We spent a lovely quiet Christmas in Merida, Mexico. We visited a fair two nights before Christmas, returning Christmas Eve only to find it was rained out.

​Christmas morning was purely a family affair. Santa had come early in the form of a new laptop and camera so we could continue to document our travels and work as we go. Matthew was up way too early. Emilia would have slept all day if we let her.

We went to the Hyatt to enjoy a relaxing Christmas lunch. No dishes, no cleaning - the best way to enjoy Christmas in my opinion.

From our family to yours - we would like to wish you a happy new year with plenty of travel and adventure in 2017.

Tomorrow we head back to the Belize/Mexican border to Chetumal to try again to secure a vehicle visa for Mexico to drive to the U.S. They did not give it to us the first time because we did not have the correct paperwork.

After speaking to many people in the travel community, their advice was to try again. So on their advisement, we are doing just that.

If they don't give it to us this time round, then we will have to come up with an alternate plan. But I refuse to think about that for the moment in the hope that things will work out and we can head to Merida next week as planned.

We have been enjoying our stay in Playa Del Carmen - it has many great family-friendly options. And of course, we love the warm winter weather. No snow in sight!

So on this note, wish us luck! We will keep you posted.