March 2004

Dear Readers,

It's spring!! Just when it was looking like those cold nights and chilly mornings were going to last forever, out came the blooms and the beautiful sunshine (of course, writing this from central Texas doesn't hurt, either. We're lucky to sneak into spring a little before many of our readers further north.) We've been on the road for a while this month but right now we're happy to be home and enjoy the blossoming trees, lots of bright, green grass, and, here in central Texas, the fields of bluebonnets.

It was more like a late spring--almost summer--down in Cancun where we visited for several days recently. We flew down to Cancun and then took a cab to the Riviera Maya, that stretch of increasingly developed land between the island of Cancun and the Mayan ruins at Tulum. Our destination: Iberostar Paraiso Lindo, an all-inclusive resort.

We've stayed at Iberostar properties near Tulum, on Cozumel, and in the Dominican Republic but this property even exceeded our expectations. The large resort is adjacent to two other Iberostar resorts and, with our wristband, we were free to explore all three. Our only tough choice was deciding which restaurant to enjoy every night: we were free to make reservations at any of the resorts within the complex. A concierge is assigned to every room block at the resort so all we had to do was to walk downstairs and put in our dinner request. In the coming days, you'll be reading more about Iberostar (including weddings at the property!)

To be honest, we were a little concerned about taking a trip to Cancun right in the midst of what, for thousands of college kids, is spring break. We've all heard the stories about Cancun's party atmosphere during that period (which spans almost a month), and we were a little worried that the resort might be anything but romantic. We're happy to say, though, that we learned that Iberostar does not cater to the spring break crowd at all. Our days there were quiet and blissful, far different from the Cancun you might see in the TV coverage.

This month also brought a chance to catch up with old friends including Madelyn Miller, best known to web travelers as the Travellady thanks to her role as founder and editor-in-chief of the well-known website. We've traveled with Madelyn at destinations that ranged from Sint Maarten to New York City but this past year we just kept barely missing Madelyn at destinations everywhere, until now.

We hope April brings many good chances for you and yours to get out and enjoy some sunshine and start planning a summer filled with romance and road trips. Keep checking the pages of Lovetripper; we've got some big changes and a new look coming up in the coming weeks! We're off to Mexico again to check out another beach resort soon but, when we return, we're planning to launch our new look!

Happy travels, Paris and John