Honeymooning Heartache Turned To Happiness

Before we even got engaged, Mr Elk and I were totally 100% on the same page about where we would be taking our honeymoon.

photo by Peter Phipp/ Available here for purchase as print

Oh Santorini, how I would love to bathe in the glory of your beauty! I fell in love with a Greek honeymoon after watching The Sisterhood of the traveling Pants one too many times, and for some reason Mr Elk agreed with me that Greece was the perfect place to relax after our nuptials. But then money woes struck the nation, and we began seeing visions of mobs and hearing stories of transportation strikes. It was all a little too much for us, plus we realized how expensive it was going to be. So I said goodbye to my dream honeymoon and started thinking of other places we could go.

While brainstorming new places, it gave me some time to reminisce about my previous travels. I'm lucky enough to be able to say that I've gotten to travel the world quite a bit. My first major journey happened in college, when I was accepted to go on Birth Right. For all of you wondering what the hell that is, it is a free trip to Israel for people who are Jewish. I jumped on the opportunity for a free trip! Here, me and bridesmaid J are floating in the dead sea:

My next big trip came after college graduation. I had always promised myself I would backpack through Europe if I got accepted into medical school, and I kept good on my promise. This was also the first major trip Mr. Elk and I took together, and it was a MONTH long. And we visited his relatives in Ireland. And did I mention we did it all on a really tight budget? Phew, glad we made it out alive and still like eachother!

Here we are in Paris- these are two of my favorite pictures of the two of us! In this first one we were laying out on the grasses outside of the Louvre drinking wine, waiting for the time when it was free admission for people <24 (because we are cheap! This is an important point).

We next hit up Barcelona, and then made our way to Italy. here we are in Rome:
we also made our way to Florence and Venice before heading north to Berlin. here we are looking like pigs:

Our trip through Europe was amazing!!! But I started to remember how much planning went into it. How I researched where to stay tirelessly, how I spent oodles of hours researching low cost airlines and hostels. How I decided which attractions we would spend money to see and which we would pass up (we didn't go up the Eiffel Tower- 5 Euros was just too much!)

A year after our European adventure, I found myself making another dream come true! I had always wanted to go to Africa, and decided to go through my medical school. Here I am in the town of Mole in Ghana, in front of an Elephant!! This was by no means a luxurious vacation.



Finally, my latest travels were to Japan. Mr Elk, myself, and two friends from college traveled through the country and visited our friend who has been teaching English there since we graduated. This trip was basically a repeat of Europe. We were stingy, staying in hostels, and always looking for a way to save a few bucks

So what did my reminiscing teach me? Well, first of all, The Elks are CHEAP. We do not like spending money, and are very cautious when we do. Secondly, we have never had a truly relaxing vacation. They all consist of traveling from city to city, never forming a travel homebase. Thirdly, our vacations are not what you would call romantic. Staying in a hostel with 10 other people in the room snoring loudly is fine and dandy when you want to see the world on the cheaps, but I just don't think it fits the bill for our honeymoon!!

And so I came up with a few guidelines for what I wanted in our honeymoon:
1)I don't want to go somewhere I have already been. The world is so big, and I want to see as much of it as possible.
2) I do not want to spend our honeymoon traveling from one hotel to another
3)I want to stay in a place that looks romantic enough to be considered a honeymoon spot
4)I want warmth!
5)I want other options besides the beach, because pasty white Irish men don't fair well sitting on the beach all day, and I get BORED easily!
6)I don't want to spend a fortune to get numbers 1-5.

I'm pleased to say that after countless days where I didn't think we would ever find a suitable location, Mr Elk and I have finally agreed on a honeymoon spot! The Elks are going to Costa Rica!!!!

Are you a stingy traveler? Are you letting it affect your honeymoon plans? Oh and if you've been to Costa Rica, I want to hear all the awesome things we should do!!!!!