In November 2022, my husband and I took our 3rd cruise: A 5-day trip from Miami to Cozumel and Great Stirrup Cay on the Norwegian Sky . It's crazy to think about the fact that before October 2021, I had never been on a cruise before... and in July 2023, I'll take my 4th one! That's how much we love cruising.

It seems as though there's a broad consensus that January is considered the worst month of the year -- many people are returning to work and packing up their holiday decor, and the weather isn't always pleasant. That's one reason why I always try to plan something for January, to look forward to in the New Year (one of the best parts of having an NYE wedding is first having your honeymoon in January and then booking trips for your anniversaries!). This year, one of my college girlfriends scheduled her wedding for January in Mexico, so my husband and I decided to take the week off and fly down a few days before the wedding to make the most of it .

For my very first trip to Mexico, we booked 5 nights at the all-inclusive resort Valentin Imperial Riviera Maya . Some of our good friends have been to this resort several times now and were heading back for another trip, so we decided to join them -- and I'm so glad we did! Since we didn't leave the resort except for our scuba-diving trip, this travel recap will serve mostly as a review of the  Valentin Imperial Riviera Maya . Overall, I highly recommend it -- and I can see now why our friends, and so many others, continue to return to the resort!