Bring a laptop or tablet and watch the heartwarming Christmas movie filmed at Timberline lodge in your room.
I've been once back in college. I liked it alot, it was freezing cold though like negative windchill and snowy.
We have pretty much finalized the Tahiti itinerary. One of my favorite parts of traveling is that I really get into researching the geography, history and culture of areas leading up to the trip and planning for the trip. I had no idea how large Tahiti is and how different all the islands are. Some islands are stupid expensive, like Bora Bora, but there are 118 total islands all offering different versions of paradise at different price levels. There are different island chains and island types all over the size roughly of the USA. There is a good possibility we will come back to see more there. This trip is basically our wedding, so we are overspending on it. We decided to spend all that money on ourselves for a dream vacation instead of an actual wedding. This is fine by me as it will be cheaper than a wedding and I have always hated the idea of having an actual wedding, all the planning, expense and then day just sound like an expensive headache to me. Then we realized that one of our family members is likely to do something stupid and mess up the whole thing anyway, so eloping is a great idea. We will have a small official ceremony in town before we leave, then a very small reception for family. From there it's air Tahiti out of Seattle, landing late in Papeete. Overnight in Papeete and then Bora Bora the next day. Doing beachfront on the mainland for 5 days at Le Moana, so we can explore the island. Then transferring to Thalasso on the Motu for an overwater bungalow for 3 nights. The second day at Thalasso we have arranged a private Polynesian commitment ceremony. They take care of all the details, we get boated to a private beach that is all set up with mount Otemanu as a backdrop, dancers, a minister, photographer and the works (its not offical thats why we need to do it before we leave also). Beforehand they do her hair and afterwards we will do the romantic dinner add on. Dinner will be in the restaurant in the best seat, multicourse, and they will make a minor fuss over us to let everyone know it's our night. After Bora Bora we will fly to Moorea for 5 more nights for an OWB at their Hilton, we also plan to rent a car at Moorea and explore the island a lot. Last two nights are back in Papeete where we will spend a day downtown shopping and eating at their food cart area. This whole trip kind of blows the vacation budget for a very long time, but it will be worth it. So far everything is free cancelation in case she comes to her senses before then! or an emergency happens. To help with the future vacation budget, I am probably going to get the IHG and Hilton credit cards for this trip and rack the hotel points big time. Not sure if I will keep either long term, but I can probably score a free vacation from each plus their sign up bonus.
Us also, we like to be on the go most days on vacation. This is a bucket list experience though, and she loves snorkeling, but she has never done it at a truly epic location. So that will keep us busy for a while, plus it seems like Bora Bora island has a few days worth of adventures in it. Moorea as well. Some of the smaller islands seem pretty boring if you don't scuba dive though.
Thats a good idea! I'll probably do something like that. I was looking at underwater drones, I dont think I want to deal with all that, but they sure look fun also.
I floated the idea of a bad ass vacation and small ceremony to the then fiance but that didn't fly. I didn't like spending so much on the wedding but it's what she wanted so it is what it is. Our wedding was badass, family members on both sides still talk about how much fun it was and that's saying something because other than immediate families, neither side knew the other but melded awesomely. Was at a wedding last weekend for one of her cousins and at the after party her family all agreed that our reception was the still the reigning champ. I'm with El Pres and would love to go somewhere around Christmas time, was thinking NY but we probably wouldn't be there until Christmas and afraid that whole vibe would be over. Wife is graduating with her doctorates in mid December and need to do something to celebrate that achievement!
NY is dope for the Holidays. Def gotta go before Christmas to get those bell ringers, the music everywhere, etc. Radio City Rocketts show was dope.
We arrived there on Black Friday last year, Stayed for 4 nights in midtown Manhattan. It was awesome! Missed the tree lighting by a day, though.
Probably have to be next year than, she was supposed to graduate Dec. 10th but for some reason they pushed it back to the 17th which sucks and we're pretty much locked into going to the PNW on Christmas Day, so not much wiggle room. Might have to settle for Fredericksburg down here, which is a cool little wine town in the Hill Country and well worth visiting if you're ever in the Austin/SA area and are looking for something a little different.
With the British Pound taking a large dump do any of you think there might be deals on the UK vacation sites? When I was in PV two weeks ago I noticed TUI there. A travel company with their own planes.
What kind of travel are you looking to do? You might be better off just planning and booking all your own stuff as the best way to take advantage of the currency. There are tons of airlines out of Seattle direct to London, lots of competition to find a decent deal with.
