Bride-to-be Blogger Carly: Where Should We Honeymoon?

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Baby, it’s cold outside.

And being the beach-lovers we are, Sean and I despise this cold weather. So all this bundling up has got us thinking about one thing: our honeymoon.

After some initial discussion of spending two weeks in Europe, we’ve shifted our focus south, to the Caribbean/Central America. While we know spending time exploring Europe would be amazing—and it will definitely be a place we visit in the next few years—we’ve decided that we need sun and sand to be the backdrop of this very special vacation, and who does that better than the islands?

We’ve done some Googling and have read great things about all of the Caribbean islands; friends who have vacationed in St. Lucia, Aruba and the British Virgin Islands can’t say enough about how fantastic they are. We’ve also heard that there are some real gems in Central America that we should look into. Sean’s sister and brother-in-law honeymooned in Belize and rave about the experience, having split their honeymoon time between the beach and rainforest. With all that said, it seems like we have a plethora of options to choose from!

Since we really enjoy traveling and having new experiences, we know we want to choose a place that is new to both of us that we can explore together. Having (over the course of our lives) visited Jamaica, Puerto Rico, St. Maarten, the Dominican Republic, and St. Thomas, we’ve eliminated these destinations from consideration. But this still leaves us tons of options!

Sean and I are very fortunate; his parents have offered to let us use a week of their timeshare at any location we choose.  So we are starting to narrow down our options by seeing what is available through their timeshare. The trick, however, is that the availability is constantly changing. So we will need to consistently check their website to see what is available and, if and when we find the perfect getaway, we’ll need to book within the 10-minute window the website provides or risk losing the room another couple. It’s dog-eat-dog in the world of timeshares!

Of course, we can forgo the time-share stay and book our honeymoon on our own.  This would allow for more flexibly in terms of when we book, how long we’ll stay, arrival and departure, etc., but there is something very nice about basically eliminating the cost of our hotel room (and potentially even staying in a one-bedroom place!) I think time and availability will tell which option we choose

For now, Sean and I will brave this frigid winter by sitting on our couch (wrapped in blankets, hot toddies in hand) with the travel channel on our TV and Conde Nast on our iPad, researching all the warm possibilities that await us come July!

How did you pick your honeymoon destination? Did you travel to a place you’d always dreamed? Or, did you close your eyes, spin the globe, and point? Any suggestions on places we should check out?

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