Travel!

AJuliaNJ

I love to travel to more offbeat, exotic places. I would seriously go anywhere. I love to go places that are completely different than the US. I am crushing hard on some of your trips right now. My favorite trip was a 3 week full country tour of Egypt. I LOVED that trip. I was a finalist for a fellowship in South Africa last year, but did not make the cut to actually go, which was a huge disappointment because now I'll probably never get to go.

My fiance isn't really into the different and exotic places. I was able to get him to Panama last year, but he wasn't crazy about it. He'd prefer to go places where there are comfy accommodations (he liked the first part of our trip better because we stayed at a Trump in the city), everyone speaks English, reliable internet and phone access, and high quality restaurants. Where are some good compromise places to go? 

Jells2dot0

I guess a lot depends on budget! We really enjoyed our time in Fiji, the Cook Islands, and Australia. The restaurant selections are a little iffy in the Cooks (there just aren't many to choose from) and in Fiji, the selections for food are just based on where you are staying as many of the resorts are private island resorts. I'd definitely say Hawaii would be something to consider as well and I know you are looking into the St. Regis for your HM. I just got back from there. The St. Regis has the most amazing view of Hanalei Bay and the food was fanastic! There are plenty of restaurants to choose from in Princeville and on the South Shore. Maui also has a ton of higher end options. It's just obviously not that exotic. If you want Hawaii but something a little more off of the map, check out Lanai. I loved it there, but it's not typical tropical Hawaii.

Mstellah

My FI is the same way! Before we decided on South Africa, I had to convince him that a safari did not mean sleeping in a tent on the ground. Other places we considered were Australia, traveling along the coast of Brazil and Bora Bora.

Jells2dot0

I have been to Bora Bora and the surrounding islands a few times. I didn't mention it because not everyone speaks English well, but almost everyone does speak English. I really did not find it to be a problem at all. Other places where English is not spoken widely but we didn't have an issue was Mauritius and the Seychelles. There may have been 1-2 moments of having some difficulty, but the higher end resorts cater to Europeans and they all speak English as the universal way to communicate. If I had to choose, I'd def say the Seychelles over Mauritius.

Jells2dot0

Oops- forgot to add that cell phone service with a SIM card is fine in most parts of French Polynesia, the Seychelles and Mauritius. I used my phone there a lot. However, internet is often times expensive and SLOW. So, maybe those locations are out. The Cooks also had slow internet service, though that was only in Aitutaki. I think Rarotonga is better. I had zero issues in Fiji and definitely no issues in Australia, though if you travel to some of the remote islands, like we did, then be prepared to not have any phone or internet. It's all about choosing the right resort for your needs. We wanted to ditch all connectivity.

harper0813

I love eastern/central Europe. Croatia, Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary. And Croatia has beautiful coasts if you'd like something on the ocean.

I've been dying to visit the Amalfi Coast, too.

AJuliaNJ

@zoberg, I spent a week on the Amalfi Coast. I stayed here and absolutely loved it: http://www.residencedelduca.it/eng/. I don't think I'd go back because there wasn't really a ton to do, but it was a beautiful trip.

harper0813

Ooh, good to know, Andrea! Maybe we'd have to make it a stop on a longer trip.

AJuliaNJ

That's what I did. I did a 2 week tour of the more touristy places like Rome, Florence, and Venice, and then spent a week on the Amalfi Coast. A week was too long for me. I don't know why I didn't just cut the time short and go somewhere else in Italy. It would have been a better weekend trip as part of a longer trip.

chaiteachick

Tel Aviv. I promise that you'll both love it. It's exotic and weird for you, but totally modern and high tech for him. Also, it's honestly one of the safest places in the world, despite all the (incorrect) media hype. 

Just... be sure to take taxis. Renting a car is asking for a slew of parking tickets (they're confusing with parking laws on purpose, to make money), and there are a lot of locals who speak the language and can't figure out the bus system, let alone a foreigner. (If you do end up going, you can message me on how to get to specific places, and in that case, I may be able to tell you the exact bus; that's a different story.) 

Good luck! I hope you find a great place to travel! 

chaiteachick

Oh... we went to Croatia and didn't really like it... the accommodations weren't up to par, in our opinions. I mean, when you hear "four star hotel," you don't expect a shell-shocked building that looks like a Soviet-era orphanage... but maybe that was just us having bad luck (over and over again, for an entire week). 

We loved Prague, though. I think we'd go back if we had the chance, and last time we went, we stayed 8 full days. 

KatWAG

I loved New Zealand, even more than Australia. Auckland is such an amazing city and they speak english for your Fi.

Have you considered going to Asia? Vietnam? Cambodia? Thailand? Airfare is pretty expensive but one you get there its cheap!

Jells2dot0

KatWAG said:

I loved New Zealand, even more than Australia. Auckland is such an amazing city and they speak english for your Fi.

Have you considered going to Asia? Vietnam? Cambodia? Thailand? Airfare is pretty expensive but one you get there its cheap!

This is very exciting to hear! We are hoping to go back to Lizard Island next year, but are considering stopping in NZ this time on the way down there. I just know it's going to eat up a lot of my vacation time, so we'll see. But, VERY good to know.