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Honeymoon Discussions
FutureMrsMiller25
member
Napa Valley... or any other ideas?
We're kind of stuck of where to go. I always imagined myself going somewhere tropical and/or exotic but after spending money on the wedding and my employment being unknown (I have to move to another state to be with my soon to be husband so I don't know how long till I have steady work) I'm hesitant to go big. I know my FI really wanted to go to Italy but he agreed the flight is basically our budget (I said maybe around $3500-4000). We considered Costa Rica but he said he just can't get excited about it.
We started thinking about possibly staying in the country and once you remove the international airfare we could spend more money on other things and live it up. I live in Florida so basically anywhere in Florida doesn't excite me and I don't want to go anywhere that's still pretty chilly in the end of May. The idea of Napa occurred to me today. Neither of us have been there - anyone have any thoughts?
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Re: Napa Valley... or any other ideas?
Check out online sites like www.tripadvisor.com for hotels and activities in various areas. Join www.budgettravel.com (it's free) and they have all sorts of information as well. Both these sites have real travelers itineraries and ratings, and it's nice to sort things out that way. I planned my entire honeymoon along the coast by using them to locate different places and hotels.
Good luck.
Be prepared for expensive hotels and food.
If you like hiking, go to Muir Woods or Mt. Tamalpais.
To keep food costs down, you can go to those Michelin starred restaurants for lunch rather than dinner.
If you have a Visa Signature card, many of the Sonoma wineries offer free wine tastings.
It was an amazing trip.
Ditto Mica about Napa. It was expensive but worth it.
We stayed at the Hotel Yountville and it was beautiful. Modern but still cozy. The hotels restaurant does a great breakfast too.
[QUOTE]Thanks! We did a west coast trip in May 2009 - went to Portland, OR, San Fran and LA but I guess I wouldn't mind visiting San Fran again. <strong>I guess I was just also pondering what was out there besides wine!</strong>
Posted by FutureMrsMiller25[/QUOTE]
I am no help : ) All I did was eat and drink my way around town.
I'm sure someone else has better advice.
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Napa Valley... or any other ideas? : I am no help : ) All I did was eat and drink my way around town. I'm sure someone else has better advice.
Posted by Matty143[/QUOTE]
<div>Ha! I went real quick with a google search today and it mentioned bike rides, hiking, kayaking and some train (I think the train involved wine though!)</div>
Just a thought- if Italy is your dream spot then I think you could make it happen. If you get flights for $1100 each out of JAX to Rome or Florence, then you'd end up having approx 200 euros a day in Italy if you went for a week. If you stay at a nice little B & B, budget hotel, or apartment, you'd still have enough money for sightseeing, food, etc. It just depends on what you want- it isn't going to be a fancy vacation on this kind of budget, but maybe you would enjoy having gelato and pizza in Tuscany more than dining at Michelin restaurants in Napa...
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Napa Valley... or any other ideas? : Ha! I went real quick with a google search today and it mentioned bike rides, hiking, kayaking <strong>and some train (I think the train involved wine though!)</strong>
Posted by FutureMrsMiller25[/QUOTE]
I totally thought the wine train was a rip off.
First, we had to go deep into the older part of Napa, only to have the train go right by our hotel. <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-undecided.gif" border="0" alt="Undecided" title="Undecided" />
It was like $100-something a person and that was for soup or salad, lunch and a desert. NO WINE. For $100/person you can eat somewhere much better and just go the the winery you want to go to. I wish we had just gone to Grgich Hills instead of the train.
I'm not really outdoor-sy so hiking and kayaking was just not on my radar, oops! <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-smile.gif" border="0" alt="Smile" title="Smile" />
I'm like Matty -- I'm all about food and wine.
But I do recall having a lovely hike around Mt. Tamalpais.
Just because you saw it on Four Weddings, doesn't mean it's a good idea.