Lilac Dude and I decided that we should invest in passports to make travel easier. Since we are leaving the country in October we decided to apply this summer and not rush anything. While we were discussing applying for passports we found out that prices were going to go up by $35 on Tuesday. We managed to make it to the Clerk of Courts on Monday and spent 10 minutes in the office applying and now… we wait.
 Photo from Travel.state.gov I would have been writing this post sooner had I known sooner about the price hikes in advance. Regardless, some of you out there may still need passports so I’d like to help you get started on that and spend as little time and money on the process as possible.
The one and only piece of advice I can give anyone applying for a passport: BE PREPARED
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When we were planning our honeymoon we had two choices. The first one was to get up the morning after our wedding and drive 5 hours to board a cruise ship for our 7 day honeymoon cruise. The second choice was to wait two weeks and then drive 3 hours, spend the night with my parents, and then the next morning drive about 2 hours to board a cruise ship for our 7 day honeymoon cruise to Half Moon Cay, Freeport and Grand Turk island.
We chose choice #2 and every day for the past 8 days (since our wedding) I have been THRILLED that is the choice we decided to do with.
We had a ‘mini’ honeymoon immediately after our wedding. Our wedding took place at the beach and we booked a hotel room the night before (just for me), the wedding night, and the night after. We chose to stay at the Turtle Cay Resort in Virginia Beach and when we checked in we learned we had been upgraded to the penthouse suite. It was gorgeous and we loved staying there. Our suite overlooked the strip and we could see the ocean from our room. It was amazing.
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Lilac Dude booked our honeymoon today. I am happy to say that after tying the knot we will be cruising on the same ship where he proposed to me.
 Freedom of the Seas So why a cruise?
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When Lavender Dude and I were deciding where to have our honeymoon, we definitely knew that we wanted to go somewhere with a beach, pool, and sun. We both had done a lot of the Caribbean islands, so we started looking on the Pacific side of Mexico. After talking to both of our parents, we decided on a beautiful location in Mazatlan. I had heard of Mazatlan from my grandmother who used to travel there a lot when the city center was very up and coming. The theater district there was actually a hot spot, as was the shopping and restaurants. Unfortunately since then (which had to have been about 30 or so years ago) the city center has lost a lot of it’s excitement. But that didn’t stop us from going. We stayed at the Emerald Bay, Pueblo Bonito – and the part I loved the most was the way they had made the hotel look like a mix between ancient Italy (where we got engaged) and ancient Greece (Lavender Dude is Greek). There was a pool just for adults, which for us was very important – only because I wanted peace and serenity, and the hotel was actually about 15 minutes from the city center – so it was secluded enough that we felt like we are on our own island.
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With just over a month to go, I finally booked our honeymoon! Long ago, we talked about what we wanted to do and settled on enjoying some outdoor activities, pampering, and great food in Mendocino, California.
We even set up a honeymoon registry chock full of all the things we wanted to do after some preliminary research, such as a sea kayaking tour, side-by-side couple’s massage, and hike in Van Damm State Park followed by a picnic lunch. However, it was not until this week that I finally made reservations.
After much research on the internet, at sites like Mendocino.com, Mendocino-honeymoon.com, CaliforniaTravelDream.com and TripAdvisor.com, we will be staying at the Little River Inn just 2 miles outside of Mendocino proper, in a room with a peaceful ocean view and lots of privacy.
 from http://www.littleriverinn.com/ Continue Reading
After our wedding reception ended, Magnolia Dude and I head over to Hotel Charleston, for a very romantic wedding night…. we were both exhausted and could not wait to start our honeymoon next day.
Our honeymoon was a present from my brother and his wife and we will forever be grateful, it was the best present we had ever received in our lives. With the help of my mom they had found a hotel on a remote private island in Cartagena, called Isla Palma.
At 11:30am we went to the port and got on a speed boat that went over 60 miles per hour for 2 hours, in the middle of the ocean, until we arrived to this very pretty island, welcomed by singing and dancing hotel crew.
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When choosing a place to honeymoon, the dude and I did quite a bit of research. First we went over places that we would like to go that neither one of us had been to. We felt that if one of us knew more about our destination than the other, it might be a little boring for the one who has been there before. Having all new experiences was top on our list.
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Lotus dude and I had a lot of discussion about where we should go for our honeymoon. But given the number of vacation days we would have available to us after the wedding, an extended vacation was not going to be possible for us. Therefore, we’ve decided to go for a “mini-moon.” We’ll take a small vacation after the wedding just to get away and have some time to ourselves to savor our first week as a married couple. But it won’t involve an exotic locale.
As we would only have five or six nights to get away after the wedding, it doesn’t make sense for us to go somewhere that will involve a long flight as that will just eat into our limited vacation time. We briefly considered a jaunt to somewhere in the Caribbean, but we decided against it once we realized it would be hurricane season in September.
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Sunflower Dude and I booked our honeymoon today! We had been kicking around ideas, and were most enamored with spending some relaxing time in Quebec City, Canada. We love the European charm and romance that the city provides, and it’s only a 5 hour drive from our wedding location. We considered going somewhere further and more exotic, however, since I’m stressing enough about the wedding, I wanted to have an easy relaxing honeymoon. Also, saving a bit of money on this trip will still allow us to go on our yearly January trip to Mexico! We booked our honeymoon at the beautiful and majestic Fairmont le Chateau Frontenac.
 Fairmont Chateau Frontenac I jumped at the chance today to book when I heard news of this amazing sale for Fairmont Hotels!
If you’re considering a Fairmont destination for your honeymoon, do it before April 20th! This allowed us to save about 50% on our hotel stay! So I have already booked us a couples massage in the spa 
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I am a AAA member, and one of the perks of membership is receiving Via, a bi-monthly travel magazine. Honestly, I have chucked the magazine into recycling every time I have gotten it… until today. It caught my attention this time around because I saw “Mendocino Getaway” on the front cover and beautiful Mendocino, CA is where we are planning to go for our honeymoon.
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