The Scariest Travel Night Of My Life — When Vlogging Doesn’t Go According To Plan

Spread the love

Traveling is fun and exciting! However, sadly, many times things don’t go according to plan. The struggle is real AF sometimes.

As a travel blogger, I always try to plan interesting content for you guys before I travel to places. I try to find interesting attractions, crazy adventures and one of a kind experience for both; me and you guys. You guys are always on my mind and my biggest focus. In many cases, I plan vlogs (video blogs) in advance, photo ideas and things that will be interesting to later write about. Sometimes that doesn’t go according to plan, actually MANY times it doesn’t and I really try to make the best of every experience because I know that chances are, I’ll never be able to do it again.

Weather is a big factor that ruins a lot of photos and videos ideas, but on this specific blog, it was my body that was rejecting the adventure, lack of WiFi and maybe a bit of a lack of planning.

BTW, this isn’t a ‘feel sorry for me story’, this is the behind the scene of traveling that not many take into consideration when looking at beautiful travel pictures or videos. 

I’ll be the first to tell you that although I’m a luxury female solo traveler and a travel expert, things aren’t always as magical as they seem and there is a lot of the behind the scenes that you don’t see and know about. I think that most bloggers always work so hard on trying to show how perfect everything is because well…it’s part of our job. However, I don’t mind telling the truth and giving you the reality of things and what they are really like.

Tulum is Pure Magic

Tulum is such a unique and magical place. I personally think there is nothing like it anywhere in the world, maybe there is, but not that I have seen yet. Besides beautiful beaches and luxury hotels, Tulum has such a hippie, gypsy, wanderlust, hipster vibe that isn’t necessarily seen from only staying at your hotel. That’s what I’m here for, to show all the other stuff most people might not mention.

Read: Hippie Life: The Magic Of Tulum, Mexico

So What Went Wrong…

Let’s start with the fact that although I used sunscreen and mosquito repellent, I still got one of the top 3 worst sunburns of my life and over 70 mosquito bites (yes, I counted). That made everything 10 times worse, plus the hot sun wasn’t helping.

On the first part of this vlog, I was actually heading to a restaurant that on my navigation showed was on the beach and only 1.5 miles away. So I figured I’d show you guys the beach side of Tulum. I didn’t bring my shoes with me because I was walking on the beach. After walking 1.5 miles, my navigation told me it’s 0.5 miles away. After I walked THAT, it told me that I passed it a mile ago, so I had to go back. After I walked all that back, it said that it wasn’t on the beach but actually across the road. I started walking on the main street road where cars were driving with no shoes on small rocks for about a half a mile. I started asking people where it was and no one had a clue. Finally, someone else told me it was 3 miles from where I was!!! WTF!!! Seriously?! So I hopped in a cab and went there. lol I was so happy to still find my shoes on the beach! I’ve never been more happy to see them in my life. I also ended up getting my whole back and legs sunburned. That was only day 3 of the vlog.

The people that follow me on Snapchat (theonlykimcohen) got to see this live. From all the confusion of my navigation, I totally forgot to continue the vlog. Plus, I was completely exhausted at this point.

The Next Day…

The next day, I wanted to show you guys this magical street with all the cool shops. From the moment I got to Tulum, I knew I wanted to make a vlog about it. I thought it would be fun to ride a bike and film it. lol that also didn’t turn out so well for me. At this point, I had more mosquito bites, including underneath my feet and all over my toes and fingers! I was also sunburned from head to toe, front and back and it was crazy humid and I was completely dehydrated. I honestly have no idea what I was thinking. I just really wanted to show you guys!

As it turns out, it’s hard to ride a bike and film stuff — go figure.

Tulum hotel strip is actually longer than this, probably by double if not more.

I stopped to get a smoothie to feel better so that I don’t faint. They said it was organic and had no dairy in it, but I’m pretty sure they lied. I’m allergic to milk VERY much so. So after 10mins of drinking it, I thought I was going to throw up and had no idea how I was gonna ride my bike and get back to my hotel.

I decided to eat to try to feel better, which I’m not really sure how that worked out with being nauseous, but I did it anyway.

I seriously couldn’t ride my bike anymore, so I took a taxi to the beginning of the hotel strip where the best shops were. I ended up hanging out at this one spot. Took a taxi to my bike and filmed some more for you guys. I stopped at the pizza shop that I went to the day before because I couldn’t find anything vegetarian/vegan anywhere and it was getting dark.

After eating my pizza, I started riding my bike back to my hotel. It was after sundown. Around 9pm-10pm ish, everything on that strip started to close and there aren’t any people walking around like during the day.

I never took into consideration that there will be no street lights on this strip or that I would ever have to ride my bike in complete darkness. However, I somehow needed to get my bike back to the hotel.

This was seriously one of the scariest travel days of my life!

I also love how earlier in the day, I met a guy who told me all these crazy/scary Cartel stories and here I am alone replaying them in my head.

There was a point where there was some hotel lights, but nothing crazy. As I started riding my bike in areas that had no hotels, I stumbled upon a few people that had their iPhone flashlights on and it seemed so bright to me. I jokingly asked why they had them on because their lights were so bright I literally had no idea just how dark it was. Literally, the moment I passed them, I was riding my bike into complete darkness!!!! ALL ALONE!!!! IN MEXICO!

Even when I write this now, I replay that scene back in my head and it honestly seems like a nightmare I’ve had a few times. I’ve had dreams where I’m riding a bike or a car in complete darkness and scared to crash and die because I can’t see where I’m going. This was exactly that, only in real life!

I couldn’t see where I was going. I was too scared to stop my bike to find my iPhone to use as a flashlight and from my previous experience earlier in the day of trying to ride my bike and film, I knew it was nearly impossible.

I was LITERALLY freaking out for my life!

UGHHHH!!! WORST THING EVER! SERIOUSLY!

If I hit a tree or anything in front of me, I probably wouldn’t have known until I hit it.

There was also a lot of speed bumps on the road that freaked me out because I couldn’t see them coming.

I ended up riding as fast as I could as if I was being chased in the jungles of Africa by a lion.

With each paddle, I pushed round and round, my mosquito bites and sunburn were killing me more and more each and every time.

LOOK AT MY LEGS!! NOT SO SEXY! lol and that yellow thing on my leg was also meant to make mosquitoes go away…clearly it doesn’t work!

Moral of story – NEVER AGAIN!!!!

Jesus Christ!

Honestly…looking back at my travels, that was probably the most scared I’ve EVER been. I kept thinking I was gonna get robbed, raped, kidnapped, murdered and G*d only knows what else. I also kept seeing secret snipers at different stops hiding in the trees and police in camouflage outfits hiding in watch towers. Where is that emoji with the eyes wide open when you need him?

YES, I know there are worse things that could have been and have happened, but everyone has different things that scare them for their own reasons. This may not seem so dramatic to some, but try picturing yourself as a girl in Mexico at night, alone, riding a bike in total complete darkness, being sunburned with bug bites all over her body — under her feet, toes, legs, hands and everywhere else in humidity AND riding like that for a little over 2.5 miles. Kind of like a scary movie — which is probably why I don’t like watching them.

Plus, I really thought my flight back was legit going to crash. I’ve had a few scares but this one, OMG! I seriously thought I was going to die and crash in.

All this for a vlog, that to be honest with you, I’m not so happy with or proud of. I’m still not sure if I like it, but for the effort I made and the torture of making it, I thought it deserved to be made. HAHA

Sometimes I still don’t understand how I’m alive with half the stuff I do, but I’m glad to still be here!

My life is amazing! Through the struggles both on and off camera. I’m not complaining, BUT I just want you guys to know that it’s not always perfect! With all that, I’m still hardcore obsessed with Tulum and had an amazing time ANDDD still want to move there!

Also don’t forget to check out my other blog post on Tulum

Hippie Life: The Magic Of Tulum, Mexico

Glamping In Tulum, Mexico (Fancy Camping: Deluxe Tent)

Here’s the vlog lol

 

JOIN MY NEWSLETTER
I agree to have my personal information transfered to MailChimp ( more information )
Travel the world with me! Join over 300,000 readers and get updates, travel tips, giveaways and more in the Vanilla Sky Dreaming monthly newsletter!
*We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.

Leave a reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.