Exciting Travel Announcement!

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Hello! Happy Sunday if you are reading this the day I post it.

Today I have some exciting news to share. In just over a month, Scott and I are headed to Puerto Vallarta! Neither of us have been to Mexico before, so we are both really excited. And honestly, we’ve both been working really hard lately, so we cannot wait to take a break together, away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

How did this trip come about?

Nearly a year ago I was invited to a dinner and cooking class with The Tourism Board of Puerto Vallarta, with Enroute Communications putting together all the logistics. The theme of the event was “Puerto Vallarta is for Foodies”, so I was thrilled of course! Travel and food? My two favorite things (throw in horror and Disney and it’s a party).

For the event we went to Vancouver’s The Dirty Apron cooking school. The two chefs for our event were chefs from Puerto Vallarta. One room was a long table set for our dinner, and the other room were individual work spaces to learn to cook. In that room we were lucky enough to make our own fresh salsa, with our chefs guiding us on how to do so.

After our cooking class we all went into the dining room for dinner and a small presentation on why PV (Puerto Vallarta) is the perfect place for foodies to head to. The food cooking in the other room wafted into our presentation room, and my stomach began to grumble.

Soon we were offered up different wines and mezcal, a traditional Mexican drink similar to tequila, but made from the agave plant.

(I would include the photos I took, but I can’t find them on my laptop, sorry about that!)

We were served several courses, and while I don’t remember each individual one, I can tell you that they were all delicious. They even made me my own vegetarian dishes, which was so incredibly nice of them.

We were asked beforehand to use our social media platforms to share the event, using the hashtag #puertovallartaisforfoodies, and were told that those who were most active would receive prizes. I went a little OTT on Twitter, and constantly was sharing updates throughout the evening. I shared tips I learned from our presentation, photos of the food, my thoughts on the food, and anything else I could.

I had seen photos from another PV dinner in another city where the tables had these gorgeous colorful knit turtles on them, and I thought that maybe those were the prizes.

Turns out the prizes being given away were for 3 night stays in PV!

Ever the overachiever, I was very active on Twitter, as mentioned above. A month or so went by where we heard nothing, and then I received the awaited email. Several people at the dinner received 3 night stays at various PV hotels.

Me? I was awarded a 6 night stay, with complimentary flights for myself and one other person.

Where are we staying?

It took several months to get everything sorted out, but I can now officially tell you all that we will be spending 3 nights at the Hotel Marriott, and 3 nights at the Hotel Westin!

I will write another post telling you all our plans so far, so that way this post isn’t too long, but let me tell you – I cannot wait!

Any tips I need to know to properly explore Puerto Vallarta?

And a BIG thank you to The Tourism Board of Puerto Vallarta and also to Enroute Communications for the dinner, the flights, and the hotel.