Bear with me, don't hate.

I will be open, honest and up front with you. I spent last weekend in Tulum, Mexico. I cannot lie. It was amazing. Don't hate. Bear with me. One of my wife's best friends from the second grade was getting married there. My in-laws agreed to stay with the kids. A weekend on the beach in Mexico with just my wife. Who could say no.

We left Friday morning and came back Monday afternoon. 3 1/2 hour flight from NYC to Cancun. Easy 90 minute drive to Tulum. Sounds like a lot of travel but it wasn't. And the weekend seemed like a week.

Maybe one of the keys was how we started the trip. Karen (my wife) read about a little seafood place that sounded great. About 20 minutes south of Cancun is the seaside village of Puerto Morelos. Despite being so close to Cancun it is not over run and retains its laid back charm. It is what Playa Del Carmen was twenty years ago. Drive south on 307. Get off at the Puerto Morelos exit. Make a left at the turn around. Drive until you hit the beach. Make left and look for Merkadito Del Mar 100 yards down on your right. It looks like this:

Go through the restaurant to the deck in back, on the beach. It looks like this:

Order ice cold cervezas or a margarita. Order the fish tacos. Order the shrimp tostadas. Order this tostada. It has smoked tuna and chipolte. It was incredible:

Exhale and smile. You are officially on vacation.

Get back in you car and drive to Tulum. You will pass a lot of big resorts. You will not see any of these in Tulum. The "resort" area of Tulum is a long road that runs parallel to the beach. It has small cabanas and one and two story hotels that look more like houses or shacks. They are all on the beach. Chances are the view from your room will look like this:

You almost never wear shoes. You walk from place to place on the beach. Your view from any meal will look something like this:

OK. You get the idea. I know you hate me right now but don't. I know you think you can't go for any number of reasons. But you can. You really can. And you should. The beaches and beautiful. The sun is shining. The food is amazing (ceviche, ceviche, ceviche). The drinks are cold and strong. You will be refreshed and renewed.

One note. Apparently the NY Times ran an article about Tulum while we were in Tulum. It basically portrayed Tulum as a Fashion industry version of South Beach and St Barts, over priced and overrun with horrible fashion folks in search of a soul cleansing.

What? Maybe they stayed somewhere else? Maybe this is just at Christmas? There was none of that to be seen where we were. Don't let them scare you away. Tulum is an alternate universe. I don't know how long it will stay that way, so go. Now.

And have an ice cold Pacifico for me.