Honeymoon Fun with Friends

Most people picture their honeymoon as a romantic getaway for just the newlyweds, but we had a different experience. Don't get me wrong, it was very romantic and restful, but we had the pleasure of having friends on the island who were fantastic hosts. Our friend (who flew from Curacao to NY and then drove to Burlington 6+ hours for our wedding) and his family took great care of us. We went out for many meals together, to the beach with their 3 boys and our wedding gift was a day trip to Klein Curacao which I mentioned in my last honeymoon post.



Here we are with our friend's boys -- a ten year old and twin six year olds! What a handful they are. When we drove around the island I was always in the back with one of the twins on my lap and they were so excited about the camera. "Can we make a picture?!," they'd ask eagerly.



And they were enamored with Mr. Onion calling his name over and over with a new request. To play football (American soccer) on the beach, to play pass in the water, to photograph a motorcycle. You name it, they wanted Mr. Onion to join them.






It was really sweet actually. We spent an entire day with our friend who gave us a driving tour of the entire island. We saw a "natural bridge" that was created by the water, huge windmills, a plantation house and stopped for Surinamese food for lunch.









And our last night in Curacao we went out for "skewers" with our friend and his boys. This was one of the best nights we had there. A guy who lives on the island started having friends over for skewers (2 foot long metal skewers with chicken and filet that had been marinating all day on them) cooked over hot coals. It got so popular people encouraged him to open a restaurant. Well he didn't want to do this full time so he just opens on Friday evenings and there is one thing on the menu. They cook them and then hang them over your table and you enjoy with your fingers. It was fantastic food and a really nice way to end our trip.







A few more days to share -- the upcoming highlights include ribs (SO GOOD) and a Maurice Lacroix watch.

Honeymoon Fun - Part II

As I mentioned in my last post, Mr. Onion and I left right away for 12 wonderful days in Curacao.

Day 3:

I took a trip to Curacao with my mother 3 years ago. On the way there we met a wonderful guy on the plane and 3 years later I'm still wonderful friends with him, his wife and their 3 boys. In fact he came all the way to Vermont for our wedding! So when we got to Curacao we were well taken care of to say the least. It was like having family there. Our wedding gift from them was a day trip to Klein Curacao (which means Little Curacao) with the Mermaid Boat Trips. It took 2 hours to get there but was well worth it.



Approaching the island from the boat



On the boat -- I spent much of the trip chatting with a lovely woman from Holland and she took this picture for us.



Notice the Onion painted on the wall -- I couldn't resist!



Our new friends from Venezuela. They were just our age and were in medical school. Very sweet couple. When I asked if they thought they might get married they said "Oh yes I hope so!" It was very sweet. They had been together for 6 years and I think were waiting to be done with medical school.



Our fearless leader, our captain! Yes he spent much of the morning and afternoon just like this!



Here is the Mermaid Boat and the colorful umbrellas they provided for us when we arrived. There was almost NO shade on the island so this was much appreciated.



The book I just devoured -- Bitter is the New Black by Jen Lancaster. Such a great read. If you've ever been unemployed or know someone who has -- you won't be able to put it down!



"Honey?!," Mr. Onion called. "Yes dear?," I said as I turned to gaze at him adoringly. Ok -- so it didn't happen quite like that, but I didn't know he had the camera -- he just called my name and this is how I looked at him. Sweet, no?



Not as sweet -- Mr. Onion caught me passed OUT on the beach! Not so elegant but too funny.

We met the boat at 6:30 AM, took off around 7 or so and arrived at Klein Curacao about 9 or so. You then had the entire day to rest, swim, snorkel and explore the VERY tiny island. At 12:30 they rang a bell and we enjoyed a great BBQ. And at 4:00 we got back on the boat after a nice day of relaxing and making new friends. Other than the sea sickness and serious burn Mr. Onion got (one of those where you don't even know you're fried until hours later) we had a really nice time.

I've got a new attitude...

Cue the music. I kid -- but I do have a new hair cut by a fabulous Venezuelan guy called Gabriel -- see results:



Mr. Onion and I got back from our honeymoon late Saturday night and we spent much of Sunday procrastinating laundry, unpacking, finding our tiny apartment which has been swallowed by wedding boxes and chaos and food shopping. Yeah -- we did NONE of these things.

Instead we relaxed, pretended we were still on our honeymoon, uploaded all our honeymoon photos, organized some of our non-pro wedding pics (will start sharing soon, I promise), caught up on our on-line reading and had dinner with one of my fabulous bridesmaids whose birthday we missed while we were away.

We spent 12 days in Curacao, a beautiful Dutch island next to Aruba. We enjoyed stunning beaches, great food and were so well taken care of by our friend and his family. I thought I'd take it day by day, so here we go.



Here we are at LaGuardia Airport first thing Monday morning after our wedding. We were clearly very tired -- hopefully we'll begin to look more rested and less pale as the trip continues. We arrived late on Monday night, unpacked, ate dinner and went straight to bed as we were exhausted.

Day 1: See my post from the end of our first day. Yes, I brought my laptop on our honeymoon -- mostly to store our photos from our digital camera, but we discovered we had Internet in our rooms -- how could a bee resist?

Day 2:

Our second day there was actually rainy and overcast so we took the opportunity to head into town as it's wasn't perfect beach weather. I came across a beautiful pearl necklace by Yvel we couldn't afford, but a girl can dream, so of course I took a picture of it. We explored Kura Hunlanda, a beautiful hotel and walked over the foot bridge from Punda to Otrabonda.








Day 3:

The weather was back to being stunning so we headed back to the beach at our lovely hotel, Avila Beach Hotel. We read, relaxed, swam, made friends with two iguanas and ate a yummy lunch at the beach bar. This was a typical day in paradise! One of the books I read while on our trip was Bitter is the New Black by Jen Lancaster. It was absolutely perfect beach reading -- hysterical and entertaining. Also check out her blog.







More photos/stories to come soon!

Honeymoon Day 1 :)

So we got to Curacao last night and have had a very relaxing day on the beach. The owner had champagne brought to our room which we just enjoyed on our little porch and next we're off to "The Blues Cafe" for dinner and some music!

But first, a little taste of what it's like here:


Mr. Onion enjoying the sun and his book! Listen to how calming the waves are -- doesn't it just make you want to take a deep breath?


Breakfast -- note Mr. Onion is wearing his "Just Married" T-shirt! He wasn't sure about it but happily put it on when we got here!


Cute "self" portrait


Yummy drinks with lunch


Enjoying the sun

We have Internet in our room so I'll be sure to keep you posted on our adventures!

Cheers,
Mrs. Onion

Honeymoon relaxation and fun!

Mrs. Poppy's honeymoon post reminded me I've only briefly mentioned my honeymoon in my post "Mr. Onion is the best!" We are staying for 11 days and 12 nights at the Avila Beach Hotel in Curacao (you know, Blue Curacao Rum)? Where the heck it that you ask?


Click to enlarge

It's a Dutch Colony that is part of the "ABC Islands" -- Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao -- it's right in the middle.



Planning your honeymoon is a long process for most -- first you dream about what kind of honeymoon you want -- relaxing, historic, adventurous. Then you consider where you might want to travel together, then you start thinking about a budget to make this dream come true.

We considered two different locations/styles of trip. Italy vs. Curacao is what it came down to. My mother's family were from Italy and I'd always wanted to travel there. But I know that I'd want to see "everything" and do "everything" and would be totally exhausted when we got home. We decided that we can do that on a subsequent vaction, but after my busiest season at work and all the wedding planning I just wanted to rest.

How did we pick Curacao you wonder? Well, Mr. Onion has never been to the Caribbean. I have been to many islands and three summer's ago Momma Onion and I took a holiday, just the two of us, to Curacao and just loved it. In fact we made friends with a family there (sweet couple and their 3 young boys) who I've been in close touch with since and they are flying to Vermont for our wedding next weekend!

It's a beautiful island that isn't too touristy (at least in the US it's not very well known) and in September it should be pretty "quiet." We are actually staying in the very same hotel I did three years ago in their brand new wing that was finished this winter/spring.

So here are more pictures of the beautiful place we'll spend our first 12 days as husband and wife:










They even host weddings if you're thinking about a destination wedding! Click HERE for more information on their wedding packages.