“All expenses paid trip to Puerto Vallarta” are the words that jolted me out of my half-asleep daze. “Yes” is all I said. A week later I was on a plane headed to a place I’ll come to know as one of the most amazing I’ve ever visited.
To give you a little more context, this wasn’t a vacation, well not entirely. No, one of my oldest friends, who is also an amazing photographer, Ben Cope was going to shoot a fashion story with me around old town Puerto Vallarta for the spring issue of Lefair magazine. I worked with Lefair in 2017, so I knew it was going to be a good experience, except this time it wasn’t going to be in Ben’s downtown-LA studio. No, we would be on the beaches and streets of one Mexico’s most beloved cities. As beautiful as this place was, it wasn’t what made the trip “incredible”, that was all thanks to the resort we stayed at, Villa Premiere.
As a model, I have stayed in many hotels, in many cities around the world. Some of these hotels have been very nice, others, not so much. But I can say without hesitation that Villa Premiere has the best customer service in the world. When we arrived we were greeted with champagne and immediately given a menu to select our pillow firmness and which scent we wanted for our rooms. Um what? Okay, don’t mind if I do. I was feeling very bougie three minutes in to my arrival when I asked for the, “Pleasure” pillow which was a down-filled pillow of medium firmness, which I later switched to an orthopedic pillow because I’m a grandma, and I also chose the “Oriental Breeze” for my room scent which was a mixture of Jasmin and some kind of citrus.
After a swift check-in process we were ushered to our "welcome massage". Again, don’t mind if I do! After being on a plane all day, there is nothing better than having someone massage away your worries so your vacation can start. In this case I was particularly wrecked, as we’d flown through the night and had an eight hour layover in Mexico city, cue the mezcal. So, I hadn’t slept for like thirteen hours and needed this stranger to massage me like a toddler needs a bottle of warm milk. Help.
Afterwards I was taken to my room, which was a beautiful suite, overlooking the beach, which by the way is the same view that every other room in the hotel has. Nothing worse than arriving to paradise only to have a view of the dumpsters in the alleyway. Am I right?
We spent a lot of time location scouting on day one, and shooting on day two but day three was all about relaxation and I spent the majority of that time on the beach with a piña colada in one hand and my camera in the other. There were so many amazing things to photograph on the beach and around the hotel. I was endlessly inspired. I saw a man selling hats to tourists on the beach. He was going from hotel to hotel with a stack of sombreros on his head that was probably three feet high. Another man was selling woven bags, again carrying more than even the most experienced shopper. A woman walked by selling beauty dresses and wraps. I'm almost glad I didn't take any pesos to the beach with me because I probably would have spent them all. Everything was beautiful.
In the evening on our second night there, the hotel surprised us with a chefs table dinner out on their jetty, the waves crashing around us. Their chefs working the grill just feet away from the table while the hostess kept us occupied with information about what inspired each dish of our five course meal. It was unreal. The managers of the hotel sat with us and thanked us for coming. At the end of the meal we had a shot of mezcal with the entire staff. It was truly great experience that I am so grateful to have experienced.
Thank you Lefair Magazine, Tracy Kahn and Ben Cope for considering me for this wonderful adventure. It was the best work vacay I’ve had to date and I’ll never forget it and if I’m ever back in Puerto Vallarta, there is no question where I’ll be staying. Any hotel that leaves you little almond chocolate kisses on your pillow and a staff that always smiling at you as you walk by or is patient with your broken Spanglish is won worth being loyal to. Thank you to every one at Villa Premiere. I appreciate you.
