Back from the Hiatus

We finally went on our honeymoon and are (sadly) back to reality. It was a fantastic and crazy hectic trip, and we don't regret a minute of it.

It was Dude's first trip out of the hemisphere, and he was splendid. I had my doubts, like when he wanted to go to dinner in shorts while we were in Italy and I had to tell him that Europeans don't really wear shorts. (To be perfectly fair, it was 90 degrees, the hottest May Italy has seen in 50 years, and he doesn't really have the option of wearing a skirt like yours truly.) I had to remind him a couple of times that when bumping into people to say "Mi scusi" or "Oprostite" (Italian and Croatian, respectively) instead of "Sorry." (Side note, that is my BIGGEST pet peeve about American tourists is that so many use basic phrases in English. There are only a few phrases everyone should know in the language of the country he or she is visiting - hello, sorry, thank you, good bye, and do you speak English. If saying any of those things, you should really say them in the language of the country you are in. You would expect foreign tourists to speak to you in English when you are in America and that courtesy should be extended. End side note.)

But Dude quickly caught on and was great company, and going on our whirlwind trip really gave us some great bonding moments and moments of insight into each other that we hadn't seen before, despite over six years together. We were out of our comfort zone for the entire trip, and while we had some stressful moments, we pulled through together. And Dude, the eternal optimist, came up with the catch phrase that saw us through, and will probably be used for quite some time during our marriage - "Great us."

Me: Shitty weather!
Dude: Great us!

Me: Stupid traffic!
Dude: Great us!

Great us, indeed.

Life After Wedding: Desperately Awaiting the Honeymoon

For a variety of reasons, Dude and I have not yet gone on our honeymoon. While I don't regret at all giving us a break between wedding and honeymoon (I really don't understand how people leave for two weeks following the crazy wedding stuff!), I do regret that we put over two months between them. We didn't really have a choice, but there you go.

Anyway, we leave really, really soon! I didn't realize it was so close until yesterday. Words cannot express how excited I am. For now our itinerary looks like:

Rome, then train to
Florence, then train to
Trieste, then be driven to
Porec, then drive around
the rest of Istria and Plitvice, then ferry to
Hvar, then ferry and drive to
Dubrovnik, then plane to
London, then home.

Whew! If we have time and energy we are going to try to see:
Austria and Slovenia (within driving distance of Trieste)
Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro (within driving distance of Dubrovnik)

If we hit all these sites that will be 7, yes count them, 7 countries in one honeymoon.

So excited!!!

So Excited

Who can think about wedding when this is what awaits us in Croatia?





Images of Plitvice Lakes National Park.

A Step in the Right Direction

While I delegated the honeymoon to Dude, he was considerate enough to know that I would at least like to be involved in the process, since I'm so darn picky about my travel. We've dragged our feet long enough about this whole business, so this evening we decided to bite the bullet and just book flights. We'd figure out the itinerary later, and it would give us flexibility to either stay at a certain place longer or leave if it's too dull.

So we did it! A flight into Rome, a flight out of Dubrovnik to London 12 days later, then London to home 3 days after that. Everything in the middle is up for grabs, including how to get from Rome to Dubrovnik.

Success!

It's Time to Delegate

Having found myself incredibly overwhelmed at work, I finally decided to relinquish control and hand over the honeymoon planning to Dude. The latest iteration is some combination of Italy, Greece, and Croatia, maybe Turkey also. We will definitely be driving part of the way, definitely need to hit Trieste to visit some family, and possibly a cruise to hit the rest. But this past Sunday I spent all day poring over ticket prices and cruise reviews and my trusty Rick Steves Italy book. I drove myself crazy.

No more! No more!

And the bouquets or bouquet alternatives! I don't care anymore! I'd sooner carry pot roast down the aisle! Other stuff I no longer care about - invitations, out of town bags, favors, shoes, videographer, centerpieces!!! They are done and the decisions have been made and I'm not entertaining any more ideas!!!!!

And John McCain can kiss my liberal-feminist-ass!

(Driving myself crazy, can you tell?)

Le Sigh.

It's a long story so I won't bore you with all the details but we've changed our minds about Japan. Since we'll be going to the Philippines the Christmas after we get married it didn't make sense to take two incredibly long flights in the same year. So we're going to Japan after we visit the Philippines, and are back to square one on the honeymoon plans.

Some Updates

It is really, really hard to think about planning a wedding in these times. I'm not one to really care too much anyway, but especially now, especially in New York, especially when so many of my friends work in banking. It seems so wasteful to think about all this energy and money going towards a single day of my life. And then I think that because this only happens once, that it should be good, because when all these things are going so very badly then we need to find joy wherever it can be had.

I kind of lazed around all summer because "I still have so much time!" and then I woke up one morning and realized it was September. That not only is it September but it's mid-September, and that it's no longer ludicrous to have Halloween candy in the grocery stores.

The invitations are slowly coming. I am unhappy with the paper cutter I ordered, but I'm not going to get another one. I underestimated the thickness of one of the papers I was going to use, but I can live with it. The color of the enclosures is a little too yellow. All small things.

And we have a tentative itinerary for Japan, which is

Tokyo - fly to...
Okinawa - fly to...
Osaka - train to...
Kyoto - train to...
somewhere else? - train to...
Tokyo - fly home.

Disappointment on the Honeymoon Front

After lots of research on the internet and a lengthy chat with the travel agents here at work, we have decided to focus our entire honeymoon on Japan. The tickets to do any combination of Japan and Tahiti cost 4K per person, so we clearly had to choose one or the other. So Japan for honeymoon, and I managed to convince Dude to do Tahiti for first anniversary.

A bit sad. Dangit, all I want is an overwater bungalow!!!

An End to the Honeymoon Indecision

We have finally decided on our honeymoon locations.

A background:
I've traveled a lot. I have an unfair advantage because I lived in the Philippines until I was 9 or 10, but maybe that's why I love it so much. I think that travel is the single most important thing (besides saving for retirement) a young person can do while unmarried and have no dependents, and my biggest regret is not studying abroad during college. I don't think there's anything more educating and encouraging of tolerance and acceptance. As such, after I graduated college and actually started making my own money, I spent it all on travel and not on material stuff. Last year I clocked 4 international trips and man, was that hard on the wallet (but great on the memories!).

Dude has not left the continent. He has traveled extensively around it (I think he's only missing one or two states and he's been to the tip of Central America and we've been all over the Caribbean together). With his newfound love of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations, he is now itching to travel.

So when we first started talking honeymoon, we tossed around every idea possible. The biggest idea was Dude's, and that was to go around the world in three or four stops. We thought about SO MANY locations. Greece, Seychelles, Dubai was the original trifecta, then Australia, New Zealand, China, Turkey, Egypt.... the list goes on. Originally we thought that was a great idea. And then we started pricing out flights and hotels, and realized that the most we could take off of work was two and a half weeks. Three or four stops was just too ambitious, and we would spend so much of our time in airports and not seeing where we are.

Compromise time:
Dude picked his top choice and I picked my top choice and we would do both.

So we landed on Japan (Dude's) and Tahiti (mine).

It's actually perfect for us. Tahiti will be the relaxing part of the honeymoon, we will lounge around and stay in a bungalow above the water. And then Japan will be the cultural urban part of the honeymoon. A good friend of mine lives there and we plan on going to Tokyo and Osaka. We'll spend more time in Japan because I have a four or five day tolerance for lounging (sad but true).

Unfortunately since Dude is in school we have to wait a few months after the wedding until we get to go. But at least he won't be stressing about exams and homework while we are away. We'll likely take a couple of days off after the wedding to re-center ourselves and relax, maybe go to a bed and breakfast somewhere.

NO IT IS NOT A FUCKING "MINI-MOON" AND DO NOT EVER USE THAT WORD AROUND ME OR I'LL CLOCK YOU. THERE IS NO SUCH THING. IT IS A MADE UP WORD TO TRY TO FORCE ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING ABOUT WEDDING PLANNING TO BE CUTESY-WOOTSY, PONIES AND UNICORNS AND RAINBOWS AND SUNSHINE AND I WILL NOT PROPAGATE IT NOW OR EVER.