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Hello, my name is A GIANT PARSNIP, and I am getting married in about a year. The wedding is in November and we're looking at a honeymoon in mid November or early December.  Our ideal vacation is about 6-7 days, with some days for exploring and other days for getting drunk at noon next to the ocean. We're not divers and won't be on this vacation, but we're up for hiking/snorkeling/boat tours/seaplanes or whatever else. Absolute Requirements: *Hopefully $3,500 or less, definitely not over $4,000 (Everything: airfare, hotel, spending, visas etc). *Room with a balcony/patio that has a very clear view of the ocean (or a setup equally as enjoyable and beautiful). *2 or less layovers departing from MKE, ORD or MDW. *Low amounts of poverty and crime. I'm more than willing to visit places of the world that are "scary" to Americans, but for our honeymoon we really just want to relax. *Enough English speakers to make getting around with a phrase book possible. Would Be Very Nice To Have: *Only 1 layover departing from MKE, ORD or MDW. *12 hours or less from home runway to destination runway. *Cheap food and booze. *A lot of native food and booze options. *A lot of English Speakers. Would Like To Have: *8 Hours or less from home runway to destination runway. *A hotel/downtown combo that allows us to walk back to the hotel drunk at Midnight. *Native English Speaking. *Driving on the right hand side, or really cheap and really extensive public transportation. My current option du jour is St Thomas in early December. The flights are from MKE ($550 per person) or ORD ($480 per person) with 1 stop and around 8 hours runway to runway. It's an English speaking island and there's no visa costs since we're US Citizens but the booze/food looks to be on the pricy side. Proper hotels look really loving expensive, but we're looking at staying in Charlotte Amalie in one of the many Inns/B&Bs on the island, as there seems to be a ton of them with very good reviews in the $150-$250 a night category. I'd list individual inns but simply linking here and sorting by rating is what I'm looking at. Something close to the bars/restaurants with a nice balcony and an ocean view, and that seems pretty easy since Charlotte Amalie is on a hill. Driving is on the left (THANKS DENMARK), but my fiancee thinks it might be fun to drive around like that, so maybe we'll bar hop the outskirts of the island one day and she can be DD. We'd probably spend 2 days drinking the day away in downtown Charlotte Amalie/Red Hook, 2 days hiking/snorkeling/whatever else, and take 2 day trips to other islands since the USVI and BVI are all so close together. If we did 7 days we'd probably drink the last day away too. I'd also like to note that we're not "Clubbers". We're more of the "Start drinking at noon and be in bed by 10 PM" Type. All of that being said, I'd love to hear any input anyone might have. Have you been to the USVI and can suggest places we could go/places we could stay/things we could do? Have you been to somewhere else that fits our tastes better than St. Thomas? We're open to anywhere in the world (From Iceland to Thailand), so if you feel like you have a place in mind that fits our tastes please let us know why it would be the place to have our honeymoon!
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| # ? Jan 12, 2013 16:56 |
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| # ? May 20, 2013 19:28 |
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We did our thing in Belize, English as a first language, and currency pegged to the dollar so you can spend greenbacks if you need to. It was spectacular, reasonably priced and about 6 hours of travel time. Though we went in September, which is the low season, and were able to walk into any hotel and rooming house at any hour and get our choice of rooms for 15-20$ a night. Also had a hard time spending more than 20$ on a meal for two with drinks. December is going to be more expensive and crowded, but I don't know how much more. My info is all 10 years out of date now, but it is worth picking up a current Rough Guide and seeing if it would be your thing. We liked Cay Caulker and diving/snorkling in Hol-Chan, and really liked touring the jungles and ruins from San Ignacio. Climbing through the mayan sacrifice caves at Actun Tunicil Mucknal is still one of the coolest things I've ever done, though I also understand that that is consderably more regulated since a few butterfingered tourists dropped their cameras and smashed a couple of the 1500 year old human skulls. There are also all-inclusives, but it isn't what most of the tourist industry is focused on, and I don't think they are notably inexpensive or awesome compared to rolling your own.
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| # ? Jan 13, 2013 00:30 |
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How was the weather in Belize in September? My wife and I are thinking of taking a 2-3 week trip for most of August, and since that means winter in New Zealand, we've been looking into central american options.
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| # ? Jan 19, 2013 18:00 |
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Ever thought about a cruise? You can usually find them for reasonably cheap that time of year. A balcony with an ocean view doesn't get any better than when you are on the actual ocean. If it's St. Thomas you are really interested in there are plenty of boats that go there. No need to worry about driving around with all of the -insane- Caribbean drivers. My wife and I did a cruise for our honeymoon and if you're really looking to relax, it's great since you don't have to worry about food, transportation, hotels, DDs etc. If you want to immerse in a local culture, you can get the "appetizer" version of a few different ones since you'll be going to different ports every day. It's also great from a romance/privacy standpoint since you can just be like "no I won't be able to take a bunch of phone calls - I'm in the middle of the loving ocean" so no interruptions. Usually the whole thing ends up being significantly cheaper than a proper land vacation since you only need to pay for drinks and whatever you buy in the shops/ports. Check out the cruise thread if you have any questions: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...hreadid=3500676
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| # ? Jan 19, 2013 19:33 |
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Sorry for the bump but I'm also looking for honeymoon ideas. I'm surprised to see so much positive stuff about Belize. I visited there on a cruise with my family a few years back and it seemed like a poverty-stricken hellhole. We had a large group of children following us the whole time asking for money and thought we were getting robbed at one point. Luckily, it was a misunderstanding. We also saw a guy get into a one-car accident and no emergency services came to help. I wouldn't want to honeymoon there based on my (admittedly short) visit. Here's what we're looking for for our honeymoon: What I want: Somewhere unique where the locals are friendly and like to party. Somewhere not isolated, preferably a city. Somewhere where weed is legal, decriminalized or its laws are unenforced. No cruises. No tourist trap towns or resorts. Familiar western food like burgers and pizza. Don't care if English is the first language or not. Could be in the US or abroad. Reasonably priced food, drinks and hotels. What she wants, as far as I know: Sightseeing, beautiful scenery and wildlife so she can take lots of photos. No beaches or water activities. Plenty of drinking. Prefers English speaking areas. Prefers staying in the US (but I'm working on talking her out of this one). Somewhere reasonably priced. We'll only have a week off work and this will be in late August. We would probably be leaving from PHL. We haven't set a budget yet, but I think under 4k would be good. Some ideas we're kicking around right now are Key West, Denver, San Diego and maybe Paris. We'd love to visit Australia but we don't have the time or money for it now.
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| # ? Feb 9, 2013 18:40 |
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Cock Democracy posted:We'll only have a week off work and this will be in late August. We would probably be leaving from PHL. We haven't set a budget yet, but I think under 4k would be good. Some ideas we're kicking around right now are Key West, Denver, San Diego and maybe Paris. We'd love to visit Australia but we don't have the time or money for it now. With this budget you can eliminate Paris straight away. With a 4k budget at that time of year you won't make it happen and have any fun. You'd be lucky to fly there and back currently for under $4k for 2, yet less anything else like hotel/food. Nothing is reasonably priced there, either. And no, Amsterdam isn't really cheaper. San Diego has the zoo + wild animal park. Marijuana is pretty easy to find if you want it. It's the US so you know what to expect with the food and language and the weather is perfect to hot in August. Less than $4k would cover your flights, a very nice place to stay, and food and drinks the whole time along with almost whatever activities you'd want. Can I ask why you can't just transport weed like normal people would if it's that important? What about Hawaii?
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| # ? Feb 10, 2013 08:47 |
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sellouts posted:1) With this budget you can eliminate Paris straight away. With a 4k budget at that time of year you won't make it happen and have any fun. You'd be lucky to fly there and back currently for under $4k for 2, yet less anything else like hotel/food. Nothing is reasonably priced there, either. And no, Amsterdam isn't really cheaper. It's not even remotely $2000pp from PHL to CDG or AMS in midsummer. It'll be more like $1000 pp. Getting a decent apartment for a week in Paris or Amsterdam in summer would run about $1200-$1600. But otherwise yes, everything there is expensive and $4k for two people for a week including airfare, while doable, is probably not the romantic experience he wants. Other than that San Diego sounds like a pretty good idea unless you really want to go foreign. You could also go to somewhere resort-like in Jamaica (avoid Kingston, or anywhere else actual Jamaicans live) or other Caribbean islands. Because transporting weed on international flights is a bad idea in the first place, and now that they have body scanners everywhere it's a terrible idea?
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| # ? Feb 10, 2013 10:12 |
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So we've decided on St. Thomas for our honeymoon. We found an awesome little B&B right in downtown Charlotte Amalie, and we're pretty excited because it seems like the island has everything we want - bars, restaurants, options to island hop and typical island excursions. Amazingly my fiancee has never been snorkeling before, so we'll be fixing that. Mud Shark posted:Ever thought about a cruise? You can usually find them for reasonably cheap that time of year. A balcony with an ocean view doesn't get any better than when you are on the actual ocean. If it's St. Thomas you are really interested in there are plenty of boats that go there. No need to worry about driving around with all of the -insane- Caribbean drivers. The idea of being on a ship with all those people kinda grosses me out. My fiancee also has problems with small spaces as well as with large crowds of people, so she isn't too keen on the idea either. I was actually on a cruise when I was in elementary school and I had a lot of fun, as did my family. The "different port every day" aspect is certainly a plus, and we found really fun stuff to do on all of the islands. But that was before I developed irrational aversions to lots of people being in the same pool, and before I proposed to someone with other irrational fears about large crowds. I do, however, encourage anyone who thinks a cruise could be fun to investigate and see if it's right for them. Slo-Tek posted:We did our thing in Belize, English as a first language, and currency pegged to the dollar so you can spend greenbacks if you need to. It was spectacular, reasonably priced and about 6 hours of travel time. Though we went in September, which is the low season, and were able to walk into any hotel and rooming house at any hour and get our choice of rooms for 15-20$ a night. Also had a hard time spending more than 20$ on a meal for two with drinks. December is going to be more expensive and crowded, but I don't know how much more. Belize and Curacao were my two runners up to St Thomas. Curacao seemed awesome with the Dutch primary color houses and the laid back atmosphere, and Belize was tempting since they speak English and the trip would have been less expensive. quote:There are also all-inclusives, but it isn't what most of the tourist industry is focused on, and I don't think they are notably inexpensive or awesome compared to rolling your own. I found an all inclusive that looked pretty good in Curacao, but at the end of the day I decided I'd rather roll my own. Sitting by the water drinking the day away sounds pretty awesome, but there's just something about bar hopping/bar hunting that makes things more fun. Also I think there's something to be said for getting out of the "tourist" spots - even if you're still among tourists at least you're not among those tourists.
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| # ? Feb 11, 2013 03:11 |
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Cock Democracy posted:Sorry for the bump but I'm also looking for honeymoon ideas. I'm surprised to see so much positive stuff about Belize. I visited there on a cruise with my family a few years back and it seemed like a poverty-stricken hellhole. We had a large group of children following us the whole time asking for money and thought we were getting robbed at one point. Luckily, it was a misunderstanding. We also saw a guy get into a one-car accident and no emergency services came to help. I wouldn't want to honeymoon there based on my (admittedly short) visit. Sorry about the double post, but have you looked into the Pacific Northwest? I'm unsure of costs but Vancouver and Seattle both seem like they have the vibe you're looking for.
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| # ? Feb 11, 2013 03:16 |
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Saladman posted:It's not even remotely $2000pp from PHL to CDG or AMS in midsummer. It'll be more like $1000 pp. Getting a decent apartment for a week in Paris or Amsterdam in summer would run about $1200-$1600. But otherwise yes, everything there is expensive and $4k for two people for a week including airfare, while doable, is probably not the romantic experience he wants. There's one week where it's currently $1200, the other weeks surrounding it are $1500+ per ITA Matrix. And that includes a stop in Canada which I wouldn't really consider for a honeymoon but I guess you could do that. So yeah, it's over 60% of the budget. I think your apartment estimate is also low but my standard of travel for a honeymoon might be higher than most. I still don't think with incidentals, food, drink and all of the things that make a honeymoon (and Paris) fun that you can do Paris for $4k for a week with apartment in the summer. And let's not forget the deposit that you'll pay on the apt, which if you're bringing weed with you you should be careful with them not withholding part/all of it for the smell in the apt once you leave. But you'll have to front that money in addition to the cost. Why would you carry the drugs on you? Vacuum seal it, twice if you want, sink it into a bottle of shampoo in a checked luggage or FedEx amongst other nicknacks mailed in advance. Or send edibles, vacuum sealed, and remove the tags. I don't even use drugs but I know plenty of people I work with that have had no problems with any of this. Nosey neighbors smelling your activities might be a far bigger risk than actually getting any of it there. Then again, I can't imagine this being a requirement for a honeymoon anyways. Seconding the suggestion for the Pac NW -- Vancouver is great, Seattle is fun and Portland is a short jump from them both. Highly recommended. sellouts fucked around with this message at Feb 11, 2013 around 07:02 |
| # ? Feb 11, 2013 06:58 |
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A GIANT PARSNIP posted:So we've decided on St. Thomas for our honeymoon. We found an awesome little B&B right in downtown Charlotte Amalie, and we're pretty excited because it seems like the island has everything we want - bars, restaurants, options to island hop and typical island excursions. Amazingly my fiancee has never been snorkeling before, so we'll be fixing that. As someone who has lived in the USVI for the last 3 years (on both islands) I would recommend St. John over St. Thomas. While STJ is slightly higher priced it is totally worth it. (If I'm not mistaken, the picture in the OP is of Trunk Bay, the most crowded beach here) Also STT gives off more of a spring break vibe and is constantly packed with cruise ship passengers, while the drinking scene in STJ is more of a relaxing cheap happy hour. We also are around 70% national park here, have amazing hiking trails and snorkeling and about a tenth of the population. Even if you do end up staying in STT, make sure you make it to STJ for at least a day, you certainly won't regret it.
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| # ? Feb 17, 2013 17:21 |
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Jolly Corndog posted:As someone who has lived in the USVI for the last 3 years (on both islands) I would recommend St. John over St. Thomas. While STJ is slightly higher priced it is totally worth it. (If I'm not mistaken, the picture in the OP is of Trunk Bay, the most crowded beach here) We already have our deposit down for our room on STT, but we're definitely going to spend at least a day on STJ. How easy is it to get around on STJ? Is there a good way to see Virgin Islands National Park without a car? Is it worth it to bus over to Red Hook, or is it more of the same or worse than Charlotte Amalie? Also if you have any suggestions of things to do on either STT or STJ we'd really appreciate it!
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| # ? Feb 24, 2013 04:49 |
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| # ? May 20, 2013 19:28 |
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A GIANT PARSNIP posted:We already have our deposit down for our room on STT, but we're definitely going to spend at least a day on STJ. How easy is it to get around on STJ? Is there a good way to see Virgin Islands National Park without a car? STJ is very easy to get around, not sure if you are planning on renting a car, if you are there is a barge that goes over every half hour. If not we have a bunch of taxis over here who will take you anywhere you want to go, and one of the best trails starts in Cruz Bay where the ferries come in. Redhook is for the most part a big clump of bars and restaurants, I prefer drinking there opposed to Charlotte (a little too busy for me, hence the STJ). I would definitely recommend doing an island hopping trip over to the British Virgin Islands on one day, provided you both have passports. Also if you guys are dive certified we've got some pretty neat sites around here as well. Also  avoid walking around Charlotte Amalie drunk late night
Jolly Corndog fucked around with this message at Feb 25, 2013 around 11:14 |
| # ? Feb 25, 2013 11:12 |
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