Day Zero in 5 Days

This  trip was the ultimate test in the five day window of opportunity. How far was it possible to travel within this short window? and was long haul a viable option? the long and the short of it is absolutely, yes! with bells and whistles on :-) 

I've been aware of the Day Zero festival in Tulum, Mexico for quite a while now. A techno festival organised by one of my favourite DJs, Damian Lazarus, grounded in spirituality, sustainability and mysticism, in a tropical jungle location, was full of promise and offered to fuse many of my personal interests. 

But I hadn't given it any serious thought until the latter end of last year when I discovered that this actually coincided with a child-free weekend. and so I looked into it a little more seriously to investigate costs and logistics and to my delight found that it wasn't out of reach. 

A smashing airfare with Delta Airlines via Atlanta, hostel accommodation, and a reasonably priced ticket even though we were now on the sixth tier would not break the bank, and coinciding with an omnipresent f*** it, YOLO mentality, meant that this was a goer. 

Ordinarily, decisions concerning travel to the States, even though I'd had a desire to do so, had been thwarted by my, at times, crippling fear of flying, particularly when that flying is over a large body of water. For some reason I fancy my chances of survival much greater if I can see land beneath me. On water I just don't have that same optimism. And so I think I'd been kidding myself when I told people that the U.S didn't really appeal. Of course with its diversity and particularly the South American diversity and appeal is something highly attractive to someone for whom travel is just within their DNA. But I think what was really halting me was that prospect of flying over the Atlantic. 

The trip to New York in May 2023 though and going ‘up and over the top’ which meant only a relatively short period over the water, gave me confidence. and despite all of this, when I would ordinarily angst over the airline and the routing, I simply didn't give it much thought and pressed ‘book’ for a flight with an airline that didn't have a particularly good reputation, and using a routing via a city that I didn't know much about admittedly, Atlanta. But that's part of it for me, the exploring, the unknown, the finding out. 

There was quite a long layover on the outbound, in the region of 12 hours. This of course presents an opportunity to visit with the layover destination but I hesitated to book accommodation in the city and figured that I would work it out when I knew specific timings, because best laid plans may mean that that layover window is squeezed if there are any delays encountered, for example.

Flying out of Heathrow, quite often the parking cost can be astronomical but one thing I tried this trip that I would wholly advocate is the use of Your Parking Space, and specifically 1, Zealand Avenue. Through Your Parking Space I was able to secure my airport car parking on the drive of a house that was literally a stone's throw away from Heathrow airport, at a cost of 27 pounds for the duration. This was a really convenient and cost-effective option, and I could have walked to the airport within 15 minutes but opted to hop on a bus at the end of the road, the U3 which cost me £2.

Heathrow Terminal 3, I'm sorry to say, is a bit of an embarrassment, especially when you compare it to the redesign and redevelopment of some of the UK's regional airports and also comparative hubs, globally. Most of Terminal 3 resembles the London Underground, smelly, dark and dingy. That which doesn't is a fairly small area and comprises solely of high-end designer outlets, which is wholly inappropriate for the diverse range of passengers that they are arguably accommodating. A few eateries, but only two general dining options where you can get a drink and the space available just didn't seem to be appropriate for the amount of passengers.

 I return to the airline. According to Skytrax which is airline rating system that has reasonable esteem within the industry, Delta does not rate very highly at all.  From personal experience however I would really like to argue against that. Maybe it's affiliation and code share agreement with Virgin that has had positive consequences, but from start to finish my experience with Delta, both on the ground, their electronic communication via the Delta app, and the onboard experience was superb. One of the things I particularly liked is the fact that the cabin crew just seemed far more human onboard the Delta flights. Everything was less scripted, more authentic and more personal. I'm not sure if that's a strategic intention of the brand but for me it really worked well. The onboard dining was superb and I felt well cared for and catered for at all times. I tend to really not use the onboard entertainment but it seems to offer a fairly good range of music and films and documentaries. 

I couldn't have been more delighted on the outbound London Heathrow to Atlanta leg when I had a window seat at the very back of the plane and nobody sitting next to me. It still didn't mean I slept any better, but it just felt a little less squeezed and I could try and lie down across the two seats. It was fairly bumpy, but I was a brave girl (LOL) and this is something that helps alleviate my nerves, the ability to put your feet up I think dampens the bumps somewhat.

 I'd done a quick bit of Googling about how to get from Atlanta airport into the city centre using the metro system and it all seemed fairly simple, but on arrival found that you actually had to get to the domestic terminal in order to board the MARTA Transit system or their version of the Metro. This meant a 45-minute bus journey between the two terminals, which when finally emerging at the other end of a very lengthy passport control queue, it was nearing 10 o'clock before I even got to the Metro station. Even at the airport metro station it didn't feel the most comfortable place and there were lots of people seemingly loitering around and as the Americans put it ‘panhandling’. Not knowing any better I headed towards a station that looked to be in the centre of the metro map, but was advised that Five Points Station was actually the city centre so revised my plans and headed there. Getting out at 5 points it felt more than a bit spiky. I’d already been offered crack several times. Sorry, but Tuesday isn’t my crack day I'm afraid, I told them. 

I couldn't get over the amount of homeless people both within the Metro station and from what I could see on the outside, but then aside from that it seemed to be pretty much deserted and not a lot to see. Enquiring with one of the Metro security guards at the exit about whether this was indeed the city centre, I quickly made a U-turn after being told categorically that she wouldn't recommend I get out at five points because it's a very dangerous area and should not be roaming around there at that time of night. Grateful for the heads up I waited for a metro back to the airport to then get the shuttle bus back to the international terminal, feeling a little deflated that I wouldn't get to see any of Atlanta, aside from some interesting social insights at the various tube stations and on the tube journey. I’m fairly risk taking in general but we all have our limits. 

Arriving back at the airport and passing through passport control and security I enjoyed (!?!) a very cold and uncomfortable sleep, if we can call it, that on the airport floor outside what I thought was the intended gate of departure for the flight to Cancun at 8 o'clock the following morning. The gate was changed but it was only a short walk away from the one that I had been ‘sleeping’ at with only my leopard print sarong for protection against the icy blast of the AC. At around 6:30am people started to accumulate and the most lovely couple from Kentucky, Norberto an Argentinian born, and his wife Jesse who were headed to Tulum themselves sat next to me on account of and I quote Norberto “liking people with red hair”. Norberto proceeded to chew my ear off for an hour but was totally endearing and particularly effective in building my anticipation for how nice Tulum would be. I regret that I never made inquiries as to whether the Norberto cocktail that he had founded on a previous visit was still known and available, Norberto the legend.

The flight to Cancun was a short hop of 2hrs over the Gulf of Mexico. 

Having never travelled to anywhere in South America previously, I thought that it would be advisable to see as much breath as I could and therefore I had booked a night in a hostel in Cancun, intending to have that first day and night in Cancun before taking an early morning bus on the Thursday down to to Tulum. Arriving at Cancun Airport the bus route into the city was to use the ADO (state owned) bus which I similarly could have got, and wish I had got, directly straight down to Tulum in an hour and a half. Instead I headed into the city centre which didn't really give off great vibes. The bus station of course is downtown and I would imagine that most of the touristic appeal is centred around the strip development and the hotel zone at the coast with the downtown being several kilometres inland, typical of tourist resort developments in Mexico. 

Arriving into Cancun airport is an assault on the senses. It's probably one of the noisiest places I've been with people shouting and vying for the disorientated visitors' attention, offering transfers, taxi services and accommodation. But what I spotted with keen interest were some very appealing looking Margarita bars. If you have a bit of a wait until you are travelling on from the airport to your next destination, then there are some very pleasant places to wait, albeit extortionately expensive so I discovered on the return journey where prices were at least five times that anywhere outside of the airport!!!!

Cancun felt a little ‘meh’ for me. I know some people love it and some people rave about it, ultimately we're all different in what we're seeking from our travel experiences, but it felt very purpose built and lacking character. Very quickly I reached the decision that it wouldn't be the most productive use of this small amount of time to stay in Cancun and I decided to change my bus ticket to travel down to Tulum that afternoon. I'd left myself a few hours to have a look around but really that wasn't that much to see apart from sitting and having a drink and getting my first taste of real Mexican margarita and tacos, which quickly became my staple diet. 

Whilst seated and just enjoying watching the passers by, a gum chewing, wife beater vest toting, toothpick sucking local made a very stompy beeline in my direction and proceeded to sit, without being invited. He started firing questions at me, was I a single mom? Was I married? Was I looking for sex? or was I looking for a serious relationship? it seemed he could provide for all of those possible eventualities. The beer he had ordered himself was quickly cancelled when he realised that I wasn't interested at all in any of those things and he stormed off muttering something along the lines of well if you don't have time I don't have time. I never asked you to sit down. Norberto’s words echoed in my head, ‘everyone goes there looking for a partner’. Not I, said the fly. 

So in addition to not particularly liking the aesthetics, which I'm probably sure were quite different at the coastal zone, this left a little uncomfortable feel and bitter taste in my mouth and made me want to move on to Tulum which I anticipated would be a very different environment as quickly as I could. So kicking myself I'd wasted that first afternoon but also feeling pleased that I would get an extra night in Tulum, and only having wasted 17 pounds on the £10 hostel and £7 Bus fare, by approximately 6:00 p.m. I was in Tulum which had an entirely different look and feel. 

Again I'd booked into a hostel, which was in the main town, nowhere near the coastal area or beaches, and this was of course reflected in the price at the absolute bargain of £10 a night. The accommodation was fairly easy to find and was located perhaps what might be considered for some in a rather gritty area, but appearances can be deceiving and the neighbours on that unpaved street, that resided in no more than shacks really held up by some tarpaulin adjacent to the hostel were happy, kind and friendly in all of my interactions with them. They particularly seemed to favour sitting out the front of their huts with loud music blaring, a carnivalesque atmosphere overtaking the unpaved road. 

The hostel,  Aldea Okot, well you got what you paid for and so the minor frustrations associated with a lack of cleanliness and also a lack of running water on the festival day when I desperately needed to get ready quickly and at least start the proceedings relatively clean and fresh are things I can't really complain about when you're only paying £10 a night. Staying there though really did open my eyes to the disparities that exist between the hotel zones and where locals live.

Even though it was a hostel and accommodation with the exception of two private rooms was in a dorm, the coffin style wooden sleeping pods had some element of privacy because they each had a sliding door that was lockable, so this really worked for me. I dumped my stuff and walked back into town to explore a little and soaking in the atmosphere. The place was busy, so many souvenir shops, restaurants and bars but it still had a bohemian feel to the place. Another Mexican staple that evening I dined on fajitas and sampled a few of the local beers partially in the hope that I might connect with some other travellers who were attending the festival. There are occasional moments when travelling alone that I feel a little lonesome and this was one of them. I felt the need to connect with others who would be sharing the same experience with me in a few days, because after all things were a little scary and unknown. But i’m not very good at putting myself out there feeling a huge sense of imposter syndrome. 

 The next day (Thursday, Day Zero T-1) started as any good day in Mexico should; with tacos for breakfast from one of the many roadside stalls. I just can't get enough of tacos. They've got everything a person could want especially when there's guacamole on offer as well. My usually sensitive palette even became accustomed to some increasing volume of spice over the five days. As I revisited that very stall I could see growing admiration in the Ladies eyes as I moved from a position of no spice whatsoever to quite a bit of the ‘be careful it's spicy’ sauce on the last day. 

I wanted to do some sightseeing as well as attend the festival, again in the interest of making the most of such a long journey for a short space of time. Consulting Get Your Guide indicated to me that some of the day trips that were possible to go on from Cancun, incidentally located much closer to Tulum weren't actually possible and so the five Cenotes, Valladolid etc were not possible on an organised trip. There seemed to be lots of Bicycle and motorbike hire options and so I inquired on prices; obviously favouring a motorbike because then I could go further, but they seemed to be coming in quite expensive, which was actually what I found throughout the whole trip, that whilst it was possible to do things cheaply, Mexico was not actually a ‘cheap’ destination and I forgot the principle that Norberto had advised of cutting the stated price by three in negotiation. I don't normally associate bike hire or motorbike hire with any form of negotiation, but I think it's all up for grabs. so I struck a deal of three days for a bicycle hire for 30 US dollars and off I cycled to the Tulum ruins, which would actually be the pickup point of the shuttle bus for the festival the next day. 

So this would be good opportunity to suss out where I needed to go. It was hot that day, hot as hell and coming from somewhere that is now minus two or three in England it was good to feel warm through your entire being. One of my essential packing items had been a personal attack alarm, just in case, and for about two hours that afternoon everywhere I went I could hear this incredibly loud ringing, in my ears I though, that mirrored a typical intruder alarm on a house or car or something. It took me almost an afternoon to work out that the ringing was me. I turned heads that afternoon, but for the wrong reason. At least it worked but I nearly had to stamp on the damn thing to get it to stop. 

I cycled almost 40 kilometers that day so combined sightseeing and great exercise. On the way back cycling from the ruins through the National Park which was the coastal zone I stopped off at the Mezzanine restaurant and hotel which offered great views over Playa Paraisio.. It also offered great views of the most attractive waiter I think I had ever clapped eyes on. Sadly my trip Advisor review did not bear fruit. I headed back to base and took another evening stroll but didn't want to be up to late or drink too much because I wanted to make the very most of the next day. The next morning I was up very early and cycled again to Playa Paraisio to enjoy some beach time.

With Day Zero festival being my primary motivation for the visit, I wanted to make the very most of the entire thing and had intended to get their as early as possible, encouraged by Damian Lazarus's social media posts telling everybody to ‘be there early’ and ensure that they were there to witness the opening ceremony and optimistically I hoped I could make it last and until midday the following day. I almost achieved those goals. Unfortunately though my plans to dress up, look good and feel good were thwarted back at base when there was no running water and my ablutions mirrored something of a bird bath in the remaining trickle of water in one of the butt washing buckets. Good job I wasn't there to pull. In the heat and humidity there was just no way my hair was playing ball either and so that resembled what somebody actually termed a ‘warrior look’ which I'm not entirely sure was a compliment. As darkness fell that became less important. 

Festival attendees had been told that there was only one way in and out of the festival and that was to go via the shuttle bus from Tulum Magiko (Tulum Ruins car park). Anticipating, based upon previous years’ reviews that there would be long queues and subsequently long waits and not wanting to miss a bit I got there super early. My bold plan was to cycle to Tulum Magiko, lock up my bike, hop on the shuttle bus and then the next morning my bike would be there to greet me and take me safely back to the hostel. All very optimistic. so I arrived super early and made a beeline for the place I had had lunch the previous day that had some very delicious looking litre size Margaritas. This would be a good way to start the proceedings. 

Feeling warmth in my belly from the Margarita I walked over to join the small queue that was building. But they weren't ready for us and it was almost 4:00 p.m. The other festival goers were diverse in terms of age and nationality, amazing outfits, and all very friendly energy was high. This made the sense of anticipation build, it was going to be a great event and the crowd was going to be amazing, Ijust knew it. I got chatting with so many people waiting there and I figured that that loneliness would dissipate. I think it was nearly five o'clock before we boarded the shuttle buses and 20 minutes later were at parked at Dos Ojos park of the Cenotes (swimming holes) and national parks which is where the festival would be taking place. 

It seemed that things were not about to start at 4 p.m, thanks Laz. Nor was there to be an opening ceremony that we all needed to be there early for. We waited at that entrance for two and a half hours, frustration gradually mounting and the energy, enthusiasm and anticipation starting to wane.  I was literally the first in the queue and first in line to enter the festival but this didn't happen until a further two hours later.  Apparently the first DJ hadn't shown up or was delayed or something but according to the schedule they were only due to be playing for an hour from four o'clock until five o'clock and Damian Lazarus had already had to shift things around to accommodate Black Coffee's very concerning aircraft accident a few days previous. so it didn't really seem a very viable excuse and they could have let us in where we would be greeted by the bars to spend money in and the entertainment and the stalls and shops; but clearly there was something else afoot. 

Any grumbles and frustrations though dissolved as soon as the gates were opened and we were welcomed in. Clearly a lot of thought had gone into the aesthetics of the event and everything was very much on brand. Immediately regretting the high heeled cowboy boots I tottered over the uneven ground, cursing myself.  From start to finish the music was absolutely on point, particularly Acid Pauli, who I hadn’t seen before but he blew me away. I can't get across enough what the atmosphere was like and how good the music was and how well selected the DJ choices were. The sound system also was second to none and I enjoyed relinquishing all responsibilities and losing myself in the music and the atmosphere and the moment. Very quickly I abandoned the boots and for the remainder of the 16 hours I was danced in my socks which still made it home and after having been washed are, i’m happy to say, good to go again, but a key piece of learning is just don't even touch the high heels for any form of outdoor event or Festival, unless it's Ladies Day at the Races. 

People came and went from my dancing spot. I typically find a spot that I feel comfortable in this one unfortunately was quite far away from the stage but I just didn't have the heart to push through the crowds and get my sock clad feet stood on over and over again. I found a very lovely dancing partner in Michael from Dallas who had been there the previous two years and was in the company of his friend James who he didn't reunite with until the very end but it was nice for someone else to just be there and appreciate the moment. The sun set and then it rose again. Sensible head started to kick in. 

My priority, regardless of what i’m up to, always is August and I knew that the next day my prime objective was to get back to the airport to get to the flight on time and ensure that I'm back to collecting from school and so I departed the festival at 8 a.m arguably missing the two best bits; Damian Lazarus’s set and B2B with Acid Pauli. By that time the shuttle bus Q was huge, the wait was long and people in their post festival state were not considerate of others and queuing etiquette.  So in that sense I'm sort of glad I didn't leave it too much longer although i’ve seen the footage of the last couple of DJ's playing and I'm a little gutted that I missed that as it's kind of a once in a lifetime opportunity, although I'm already hatching plans to go again next year (so not once in a lifetime). 

The bike was there when I returned to the parking lot and I cycled, like a star, back to base. I actually felt fairly fresh, no doubt on account of the extortionate cost of alcohol at the event which led me to have no more than four or five beers over the duration of the 16 hours. So I only really needed a short nap and off out I went again on the bike to get a little bit more beach time. I was feeling surprisingly chipper and enjoying the sunshine. Rather than pay to go back into the national park and to the nicer beaches I headed to the public beach but every man and his dog was out on that Saturday and traffic queues were insane and the beach was packed. I really enjoyed the vibrancy though; the music, the sense of community. 

One thing I really noticed about Mexico aside from the Cancun experiences is that the people are so incredibly friendly, warm, welcoming and calm. I never witnessed anyone getting angry or shouting whilst I was there, there were no inconsiderate or bad drivers. People would say hello, men and women, and not in a sleazy way either. I felt incredibly safe through the whole journey.  Tulum itself as a resort is really nice. It's perhaps a bit more commercialised than I would like. It's got great amenities and it's got the most amazing street art if you're into that. I spent quite a number of hours just cycling around looking for new more murals. 

Again in the interests of making sure I categorically made that return flight I bought the return bus ticket forward an hour on account of some of the slow traffic I'd witnessed on the outbound journey. With a very tight connection at Atlanta this time I was very anxious until I actually boarded the Atlanta Heathrow leg. Again, the Delta experience was superb and I can't really fault it. By the skin of my teeth I arrived home at 2:30pm just in time to make a supervision meeting and then head to school to pick up the little man.

One of the reasons I travel is to expand my horizons, to learn, to encounter difference, and as well as learn about new places, through travel I always learn a lot about myself. It's often one of the few times that I get the chance to stop and think and reflect. So what did I learn on this visit?

Well firstly that you absolutely can do a long haul trip in a small window of time, you just need to plan it carefully and optimise your travel arrangements, but this experience has categorically spurred me on to look at creative other ways to use my windows of opportunity.

Secondly I've learned that my Spanish is actually fairly decent and can be understood much better by Mexicans than it can by Spanish islanders or mainland residents. It spurred me on to beast the Duolingo. It’s good to be understood. 

Next, getting around on bike when you're travelling is not only a lot of fun and it allows you to see more of the destination and get under its skin as well as being good exercise and environmentally friendly. 

I've learned that Mexico is a safe, friendly and happy tourism destination with warm and welcoming people. 

I also observed a lot about tourism planning which of course is of interest to me from a professional tourism background but also academic tourism background as a lot of the Mexican tourist resorts were built upon the strip development concept and adopt a zoning approach and this has many associated negative impacts of tourism so it was interesting to see this in practice and the differential between access to amenities and utilities in the Tourist area versus the downtown area. 

I also observed though lots more evidence of localised sustainability efforts in this developing  country compared to my home nation of the UK,  people were taking individual initiatives in order to promote the concept of ‘reduce reuse and recycle’ for example street side food sellers using compostable food containers and people putting trolleys chain to the railings outside of their house is for people to put their plastics in which they would then take to the recycling plant. 

Its amazing what meaty goodness you can get out of 5 days in the jungle hey. Time well spent indeed :-)