Day 205 - Finding Our Rhythm in Playa del Carmen

Our second full day in Playa del Carmen started with something that immediately improved the mood around the apartment, coffee. After our Walmart run the day before, we finally had supplies, which meant no more early morning tea substitutions.

We all slept a little later than previous days and were up around 5am, which feels like progress as we slowly adjust to the time difference.

Emmett and I grabbed a quick banana and headed down to the gym. To access it, I had to hand over my driver's licence at security in exchange for the gym key and air-conditioning remote. A fair trade considering how warm it gets here.

The gym isn't huge, but it's got everything we need, free weights, treadmills and a handful of machines. We spent around 45 minutes working out together. Emmett's workout style is currently best described as "enthusiastically random," bouncing from one machine to the next every couple of minutes. I think tomorrow we'll put together a simple workout plan for him on paper so he has something to follow and can track his progress.

After our workout, we headed back and tagged in Kia, who went down for her own gym session while Emmett and I jumped in the pool.

The pool here is surprisingly good for swimming laps. Emmett has really been working on his freestyle lately and spent a good chunk of time swimming up and down. He easily knocked out more than twenty laps and is becoming noticeably more confident in the water.

Once Kia finished at the gym and returned everything to security, we settled in for a proper breakfast and eased into the day.

I wanted to spend some time catching up on emails and continue working on the Morocco budget article for the website, so that's where most of my morning went.

Later in the morning, we caught up with some friends we met back in Phu Quoc at the Better Together Hub. They're currently travelling through Guatemala, which feels both incredibly close and frustratingly far away at the same time.

It was great seeing them again. Derek and I always got along well, and it would be fantastic if our paths crossed somewhere in Central America before we both head home.

The highlight was watching Emmett reconnect with their son. The boys spent ages on FaceTime pulling funny faces, testing filters, changing backgrounds and generally being complete goofballs. It was good for Emmett to have that interaction with a friend he'd made on the road.

One thing that stood out during our conversation was hearing that they're dealing with many of the same challenges we are—particularly decision fatigue.

After months of constantly deciding where to go next, where to stay, what to book, how to get there and what comes after that, it can become surprisingly exhausting. Like us, they're also finishing their trip with a cruise, partly because it removes all of those daily decisions and gives them a chance to simply enjoy the journey home.

It's reassuring to know we're not the only family feeling that way.

After lunch, the afternoon settled into a productive rhythm.

The kids got stuck into some schoolwork while I spent time working on the app I'm building. After finally connecting the AI and properly testing things, I realised there are a few changes needed before it's ready for regular use. That's the reality of building something—you don't always find the problems until you actually start using it.

Still, it feels like progress, and hopefully I'll get some more time to work on it over the next few days.

Eventually the kids wanted another swim, so Kia and I headed down to the pool and watched them play while we talked.

A lot of our conversation centred around the future.

Not just where we're going after Mexico, but what comes after the trip itself.

We talked about our house, our financial position, possible opportunities, where we might live, what we want our lifestyle to look like and the projects we'd like to build moving forward.

For the first time in a while, it feels like we have the space to think clearly about those things.

The kids are happy. They have a pool, plenty of room to move and enough entertainment to keep themselves occupied. We have reliable internet, a comfortable apartment and the time to focus on projects that have been sitting in the background for months.

It's a pretty valuable combination.

After the pool, the kids settled in for some reading before watching a movie while I cooked dinner. Kia spent some time upstairs working on kinesiology-related projects for herself and the business.

We ate together, tidied up and then headed off to bed.

It was a very relaxed day.

To be honest, inside this accommodation it almost feels like we could be anywhere in the world. It's only when we step outside the gates that we're reminded we're in Mexico.

For now, we're not in a rush to fill every day with activities. We've got plenty we want to achieve over the next three weeks, and having a routine again feels surprisingly good.

The day trips will come. The adventures will come.

But right now, we're happy slowing things down, building some momentum, making progress on our projects and enjoying this little pause before the next chapter of the journey begins.