The Honeymoon is (FINALLY) Booked!

I'm so excited to finally share our honeymoon plans, it's been a work-in-progress since February and waiting until everything was officially confirmed before telling y'all has been torture! But now that all tickets have been purchased, hotel rooms have been confirmed and expeditions (yes, there is an expedition of a pretty wild sort) have been booked, I can spill the beans.

And so, without further adieu, ladies and gents, our official honeymoon destination is...(wait for it, wait for it...)...Venezuela!

It is a slightly random (or off-beat) choice for a luna de miel (that's the Spanish phrase, I love that it is a literal translation of "honey" and "moon.") but that's how we roll, people.

I posted a long time ago about the options we were considering (Brazil, St John, Galapagos) but none of them really called to us, so we put off making a decision for a bit. Then one day while browsing through the Travel Channel's website looking for ideas, I noticed a place called Margarita Island that was listed as one of their Top 25 picks for honeymoon destinations.  I made a mental note and did a few minutes of preliminary research.

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Then I saw that Martha Stewart Weddings mentioned Margarita Island as one of their top picks for "Off The Beaten Path" honeymoon locations and was even more intrigued.   And then somehow, Venezuela ended becoming our official honeymoon destination!

It holds appeal to both of us for several reason.  Not only is the Northern coast of the country bordered by the beautiful Caribbean Ocean but Venezuela is also home to the world's tallest waterfall, Angel Falls.  Between the lure of ocean bliss and mountain wonders, we get the best of both worlds in travelling experiences.

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The other major factor in our decision was that Venezuela is a country with it's own culture and traditions.  As much as I love the Caribbean Islands, most of them are completely geared towards tourism and somewhat Americanized, lacking a distinctive identity.

Mr Trail Mix and I both love to travel but we wanted to go somewhere to experience a different culture, because for us, that's half the fun.  So while Turks and Caicos or the Virgin Islands, etc are amazing and I'd go there in a heartbeat on vacation, we felt that for our honeymoon, we really wanted it to be an experience that included trying new foods, meeting locals and appreciating a new and varied culture.

So off to Venezuela we shall go! I'll be sharing the details in my next post but for now, I'm just so dang excited for our trip!

How did you decide on your honeymoon location? Is anyone else going to a slightly "Off-Beat" location?