Honeymoon help fellow noles!

[FishinNole247]

My fishin is about to get much more limited but looking for some help. Me and little fish are getting married in June and tough deciding on a spot. We’re looking Caribbean or italy(guess who?). Probably want to spend 10k tops not including airfare. Do six nights* away then back to work. She was set on Caneel Bay but that’s shut down. Any ideas for something similar or different areas is greatly appreciated! She doubted my idea of requesting the locker room wisdom but she’s a yankee so come on ‍

PS no pics till after the wedding I argued warchant down the aisle but we shall see.

**corrected amount of nights we are thinking after getting same reaction from her thinking four nights. I can take off as much time as needed but she is limited. Thinking probably a week off for the honeymoon**

 

[totallynot321Nole]

Why settle for just one of the Bahamas or Italy when you can have both right here in Florida? Rent a pontoon and cruise around Lake Okochobee by day and then feast on unlimited salad and breadsticks at the Belle Glade Olive Garden by night. Bon Apetit, mon.

 

[Imtotallynottribe]

My fishin is about to get much more limited but looking for some help. Me and little fish are getting married in June and tough deciding on a spot. We’re looking Caribbean or italy(guess who?). Probably want to spend 10k tops not including airfare. Do four nights away then back to work. She was set on Caneel Bay but that’s shut down. Any ideas for something similar or different areas is greatly appreciated! She doubted my idea of requesting the locker room wisdom but she’s a yankee so come on ‍♂️

PS no pics till after the wedding I argued warchant down the aisle but we shall see.

I spent about $10k on my honeymoon and we went to Sydney and the surroundings (Bluey Mountains, Jenolan Caves and Hunter Valley for their vineyards for 3 days and spent 8 days in New Zealand 3 in the North Island and 5 on the South). I highly recommend it to people for big vacays/honeymoons as New Zealand really is a magical place.

What I always say about New Zealand is that you can replicate most of what makes NZ special by gallivanting around the entire United States as the Southern Alps are only a little nicer than the Rockies; Marlborough Sound is only a little nicer than Puget sound and Maine; the black beaches on the South Island are about the same as those on Hawaii; the white sand beaches are almost as nice as those in the Panhandle of Florida; the vineyards in Marlborough, Hawke's Bay and Central Otago are on par with Napa, Sonoma and Paso Robles; Fiordland and Milford Sound is only slightly better than the fjords in Alaska; the tropical rainforest in the northern tip of the North Island on the Waitakere Ranges can be matched by the tropical rainforests on Maui; Rotorua is a near perfect match for the geysers and painted lakes of Yellowstone; towering volcanoes like "Mount Doom" mirror those on the Big Island of Hawaii; the weird unusual rock formations in Elephant Rocks can be somewhat mirrored by Goblin Valley in Utah; the rolling foothills of "Hobbiton" or Matamata can only be poorly matched by the American piedmont; Niagara Falls majesty can be matched by the sheer power of Huka Falls; Yosemite's many sheer mountains and towering waterfalls are matched by those around Queenstown; etc... Except the difference is you would have to travel all over the United States to see them while you can do all of that in New Zealand in a week as the two main islands only equals out to about the size of Florida.

And what's more, there are several things that are unique and only found in New Zealand like the stunning ethereal (and creepy once you know they are evil spidery things) beauty of Glowworm Caverns, the oddness of Moeraki Boulders and Pancake Rocks, and the towering mountains going into coastline and then into a deep two mile deep sea trench only a football field or so from shore in Kaikoura.

I'd suggest looking into it and I'm more than happy to help.

 

[Imtotallynottribe]

Considering you have fishing in your name I will especially point out Kaikoura. It's only two hours from the best vineyards in the world, but it's an absolutely amazing fishing destination, whale watching (only place in the world you can reliably and easily see sperm whale as they are diving miles deep to eat giant and colossal squids but are only football fields from shore), dolphin encounters with a dolphin species only the size of a lapdog, and you used to be able to go cagediving with Great Whites (outlawed in New Zealand now, but you can still swim with fur seals and hope to get lucky!). But yeah, on our six hour charter my wife and I baited lobster traps at the start and pulled them up at the end to find dozens of rock lobsters; caught basically limitless sea perch and orange roughies as well as catching some large blue cod, red cod, groper (not grouper but similar), and kawahai. The best meal I've ever had was some Marlborough wine we had picked out earlier, and the rock lobster tails and orange rough filets quickly sauteed in butter by our B&B. Plus while we were catching the fish, the guide was fileting the smaller sea perch and orange roughy and tossing the carcasses back in and we quickly had several species of albatross surrounding the boat including the biggest flying bird the wandering albatross...until we chummed up what to me seemed like a huge Great White Shark (according to my guide it was just normal for the area). Plus we saw plenty of cute fur seal pups and several penguin species just a little further including the little blues and rock hoppers.

 

[squiffynole]

Consider Belize - exotic yet English speaking; jungles Mayans and Tarpon; cheap and not too far.

 

[OrlandNole]

If you've only got four nights, any destination requiring overseas travel is out of the question (Europe, NZ, etc.)...and probably the West Coast, too. The Caribbean is probably your best bet.

Also, this is just my opinion, unless you're a LR millionaire, $10K + airfare seems a little extravagant for four nights. You're better off spending half of that amount (or less) and saving the rest for a house down payment.

 

[RunRonnieRun]

If you've only got four nights, any destination requiring overseas travel is out of the question (Europe, NZ, etc.)...and probably the West Coast, too. The Caribbean is probably your best bet.

Also, this is just my opinion, unless you're a LR millionaire, $10K + airfare seems a little extravagant for four nights. You're better off spending half of that amount (or less) and saving the rest for a house down payment.

My wife and I just got back from four nights at Belmond Maroma for roughly $5,000 including food, booze, spa, and first class airfare.

Also, four nights is a short honeymoon.

I'm giddy over the fact that Tribe can't help himself from shilling for NZ.

 

[NDallasRuss]

$10k for 4 nights?

https://www.fourseasons.com/anguilla/

You can't get a direct flight to Anguilla though (unless you fly private, of course)

 

[FishinNole247]

Corrected amount of nights to probably six. I have a open schedule with work but she does not. Thinking a week off. Not a huge fan of Mexico as I’ve been there a ton but love some of the options. I voted for New Zealand but takes too long for us to get there since we are in south Florida.

 

[bryanscho]

Costa Rica. Can go fishing in Los Suenos (I've done it and highly recommend), zip lining through rainforests, hiking to the top of a volcano, waterfall repelling, riding horses or ATV on beach, hanging bridge walk thru rainforest, relax on beach. Plenty of things to do and it's cheap there.

 

[Imtotallynottribe]

Corrected amount of nights to probably six. I have a open schedule with work but she does not. Thinking a week off. Not a huge fan of Mexico as I’ve been there a ton but love some of the options. I voted for New Zealand but takes to long for us to get there as we are in south Florida.

I missed that you only had 4/6 days. Your potential wife to be really needs to press for extra days off. Most honeymoons are 10-14 days and if her current boss can't understand common American decencies like that without being reminded...then he or she needs to be reminded. That "average" honeymoon lasts 8 days in America factors in second, third and fourth marriages where the honeymoons get shorter each time.

Here's where you can go in NZ if you have ten days (not my pics, I'm not taking the time necessary to upload them to a hosting service)

Pancake Rocks

Piha Beach

New Chums Beach

Milford Sound

Mount Taranaki (if you think it's Japan's Mt Fuji I wouldn't be surprised, it's so close looking that a lot of TV and movies use it instead as it's cheaper to film in NZ than Japan)

 

[Imtotallynottribe]

Glowworm Caves

Rotorua

Moeraki Boulders

 

[Imtotallynottribe]

Abel Tasman Beach

Southern Alps

Fiordlands

 

[Imtotallynottribe]

But if she can't convince her boss to give her the time needed for an actual honeymoon, then I'd suggest doing a trip to Maui (and maybe the Big Island if you both enjoy active vacations rather than laying around resorts). In six days you can probably do Maui justice as there's a lot to do from the rightfully famed and "hidden" Red Beach to the typical black and white beaches of Hawaii. The closest you will come to having as many options in a small area as New Zealand is Hawaii in general and Maui in particular. Of all the places I've visited, Maui is the only one that is a semi-close second to New Zealand.

Maui will be more expensive on a day to day basis than New Zealand but there's less to do over a much smaller area so 6 days would be sufficient especially if you skip Oahu and the Big Island.

 

[ericram]

How many nights?

 

[SoddyNole]

Any suggested Hobbit tours while in NZ?

I have been looking for a place to don my new feet.

 

[seminole97]

I'm giddy over the fact that Tribe can't help himself from shilling for NZ

It’s pretty cool to me that a fella asked about Italy and Tribe offered several hundred words on what is almost the opposite side of the globe (NZs antipode lines up nicely with Spain).

 

[surfnole]

Imtotallynottribe, Beautiful pics. From your posts, you seem to be a previous poster who traveled the world and was opening some rehab clinics.

All that being said, Italy versus the Caribbean are two entirely different vacations.

Another option is the Canadian Rockies. Post Hotel in Lake Louise. Make sure to get a room on the river side so you can open the doors and hear the river all night long. Fireplaces in the rooms. Better mountains than the US and fewer crowds and no further than flying to California.

Image is not working.

https://goo.gl/images/aXnaWy - This is the scenery on the back of the $20? Canadian Bill. Maybe five miles form Lake Louise/Post Hotel, and you can stay here too. Very quiet.

https://posthotel.com/ - Watch the vido. Banff (sp?) and Jasper National Park.

 

[Spenser1]

My fishin is about to get much more limited but looking for some help. Me and little fish are getting married in June and tough deciding on a spot. We’re looking Caribbean or italy(guess who?). Probably want to spend 10k tops not including airfare. Do six nights* away then back to work. She was set on Caneel Bay but that’s shut down. Any ideas for something similar or different areas is greatly appreciated! She doubted my idea of requesting the locker room wisdom but she’s a yankee so come on ‍

PS no pics till after the wedding I argued warchant down the aisle but we shall see.

**corrected amount of nights we are thinking after getting same reaction from her thinking four nights. I can take off as much time as needed but she is limited. Thinking probably a week off for the honeymoon**

Check out the island of Kauai (the oldest Hawaiian island). Small, not too developed, amazing scenery, great snorkeling, etc etc etc. A LOT of movies were made here .... it's just that gorgeous.

 

[TennNole17]

Detroit.

 

[seminoledq]

My wife and I just got back from four nights at Belmond Maroma for roughly $5,000 including food, booze, spa, and first class airfare.

Also, four nights is a short honeymoon.

I'm giddy over the fact that Tribe can't help himself from shilling for NZ.

Yea RRR, tribe's NZ game is strong in this thread. He's going all out with tons of pics the OP is completely uninterested in.

 

[Imtotallynottribe]

Yea RRR, tribe's NZ game is strong in this thread. He's going all out with tons of pics the OP is completely uninterested in.

I will always rec NZ for a honeymoon. Why? Because it's the most amazing place on the planet, but it has barriers to easy "normal vacations" that even places in Europe don't have namely long flight times and expensive airline tickets. BUT...once you're there it's actually pretty cheap, no more than trips to places like Utah, Montama and New Mexico or other backcountry American trips and it may be even cheaper if you hit it like I did when the US dollar to kiwi dollar is strong. And the great thing about New Zealand is that it's like taking a vacation to the Canadian Rockies, Norwegian Fjords, Napa Valley, Hawaii, Japan's Mt Fuji, Yosemite, Utah, and Tahiti all in one easy trip.

Honeymoons shouldn't be some typical, easy to get to trip you can do any year of your life like the Carribean or Europe. It should be something life-changing and hard to reach that you can only do once a decade at most like getting to South Africa, Tanzania, Kerala, Melbourne to Sydney and especially New Zealand. You can do the Caribbean and Europe every year or every other year for ordinary vacays.

 

[kooterridesagain]

The advice in these posts for OP is ridiculous LOL! No one is flying 18 hours over a week off!
6 days so id want to be under 8-10 hours travel and one home base.

10k is a lot unless you want strangers to dress you and feed you by hand. Personally id cut that budget in half and do say a hill town by Florence(reachable by bus)or stay in Venice which is more expensive and 10 hrs flight maybe, or rent a private house with a pool in Spain or Italy driveable to cities(still not 10k for a week).
A house outside Lisbon would be fun too and easier to reach.

For the most stress free trip Id second Costa Rica. Perfect for an easy week and u can stay upscale with a only a fraction of that cost and save cash for next trip. (I don’t believe in overpaying for honeymoon suites unless it’s truly an epic experience).
Cheers

 

[Imtotallynottribe]

The advice in these posts for OP is ridiculous LOL! No one is flying 18 hours over a week off!
6 days so id want to be under 8-10 hours travel and one home base.

10k is a lot unless you want strangers to dress you and feed you by hand. Personally id cut that budget in half and do say a hill town by Florence(reachable by bus)or stay in Venice which is more expensive and 10 hrs flight maybe, or rent a private house with a pool in Spain or Italy driveable to cities(still not 10k for a week).
A house outside Lisbon would be fun too and easier to reach.

For the most stress free trip Id second Costa Rica. Perfect for an easy week and u can stay upscale with a only a fraction of that cost and save cash for next trip. (I don’t believe in overpaying for honeymoon suites unless it’s truly an epic experience).
Cheers

As I said, I didn’t notice he only said six days. That’s really short for a honeymoon. But I do agree if you only have six days that’s only enough for an ordinary vacation destination. With six days I’d still at least do Maui plus maybe a sidetrip to the Big Island.

 

[NoleLizards]

I hear that North Sentinel Island is lovely this time of year!

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/first-picture-tourist-killed-north-13623398

 

[More Kirk Less Spock]

How about Key West. I know a family house you can rent on Sugarloaf - fishing and kayaking during the day. Good food and nightlife in KW at night. You might even get the Nole Discount https://www.vrbo.com/430548

 

[NoleMoreTears]

In that timetable I'd second the idea of Costa Rica. Easy to get around and very diverse for a small land area.

Any thought of heading north? Quebec or Montreal make for a pretty great week not far away.

 

[kooterridesagain]

As I said, I didn’t notice he only said six days. That’s really short for a honeymoon. But I do agree if you only have six days that’s only enough for an ordinary vacation destination. With six days I’d still at least do Maui plus maybe a sidetrip to the Big Island.

Imtotally,

In that timetable I'd second the idea of Costa Rica. Easy to get around and very diverse for a small land area.

Any thought of heading north? Quebec or Montreal make for a pretty great week not far away.

ive never done Hawaii but seems great.

Id vote Québéc over Montreal every time.

 

[62Nole]

Wherever you go, make sure they offer sleep number beds and pillows by Mike.