Weddingbee boards

My parents recently gave FI and I some wonderful news: as our wedding gift, they're very generously going to pay for our honeymoon.  A few weeks ago, we thought we were going to have to just do a local minimoon if anything, but now we could go just about anywhere.

We don't want a beach honeymoon.  That's not us.  We enjoy going out and doing things and seeing stuff and having adventures, and although that's possible on the beach, it's not really what we imagine.

We could go to Europe, but we don't think we have enough time for that, unfortunately.  We'll have seven days and six nights, and I just don't know that we could see all the incredible sights in just one big city in that time.  Thus, we're avoiding city-type vacations for this trip.

We think something nature-y or archaeological in nature would be our best bet.  Our travel agent has given us two itineraries we're interested in now, though she's also supposed to send more next week.  Right now, we're looking at Peru (Lima and the Andes only; unfortunately, we wouldn't have time for the Amazon) and Costa Rica (mostly around Mount Arenal and the cloud forests).  We're hoping she'll also be able to send some info about places like Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, etc.

Have you ever been?  Can you give me some recommendations?  I would love to get some input.

Ugh.  I changed it to go to the honeymoons board, and it switched back right as I submitted it.

@MrsNeutrino:  Ooooh, Vietnam is a great idea.  I looked at going there when I was living in Japan.  I never made it, but I drooled so much over the pictures of some of my friends who did.  Thanks for the tip!

@lauramich:  Our travel agent actually sent us a couple itineraries for trips to Belize.  They looked fabulous, but we decided in the end that we liked the Costa Rica and Peru trips better.  Belize is definitely on our list of places to go to at some point, though.  Thank you!

So far everyone seems to be saying Costa Rica.  I actually went there about seventeen years ago with my parents when I was still just a kid, and to this day, it remains one of the best trips I've ever taken.  I kind of want to see something new, although I also really want FI to experience that kind of awesomeness.  He's never been anywhere that's anything like what we're looking at now, though, so all these places would be new to him.

@seven12:  Though the jetlag would be a concern if we went to Asia, I'm not too worried about it.  I have a fair amount of experience dealing with that much jetlag, and it doesn't affect me that badly.  FI doesn't have as much experience, but it's never been an issue for him.  The travel time to get there is our biggest worry.

We don't want to do Mexico since that's so close.  My parents are picking up the bill, so we have the opportunity to go somewhere we wouldn't normally be able to make it to, and we want to take advantage of that.  We did look at Belize, but we decided that between Belize and Costa Rica, we'd rather do Costa Rica.

@tee22:  I would looooooooooove to go to New Zealand, but from what I've heard, it's a bit more expensive than some of our other options.  Since it's so far away, the flight will be more expensive, and so if we go somewhere that far away, we'll probably have to stick to a country that's cheap once you get there.  Thank you for the tip, though!  New Zealand really would be ideal if we had a bit more money.

I haven't seen anyone talking in favor of Peru.  Has anyone been?  I'm wondering if I'm not hearing about it simply because more people have been to Costa Rica than Peru.

 Thank you for all the ideas, everyone!  Please keep your tips and comments coming!

@sweetiejewels:  I actually just emailed her to ask about Argentina!  And unfortunately, Africa is pretty much the one place I just don't think we could do.  Flights there cost so much that we wouldn't have much left for the hotel and just being there.  Plus, the transit time is kind of ridiculous.  It's too bad because somewhere in Africa was our first choice.

@pinkshoes:  Cuzco and Macchu Picchu is where we'd go.  I'm so interested in it.

I've heard a lot of amazing things about Cambodia, and I agree that it has more of the wow factor.  I'll definitely have to look into it.  Thank you!

@JM1217:  We definitely considered Greece and Macedonia for a while, but we decided there was just way too much to see there to be able to fit it into one week.

...Okay, we could probably do a lot of it in one week, but we have plans for when we're just in the hotel room, too, and we want to have plenty of time to carry out those plans.  So that's kind of why we're anti-city and anti-Europe right now. 

Any other suggestions?  Please?  I'd love to hear more ideas or comments, especially if you've been to Peru.

@Gerbera:  Macchu Picchu is part of the itinerary if we go to Peru.

I think that your rationale for knocking Europe out equally knocks Asia out IMO. I went to Thailand for 3 weeks and it was just about long enough. There is so much to see and do in all these places. You are far more likely to manage Greece within your timeframe than Thailand or Vietnam. You need around 24 hrs of travel time to get to SE Asia. That leaves you with a 4 day honeymoon. I just don't see how you could travel all the way around teh world to Thailand or Vietnam or Cambodia or Japan and only spend 4 days there. You would barely scratch the surface. I think the Costa Rica or Peru options sound great.

@plantains:  The difference, I think, is my own knowledge and Western bias.  I went to India for two weeks a couple years ago and loved it.  I didn't see anywhere near all there was to see - I only visited one state, and I didn't even see everything there - but since all I really knew about in India was the Taj Mahal, I was able to happily leave at the end without feeling like I had missed anything specific.  I definitely want to go back to see more, but I still couldn't tell you what I missed.  However, if I were to go to England, I would be running myself ragged trying to see Parliament, Big Ben, the Globe, the palaces, Scarborough, Stonehenge, and the zillion other places in England I know I want to see.  I think I would end up so busy trying to see everything if we went somewhere in Europe that I wouldn't have time to just enjoy being newly married.  Does that make sense?

@Gerbera:  We seriously considered Nepal for about ten minutes, and then we remembered that we'll be there in January.  It was cold in northern India when I was there two years ago in January, and I can't even imagine how freezing it would be further north and in the mountains.  Nepal will have to wait for now.  :(  Abd thank you for the link!  #10 does sound great.

@Demarca11:  Thank you!  I'll look into it. 

@Captain013:  Thank you!!!  It's great to finally hear from someone who has been.  Your photos are amazing!!!

Hmm...  According to Travelocity, it would be cheaper for us to go to India than it would be to go to Argentina.  That's unfortunate.  If we flew to Buenos Aires, we would only have about $400 left for the rest of the trip.  :(

@b00kbug:  We've both been there before, and we currently have the money, so we'd like to go somewhere a bit more exotic this time.  Also, since it will be January, Yellowstone would be really cold.