The membership gives you the destinations. The connections you make there are yours to keep. Over the years, we have heard from thousands of members about the moments that mattered most during their travels, and the ones that come up most often are not the sunsets or the activities or even the rooms. They are the people.
This month, in the spirit of the season, we are sharing a few of those stories. They came to us from members who wanted to say thank you in a way that might mean something to someone else.
“We Came as Strangers. We Left as Family.”
Submitted by Robert and Patricia H., Members since 2004
We were at Villa del Palmar Flamingos in November 2019, the last pre-pandemic November trip before everything changed. It was our 15th year as members and we were, honestly, thinking it might be our last. The kids were grown, the trips felt smaller without them, and we had started wondering out loud whether we were still getting what we came for.
Then we met the Garcias at the pool on day two. Oscar and Carmen, from Guadalajara, members for eight years. They sat down next to us without ceremony and within 20 minutes it felt like we had known them for half our lives. We had dinner with them that night and every night after. We have gone back every November since. We have met their children. They have met ours. When the pandemic hit, we checked on each other by text. When Patricia’s mother passed in 2021, Carmen sent flowers to the house.
We tell this story not because it is unusual but because it is not. We have since talked to dozens of members who have versions of the same story. The resort is where it started. The friendship is what stayed.
“The Year My Daughter Fell in Love with Mexico”
Submitted by Marcus T., Member since 2011
My daughter Sofia was nine years old the first time I brought her to Cancun. She had never seen the Caribbean. We walked out of the resort to the beach on the first morning and she stopped walking, looked at the water, and said, “Dad, is this real?” I have been coming back for 15 years and it still does that to me too, so I did not have a great answer for her.
What I remember most from that trip was not the water, though. It was the staff. There was a woman at the activities desk, Rosa, who took Sofia under her wing for the whole week. She taught her to make friendship bracelets from the local yarn sold at the market. She found her a snorkeling mask that actually fit. She remembered Sofia’s name every single morning when we came down.
Sofia is 22 now and a college senior. She still has the bracelet. She has been back to Cancun four more times, three of them on her own. Last year she brought her roommate and called me from the beach on the first morning to tell me her friend had said, “Is this real?” I told her I had been waiting for that call.
“Loreto Taught Me to Slow Down”
Submitted by Janet W., Member since 2008
I am not naturally a slow-down person. My husband will confirm this. We have been coming to the Loreto resort for six years now and every trip, he books Loreto specifically to counter my instinct to fill every hour with something. For the first two years I resisted. I had a list of activities. I scheduled excursions. I managed the trip.
Then one afternoon in November 2023, I forgot to do any of that. I sat in a chair on our balcony facing the Sea of Cortez with a book I had been meaning to read for three years and I read it. Straight through. The water changed color as the afternoon went on. The pelicans came in low over the bay at dusk. Nobody needed anything from me.
I cried a little, which surprised me. I think it was just relief.
We have been back every November since and I still bring a list. But I leave it in the room. Loreto taught me something that I could not have learned anywhere else. That is worth something that I do not have a word for.
Share Your Story
If you have a member moment you would like to share, we want to hear it. The stories that resonate most are the ones that are honest: a connection made, a moment that surprised you, something the membership gave you that you did not expect. Submit your story at myuvci.com/member-moments. Include a photo if you have one and a note on how long you have been a member. Selected stories are featured in upcoming newsletters and shared with the member community.
This membership is built on 40 years of those moments. We are grateful for every one.
