Eight weeks ago I packed my life in a backpack and headed south of the border. I was en route to Mexico, where I would be spending four months exploring the country, perfecting my Spanish and hiding from a New York winter.

It was Dec. 27, and the U.S. was in that gray area between the Obama and Trump administrations. Regardless of where on the spectrum your politics lie, it was undeniably an interesting time for me to be headed to our neighbor to the south.

Between Trump's radical statements against Mexicans early on his campaign, to his promise to continue with plans to build a wall along the border (at Mexico's expense), it was unclear how Mexico was going to receive me, an American, and a pseudo ambassador for my country.

However, I was far from nervous. I have always been enamored with Mexico, Mexican culture and Mexican people. Still, my fellow countrymen have not been as gung-ho about keeping travel plans to Mexico.

According to MAST Travel Network, 8% of its agents have had clients who have recently canceled trips to Mexico, according to a member survey. "The intensifying issues of immigration, the border wall and trade are, in my view, going to cause some customers to think twice about a vacation in Mexico if they feel they are not welcome," said John Werner, president and COO of MAST. "I don't believe anyone should feel that way, but based on our member survey, agents are hearing concerns from their clients."

"We have received concern from Americans planning to travel to Mexico," said Zachary Rabinor, CEO of Journey Mexico. "In fact, we've had one cancellation with the guest expressing deep regret about the new direction and rhetoric of the administration. They cited their own concerns of rising animosity from Mexicans against Americans. While only one cancellation, we can't measure how many have simply decided to postpone their plans to travel to Mexico."

But these are the feelings of travelers who have had plans to go, and canceled or postponed. It's understandable why they might feel that way -- that Americans would be unwelcome in their country as our leadership has made it quite clear that Mexicans are not welcome in ours. However, my experience on the ground in Mexico has been quite different.

I am a woman traveling in Mexico alone. It's been a full eight weeks mixing and mingling with locals, an opportunity to see Mexico as I've always imagined. In this time, not once have I ever been made to feel a target of any anti-American sentiment.

Perhaps the closest thing was an encounter with a taxi driver in Campeche who felt compelled to convey to me his deep sadness at the political situation, trying to convince me that it's not only Mexicans who cross the Mexico-U.S. border, and that Mexicans are not the problem. To which I conveyed to him how much I understood that, and how many other Americans also understood it.

I was buying a USB cable from a fellow on the street in Oaxaca. He asked me where I was from. I told him New York. He looked at me with a smile and asked, in Spanish, "Are you a friend of Trump?" I replied, "Absolutely not." He laughed and sold me the USB cable for half price.

Of course, the Mexican people and the government are not thrilled with the policy changes. But more so than taking it out on the American people, they are rolling their eyes along with many of us. They are indeed offended by the tone of the president, but they are firmly aware of the distinction between President Trump and the bulk of the general population.

Rabinor added, "In fact, several of my closest Mexican friends and colleagues have mentioned to me that they feel especially warm towards traveling Americans who obviously don't share the POTUS' negativity about Mexico and its people."

See the original post here:

Traveling Mexico in a Trump world: Travel Weekly - Travel Weekly