I had a very specific vision for this week’s column.
Mikey and I have been doing a lot of research on honeymoon destinations and weighing our options. This has been going on for about a month, and we never really got anywhere with it. He was nervous about going to Mexico, since some resorts have been having issues with tainted alcohol. And we were both worried about the recent devastating hurricanes and if there would be certain places that we just couldn’t get to.
So I thought I would use this space to talk about some of my concerns, and how I know I have until December (according to my planner) to book the honeymoon, but that I felt a little behind in the process. I was going to talk about how I really wanted to stay at an all-inclusive resort, but couldn’t find any reasonably priced options online. And then I was going to ask for some advice in all of this, because I’ve never actually had to plan a vacation before.
This all changed on Saturday.
I had asked Mikey earlier last week to make an appointment with a travel agent. I needed to talk to a professional about this to put my mind at ease. I wanted to pick someone’s brain about choosing the right resort at the right time of year, and even the best time of day to travel to maximize our vacation time. Because let’s face it, all I want to do after this wedding is sit on a beach for a week and just relax.
We went to our appointment with no expectations, and maybe we should have had some, but we just wanted some information.
Well, we walked out of that appointment with a booked honeymoon! And honestly that might have been the most relieving part of this process by far.
Our travel agent, Karen, was amazing and extremely helpful in finding us the most budget-friendly yet gorgeous option for our honeymoon. We will be traveling to Aruba two days after our wedding for some much needed R and R, and we couldn’t be more excited.
It was one of those moments where everything falls into place so perfectly that the heavens open up and you hear angelic music from above.
And trust me, this was not an easy decision at first.
Shortly before we got engaged, we were talking about all the places to which we want to travel, and with my worldly excursions so far in life, I might have a bigger appetite for travel, but I think Mikey is on board. We had discussed going to Italy, Ireland, Japan — all of these places that fascinated us and that we always wanted to see. There was one option that continually popped up, and that was New Zealand.
We are both pretty big fans of The Lord of the Rings, and the idea of exploring around Hobbit territory is something we still talk about quite a bit. But when push came to shove, we both wanted a week were the only thing we needed to worry about was having enough sunscreen to lay by the pool and on the beach.
He and I have gotten advice from a lot of people to do just that too. I have a feeling this is going to be the most relaxing vacation of my life, and I want to spend it in warm weather without a care in the world (a nice break from the ten million things I’m usually worrying about).
