It started in a Vegas hotel…
An adventure that would lead two IL magazine subscribers to spend nearly nine years on a tropical island in Asia…
And today sees them set to live-fire report to you from the best beaches in Mexico…
This week we’re asking Mark and Kirsten Raccuia to bring IL Daily Postcards readers on a “ride along” as they test-drive life on Mexico’s Riviera Maya…
Why?
Because first off, they were in your place…
Back in 2012, fed up of snowy Chicago winters, tired of high prices, sick of the long grind…
Mark and Kirsten looked for a solution.
They thought it lay in Costa Rica…
Tropical shores, verdant mountains and an easy life of “no shirt, no shoes, no problem.”
But they needed to be 100% sure. So they did the best thing you can do, they went straight to an IL conference in the Red Rock Resort, Las Vegas to meet all our experts in one room…
And there they met IL Southeast Asia Correspondent Keith Hockton.
Enchanted with his description of life on the Malaysian island of Penang, they booked tickets and made it their new home. They had a blast, made lots of good friends, had incredible adventures around Southeast Asia, and they spread their wings with new careers as work-from-anywhere folk.
But Southeast Asia is far away…Mexico is close to home.
That brings us to the second reason we asked Mark and Kirsten to report to you from the Riviera Maya…
Mark and Kirsten have said a bitter-sweet goodbye to Penang and are embarking on their next adventure…
Right now they are sizing up different parts of Mexico to see which might work for them.
So, we asked them to do IL readers a big favor…
Hit the Riviera Maya from their current base in Puerto Vallarta and report live from the ground…watch their video here:
Click to play: In this short video Mark and Kirsten tell you what their looking for and where they’re going on the Riviera Maya.
All this week you’ll be with Mark and Kirsten as they check out the beach towns and lifestyle of one of the world’s most beautiful stretches of coast.
Blue Caribbean waters lapping against white-sand beaches, warm weather year round, people of all ages strolling in the sun and chatting on sea-view terraces over ceviche and cerveza…
The Riviera Maya stretches from Cancún in the north, down to Tulum about 80 miles (and one hour and 40 minutes’ drive) to the south, passing through Playa del Carmen, Akumal, and other beach towns along the way.
And each town has its own unique character. There are the massive all-inclusive resorts of Cancún, all lined up along the beach in the hotel zone. Playa has it’s chic upmarket beach-front, Akumal is a low-key beach retreat. And bohemian Tulum is known for the party scene and wellness retreats—quite a combination.
Mark and Kirsten will be exploring the coast digging into the lifestyle, the costs of living, and the adventure to be had.
And you’ll be with them every step of the way right here in your Daily Postcards.
Stay right here with International Living’s Daily Postcards to follow their adventure.