Vacation Shopping

On a recent snowbird trip to Mexico, I found myself thinking more like a tacky tourist and less like myself.  I observed beach vendors selling brightly coloured wrap dresses, hats, personalized rice grain pendants and friendship bracelets.

I realised when people head on sunny vacations in the middle of winter, the sun melts away any common sense.  Women parade in ill fitting bikinis, men sport women’s sundresses around the pool with a beer in hand (okay just one man, but still worth mentioning) but most of all, everyone simply relaxes and stops caring.  This is fine when confined to your resort, but when you head out shopping, you should always retain some sense of your life at home.

Consider if you would wear the item at home before dropping hard earned cash on tacky tourist hats and dresses. Think about summertime and invest in items you will wear again.  I ended up purchasing an oh-so-glamorous, wide-brimmed hat that I wore daily in Mexico and envision myself wearing to the beach at home.

My favourite purchase in Mexico, however, was a silver cuff bracelet (pictured below).  I splurged on the cuff as it was from a shop rather than a beach vendor.  I feel confident that the bracelet and hat are items I will wear again and, in doing so, avoided the sense of regret in wasting money on tacky tourist items rather than excursions off the resort.

Enjoy your vacation time and Viva Mexico!

Silver Cuff Bracelet from Mexico