VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

I'm a little less than 3 months away from cementing myself into an eternal bond of happiness, bliss and warm fuzzies, and I figure we should probably start thinking about honeymoon plans.

I want to go somewhere I can sail, Melodie is happy to sit on a beach so she doesn't care.

Pricewise it is looking like Maui is yet again hard to beat, unless you do an all inclusive in Mexico which really isn't our thing.

Any ideas for the last two weeks in November? Gifts are also welcome.

I vote Brazil, 2 spots i cant spell. jeriocorora and icarinziho
or maui but possibly try oahu.

Brazil would be awesome - but the price - sort of takes the piss out of the idea.

Maui is just so hard to beat in terms of price and available activities, especially given this lovely US recession!

I'd vote for Cabarete in the DR. My sweetie loved the beach and there are lots of other organized activities. Check out http://www.iguanamama.com/

The hotels are fabulous and inexpensive. We stayed at Velero Beach Resort http://www.velerobeach.com/ in a Junior Suite which is a full one-bedroom apartment with kitchen. Go through Vela for a package that includes equipment rental.

How much did you snag your flight for if you don't mind the asking?

The airfare on Westjet was $1200 per ticket. There are cheaper fares available on charters like Air Transat but we wanted to control the times. The hotel and unlimited equipment rental for 10 days for 2 people including airport transfers (worth about $70) was $2000 US.

Gulp

Great suggestion, and it looks super nice. However, as much as I'd love to go there and try something new but I don't think I can stomach how much extra it is compared to Maui. I think I am going to find this problem everywhere except Mexico all Incl. though.

Maui:
Direct Airfare from Vancouver $400-$450 all in
Hotel $55/night at the Days Inn on the beach (this is what I paid in April)
Gear rental ~$400 or bring my own
Car rental $200
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10 days for $1650-2050 all in for two of us plus food/beverages

Wait a minute. You are taking your new wife to a Days Inn for your honeymoon? I'm tellin' you she will love Cabarete. You never have to step foot into a car from the time you arrive.

Check out the happy sweetie in the pic below. That's Vela in the background.

Hmmm 10 days is tough. We spent 5 weeks in Brazil for the price of 1 week on Maui, but the airfare is obviously the challenge...

Manmoo, you better take her to Paris. Forget the wind, go for the love.

mortontoemike wrote:Wait a minute. You are taking your new wife to a Days Inn for your honeymoon?

Haha, yeah. She isn't really in to spending money on the "finer" things in life, more of a bang for the buck kinda gal.

I really, really like the idea of the DR... but the cost!!!

and to be perfectly honest, having to drive on Maui is actually kind of nice. This April we went from having breakfast during a monsoon in a screened-in cafe in the jungle, to SUP'n on the desert like leeward north-west shore, to Windsurfing the windward north shore beaches to drinking on an ancient volcanic lava flow, all in one day, all with less than an hour of combined driving.

Kite Kook wrote:Hmmm 10 days is tough. We spent 5 weeks in Brazil for the price of 1 week on Maui, but the airfare is obviously the challenge...

Exactly, we have 14-16 days or so max... which isn't really enough to even out the cost savings of being in a cheaper place while paying more to get there.

Where did you go though? It's worth taking a look. If the price is not significantly different we are trying to opt for somewhere new.

Maui or Oahu can't be beat for cheap airfare, but sounds like you've been there/done that, and a honeymoon is definitely time for something new & different.

How about Costa Rica, Lake Arenal for a week of fresh water blasting and rainforest exploration and Bahai Salinas for the second week and the beach scene ? I dunno what they're like as I've never been, but I've heard from folks that have they both can be very windy places.

For my honeymoon I spent on airfare for ~ 10 days in Bonaire and we had a blast, no regrets 13 years later. Do something extraordinary.

You're wife to be sounds nice.So nice she's saying she wouldn't mind sitting on a beach for 10 days watching you WINDSURF on your HONEYMOON!Do yourself a favour and spend the time with her.I can't beleive this is even being discussed and no one has even spelled out the obvious.I've been with my wife since high school,23 years so I know what I"M talking about.Do the right thing because it will bother her even if she doesn't say so now.Don't you know anything about women?

Ed You're a smart man. Tony I wasn't kidding about Paris, do it on the cheap.