Photography I Created
- There’s a difference between good tacos and just tacos, good tacos are more likely to be in less-fancy buildings without flashy signage.
- Processing your Mexican temporary residency is much harder than they make it sound.
- Really should have learned more Spanish before getting on the plane.
- Even a nice Hilton hotel is still, in the end, just a hotel.
- It’s amazing how terrible a car can be to still be listed for sale here. I looked at a car for 60,000 pesos (just under $5,000AUD) and I think someone was murdered in it but it wasn’t cleaned.
- Horses, livestock, dogs and other animals all just roam free here. Must be tough for fencers to not be needed.
- Lawns don’t exist here unless you’re in a fancy place. It’d be hard to move here if your identity was built on how good your lawn is.
- Very few Australians are here or have visited here. Many people are surprised to hear we travelled so far.
- Should’ve stopped for a night or two in Los Angeles. 26 hours door to door was a lot for two toddlers.
- Always buy bottled water.
- Oysters taste different here. Bad different.
- I had to drive on the other side of the road for the first time in three years in the presence of a Mexican man whose car I was test driving. He must have spent the whole time wondering why a person who drove this bad wanted to buy a car.
- Money transfers internationally are never as quick as you’d imagine, especially over a weekend.
- There’s little consistency between different offices of Mexican authorities. There’s very much a local spirit in the decisions they make.
- We love it here.
- It’s quite hot.
- Buy a good pram and travel cot, they’re worth their weight in gold.
- Pack light, you don’t need all that stuff.
- There are no Ubers, Didis, Lyfts or taxis in Todos Santos.
- Had a Lock Screen widget to help me make purchasing decisions quickly and easily considering I still don’t really know how much 1,250 pesos is in personal terms.
- If they couldn’t do Lock Screen then at least do a widget.
- Once I opened the app, it gave me a few nuanced currency conversions. I wanted to be able to quickly get my head around AUD, MXN and USD numbers quickly.
One week in Mexico
I love Morpho, my new favourite currency (and other numbers) conversion iOS app.
Ahead of travelling to Mexico I wanted to find a new currency conversion app that did two-three things:
Morpho delivered plus they brought in other conversions like weights and temperature.
The widget is great - you can choose which conversion to show, as you can see in the screenshot I wanted to always have a sense of what things on menus were worth so I settled on “what’s 100 pesos worth in Aussie dollars?”
You can then tap the widget to open the app and whatever number you enter at the top is converted below.
Travelling internationally with an iPhone soon? You’ll like this. Even Britt appreciates it and I can never get her on to new apps.
How can I nominate myself for the Father of the Year Awards? I just bought Luna a Paw Patrol car seat with and without beef.
I’m using the new Apple Translate app every day in Mexico, it’s pretty cool. Currently having a full conversation with my zero-English Uber driver, Jesus Angel (his name, not a prayer).
My only addition would be the ability to reverse/swap languages easier.
A day in the life of the Withers family: day four (13 October 2022) in Los Cabos, at the Instituto Nacional de Migración (the Mexican National Institute of Immigration), activating our residency visas.
“Fish killer of the week story”
Turns out that Cabo San Lucas is basically the Bali of the USA.
What a wild ride.
At first Jesus was coming to meet me and take us home.
Then Jesus cancelled on me.
I’m quite conflicted on how I feel about meeting Jesus in the future.
Mexican pests are chill AF
First Mexican sunset // Cabos
Mexicans really dislike BlackBerrys
This TSA agent at LAX is giving us a hard time
Adios, Australia
One of these two people just vomited up a whole bloody watermelon on the Qantas lounge carpet
Targeted ad of the year award goes to this lot who just advertised at me, the bloke moving his family to Mexico tomorrow
Self portrait of a tired and weary man who isn’t working for the next six weeks
14 years of the best job in the world
It was kind of fitting for one of my last weddings before we head to Mexico to be at Weddings at Tiffany’s. One of my first was there as well, and it’s one of my most memorable weddings because of how the groom thanked and encouraged me after the ceremony.
He said “I thought you were going to be a really shit celebrant, but you were awesome!”
Over the last 14 years I hope I’ve equally positively surprised you with my “me-ness” whilst also been a solid rock you can rely on when you get married. It has been, and will be, such an honour to hold that moment for you, I’ve never taken it for granted. That’s why we’re taking this sabbatical, because I’d like to do this celebrant thing forever.
A guest at yesterday’s wedding is still upset she couldn’t book me for her wedding six years ago because I was booked then, and I’m getting similar vibes from people emailing about 2023 weddings at the moment.
I’ll be back - especially for tomorrow’s wedding at Sanctuary Cove, and the couples I’m coming back from Mexico to marry in November/December - but trust me when I say I don’t think I could carry on marrying people next year after the last three without something breaking, so we’re taking the courageous act of taking a break instead of being forced into one.
People always say this about their own job, but I know they’re lying, because I have the best job in the world. Thank you for giving it to me.
Finally found the band for me
Making wedding photos today
Rules for Online Sanity
