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Wether for business or for pleasure, an internet connection has become a way of life for many of us. Streaming videos, music or checking email is just part of our routine. With this in mind many airlines have started to install WiFi in the airplanes, but which ones are the best? In a recent article by Fortune we find out that “three American airlines offer the most onboard wireless Internet connections worldwide…Delta Air Lines topped the list of the most connected airlines, as measured by available seat-miles with at least a chance of getting a wireless connection, according to the survey by Routehappy.com, a site that evaluates in-flight amenities. More than 500 million of Delta’s available seat-miles are covered. It’s closely followed by United Airlines  (500 million miles) and American  (more than 400 million miles)”.

So if a connection to the internet has become a necessity for you, keep this in mind when you are booking your next flight.

Read the complete article from Fortune HERE.

The day has come and you are getting ready to board a plane for a long flight. What is the best way to pass the time and make that 10 hour flight feel like 2? Often we take work, but staring at a spreadsheet may be a good use of time, but 10 hours will still feel like 10 hours.

Below is the top 10 tips from IndependentTraveler.com

“1. Upgrade.

When traveling long-haul, you have no better friend on the planet than your frequent flier miles. On the Tokyo – Newark flight I was disappointed to see come to an end, I enlisted the help of my travel agent to find flights on which I could burn up all of my Continental miles to upgrade my entire trip. It meant catching puddle jumpers to my final destination in Japan (Gifu), but a couple of short extra flights were a small price to pay for 27 hours of first-class legroom, fully reclining chairs, edible meals, entertainment and breathing space.

If you stop reading at this point in the article, you almost need to know nothing more than this — by hook or crook, try to get an upgrade. (Even Dr. Timothy Hosea, from whom you will hear below, offered this as his first and most important suggestion.)

2. Escape.

You will want to have a rock-solid plan for frittering away several hours of your flight, and I don’t mean working; staring at spreadsheets and writing proposals may burn up hours, but it does not make them vanish. You want these hours to disappear almost without a trace. Think headphones and Hollywood blockbusters. Getting a lot of work done is fine — rarely do you have 15 consecutive hours without a phone or email, so I encourage bringing some work — but work will fail you when you get to the brutal middle hours of this ordeal. Headphones and Hollywood; don’t stray from this.

Spring for the airline’s headphones, pay for and watch every movie, swipe your card for the DIRECTV, bring your iPad crammed with your favorite flicks — whatever it takes.

3. Don’t carry on too much stuff.

While checked baggage fees are inspiring travelers to carry on more and more stuff, on a long-haul flight this could burn you; anything that is under the seat in front of you just means less legroom and a more cramped living space for 15 or 16 hours. Don’t bring so much on that you compete for your own sleeping space.

4. Bring your go-to gear.

When it comes to surviving flights, I am not a gear guy. I can’t be bothered to lug around neck pillows, eye masks, earplugs, noise-canceling headphones, etc. — except on a long-haul flight. As I note above, your total carry-on haul should be limited, but you may want to consider some of these relatively small survival tools. Your body and brain will thank you for every small comfort you can provide, and the inconvenience of packing and carrying these around is dwarfed by the misery of 15 hours in flight with crying children, pilot announcements, engine noise and a major crick in your neck. Gear up.

5. Board relatively rested.

Don’t count on a long-haul flight as a good place to catch up on sleep — it’s not. As attractive and intuitive as it seems to get on a long-haul flight extremely tired, hoping to sleep the whole way, you are in for a world of hurt if you can’t sleep for any reason. You will be on the plane long enough to catch a few winks even if you are somewhat rested, and my advice is to take it when it comes; if your eyes start to droop, get out the eye covers and earplugs, and go with it. If you throw away a solid two-hour nap on a few extra rounds of Angry Birds, you might well be angry at yourself later.

6. Secure your stuff.

A long-haul flight gives unscrupulous travelers all the more time to size up the location of your wallet, wait until you fall asleep and make a move on your luggage. Secure your valuables deep inside your bags where it would take a TSA X-ray machine to find them. Consider keeping items like your passport, credit cards and cash in a money belt under your clothes.

7. Consider a sleep aid.

If you are planning to use sleep aids (including “natural” methods such as melatonin, or drugs such as Ambien), try them before you fly with them. A few years ago a friend gave me an Ambien pill for a red-eye flight from Honolulu to New York City, and the drug acted more like a stimulant than a sleep aid. I was awake the entire flight and felt wretched to boot. These drugs can vary greatly in how they affect individuals, so you will want to try them at home before you rely on them on the plane.

Dr. Timothy Hosea, team physician and Chair of the Sports Medicine and Research Committee for the United States national rowing teams, sometimes prescribes sleep aids for his athletes, but notes, “If you feel you need a sleep aid but haven’t used those drugs before, you should probably try taking Tylenol PM or Benadryl. A prescription is fine with your doctor’s approval, but don’t experiment on a long flight; [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][the plane won’t] stop for you!”

Dr. Hosea also says that, as the team doctor, he does not take any medication while flying with the squad in case someone needs care. “I bring a book, watch the movies and try to let the flight pass,” he says. His approach is appropriate for other travelers who need to have their wits about them, such as folks flying with children, for example. If someone could potentially need you to be 100 percent during the flight, you should forgo any sleep medication.

8. Use SeatGuru.

On the flight back from Sydney mentioned above, I called ahead to get my seat reassigned to an exit row — big mistake. Unbeknownst to me, the exit row seat I chose was a window seat at one of the big, thick exit doors, which encroached on my leg area such that I had to sit sideways in the seat for the entire flight. It was also more like an “exit aisle,” located right at a restroom, so there was endless and noisy foot traffic the entire flight. I was lucky that the rest of the row was empty, but it wasn’t much help; the armrests did not go up, so I couldn’t lie across the three seats in the aisle.

Needless to say, mine would have been a “yellow” or even “red” seat on the SeatGuru seating chart if it had existed in 2000 (the site was launched the following year). Eventually I went around the aircraft collecting all the unused pillows and blankets I could find, piled them up in each of the three seats, and created a workable (but in truth not very comfortable) platform across all three seats — and got a very few winks of sleep during the flight. I guess it was fairly comical, as friends all took pictures of me during the flight for their amusement. Glad you had a fun flight, guys.

Before you choose, also think hard about your usual preference of exit vs. aisle seat; it may be different on a long-haul flight than on a shorter flight. If you usually choose an aisle seat, consider whether you want your long, Ambien-enhanced sleep to be interrupted by an aisle mate; similarly, if you usually choose a window, you could get trapped in there by a snoring person in a prescription drug-induced stupor.

9. Ask about seats at the gate.

Failing the ability to choose great seats before your flight, try again at the gate. If the flight is not full, the gate agent may be able to see an empty row, or put you and a traveling partner in a “window and aisle” configuration that reduces the likelihood of having someone sit in the middle seat, thereby getting you a seat and a half, at least.

10. Take care of your health.

Hydration: If you think hydration is a concern on a cross-country flight, try tripling or quadrupling your time in the air; you might as well spend 15 hours lying on the desert floor. Which is a good comparison, and you should stock up and behave accordingly. Imagine you are going to walk from Flagstaff to Winona, Arizona. How much water would you bring? Expect to drink about that much on a 16-hour flight.

Dr. Hosea recommends drinking “electrolyte solutions, Gatorade being the best known, instead of solely water.” Hosea says that maintaining electrolyte balance is important, and that you don’t want to become completely diluted with water, particularly for older folks or people with other medical problems. “The combination of dehydration and stasis is really the issue with blood clots,” he explains.”

Thank you IndependentTraveler.com for the great information, and hopefully this helps with your next long flight.

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Wether you are coming to visit the beautiful Hacienda Antigua, or traveling to other international destinations, there are some items that you need to bring on every flight, as well as a few that you should leave behind. Forbes has compiled a great list of these items.

One of our favorites from the list, and often most overlooked is a USB travel battery pack. This is to ensure you can get a charge to your phone (which is most likely doubling as your camera) without a wall charger or relying on the plane having a USB charging port.

Some of the best ones are under $40, for example this Anker Powercore is only $39 and has “Ultra-High Capacity: Weighs as little as a can of soup (12.5 oz) yet charges the iPhone 6s seven times, the Galaxy S6 five times or the iPad mini 4 twice”.

For the complete list visit Forbes.com HERE

Recently Sayulita was featured on HGTV during an episode of “Mexico Life”.  According to the HGTV website (http://www.hgtv.com/shows/mexico-life) Mexico Life is a show that follows “homebuyers in search of sun, sand and surf. Whether it’s a vibrant nightlife and sizzling culinary scene or a totally secluded piece of paradise these buyers crave, local realtors will help them find the perfect property for their own slice of Mexico heaven.”

We also believe that this area is a slice of heaven and find an enormous amount of inspiration. Make sure to take some time to view this episode.

http://www.hgtv.com/shows/mexico-life/episodes/two-foodies-find-new-inspiration-in-sayulita-mexico?soc=sharefb#episode-tunein

About Hacienda Antigua:

Hacienda Antigua is a luxury vacation rental nestled on the Nayarit coast near Lo de Marcos, just 45 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta. Offering the ideal Mexico family vacation, Hacienda Antigua can accommodate up to 10 guests with family-friendly options such as nanny and chef services. Hacienda Antigua is a one-of-a-kind setting for destination weddings or other special occasions. If you are looking for a Mexico beach vacation, escape the crowds of Sayulita for the tranquility and privacy of Hacienda Antigua. Visit us at haciendaantiguamexico.com to learn more or book your trip.

As the year is coming to an end, it is time for us to reflect on the year that was, and resolve into the new year. Often traveling is reserved for vacations and good times. But traveling can actually help you in more ways than you think and may actually help you with your New Years Resolutions.

Here are 9 benefits of travel from Lifehacker.org

1. You’ll find a new purpose

“To travel is to take a journey into yourself.” – Danny Kaye

Traveling is an amazingly underrated investment in yourself. As you travel you’re exposed to more new people, cultures, and lifestyles than you are living in your homeland all the time. With all the newness in your life, you’re also opened to new insights, ways of seeing the world and living, which often gives people a new purpose for their lives. If you’re feeling stuck on what your purpose is, what you want to do with your life, the career or educational path you want to pursue, go travel…you might just be surprised about what you discover as a new sense of life purpose and direction.

2. You’ll appreciate your home more

“All travel has it’s advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it.” – Samuel Johnson

When we spend time away from home, especially in a place where we don’t have the same luxuries readily available to us…like a village in Fiji that runs without electricity…we become more aware and appreciative for the luxuries we have back at home. I remember a time where I visited my cousin in Argentina after she’d been living there for about a year. I was visiting her around Christmas time and brought her the new Harry Potter book along with some basic goods that you can find almost anywhere in Los Angeles. She was over joyous and filled with gratitude, like she just got the greatest gift in the world. In other parts of the world, like India and Ethiopia, people don’t have as much access to clean drinking water…especially from what’s readily available on tap. Traveling through areas like that really make us appreciate what we do have, and often can spark the movement of something to support people living there experience a greater quality of life.

3. You’ll realize that your home is more than just where you grew up

“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” – Lin Yutang

The more we travel, the more we realize that our home is so much more than the town, city, state and even country that we’ve grown up in; we realize that our home is the world, this planet, and we become more conscious of how we can harmoniously live and support one another. And in that knowingness and state of consciousness, people like those supporting the movement of charity:water come into fruition.

4. You’ll realize how little you actually knew about the world

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.” – Saint Augustine

There’s concept, and then there’s experience. When we travel, we may notice that some of the things we’ve heard about the world end up being very different than what we were indoctrinated and conditioned to believe. Many of the initial myths that get dispelled are often about traveling itself. Where you once may have thought it was too expensive and dangerous, you may realize how you can actually save more on your lifestyle expenses traveling the world than you do living at home. You may also realize how kind and friendly strangers can be, and how they are even willing to take care of you with a place to sleep at night. Beyond that, you have the whole world to learn about with every place you discover, every person you meet and every culture you experience.

5. You’ll realize that we all share similar needs

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” – Mark Twain

Tony Robbins has said many times that no matter what your background is, all human beings share 6 common needs. As you travel more, you notice the truth of this even more…and as that happens, you are more adept in being able to relate to people regardless of their background.

6. You’ll realize that it’s extremely easy to make friends

“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” – Tim Cahill

One of the first things I learned from traveling solo is how easy it is to make friends. Something magical happens in how people can show up more raw and real when they’re out of their conditioned environment and open to express themselves without feeling judged. That rawness and realness ends up inspiring others to be authentic, and that’s how you can become best friends with people when you’ve only known them for a few hours.

7. You’ll experience the interconnectedness of humanity

“Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.” – Maya Angelou

Just as we notice how we share similar needs, how our perspective of our home expands, and how we become close friends with others from different backgrounds and cultures, we begin to realize how we are all connected. This state of awareness is a jump in consciousness, and what I mean by that is in the way we perceive the world, the life experience and ourselves. Ken Wilber speaks about consciousness as spiral dynamics, each level of consciousness inclusive of the one previous. I feel that traveling often helps people experience a world-centric view of consciousness, and some even on that’s integrated…able to see, understand and accept all states ofconsciousness, and utilizing the gifts of whatever is best and most appropriate in the moment.

8. You’ll experience serendipity and synchronicity

“Traveling is one of the easiest ways to become aware of the magic that weaves all of creation together through serendipity and synchronicity with perfect timing.” – Adam Siddiq

Serendipity: luck that takes the form of finding valuable or pleasant things that are not looked for. And here’s Synchronicity: coincidence of events that appear meaningfully related but do not seem to be causally connected

I’m going to share one story of how I experienced serendipity and synchronicity in Spain. It was early in the morning and it was time for me to return the motorcycle my friend had rented with me yesterday. She left very early in the morning on a flight home so it was my responsibility to return it. I woke up to a beautiful sunny morning in Spain and went out to the street to start the motorcycle. I started to drive, forgetting that the chain was left on the wheel. Having no previous experience with motorcycles, I realized I was in a predicament. Two minutes later, a car drove and parked behind me. I had a feeling that someone in that vehicle knew how to fix motorcycles and was going to help me remove the chain so I could return the motorcycle. As they got out, I spoke to them in Spanish, telling them what happened. One of them motioned the other to go on. He mentioned they were mechanics and here for a job, and that he could help me get the chain off…and he did. I thanked him and he seemed gratified to help a fellow soul on their way. In that moment, I realized that no matter what…the world is here to support me, which leads us to the last benefit of traveling.

9. You’ll realize life is a wonderful gift

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” – Helen Keller

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

Life is a wonderful gift. It really is, and as we travel and experience more of the world and life, we often become overwhelmed with gratitude and appreciation for all the beautiful moments we enjoyed and people we’ve shared them with. More often than not, this is a realization that we can experience and take action from now while we’re still alive with energy rather than stacking up regrets by the time we’re on our death bed. Rather than waiting until you’re saying “I wish I had”, live so you can say “I’m glad I did”.

Ref: http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/9-wonderful-benefits-traveling.html

About Hacienda Antigua:

Hacienda Antigua is a luxury vacation rental nestled on the Nayarit coast near Lo de Marcos, just 45 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta. Offering the ideal Mexico family vacation, Hacienda Antigua can accommodate up to 10 guests with family-friendly options such as nanny and chef services. Hacienda Antigua is a one-of-a-kind setting for destination weddings or other special occasions. If you are looking for a Mexico beach vacation, escape the crowds of Sayulita for the tranquility and privacy of Hacienda Antigua. Visit us at haciendaantiguamexico.com to learn more or book your trip.