I bet you think this is about exercising while traveling…

Think again.

When we first starting making plans for our trip, we decided to put less pressure on ourselves by reserving airlines and lodging for the first three stays of our journey — a week in Yelapa, Christmas in San Miguel de Allende, followed by New Years in Mexico City, and then slowing the pace and staying flexible for future stops.

Well, the first month didn’t quite work out as planned.

When we got to San Miguel, we hit a cold snap that even the locals were complaining about. The days were chilly but tolerable, but our Airbnb rental was an icebox at night. We ended up turning the stove on and leaving the door open for heat and sleeping in our clothes. It was pretty miserable.

Surprisingly, the buses here are nicer than some of the planes we’ve taken.

On the third morning we decided to ask our host if we could get out of the remainder of our stay. At first she shook her head, but then thought about it and decided to let us go. So the next morning we packed up and took the bus to Mexico City.

We decided to reserve only a few nights In Mexico City so we’d have some flexibility if we decided not to stay.

So far the weather is much better than SM and, although the hotel doesn’t have heat, at least it’s modern construction keeps the chill out at night.

It was a beautiful day to spend in the park in Mexico City.

Our lesson in all of this is to build as much flexibility into our schedule as we can. We want to make sure we like a place before we commit more time there.

We’ll see how that goes.