The 'moon!

Planning our wedding (aka big awesome party) is ever so exciting for a crafty, DIY, decor-loving lady like myself. Unfortunately choosing colours, creating centrepieces, and mocking up invitations just doesn't hold the same allure for my fiance!

Planning the honeymoon, on the other hand, is definitely something BOTH of us are looking forward to. The hardest part so far has been deciding where we want to go! There are so many possibilities; it's hard to know where to start.

In anticipation of making such a "difficult decision", I signed up for a year's subscription to Conde Nast Traveller hoping it might help to narrow things down. We received our first magazine in the mail on Thursday, aaaaand I think it might actually make the decision HARDER!!

So what do we know? Well, we'll want a chance to relax and spend some much needed time alone after all the stress of the wedding, so a somewhat secluded beach would be nice for at least a couple days. However, we're not really the "laze around sunning ourselves for 10 days straight" kind of people either, so we'd like the opportunity to explore our surroundings, do some adventuring, and learn about the local culture. That still doesn't really narrow things down too much does it?

Let's see, what else? As I mentioned, learning about the local culture is important to us, so we'd like the chance to visit an area that has a very different culture from our own (being the relatively untravelled Canadians that we are, this still doesn't narrow things down much!).

Since it's our honeymoon, we'd also like to luxe it up a bit, because really, when else will we get the opportunity to do so? I suppose after we win the lottery, but that's not bound to happen for another year or two yet ;) So, what do I mean by luxe?

Mmmmmmm private plunge pools,

or private hot tubs,
or rooms with just 3 walls and amazing views,

or outdoor showers,
or stunning decor,
or overwater buras!and of course, the requisite spa.

(photo credits: from top to bottom, maravu resort - fiji, ladera resort - st.lucia, kona village resort - hawaii, ladera resort - st lucia, next 3 photos from likuliku resort - fiji, last photo from Tabcon Grand Spa resort in Costa Rica)

Seriously, I can spend ALL DAY gazing at the picture galleries of luxurious resorts on far away islands!! However, many of the above pictures are from very high end resorts, which means, with our budget, we'd only get to stay for a week (if that). We'd like to spend 2-3 weeks in wedded bliss if possible, so while we want luxury, we also want bang for our buck! Thus if we can spend a few nights living in the lap of luxury while pretending to be Chace and Muffy from Beverly Hills, and the rest of the time like the regular folks we are it would be ideal!

As far as adventures go, we're fairly open to anything. From tennis to jetskis, ziplining to jungle hiking, volcano climbing to snorkeling, hang gliding to cave spelunking...you get the picture!

So to recap we would like to honeymoon in a place that:

• is somewhat secluded
• is not too touristy
  
• has a beautiful warm beach
• has the opportunity for varied adventures
• has a different culture than our own
• has both luxury and not-quite-luxury hotel options
• offers relaxing spa packages
• is affordable enough to allow us 2-3 weeks vacation

And the top 3 spots (for this week) are:

1. Costa Rica
2. St. Lucia
3. Europe (yes we realize this is rather broad and vague - heh).

Stay tuned for more from our 'moon planning adventures!