By Matt Mueller Culture Editor Published Dec 03, 2021 at 6:00 PM

OnMilwaukee's going on vacation – and we want you to come with!

Join Lori Fredrich, OnMilwaukee's FoodCrush podcast and yours truly on a majestic trip to Mexico this March – March 5-12, to be exact – a week-long break from the blustering cold into the blissful El Dorado Casitas Royale. With a reasonable price as well as an unreasonable amount of fun and adventure awaiting below the border, it's sure to be a memorable and mesmerizing trip to remember. 

Need more convincing? Here are six reasons why you should jet down to Riviera Maya with OnMilwaukee this March. (Or, if you don't need any more convincing, click here to learn more details about the trip and reserve your spot in the sun right now!)

1. A FoodCrush feast

It's going to be gorgeous on OnVacay's trip to Riviera Maya – with the emphasis on "gorge." Our hotel, the all-inclusive gourmet El Dorado Casitas Royale resort, features not one, not two, not three but 14 restaurants and bars on its grounds, ranging from all different types of cuisine.

The Mexican setting causing you to crave Mexican food? The resort offers that. Hungry for some food inspired by the cuisine around the Pacific Rim? The resort offers that. Praying for a plate of pasta or other Italian favorites? The resort offers that. Wanting dinner as well as a show? Well, OK, now you've gone too far – JUST KIDDING, THE RESORT OFFERS THAT TOO thanks to Fuentes, the hotel's culinary theater offering unique and delicious meals cooked and crafted right in front of you, a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach. Basically, no matter what you're hungry for, the El Dorado Casitas Royale likely has it on a plate – and for merely $10 per person! (To hear more about the locale's many culinary experiences and inspiratitons, listen to this FoodCrush podcast with Chef Eduardo Barra and Paulina Salazar, who handles Midwest sales for the resort.)

Speaking of the FoodCrush Podcast, since this is a FoodCrush-sponsored trip, the podcast's co-host and general foodie expert Lori Fredrich will be along for the ride, available to talk food and inform your dining experiences with culinary knowledge, inquisitiveness and fun. (Fellow FoodCrush co-host Matt Mueller will also join, though he'll mostly talk about the movie "Big Night" and SpaghettiOs.) Between the good food and good company, your brain as well as your belly will return home beyond sated. 

2. Wisconsin weather in March is butt

I know nobody wants to speak this evil into the world because it's fast approaching. And I love Wisconsin, my happy home for all 31 years of my life. But let's just come out and say it: Winter is coming, and winter in Wisconsin is trash. And no period during a Wisconsin winter is more fully trash than March. 

Winter in November and December is acceptable; it's generally not THAT devastatingly cold, you still might see some blue sky and whatever snow falls is magical and wondrous because it's the holiday season (and also we haven't had to drive through it that much yet). The January and February months can be rough – especially when it comes to chilliness – but you're still riding that holiday high and mesmerized by the piles of glistening snow and glimmering icicles. Plus, the cold and snow provide excellent excuses to work from home, blow off plans and stay in bed watching Netflix. 

But March? March sucks. 

By the time March rolls around, you're tired of snow and tired of driving 30 miles per hour on the freeway because everything's still so slick. You don't even have the pretty aesthetic of snow because it's all turned into nasty grey and brown splattered slush. It's all the dinge and cold of winter with none of the majesty – it's just muck. No wonder the only major holiday in March is St. Patrick's Day – because the outside world looks absolutely sloppy drunk during this month.

Feeling hopeful for spring? Too bad – March in Wisconsin is going to be unrelentingly grey and 40 degrees at best. And if March is feeling particularly cruel, it'll drop a 60 degree sunny day in there ... just to revert back to grey bilge for the next four weeks, with maybe a few bonus tiring snowstorms mixed in just to extinguish any misplaced joy you had about the seasons finally changing and seeing the sun again. Did the groundhog fail to see his shadow and say spring was coming early? That rodent is a LIAR. Spring isn't coming in Wisconsin. Spring is the Milwaukee lion or Christian Yelich's MVP hitting ways – a myth – and March is here to brutally remind you of that fact for 31 days of butt. 

But it doesn't have to be that way. Escape to Mexico with us and find out that there are places on the planet where March isn't a swear word. 

3. An adventure every day

After a year of pretty much being stuck in our homes, going anywhere – much less out of the country – qualifies as an adventure. But the OnMilwaukee OnVacay promises to be an adventure in all caps, bold font and underlined.

In additional to the meals and cocktails served up by the El Dorado Casitas Royale's many restaurants and bars taking your taste buds on a journey, the trip features several invigorating adventures beyond the dining room – from a tour of the resort's organic greenhouse (after enduring months of snowy and frozen Wisconsin winter, you'll want a reminder of what the color green looks like) to exploring the uncovered ancient Mayan site at Ek Balam for a day – including the largest Mayan structure in the Yucatan – and a swim in a beautiful natural limestone swimming hole, or "cenote."

And that's all merely surrounding the resort. Inside the resort holds its own adventures and activities. The El Dorado Casitas Royale offers guided jungle trail tours, snokeling, kayaking, yoga and – special for this trip – a poolside concert. And if merely a out-of-country vacation is enough adventure for you, you can venture to one of the resort's beaches and take a journey into one of the many books you want to read or into your dreams while taking a sunny nap by the ocean. (Just remember to apply sunscreen beforehand for that last one.) 

No matter the size of the adventure you're looking for – big or small, beachbound or below the ocean's surface – the OnMilwaukee OnVacay will send you on your way there. 

4. Have I mentioned that March in Wisconsin is butt?

You know what you won't have to do if you go to Riviera Maya with us? Shovel snow. We can assure you that your week in Mexico will involve exactly zero snow-shoveling or sidewalk salting. The only shoveling you'll be doing is shoveling delicious food into your mouth, and the only salt you'll have to deal with will be on the rim on your margarita. You know what else you won't have to do in Riviera Maya? Wear fifteen layers of clothing and still be cold. It'll be swim trucks and flip-flops. At its worst and most brisk, you might have to wear a shirt. 

Basically what I'm saying is that, unlike in Wisconsin, you'll not only be able to go outside in Riviera Maya – but you'll want to! What a world!

5. Living in luxury

Not that you'll want to stay in your suite considering all of the food and adventure surrounding the resort, but your room on its own will feel like a luxurious and glamorous vacation.

Each 700-square-foot suite comes with a hot tub, a private balcony and an outdoor shower. (That's right: It's so nice down there, even in March, that you can shower outdoors.) Each suite also comes with access to both an exclusive pool and a swim-up bar – the classiest of all the bars. And that's all without mentioning the beachfront location, with the sound of nearby waves, the feeling of the soothingly warm sand and the aura of the gorgeous weather serving as a massage for our winter-singed souls. (And, if you would like a literal massage as opposed to a metaphorical one, the resort also has a full spa.)

It'll feel like an incredible home away from home – so much so you might not want to return to your actual home by the end of the trip. 

6. The March weather in Mexico is gorgeous, as opposed to in Wisconsin, where it is butt 

Hey, guess what the average temperature range is in Milwaukee during the month of March. I will accept "*fart sound*" as a correct answer – but the more precise answer is between 42 and 31 degrees. Now, can you guess what the average temperature range is in Riviera Maya, Mexico during the month of March? I'll give you a hint: SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER. The actual range is between 84 and 71 degrees – and those days are generally filled with sunny, cloudfree days that look like a happy computer wallpaper screen. Milwaukee days in March, on the other hand, look like a computer screen that picked up a virus.

Come look at blue skies with us; come to Mexico. 

7. A vacation for your wallet as well

"But Matt," I hear you say through your computer screen, "how much does all of this cost?" Amazingly, the starting point for the trip is just $2,249 per person for a double suite and $2,579 per person for a single – and remember that the trip is all-inclusive, so most of the food experiences and vacation adventures (including the dozens of restaurants and bars, the beach access, the poolside concert, the day-trip to Ek Balam and more) come with the price. And getting out of town for the ugly end of another Wisconsin winter? Well, that's priceless. 

For more information on OnMilwaukee's OnVacay, and to book your spot on the trip, click here or call 833-TLTRIPS – aka (833) 858-7477 – for expert guidance from our partners at Travel Leaders. (Reservations must be made before Dec. 15 or before we hit capacity for the trip.) Or tune in for a Facebook Live with Lori and Matt, answering all your questions – and probably talking more about how March in Wisconsin is butt – later this week.

We hope to see you down in gorgeous Riviera Maya! After surviving through yet another Wisconsin winter, you'll have deserved it. 

Matt Mueller Culture Editor

As much as it is a gigantic cliché to say that one has always had a passion for film, Matt Mueller has always had a passion for film. Whether it was bringing in the latest movie reviews for his first grade show-and-tell or writing film reviews for the St. Norbert College Times as a high school student, Matt is way too obsessed with movies for his own good.

When he's not writing about the latest blockbuster or talking much too glowingly about "Piranha 3D," Matt can probably be found watching literally any sport (minus cricket) or working at - get this - a local movie theater. Or watching a movie. Yeah, he's probably watching a movie.