I have a stack of about a million brochures for places all over the world. That is a lot of places. I just can't decide where we should go. Originally, I wanted to go to New Zealand, but even I know when to say when. We just aren't going to be able to afford to go there. Also, I admit that I am scared to plan my own (especially if we go abroad) without the assistance of a travel agent. The problem with them is that they push resorts with often boring activities. While beach bumming is the ultimate activity, not sure that will satisfy the couple who likes thrills and action.
I do know I like to have everything planned. I like to know where and what I am eating, and what I am wearing. I do know passports are $200 each and if we stayed nearby, we may be able to avoid that added expense.
As I am typing, I am wondering if a cruise may not be a bad idea. I know a few of you are very experienced in the cruise experience and am eager to hear your recommendations (yes, I am talking to you, Icarus).
What I think we need to have to enjoy a honeymoon:
-a beach, specifically one that accompanies salt water -scuba diving
What I want:
-to go caving-I have always wanted to float through a cave on an tube -to go outside of the country, we may never have another chance -Phil has always wanted to swim with dolphins -to add another extreme sport to my list of crazing things I have done (may include parasailing, cliff diving, etc)
So, what do you guys think?
Posted by MattP (Member # 10495) on :
OH! THAT kind of advice. Sorry, I got nothin'. My honeymoon was one night at a Motel 6. We were pretty broke back then.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Yeah, we road-tripped up the CA coast to San Fran, then over to Dallas (where we were going to live-- we were married in L.A.)
I really can't think of any place that can accomodate EVERYTHING on your list right now-- although Mexico may come close.
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
Oh wait, Pearce has kissed dolphins and snorkled in caves and stuff. I've seen the pictures. Ask her where that was. It sounds like just the place for you!
Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
You can do it all in Australia.... *grin*
Not much help I'm afraid - we had a just-bought-a-house honeymoon (4 days, 5 hours drive from home), and I'm don't really know about places close to the US.
Posted by anti_maven (Member # 9789) on :
Our honeymoon was in Lisbon, and my wife being 5 months pregnant*, we did little more than waddle around and eat cake.
Heaven!
How about Mexico or a Caribbean cruise?
* and no it was accompanied to the sound of a shotgun Posted by Sergeant (Member # 8749) on :
Hmm, it all depends on your budget I suppose. My wife and I had to get married on the quick over a weekend because we were in the Army at the time and they wouldn't let us take leave. So we postponed our "honeymoon" for a year and spend almost a month in Hawaii. Rented a dive of a condo (which was ok because we didn't spend too much time there), rented a car and did a bunch of SCUBA and one tandem sky dive. All in all we spent about 5k for 26 days.
We are currently on a trip to the Bahamas to an all-inclusive resort. As we don't drink the all inclusive thing isn't all that but the food and entertainment have been good. Unfortunatly, because of the weather the sailing, waterskiing and windsurfing have been limited to experienced people, which we are not. As SCUBA is not included in this resort's "all-inclusive" package we had to pay for that. We did one 4 dive day and a second 2 dive day with the sharks. Very cool. The coolest thing we did at the resort was play on the trapeze. Spent enough time there to eventually get a knee hang and pass to one of the staff swinging on another swing. Lots of fun. Total cost for 8 days/7 nights to include airfare from SLC and 6 dives for 2 people - $3400. Headed back to Utah today. Brr. Now I really have to study for the bar exam
Sergeant
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
I've been eyeing untours for a while, myself, particularly the option to live in a castle: http://www.untours.com/ Posted by DeathofBees (Member # 3862) on :
How long is your honeymoon going to be? I wouldn't try to cram too many activities into the most intimate of all getaways, especially if my time were limited. You don't want to do so much during the day that you come back to your hotel totally exhausted.
It also depends on whether this is (ahem) your first overnight together or not. If so, give yourselves the first couple days to have a retreat somewhere close to home, since you won't spend much time out-of-doors. Then you could fly to some exotic place once you and your sweetie are ready to head out for adventure.
My own honeymoon was very simple--just a couple nights at a nice hotel in our home city and some fancy dinners. The most important thing for us was to have nothing around to give us stress or distract us from each other. We even thought about just spending it in our new home, but then we would have ended up cleaning and cooking. A hotel was better, and was about what our budget could handle.
My husband and I are saving the more exotic locations for subsequent honeymoons. Once our youngest is weaned, we're going to drop the kids off at Nana's for a few weeks and get some real time alone together. Oh, it will be bliss...
Posted by Tammy (Member # 4119) on :
quote:Originally posted by fugu13: I've been eyeing untours for a while, myself, particularly the option to live in a castle: http://www.untours.com/
Thanks for that link. I just forwarded it to my husband and told him to start planning. *dreams on*
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
quote:Originally posted by Tatiana: Oh wait, Pearce has kissed dolphins and snorkled in caves and stuff. I've seen the pictures. Ask her where that was. It sounds like just the place for you!
We went to Discovery Cove in Orlando, then took a cruise to Mexico.
-pH
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
We spent two weeks in London, which has absolutely nothing on your list. But lots of good theatre.
Edit: ElJay and I did a Hawaii trip several years ago that would probably work for most of what you want. The resort we were at even had dolphins, but you had to win a lottery-type drawing in order to get to swim with them and we didn't win. But there were caves and snorkeling and such, and you don't need a passport.
Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
quote:It also depends on whether this is (ahem) your first overnight together or not.
Afraid not . We've been living together for about three years.
In fact, about the only thing we could think of for how our lives will change after marriage is that she will be going off birth control, which is what will lead to the actual life changes.
Posted by steven (Member # 8099) on :
That's a lot to pack into one honeymoon. When I was on my honeymoon with my ex, we stayed at a friend's condo for a week, and then at a hotel for about 4 nights. We kept it very low key. We didn't do much at all except walk on the beach, go to a couple of arcades and an outdoor mall or two, and, well, honeymoon stuff. I kept her busy.
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
I forgot to mention when we had dinner the other night that I have about a bazillion wedding planning books and resources that you guys are welcome to use.
Posted by Eduardo_Sauron (Member # 5827) on :
There is this little town by the seashore... I think it's called "Rio" or something... ;-)
Posted by Architraz Warden (Member # 4285) on :
It's not outside the country (technically), but Hawaii would come close to your list of activities. The only thing I can think of is the swimming with dolphins isn't an absolute from what I heard, only the Sea Turtles are always around and not particularly shy.
Or, looking back, what dkw said.
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
Passports, by the way, are $100 each, not $200. I just applied for mine 3 weeks ago.
I've never been overseas or to the Caribbean, but I did enjoy Hawaii when we went there 8 years ago.
Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
quote:I do know passports are $200 each and if we stayed nearby, we may be able to avoid that added expense.
I know the price of passports has gone way up (my last renewal cost ~$20) but I don't think its as high as $200 yet. I just checked the website and it says $97 unless you need to rush it through.
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
I wonder if I should use my invisibility to rob banks, or to fight crime?
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
Rob banks*.
-pH
*pH does not endorse the cool crime of robbery.
Posted by Liz B (Member # 8238) on :
Go ahead and get your passports, even if you aren't going to use them for this trip. Really. It's a pain to get them in a hurry, and if you have them, then you HAVE them in case something cool comes up.
As for honeymoon advice: my husband and I did something similar to others here...we took a long weekend when we first got married (we got married right before we both started grad school, so we couldn't take a long honeymoon then) and went to a cabin in the middle of nowhere in upstate NY and just enjoyed being around each other and away from everyone else. I am NOT the outdoorsy type, but that honeymoon was wonderful. We didn't really do anything outdoorsy, anyway.
We took our "real" honeymoon the following winter break and went to an all-inclusive place in Cancun. We liked it a lot! I'm not sure if we'd like it so much now--we've gotten pickier about restaurant food in the 10 years since then--but it did have a lot of the activities you're looking for. We went through Apple vacations. The nice thing about all-inclusives (and cruises) is that as long as you keep an eye on your "additional" expenses, like add-on trips/ excursions, you can know in advance how much your vacation will cost, since you're not spending extra for food and entertainment.
For our 10 year anniversary, we went on a cruise to Bermuda last summer. It was awesome. And the excursions included at least some of the things you're looking for, although be aware, excursions cost extra...often a LOT extra. (alcohol does too...don't know if that's a factor for you all or not.) I LOVE cruising. But a major downside in my opinion for cruising on your honeymoon is that you're pretty much always around other people, unless you're in your teeny-tiny cabin. Maybe that won't bother you, but it's definitely something to consider.
BTW, congratulations!
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
"Close your eyes and think of England"
We did Las Vegas. It was nice, but only if you like to gamble.
Posted by Omega M. (Member # 7924) on :
I don't know if this is what you want, but I went to Hawaii years ago and loved it. The water in the oceans there is as warm and pleasant as that in a swimming pool, without any chlorine or other chemicals!
I don't know whether they have cliff diving there. That may be the only extreme sport that appeals to me, because you're facing some big natural obstacle without any equipment; but do they allow just anybody to do that?
Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
My sister spent her honeymoon in Playa del Carmen Mexico and liked it enough to go back. I've known several people who vacationed there and all of them speak very highly of it. It does require a passport now, but other than that it boasts of everything on your list including beaches, scuba, dolphins and caves.
Posted by scholar (Member # 9232) on :
We went to Cancun and they had a park there were we got to play with dolphins. I think there were several places. http://www.cancun-discounts.com/cancun-dolphins.htm I don't know anything about the company witht he webpage, but it gives lists of places that you can use as a starting point. I thought Xcaret seemed interesting (I didn't go there because it was booked during my honeymoon).
Posted by Architraz Warden (Member # 4285) on :
quote:Originally posted by Omega M.: I don't know whether they have cliff diving there. That may be the only extreme sport that appeals to me, because you're facing some big natural obstacle without any equipment; but do they allow just anybody to do that?
There is some spectacular cliff diving along the north and east coasts of Maui, along the road to Hana. These are jumping from any number of cliffs into large fresh water pools. Jumping from cliffs into the ocean tends to be discouraged strongly. Not certain why, but I have a few suspicions (many of which involve volcanic glass, though there are a few ocean cliffs, such as a 15 - 20' cliff along the beach near Lahaina).
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
The Florida Keys have great scuba and a great place to swim with dolphins. The beaches are iffy, though, and they don't meet the rest of the criteria.
Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :
Imogen: I know, I know. I wish. I even looked at stuff in your area.
Fugu: I requested a catalog from that website, it looks awesome.
Bees: Not sure how long it will be. Longer (14 days?) if we go far away, 10 days (?) if we stay close.
Dana: I would LOVE to borrow those books!
JT: No idea why I thought passports were so expensive, I imagine I just doubled the fee by accident.
Hawaii is sounding better and better.
For the cruise people, do you usually need a passport for those?
(Thanks for all the helpful advice all!)
Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :
My wife and I went to Victoria, BC, Canada, and Vancouver (a week a piece). She is much like you, and requires scheduling. She was so nervous that we wouldn't leave the hotel without a schedule.
My note (which won't address your specifics, which were different than ours)... DON'T OVER SCHEDULE. Schedule things for sure, particularly time sensitive stuff like theater or whatever, but leave plenty of wiggle room.
There a bunch of reasons why you may not follow a particular day's plans: jet-lag, more tired than expected from the prior day's events, an event gets canceled or has issues, etc. One example for us is that we went on an orca whale watch (which we did plan for) that ended up a bust; no whales were found. Now the company had a policy that if no whales were seen, you could come back within a week to try again. Since we had left a day "fallow" or at least partially empty, we went two days later, and saw lots of whales, and it was breathtaking.
Another thing that dovetails into my thoughts on scheduling is that you should leave "free time" to wander the location you are at. We fortunately were in two city locations. We ended up walking all over, and seeing some stuff we normally wouldn't have, and also came back to parks we saw and spent a few hours laid out on a picnic blanket reading.
In the end, we had probably the best two weeks of our lives. We had something to do every day (either due to pre-scheduling, or because we found something neat to do in our sightseeing) but we never felt rushed. We took long ways to things, or walked 30 minutes instead of a 5 minute cab ride, or stopped in some stores.
The alternative is heavily scheduled and if one thing goes wrong, it ruins everything since you don't have time to reschedule, and you also are continuously more stressed if you constantly are feeling the pressure of the "Next Thing".
-Bok
Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
I think I read you need a passport for a cruise (now) if you're going to do shore excursions.
Posted by VickHater (Member # 10954) on :
Honeymoons really should happen after you have been married for a while. It sounds like neither of you can afford it so maybe a weekend at one of the hotels near the airport in North OMA would work.. ha. VEGAS BABY
Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :
Vick-That's cute. Sounds like you have had a tour of our quaint little town and know all the hot spots! Not sure what gave you the impression we couldn't afford a honeymoon, we can, just not a $3000/person (minus airfare) holiday in New Zealand arranged by a local agent. According to your profile, you are in Hawaii. Perhaps we should just come crash at your place for a few days. But I don't think Vegas is our answer, gambling is fine for a night, just not our honeymoon.
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
I second the vote for the Keys (Key West), but it hasn't got any caving.
Eventually, we'll go on one ourselves.
(I'm also still very excited that you two are gettin' hitched! )
Posted by REDSOXRULE (Member # 11316) on :
What about Cape Code or Martha's Vinyard? This or course would have to be in the summer. Congrats... I have a friend who rents a place in MV.... Lots of fun
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