ixtapa/Zihuatenejo  over winter break. My friend Carrie is bringing her family--and helping the rest of us get ready for a great vacation. Carrie grew up a block from the beach in Southern California, was a professional soccer player and is now a trainer. It short, she's a pro. And she has set up a regimen for me and our friend Molly so we have the strength, balance and reflexes needed to ride those waves come December.

And, whoa, baby! It is more work than I thought! No more leisurely jogs down the Hudson. Instead, wind sprints! Next: yoga or Pilates for core strength and balance. I took a 30-minute ab lab that incorporates yoga, Pilates and a few other killer moves into that routine, and after five minutes, I was looking at my watch. "Stop that!" the instructor said. Carrie said the same thing to me when I was part of her morning workout group on trip to California this summer.

And even my normal weight routine is harder. Instead of the plain old lunges I've been doing for years, it's leaping lunges! Up in the air, scissor kick and then back down, turning what had been an anaerobic routine into an aerobic one.

WIll it help my surfing? I hope so! And perhaps I'll even be able to wear an Athleta two-piece without embarrassing my 16-year-old! Actually, I'm being overly optimistic with that thought. Maybe I can wear it without embarrassing myself.