Mexico In My Pocket — Local services in New York

This is a review for the trip planning services. My family and I booked a trip to Oaxaca one year out, for Día de Muertos, through this business. We got the hotel booked and discussed a private cooking class, which Luisa said she could book and since she knew the person doing the class, we could make it a shorter class (2 hours) to work better for our child’s age.

Fast forward to 8 weeks before the trip, and we hadn’t heard from her. We emailed, and she said she’d send the itinerary. Which was weird, because we hadn’t discussed any other activities we wanted to do. When I received it, there was no cooking class. And many of the activities sounded nice, but weren’t what we were interested in seeing and doing. When I asked about the cooking class, she said it was booked up and probably too long for our daughter to do. Which is something we’d discussed a year ago — so why didn’t she book it then? Or discuss any need for a change in plans? There was no substitute class or anything similar in the itinerary.

The pricing for airport pickup and dropoff was also incredibly high — $250 USD each way! Luckily we travel in Mexico a lot and knew that was ridiculously high, so we opted out.

At this point we just started looking for tours and activities ourselves, because it was clear that she wasn’t that interested in creating an itinerary based on what we wanted to do.

That’s when she emailed us to say she was “pausing” all tour services… to work on a book she was writing. That would include our trip — with just weeks to go until the busiest season in Oaxaca. She offered a partial refund based on the “work” she’d done so far, which was basically booking the hotel and this itinerary that felt like the same one she hands out to everyone.

What she didn’t seem to realize is that now we were left to book things when everything was already booked up — hiring her was supposed to take work off our plates, and instead it made things even more stressful.

Plus, to not fulfill your commitment? Wow. As an independent contractor myself, I would have fulfilled all commitments before moving onto a new project.

In the end, planning the trip ourselves would have been the best way to go. At least we would’ve been working on it for months, versus scrambling with just weeks...

Eight days in Oaxaca, Mexico, was an amazing experience! Luisa, owner of Mexico in My Pocket did an amazing job with the itinerary. Every day was spent with a Oaxacan artisan, or out exploring beautiful Oaxaca. We got to see and experience how artisans work and live, eat traditional Oaxacan cuisine, and explore several surrounding towns. Luisa, has a family like relationship with each artisan and you can see the love she has for them and their art.

The B&B she booked was so charming, they served a delicious Mexican breakfast every morning. We had a private driver to and from airport, and to surrounding towns. The experiences were amazing, from seeing how Zapotec rugs/tapestries are made to mole cooking class, I felt at home with these families. The food, the people, the culture, the art, the adventure! It was hard to say good-bye! This was a special trip for me for many reasons. The memories and friends I made are priceless! I can’t wait to return with my family and show them the magic of Oaxaca!

Muchas gracias Luisa & Mexico in My Pocket!

Gracias...

Luisa’s shop is in our neighborhood and we’ve always enjoyed stopping in to see what’s new and having a quick chat. This year we had her put together a Oaxaca trip for us. We are seasoned travelers and have visited Oaxaca before, but her recommendations and connections made this trip one of our best ever experiences. I think our favorite visit was with Taller Carmin — what an amazing family — but everything and everybody was fabulous. The whole trip left us with even more love and appreciation for Mexico and the food, people, and being there for Dia de Muertos was a revelation.

We worked on our itinerary together and Luisa was so patient in accommodating our requests and likewise recommending things we wouldn’t have thought to do.

Our travel companions were wonderful and we plan to all keep in touch. Lots of laughs, shared experiences, and zillions of photos. We practiced our Spanish with anyone who would put up with it and packed in a few extra days in CDMX as well.

Thank you Luisa!

Anne and...