Help Ol' Choder go on a honeymoon

[el_chode]

We just found out that I get a full week off from school 1 week after my wedding, and 1 week prior to the Jackethon, so that's prime time for a honeymoon. We were going to postpone it until the spring after the February bar exam so I didn't miss class.

We just don't know where to go, so we seek your tips/advice.

Here's what we're looking for:

- affordable. we're rather put more money into getting a home in the next year than going broke on a vacation
- something unique, which typically is anti-affordable
- something you wouldn't do with a family. I'm not talking about going to hedonism, but going to California, for example, is "too easy". Or so I'm told, I suggested heading to big sur
- not too far

Ideally, we'd like a beach to go to. If there's no beach, we need something lazy to do. But I want there to be more than beach because I get restless. Plus I'm SCUBA cert'd so I'd like to go on a dive. As far as night life, we don't want clubby things to do, just good food and local drinks. We ruled out Costa Rica because everyone who's done their honeymoon there says they were essentially tied to their hotel at sundown. Our overall concerns: enough culture to have some good cuisine, but enough nature to feel like "we got away from it all".

Here's what we're looking at so far:

- Aruba
- Hawaii (Maui)
- Cozumel
- Tenerife/Canary Islands (my personal favorite)

The problem with Aruba is that it seems to be more beach than anything else, compare it to Hawaii, where there's tons to do when you're done on the beach. Hawaii is a hell of a trip comparatively. Cozumel is Mexico, and I don't want to go to an Americanized resort town.

Canary Islands have everything I want, but it's looking like the easiest way to get there is either a 20 hour plane ride if you let Expedia do it, but if I book flights via Virgin Atlantic - Easy Jet, I can do it for half the price in half the time, but only giving me a one-hour window between flights.

[Crispy]

Have you looked at Hawaii (Big Island)? Our family rented a house in a area called Vacationland close to Hilo, a couple hundred feet from incredible tide pools, and it was AWESOME.

Check out homeaway.com or VRBO.

[iLikeBeer]

chode,

Your vacation spots don't exactly strike me as being 'affordable'.

I was going to mention Key West until I saw your list and I thought, mmmmm, nevermind...  :-X   ;)

[johnnYYac]

chode,

Your vacation spots don't exactly strike me as being 'affordable'.

I was going to mention Key West until I saw your list and I thought, mmmmm, nevermind...  :-X   ;)

I was kinda thinking the same thing.  My wife and I met in Chapel Hill, went up to her home outside Chicago for the wedding, than drove back to NC, toured waterfalls in the mountains before camping on an island off the coast, drinking champagne, watching dolphins in massive numbers breach the surface in tandem, and the wild horses run on an adjacent island.  Hardly cost us a thing, yet provided many memories.

[jones]

Not to confuse the issue, but my wife and I went to Maui and Kauai for our honeymoon and we both preferred Kauai.  Although there are plenty of natural wonders on any island, Kauai is not as commercialized as Maui, but there is still plenty to do, eat, and see.  I kind of imagine it in my mind as "old Hawaii".

Don't get me wrong: Maui was awesome, too.

[peafunk31]

Went to Aruba for my honeymoon & it was pretty friggin awesome! There is way more to do than simply "beaching" it. Here are a few examples of what we did (& additional options).

* There's a kick ass National Park that requires either ATVs or Jeeps to navigate through. It's pretty amazing! Plus it holds a "natural pool" oceanside. The pool is basically an enclosed rock structre right where the waves break that creates a calm little pool that the fish hang out in. Killer snorkeling
* Jet skis
* SCUBA galore
* Para-sailing
* Party boats
* Horseback riding
* Kick ass fishing
* tons of shopping options for the wife to be
* gambling (if you're into that)
* Awesome frozen/tropical drinks
* Amazing pools

If you decide that you may want to go to Aruba, I would strongly suggest that you go all-inclusive. They import just about everything to Aruba so it can get pretty expensive if you don't do an all-inclusive resort.

Hope that gives you a bit of an idea about Aruba. Cheers!  [smiley=beer.gif]

[BH]

It would be tough to beat those island vacations, but a different perspective would be New Orleans.   Great food, music and the ocean is around there somewhere right?

[el_chode]

Too many people to quote, but I'll go down the list:

- Big Island we feel is too touristy in the way that the suggestion of Kauai is "Old Hawaii", which is something I'm definitely going to look into now (thanks flyguy). And while Touristy is normally a good thing for a normal vacation since it has a ton of options for things to do, we're looking to be anti-social and to get away from people as much as possible.

- True, these aren't affordable, but they are compared to what our "dream honeymoon" would be (Bali) haha. Plus, there's a reason we want to do something extravagant. We've been engaged for 2 years now, dating for almost 6. In that span, we've never once gone on vacation for more than a week and never flown anywhere and the places we have gone have been woodsy/outdoorsy fun but never splurging or exotic.

- Key West was a real option, but she's already been there and we're nervous heading anywhere gulf related in early-to-mid October. Aruba is south of the Storm zone. Bermuda is not (I absolutely love Bermuda). Other more local options were to book a flight to Montana or Wyoming and spend a week or 10 days driving through the national parks, or a similar plan down the California coast since I've never been to Monterey Aquarium or Yosemite and I have been been dying to go. She wants more luxury than spending our honeymoon in a car. JohnYY was that OBX where you did that?

- She's more about Aruba than I am, but I didn't know they had gambling, which does change it somewhat. But my general philosophy is to avoid "all-inclusives" unless you're on a cruise since I've read that the food is typically sub-par and then you're tied to what they provide and you can't explore. But if it's expensive otherwise, that's a consideration

- Canary Islands are very expensive. We're looking at a $1000 flight per person plus another $800 in hotel costs, where as Hawaii, for the same flight time, is $1800 for both plane tix and hotel for a week.

Anyway, thanks for the advice so far. We've been agonizing over this for the past 2 days and it's coming down to either going back to delaying it to open more options outside hurricane season or making it a true honeymoon.

[el_chode]

It would be tough to beat those island vacations, but a different perspective would be New Orleans.   Great food, music and the ocean is around there somewhere right?

Actually, plan "A" was to go on a "mini-honeymoon" after the wedding and then delay the real one a few months to the Spring. The original destination was going to be New Orleans for a few days.

[peafunk31]

But my general philosophy is to avoid "all-inclusives" unless you're on a cruise since I've read that the food is typically sub-par and then you're tied to what they provide and you can't explore. But if it's expensive otherwise, that's a consideration

I thought this would be the case as well. I was a little leary of the all-inclusive for the sole reason of food options & quality. I was actually blown away by how good it actually was. Plus the resorts often have several restaurants so the options are aplenty.

To add a little clarity, I've been to Aruba 2X. The 1st was our honeymoon where we did not do the all-inclusive. We got a time share as a wedding gift. The room/suite was absolutely amazing but having to go out to lunch & dinner every day got a bit pricey. Plus drinks are not very cheap either.

The second trip was just for fun since we enjoyed our honeymoon so much. For the 2nd trip we opted for all-inclusive & we were not dissapointed. As stated before the food was actually damn good & having endless drinks was fan-friggin-tastic!

[el_chode]

But my general philosophy is to avoid "all-inclusives" unless you're on a cruise since I've read that the food is typically sub-par and then you're tied to what they provide and you can't explore. But if it's expensive otherwise, that's a consideration

I thought this would be the case as well. I was a little leary of the all-inclusive for the sole reason of food options & quality. I was actually blown away by how good it actually was. Plus the resorts often have several restaurants so the options are aplenty.

To add a little clarity, I've been to Aruba 2X. The 1st was our honeymoon where we did not do the all-inclusive. We got a time share as a wedding gift. The room/suite was absolutely amazing but having to go out to lunch & dinner every day got a bit pricey. Plus drinks are not very cheap either.

The second trip was just for fun since we enjoyed our honeymoon so much. For the 2nd trip we opted for all-inclusive & we were not dissapointed. As stated before the food was actually damn good & having endless drinks was fan-friggin-tastic!

You may be changing my mind then haha. My parents recently went to Aruba, as did a friend of ours and they all had a blast. She's already set for it, but I'm being stubborn because I'm still trying to find a way to get to the Canary islands for cheap.

I also tried this idea: a beer tour around Europe. She said no. So I said "fine, how about Belgium" and figured we can just go to all the trappist monastaries and what not since that's not really something you may do when you have kids in tow.

Unfortunately, that's "not romantic" haha

[Crispy]

Just in my defense (not trying to change your mind or anything ;)), the Kona side of Hawaii is way touristy, but the Hilo side is pretty cool. "Vacationland" is not at all what it sounds, just a lot of local vacation houses, many for rent. But then, not much beach, either...lots more lava.

[iLikeBeer]

I also tried this idea: a beer tour around Europe. She said no. So I said "fine, how about Belgium" and figured we can just go to all the trappist monastaries and what not since that's not really something you may do when you have kids in tow.

Unfortunately, that's "not romantic" haha

Now you're talking my language!   ;D

You could follow in the footsteps, or should I say bike pedals of Jeff Lebesch who founded New Belgium Brewery after taking a beer tour of Belgium on his bike!  8-)

[johnnYYac]

But my general philosophy is to avoid "all-inclusives" unless you're on a cruise since I've read that the food is typically sub-par and then you're tied to what they provide and you can't explore. But if it's expensive otherwise, that's a consideration

I thought this would be the case as well. I was a little leary of the all-inclusive for the sole reason of food options & quality. I was actually blown away by how good it actually was. Plus the resorts often have several restaurants so the options are aplenty.

To add a little clarity, I've been to Aruba 2X. The 1st was our honeymoon where we did not do the all-inclusive. We got a time share as a wedding gift. The room/suite was absolutely amazing but having to go out to lunch & dinner every day got a bit pricey. Plus drinks are not very cheap either.

The second trip was just for fun since we enjoyed our honeymoon so much. For the 2nd trip we opted for all-inclusive & we were not dissapointed. As stated before the food was actually damn good & having endless drinks was fan-friggin-tastic!

You may be changing my mind then haha. My parents recently went to Aruba, as did a friend of ours and they all had a blast. She's already set for it, but I'm being stubborn because I'm still trying to find a way to get to the Canary islands for cheap.

I also tried this idea: a beer tour around Europe. She said no. So I said "fine, how about Belgium" and figured we can just go to all the trappist monastaries and what not since that's not really something you may do when you have kids in tow.

Unfortunately, that's "not romantic" haha

Belgium is AWESOME.  Change her mind.  Go to Roden Hood in Antwerp for duck spring rolls; cullinary orgasm.  And beer... oh my.  You can shoot over to Paris by train in under 2 hours for romantic blahbittyblahblah.  

[peafunk31]

If you wind up deciding on Aruba let me know. There are a few gems on the island sightseeing/restaurant wise that I'd be happy to divulge :)

[Penny Lane]

i know this sounds crazy, but somewhere i've always wanted to go and is more affordable than you'd think, is Eastern Europe...(namely Croatia, Serbia) there are some beautiful beaches (in Croatia) and that's a trip you'd never take w/your kids...i have a couple friends doing it next summer...if you get the rail pass ....i mean most people have been to western europe and i think everyone can picture what it's like...but i've always wanted to see that part of the world

of course that's more $ than aruba, and not inclusive...but when you travel thru europe you can figure out cheap ways to eat.

[el_chode]

She ruled out hopping around Europe for the Honeymoon (but will go back to hop around one day).

Her parents are from Poland and Czech Republic respectively, so there's plenty of reasons to go back.

But as for Croatia, that was our initial first choice, but the weather won't be favorable for the time of year we want to go unless we go to Dubrovnik, and that's only part of Croatia. A very small part.

[el_chode]

Just in my defense (not trying to change your mind or anything ;)), the Kona side of Hawaii is way touristy, but the Hilo side is pretty cool. "Vacationland" is not at all what it sounds, just a lot of local vacation houses, many for rent. But then, not much beach, either...lots more lava.

Lava is very important if we go there actually. I have as many credits towards a Geology degree as one can have without passing calculus.

However, I think it's game over already - I mentioned Kauai and she's sold and already priced it all out and divulged her secret wish since she's a girl: to go to Hawaii.

[Penny Lane]

She ruled out hopping around Europe for the Honeymoon (but will go back to hop around one day).

Her parents are from Poland and Czech Republic respectively, so there's plenty of reasons to go back.

But as for Croatia, that was our initial first choice, but the weather won't be favorable for the time of year we want to go unless we go to Dubrovnik, and that's only part of Croatia. A very small part.

aww that's right, you did say that about her parents. Croatia is on my bucket list...that whole region but mostly Croatia...

good luck, Chode. i'll be taking the bar exam the same time you are so we'll be commiserating together..

[pawpaw]

I'd recommend Kauai, it's my favorite Hawaiian island. Look up pictures of the Napali Coast and Waimea Canyon, it's definitely one of the most beautiful islands in the world. Less developed, just a fantastic vacation spot. This is a great spot to stay, on the (southern) sunny side of the island: http://www.waimeaplantation.com/. Most people I know actually prefer to stay on the north side though, up near Princeville and Hanalei. It's rainier up there, more jungley, and there are some great beaches up there too, better access to the Napali Coast.

Not sure about diving in Kauai, but I'd be surprised if there isn't something good. I've never been to the other spots on your original list. Good luck planning! I will say though, I'd personally take two weeks in February to escape the cold to a warm island than one week now!