There is already a thread on here for the trip that departed on 10 October which gives the itinery so I shall not repeat that here save that we did not have the Cancun beach option on this trip.
The date of departure is slightly inaccurate as having boarded our scheduled flight BA decided the plane was not fit for service (my claim under EU Regulation 261/2004 is with BA) and we ended up in various hotels but did fly next day. I would stress this is NOT the fault of JY and much credit must go to our excellent TM Kim along with local guide Mario who crammed everything we were due to do in Mexico City into the short time we had left there so that we did not miss anything.
Kim had lived in Mexico in the past and had fluent Spanish which came in very useful at lunch etc stops when menus were not always in English. Waiter service sometimes seemed a little slow but we were a group of 27 each of whom was paying separately! Waiters never seemed to have change so took your money then went off to sort out change. Lunch was never expensive and it was sometimes easier if you had near enough the right money and only a few pesos were involved to leave the change as an extra tip. Tips were invariably included in bills at 10%.
There were long travel days - but on the first 2/3rds of the trip the scenery was lovely - after that it changed and got very flat. I am not above doing laundry in the shower of an evening but with many one night stops I decided to take enough clothes for the 2 weeks. We often did not get in until early evening on a long day and with wanting to get out to eat it did not leave a lot of time for domestic chores although I believe some people did manage some laundry.
Hotels in the larger cities (Mexico City/Cancun) were just another hotel but I much preferred some of the more quirky ones, with a local feel, that we used on the road.
On the subject of clothes then we went from shorts and tees to sometimes, especially in the mountains in San Cristobel, to needing several layers in the evening.
Also on the subject of clothing there are many visits to Mayan sites and some climbing of steps (which can be very steep) is involved. We had rain overnight on one day which made that day's site a tad slippery. Something sensible on the feet for site visit days is recommended. Trainers or similar should be fine. You can climb pyramids at several sites but as I had suffered, and only just recovered from, a couple of fractures before departing I erred on the side of caution but several of our group at the older end of the age spectrum put others to shame.
We did meet a couple of hold ups in the mountains where the locals were protesting one of which was early evening. This was the only time we were grateful for mossies as these came out at dusk and caused the protesters to disperse. Also Mario advised us that Mexicans are avid followers of TV soap operas - and a particularly popular one was due to start shortly!!
We did not do seat rotation but did have a rota for sitting at the front. Some of the mountain roads can be very winding and we did have a couple of people who felt unwell. This was mainly people to the very back of the coach so avoid these if prone to travel sickness on the mountain road days.
This trip had been on my bucket list for some time and ticked all my personal boxes.
It was also my first JY trip although I have travelled solo in the past as both an independent traveller and as a single on a Travelsphere (etc) holiday. Everyone mixed well and there were no cliques and I would have no hesitation in recommending JY to any solo traveller.
We had a very good TM and Mario was passionate and very knowledgeable. A very good team not forgetting Raul who drove us safely for 2,520km through Mexico.
A trip I would reccomend if you want a mix of Mayan history and rural Mexico.
