Midlife Guide To Mexico City

Well hello, I’m back from what turned out to be the very best celebration we could have had for our silver wedding anniversary. We travelled our way and set our own agenda doing only the things we love. So today’s post is going to include thoughts about travelling with your partner, a midlife guide to Mexico City and I’m including a packing capsule too because this was the time that I felt I really cracked the perfect city break wardrobe. Everything went together and felt good and didn’t crease. It’s taken me ten years of focus to finally get it right! Plus I have advance notice of our autumn Midlifechic Retreat date. This is likely to be our last one because I have plans to move into the next phase next year so please sign up to the enquiry list if you’re interested.

Travelling together is a rehearsal for life to come

So heading off on an intensive, self-directed trip like this was a good test of our 25 year relationship and I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about that recently. I think one of the things that’s overlooked as we plan for this next stage of life is the importance of your primary relationship. If you’re choosing to be part of a couple over the next 30 years then you’re going to be spending a lot more time together. We’ve been trialling different kinds of holidays and trips for a while now and so as we put this one together, we felt it should be just about perfect.

Travel goes wrong when people think that going to a different place will suddenly turn them into a different version of themself. But you take yourself with you and that goes for your travel companion too. So the whole trip is as much about who you go with as the places you see. It’s about the expectations you set off with, your ability to laugh rather than complain when there’s a big or small disaster and it’s also about understanding the things you love and hate as individuals – and where your tolerance boundaries lie.

We’ve found that there are three elements to consider when it comes to fleshing out a journey. We start with the things that are easy to plan in because we both love them – such as art galleries. Even then though we approach what we see differently – Mal loves the technical aspect of everything, looking at the composition, the shading, the angles… I’m interested in the messaging and the social context. Even though we experience the same thing in different ways we enjoy being there together and it gives us a lot to talk about afterwards. And I think that applies not just to travel but across whatever type of activity you choose to do together whether it’s golf or stately homes or hiking. Although you’re together you may be approaching the same thing separately too and that’s healthy. The way that you share it gives you critically important signalling with regard to how well you’re going to spend this next chapter as your time together opens up.

There are activities Mal and I don’t share – his love of anything that spikes an adrenaline rush for example which is probably the only thing we didn’t have on this trip. Often when we travel he’ll expand his scuba diving (the single most terrifying thing I’ve ever tried)… however while he explores deep ocean caverns, I’m happy reading a book and so our differences can co-exist harmoniously. We spent a lot of time while we were away talking about this and all the things he wants to try (luckily after further inspection wingsuiting looks like a no go!). I’m glad that I’ve been forewarned that our future might include these moments of madness.

Then there are the passions that have no meaning for the opposite half – Mal’s intense dedication to the finer detail of karate makes no sense to me whereas he doesn’t understand my love of reading and sees books as clutter. I can lose myself in a book on a sunbed for hours whereas he will be in and out of the water. Over the years we’ve agreed to differ on these and respect each other’s differences.

I’m discovering more and more that finding what you love to do, both together and apart, is critical right now and planning a trip like this felt like a concentrated version of our life ahead. It’s all preparation for the next chapter (when it comes) and that’s something that those of us on the Midlifechic Retreat discussed… how to sustain good relationships and friendships when we start spending more intensive time with people. It’s all about the reopening of your minds, accepting that you may both have changed and grown in the years that you’ve known each other, discovering what’s new and then bending and flexing.

Understanding our similarities and differences really helped with the planning and I think it was the reason that we had the best holiday of our lives. I found that a longer trip like this (three weeks) taken before we get anywhere near to retiring together was important. We realised we’re in yet another new phase now that the initial euphoria of the lessening responsibility of the empty nest has been released. We did a lot of thinking about what’s next and actually the timing was perfect because we both diligently completed the workbooks from the Midlifechic Retreat and they unearthed brand new dreams for each of us so there was a heck of a lot to discuss.

I’m learning that it’s important to work as hard at relationships at this stage as it was at the very start because once again you’re finding yourselves at a new beginning. You almost have to recommit to going forward together… or not. Because for all of us here these next years will hopefully be the finest, the harvest of everything we’ve sown throughout our lives and so we need to work out what it is we want. And for couples or friendships to survive, new dreams need to be embraced – either together or independently.

And now you’re probably wondering if I’m building up to yet another midlife blogger/ Instagram divorce. Hell no, quite the opposite. But I realise how lucky I am to have someone whose vision of the future works so well with my own. It must be incredibly hard if it doesn’t and I know a few of you are finding yourselves in that position. All I’ll say is that right now we are all at the most pivotal point of our lives – this last, glorious third is the culmination so it’s really important to be on a path that makes you happy.

That’s enough of that for now, I have a lot to tell you so let’s crack on with my midlife guide to Mexico City with musings about life along the way.

Our silver wedding anniversary trip was something I started saving for years ago. I love building pots for specific hopes and dreams and so I’ve been siphoning funds off for a while for this one. I’d like to tell you that we’d planned to go to Mexico all along but actually we hadn’t. In our imaginations was Cuba. That was partly because about fifteen years ago when with a young family adventure travel was an impossibility for us, we both remember sitting rapt as an older couple described the summer they’d spent travelling freely there. And then after spending time in Colombia learning salsa we thought it would be fun to have a week of lessons Cuban style in Havana. So Cuba was always the goal.

Last year was busy, so busy in fact that arranging our silver wedding trip of a lifetime was repeatedly moved onto the next week’s to do list. It’s a regret of mine that we didn’t get around to looking at it until November when it had started to feel like a chore. So much of travel is in the anticipation and we missed all of that. However after our eye-opening visit to the World Travel Market, we finally made time to spend a weekend on it and soon realised that Cuba was off the cards. Not because we have any desire to travel to the US in the foreseeable future (having a Cuba stamp in your passport makes it difficult to get an ESTA). It’s just that the situation there in terms of infrastructure is worsening, there are regular power outages and fuel shortages as well as disruptions to food supplies. The tourist regions are somewhat insulated but it felt morally wrong to go to a country where people are suffering and take resources from them. Plus there’s a serious situation with the mosquito borne Chikungunya and Dengue viruses and medication is in short supply.

So, we had to think again. With a decent pot saved we could go pretty much anywhere and with the world at our feet, possibly for this one and only time, the decision felt almost impossible. We lingered over the continents and regions we’ve already tasted – Africa, Asia, North America, South America, The Caribbean… we looked back at our global experience at the World Travel Market… and we both quite quickly came to the same view. Last year’s trip to Colombia saw us falling head over heels in love with Latin America… not South America… there’s a cultural difference and it’s the Hispanic element that beguiles us. We both feel there’s nowhere in the world to match it.

It therefore made sense to go back to the region that makes us feel most alive and start at the top… with Mexico.

The thing about Mexico though is that it’s huge, you could spend a lifetime exploring it and still have roads left to travel. Let me show you the map – and also overlay it onto the more familiar territory of Europe for context.

Some parts of it are dangerous but huge swathes of it are absolutely safe, we just needed to work out which little chunk to bite off in the time we had. And this is where the wealth of conversations from your past can guide you. I thought back to the women-only trip on the catamaran in Thailand and the well travelled friends I made there. One night I asked them to choose the best place in the world that they'd ever travelled to and after some debate they agreed on Oaxaca in Mexico. And so began an adventure… spawned from the riches of an earlier one…

Our trip to Mexico was the trip of a lifetime and I'm so grateful that it was the one to celebrate our Silver Wedding Anniversary. I know a lot of you came along with me on Instagram Stories. If you missed them the Mexico City highlights are up now because they're the only way I can really convey the bounty of our experiences there. I was bombarded by people asking me to share our itinerary so that's how I'm going to write the three Mexico posts that I'll pull together over the next month or so – as a travel guide. It really could stretch to a book but I'm going to have to use my sharpest editing tools to restrict everything to a blog post. Today I'm bringing you the Midlife Guide to Mexico City – Part 1.

For some reason people can get defensive when I write about travel so I want to say that just because we choose to travel independently it doesn’t mean I’m criticising your choices. There are times (usually in September after a summer of festivals) when we’re desperate for a rest and so we book a fly and flop holiday through a tour operator because that’s what we need. At other times of year (usually in February when it feels as though the UK has been in hibernation forever) we look for adventure.

We book it independently because we save a fortune, we can tailor it to however we’re feeling and it gives us a sense of agency. Planning this trip has made me feel more empowered and enriched than I have for decades. However it doesn’t mean that I’m judging however or wherever you choose to travel. As with everything at this stage of life, we have to do/wear/eat/drink whatever makes us happy as individuals. I do have strong opinions on elements of the travel industry because it can have a dark, exploitative side that capitalises on people’s dreams but also their propensity to fear. However I’m not going to voice those again on here because I’m not looking for fights. Right, let’s crack on.

We flew to Mexico City with British Airways and for once treated our frugal Northern bones to Premium Economy. It was absolutely worth it to have seats just for two making it easy to get up and move around without disturbing anyone else. Despite some really poor experiences with BA over the last few years they seem to have pulled their socks up and our flights this time were excellent.

One thing I’ve noticed is that it’s definitely worth booking direct with the airline rather than through an aggregator. When we went to Colombia last year we booked Premium Economy with Iberia but I used Expedia so that I’d get the cashback. It was processed as a standard class flight and because I hadn’t taken screenshots through the booking process (I mean who would?) we had no comeback so it was an expensive and disappointing lesson to learn.

Anyway here we were at Heathrow with everything ahead of us.

We knew that jet lag and altitude would hit us when we were in Mexico City so on the whole we planned for full days with early mornings and early nights. On arrival it was hard to know quite what was sapping our energy, especially as we’d had the Midlifechic Retreat just before we left and so we’d been running on adrenaline and excitement for a while.

When we travelled back to Mexico City for a few days before going home though we noticed how much the altitude hit us. It was just an out of breath feeling, as if we’d been running upstairs but it was significant enough to make me feel that altitude will be worth factoring in to any future travels. We took hydration tablets every morning and drank lots of water but it still had an impact on energy levels.

Arrived circa 9pm, unpacked, showered and slept. As we'd booked so late our hotel room had two double beds rather than our usual choice of a kingsize and I can't tell you how grateful we were for them because we were both waking at odd times and reading during our four nights there. I think we'll always have a temporary sleep divorce to combat jet lag in future.

Where we stayed: Hotel Historico Central

We stayed here at both ends of the trip and it was absolutely superb, in my opinion it sets an example for hotels all over the world. It was moderately priced and yet unlimited food and drinks were included all day and in the evenings. The service was superb with incredibly friendly and helpful concierges who left us hand written notes every day and an especially lovely handmade card on our anniversary. It was right in the heart of the old town, safe and walkable to everything.

All of the other guests seemed to be midlifers who were travelling independently so there were lots of interesting people to chat to, mostly Canadian. And I discovered CO Bigelow toiletries, it took me back to my New York days of executive travel when I'd stay in cool Greenwich Village hotels and discover great apothecary brands. I've now managed to order the Bigelow shampoo and conditioner because I'm hoping it was that and not Mexico City water that gave me the best ever hair.

I'm marking everything out of 5 today but the hotel gets  6 stars it was so good!

Awake early!

10am – Secrets Of Mexico City Walking Tour, 3 hours. This was useful for orientation and political history (the guide used to be a lecturer in politics at the university) but he wasn’t especially personable or engaging. We saw the key landmarks of the city’s old town and learned some interesting history but he didn’t have the insights that you usually get from Freetours. 3 stars – I’d choose a different one if I were you.

Afternoon – free time and our first cocktails in the warm sunshine. This was a violet martini, just the thing to keep jet lag at bay.

We wandered back through the city at our own pace marvelling at the architecture. No prizes for guessing the inspiration behind this Palacio de Bellas Artes…

… yes – L’Opéra (Palais Garnier) in Paris. I’d done next to no research before we set off and so I had no picture in my head of Mexico City. What really hit me visually and contextually is the layer upon layer of history. At its base are the ancient Mexica (not Aztec – more on this below) ruins. This whole civilisation was of course rapidly crushed by the Spanish Conquistadores who overlaid their stunning 16th century colonial buildings on the old stone pyramids. This in itself provides a quandary for Mexico – do they demolish these beautiful 450 year old edifices in order to uncover their indigenous roots? Hopefully this gives you an idea of the proximity of the antiquity. That lovely 500 year-old yellow building is sitting on top of one of the most important 700 year-old Mexica temples. You can see the ongoing archaeological excavations to the left of it.

The next layer of architecture comes from the decades at the turn of the 19th- 20th century when Mexico (and particularly the then president Porfirio Diaz) had a strong relationship with Paris. So you have art nouveau buildings – some of them with Tiffany interiors as well as beaux arts like the Bellas Artes above and art deco. I had absolutely no idea that the old city centre would be so very beautiful.

Saturday Evening

Cantina Tour of Mexico City 4 hours.

You’ll know what I mean by Mexican Cantinas from old cowboy films and until recently women weren’t allowed to enter them. Some still have the spittoon troughs running through them for spitting tobacco. Our friendly Mexican guide Ricardo took our small group around the city’s oldest Cantinas. We were a group of six with Americans and Canadians, starting at the roughest spit and sawdust one…

…and moving up in style. It was superb although nobody had realised it was hosted in Spanish so I had a big interpreting job on my hands.

Here’s a little lesson for you about how to taste tequila as I did my job of relaying everything back to the rest of the group. The first thing to know is how to judge the quality of tequila because so many now are blended with up to 50% of pure alcohol rather than being 100% agave. So here I was relaying to the group that you can tell the difference by whether you’re left with fragrance or fumes.

And this next one is about the role of the lime – and how to enjoy a good tequila with respect (and ever helpful input from Mal).

This was one of our favourite evenings, a real ‘don’t miss’ but remember you’ll need to have somebody who can interpret the guide in the group. If you ask him he’ll be able to tell you if a Spanish speaker is booked on.

Rating – 5 stars

Awake early again and not feeling at my shiniest best thanks to the fine blend of jet lag, altitude and tequila…

We took the metro to Chapultepec Park. The metro is absolutely fine to use, just like the London Underground. It’s better out of rush hour though, we tried it later in our stay on a Monday morning and it was… just as much fun as the London Underground at rush hour! The interesting thing about Mexico’s metro as you can see here is that they have (pink!) carriages and sections of platform exclusively for women and they’re well used.

Chapultepec Park is huge – more than twice the size of New York’s Central Park. We were feeling a bit jaded so we had breakfast at a taco stall. We didn’t have any tummy issues while we were away by the way and we ate mostly in small local places and from street stalls. We chose food stalls that were busy and were warned that you could tell which stalls used filtered water by checking the shapes of the ice cubes – if they’re clearly industrially made (large cylindrical or square in sacks) they’re buying in filtered water as well. You need to avoid water in Mexico otherwise, even for brushing your teeth.

As happens every summer everyone wanted to know about these sunglasses and there’s currently a sitewide 25% off if you buy two pairs. In my view they’re the best sunglasses brand around for quality and affordability.

Feeling a little perkier we wandered through the park to Mexico’s world famous Anthropology Museum. Buy tickets there, queues seem long but are quick and efficient. It’s absolutely enormous so we narrowed our focus to what we needed to inform the rest of our trip- Teotihuacan and the Mexica tribes as well as the Zapotecs. The artefacts are stunning but almost all of the information is in Spanish so if you can’t read it, book a guide or hire headphones for the audio tour.

Rating – 4 stars (a star off for the very dry and verbose style that Latin American museums use for their information delivery, they could make it so much more engaging)

This was lunch in the sunshine at the museum’s cafe because we’d read it was excellent and it was although I bit into the chilli at the bottom of my casserole and it nearly killed me. I can eat the hottest of vindaloo curries but this was another level and I had to sit with my tongue in a glass of water for 20 minutes!

Rating – 4 stars

We spent a couple of hours in the afternoon at the Museum of Modern Art (free on Sundays). If you’re an art lover don’t miss it – there are so many Mexican paintings in European 19th – 20th century styles including impressionism, excellent pointillism and cubism and it’s great to see Mexican themes depicted in such a familiar format. There are also Frida Kahlo paintings and Mexican expressionism.

Oh and the building itself is stunning.

Rating – 5 stars.

We spent another hour walking back through the park and were slightly startled when the national earthquake warning blasted out from everyone’s phones but nobody panicked, it seems to be a common occurrence.

Sunday evening

Jet lag was hitting us so we went to Garibaldi Square which is famous for its wandering mariachi bands and they certainly kept us awake. As you sip your drink you’ll have up to five of them around you at the same time – all playing different tunes. I wouldn’t go again but I’m really glad we experienced it once – I think my face says it all here!

We ate at Tenampa which is highly recommended online but we thought the food was poor and very overpriced. It was fascinating to be there as Bad Bunny was performing his Superbowl pro-Latina interval show though – very moving to see the reaction amongst the Mexicans who are currently treated so shabbily by the current US government.

Rating – 2.5 stars for Tenampa, eat at one of the smaller restaurants on the side streets leading off the square instead and then go into a bar on the square for a drink and to hear the bands.

Just a note on Garibaldi Square and the mariachi district. We walked there from our hotel without a problem (20 minutes) but it’s at the other side of a sketchy district. Having a triple black belt husband who is very confident in his physicality is handy and I notice that people tend to step out of our way – but if you’re travelling alone or with other women, go by taxi.

Cultural note: you’re swiftly taught not to use the term Aztec in Mexico City. The Aztecs did exist in Aztlán which is believed to have been somewhere around Utah. By the time they’d travelled through hundreds of years to what is now Mexico City they were known as the Mexica (pronounced Meshika) tribe. A German scholar gave them the broader name of Aztecs in the 19th century and when you look into the history it’s difficult to work out when the transition from Aztec to Mexica happened. However it was the Mexica people who founded Tenochtitlan which we now know as Mexico City. It matters because many of the Mexican people we met found the term Aztec culturally offensive.

Teotihuacán is the ancient 2000 year-old Mexica site an hour’s drive out of the city. The way you visit it is a personal choice. At dawn hundreds of hot air balloons go up to watch the sun rise over the pyramids. We chose not to do this partly because it meant leaving our hotel at 4am and also because it just felt very, very touristy. Quite a few people leave straight after the flight without entering the site. Others stay for a tour which is often followed by visits to commercial shopping sites and lunch. You can find these tours easily online.

We booked a private 2 hour guided tour on the ground. I’m the history fan and I’m grateful that Mal is interested but I’m always aware that he has a limit. And two hours was enough for both of us. When you arrive you discover that 70% of the site is a reconstruction. In fact Porfirio Diaz had the Temple of the Sun blown up to make way for a new railway line. When he discovered that he’d destroyed an ancient site they urgently rebuilt it but that has been edited out of the history books – if you visited the site without a guide you wouldn’t know.

The moon temple still stands though and the most interesting fact was that when they excavated it they discovered the heads of two mountain lions that had been brought for sacrifice from Canada. When you consider that they had no wheeled vehicles or large animals like horses until the Spanish arrived, it blows your mind. They transported goods (and those Canadian lions) using human carriers bearing wooden frames!

There’s a question around whether to go to Teotihuacán knowing that it’s largely a construct. It’s a long drive to and from the city and there are already impressive ruins that you can access easily in the centre. I had a particular interest in going because I based my uni finals dissertation around Teotihuacán but even so, I didn’t find it was the most gripping experience. I couldn’t get over the fact that it was a rebuild and so it felt a bit more like a film set.

In the end I’d say I’m glad we went just because I’d have wondered about it if we hadn’t and the moon temple that you can see behind us in the photo above is a splendour. However I’m also very glad that we didn’t book one of the long six hour tours. I didn’t get the same kind of ancient vibration that I did from the ancient ruins in Egypt or Greece, that came through more strongly from the city centre Tenochtitlan excavations.

Rating – 3 stars (and I feel really bad saying that)

Monday Afternoon 

Back in Mexico City we took the chance to walk back to the main square and spend a bit more time at the Tenochtitlan temple there. I could sense Mal’s enthusiasm for ‘old rocks’ as he was now calling them was fading fast so I thought a cocktail on the terrace at the Gran Hotel de la Ciudad with its beautiful Tiffany interior would be a good idea. We’d already grabbed some street tacos for lunch but once we got up there we were told that we had to buy something to eat. And the balcony was a disappointing 1980s extension to the hotel, badly in need of an update. The view is spectacular but you can see it from other, less pricey places.

Rating: bar terrace only – 3 stars (II’m sure the hotel is lovely though)

Monday Evening

We’d foolishly planned the next day which was our actual anniversary as a travel day so we decided to have a special dinner that night. It was the only time that we ate in a bougie restaurant although Mexico City is full of them so if that’s your kind of thing you’ll love it. Food isn’t our currency (as the youth say) and we’d always prefer to eat something tasty and authentic in a little corner place but big events need to be marked.

Our concierge recommended Azul Historico which has a beautiful setting – it’s an old colonial Spanish building and you eat under the stars in the inner courtyard and it felt utterly romantic.

It’s said to be one of the world’s 50 best restaurants. The food was good…

… and we had a very special traditional Mexican hot chocolate-making experience at our table for dessert which was a fifteen minute display. Give me hot chocolate or cake over any kind of fancy main meal any day. This was freshly ground by hand giving it a gritty texture with a rich flavour and with the addition of mezcal, it topped off our night.

Rating – 5 stars

The following morning we flew on to the next part of our adventure which I’ll cover in a couple of week’s time. We did return to Mexico City at the end and I’ll include a Part Two at some point but first I want to talk about the travel capsule I told you about because it worked so well for a relaxed city break. It would be an easy one to transfer to any city where the temperatures are warm in the day and cool at night.

So the objective here was comfort – we were walking between 15-30k steps a day. We were also a bit bloated after the long flight so I included elasticated waists. I didn’t want anything that would crease and I had to be able to layer up and down as the temperatures were so changeable. We had no plans for glam nights out so there was no need for heels or dressing up. This is an almost exact replica of what I took – some pieces were old so I’ve found current versions.

When I go on a city break I really don’t want to feel like a tourist. I think there’s an assumption that if it’s going to be hot you’ll put on your holiday clothes. There’s no reason why you couldn’t wear shorts in Mexico City, there’s no issue with modest dressing but you’ll look a bit of a wally, just as you would in London or any European city.

So, I had light, loose navy trousers in beautifully textured, non-crease fabrics. I’ve included one pair here but I took two. If you’re travelling in navy you need texture because navy comes in so many different shades. Texture bounces light around meaning that the colour doesn’t settle into a particular shade in the eye. If you have a flat surface on trousers it means that other navy pieces such as t-shirts and jackets can jar or look faded. Plus of course texture means that any small stains are less likely to show.

I took light jersey jackets that could be layered if necessary (it wasn’t) but most importantly as they were unlined they were easy to tie around my waist in the afternoons when it was hot without adding too much bulk. They also rolled down well and could be stuffed in a backpack without being damaged when Mal was carrying one.

Everything else was ivory, my trainers were either flyknit to cope with the midday heat or soft leather with red and navy stripes for a bit of lift. For added warmth I had an ivory cashmere wrap which I used a lot and a packable down jacket from Uniqlo which I didn’t use at all. All of my accessories including my crossbody phone case and jewellery were silver. If we’d been staying for any longer I’d have added a few red pieces to expand my options but as it was, for four city days at the beginning and three on the way back, this worked perfectly.

L-R, top to bottom

• Geo patterned light jersey jacket: this keeps selling out but returns come in so keep an eye on it here, it’s the most fabulous wardrobe extender when you’re working with a navy capsule
• Ivory wide leg jeans: these were so useful to have for the whole trip (although mine are last year’s version). They’re the one piece that I transferred to a new packing capsule as we moved on (athough the waistband was too tight by the end!)
• Textured navy trousers: these have just been restocked and they’re a great option if you prefer a straight leg to a flare. The texture is gorgeous, they don’t crease and they’re elasticated.
• Dramatic pearl hoops: one of the best pairs of earrings that I own because they do all of the chutzpah heavylifting when worn with a simple outfit (20% off with MIDLIFECHIC20)
• Crochet tipped ivory vest: a nice fit that skins rather than clings with straps that cover your bra. The navy crochet trim makes all the difference to something so simple
• Navy textured light jersey jacket: this has just dropped – it will make the perfect contrasting set with the trousers above, it’s cut to sit beautifully with them but it will also add simple polish to any travel outfit
• Striped tee with flattering neck detail: a great neckline that elevates it beyond a simple t-shirt with sleeves that come almost to the elbow for people who prefer to cover their upper arms. A breton but with much more character.
• Nike Vapormax – new release not yet out so you’ll have to look on EBay/Vinted. They’re unbeatable for days of long, hot walking.
• Off white v-neck tee: comfortably loose, the neckline on this will add a slimming, narrowing vertical line to any outfit – the silhouette-enhancing trick that we’re always looking for
• Navy vest with ivory tipping: new in and great value, a stylish vest top with great structure and tipping detail for polish
• Ivory zip-neck ribbed top: sporty chic for cooler mornings and evenings with a neckline that you can alter to suit your mood
• Bien dans ma peau necklace: this and the bangle came into their own on the first morning at the beach when I put on my bikini. They worked as a reminder to feel good about myself and not let the demon thoughts in (20% off with MIDLIFECHIC20)
• Patch pocket navy jersey top: with its organic cotton ribbing and patch pockets this felt so smart that I wore it repeatedly for a bit of  a Farrah Fawcett vibe and it was just the right weight for the long plane journey too
• Biwa pearl necklace: a pearl but not as you know it, this was suitably distinctive to make more out of an otherwise simple outfit (20% off with MIDLIFECHIC20)
• Bien dans ma peau bangle: as with the necklace this was just the message I needed every day for the whole trip but especially when we hit the beach (20% off with MIDLIFECHIC20)
• Mexico 66 trainers: well it had to be these. Not only are they some of the softest, slimmest and most comfortable trainers that I own but they were specifically developed for the Olympic pre-trials in Mexico City in 1966 so they had iconic relevance
• Coco epée earrings: my elegant, face-slimming favourites – a desert island choice for me, every time (and yes I would be wearing earrings on an island!)

After reading the feedback from the First Midlifechic Retreat in January quite a few of you got in touch to see if there's a chance of another one. The one running at the end of this month sold out straightaway so we've optioned a weekend for a third and possibly final one in October. Details are almost exactly the same (you can see the lowdown on the current retreats here) apart from the fact that we'll be moving to a hotel a little further along the road because the one we've been using will be closed for renovation. That means we just need to rework the details and cost as the way they organise things is a little different. So, now I need to know how much interest there is.

The provisional dates that we're holding are from 16th – 18th October. If you'd like to add your name to the waiting list then please sign up below (without any obligation) and we'll send you more information and a booking link as soon as we have it. The whole thing was so powerful that I'd love to experience it all again with a whole new group and see what it throws up. Come as strangers, leave with a refreshed mind and new confidantes.

That’s everything for today. I can’t say I’m happy to be back but it is nice to be here and talking to you again. I’ll be back next Friday with a style edit and I’ll feed the rest of the Mexico trip in some time over the next month. Have a lovely weekend – I hope you’ve noticed I brought the sunshine back with me. You’re welcome!

Disclosure: ‘Midlife Guide To Mexico City’ is not a sponsored post