Booked! (And a Freebie!)

Yesterday's post really did inspire to buckle down and finish up the main plans for our honeymoon.

I spent hours yesterday researching hotels, scouring the internet for deals, rating hotels on qualities, features, locations, specials, etc., and sending top choices to Tom for input.

We had originally planned on using our credit card rewards for the hotel cost, but we found out that are type of card doesn't allow transfers to our hotel rewards program. Major bummer. Despite that setback, we were still able to book five-star hotels, get upgraded rooms, and save over $400!

I'll admit that I'm a bit of a hotel snob, and I didn't want to settle for anything less than perfect. You only get one honeymoon, and in reality, probably only one trip to Australia in your lifetime. Armed with that knowledge, and a free sweet upgrade, we booked this glam hotel in the heart of Sydney:



It was originally the old post office, which was converted to super swanky rooms!

While this isn't our exact room, ours will be similar:



We're about 1-2 miles from most of the major tourist attractions (Darling Harbor, Sydney Opera House, Harbour Bridge, the Rocks, etc.). Exciting!

Halfway through the trip we fly from Sydney to Port Douglas, a resort town located off of the Great Barrier Reef.

We're staying at a resort here, so while it's not as modern and swanky as Sydney, it's still pretty awesome. Our room includes a private balcony, and a private entrance into the pool. How cool is that??

With the great deal on airfare, along with my lovely hotel finds, we've saved over $700 off of what we originally budgeted for this trip. That doesn't factor in the actual savings off of the rack rates for the hotels and plane tickets. With the current currency rate, I'd venture to say that we've saved well over $2,000.

And if that's not all, since we weren't able to use our credit card points towards our hotel program, we were able to apply half towards our credit card balance (reducing what we pay for the hotels by about $115), and use the other half to get a new camera for free! (Tom brought my camera to Colorado, and there was a baggage handling incident that caused it to die an early death).

Seriously, a money-saving day indeed! :)

I Need a Vacation.

Recently, I've had a lot of people asking me if I was nervous or if I was overwhelmed. I always say no to both (especially the nervous question!), but lately I've begun to feel overwhelmed. It's nothing I can't handle -- I've certainly planned other events that require timelines be created, speeches be written, people be directed, etc. But, now I'm finding it difficult to plan a rehearsal dinner, a wedding, a reception, an afterparty, and a honeymoon. I feel completely on schedule with the wedding stuff, but I feel like I've devoted no time to planning our honeymoon, and that is not typical of me.

When I travel, I make itineraries. Several, actually. I create budget spreadsheets, get directions to local restaurants, book excursions early on, program taxi numbers in my phone --- the works.

With 7 weeks until we leave for our honeymoon, we still haven't booked the hotels.

I know, I know, I suck. But I've been working on it.

Today, for instance, I just booked a day trip on this:



We'll be sailing the seas, or rather the Pacific Ocean, on this catamaran. We depart at 8:30 in the morning, sail until 10, and then dock at the Low Isles, part of Coral Cay and the Great Barrier Reef. We'll get to snorkel, lounge on a private island, have lunch and afternoon tea, then sail on back to town.



I want to be here, now. As in right now. Or better yet, 10 minutes ago.



Is it terrible that when people ask "Are you excited for the wedding?" I usually respond with "Yeah, but not nearly as much as for the honeymoon."

I think this post has given me a kick in the tush to go and book our hotels tonight.

Shopping For Oz: Part 3

No outfit, or trip, really, is ever complete without a good handbag. I learned this the hard way when I travelled to Ireland a year ago. The purse I had brought (stupidly, a leather Coach bag), just wasn't big enough to hold my wallet, passports, rental car paperwork, guidebooks, and random souvenirs.

I like big bags. I can't help it. So, on day 2 of our trip, Nicole and I ventured out in search of a new purse. And I found one that was fantastic, and used it for the next 3 months! :)

So, I've decided that I have to travel with a big bag. Maybe it's a security blanket of sorts, but I find it really, really helpful.

I Love Love Love this one from Banana Republic:




But, I can find a lot of better uses for $230.



And what trip is complete without a pair of oversized sunglasses? Yes, these are also a weakness of mine. I've owned at least 5 pairs in the past 2 years.

They're on sale for $68, down from $98, but I already have a pair I love and will stick with those for a while longer...

And I LOVE these sandals:

From Piperlime, coming in at $45.

So there you have it --- the accessories to round out the travel wardrobe!

Shopping for Oz: Part 2

You know that feeling you get when you're just browsing for clothes, but you find something you love and then you find out it's on sale?

Yeah, not such a good thing for your wallet.

I experienced it this morning, when looking for fodder for this post. I fell in love, saw everything was on sale/clearance, and before you know it, was pressing the "confirm" button on the order screen. Whoops.

But, I think I picked some great pieces that I'll be able to wear this spring/summer, as well as on the honeymoon, so I guess I don't feel soooo terrible.


Love it! And for $7.99, I couldn't pass it up.

Remember yesterday when I was talking about a lightweight cardigan/sweater? Mission accomplished! (Oh yeah, and for only $15!)

And how can I forget these? Aka, the greatest pants ever? I bought a pair of these my senior year of college, and I've worn them so much that they're starting to get see-through in some spots (not a good thing). So, I bought a replacement pair for $15. Did I mention that I was wearing these when Tom proposed? True story. I had bought the cutest cream and black halter to match, and was wearing a pair of hot red stilettos. It was my "just in case he happens to propose this weekend" outfit. It totally worked!

Oh, and I've decided to go ahead and buy that dress from yesterday. I received an Old Navy 20% coupon yesterday, which I'm deeming as fate. That brings the dress down to about $25. Holla! At this rate, I'll be almost finished with my shopping before May! :)

Shopping for Oz: Part 1

I saw this idea on another wedding blog, so I'm stealing it.

We're going to do some window shopping for the honeymoon!

Background Information:
The weather in Sydney will be about 60-65 degrees, and 65-75 in Port Douglas. In Sydney, we'll be doing a lot of touristy stuff, so I'll need appropriate clothing. In Port Douglas, however, we have very few plans, and most of them include fruity drinks and lying on the beach.

Since we'll be traveling for 12 days, we're going to have to pack smartly. Because we're flying international, we can bring 2 suitcases each (plus a carry-on and purse/laptop bag/briefcase) without being charged extra. But, this doesn't mean we'll have a ton of extra space. In my previous travels to Europe, I've always brought 2 suitcases, each half-packed. On my way home, my suitcases always end up mysteriously filled to the brim! In short, I'll need a few pairs of jeans, a few breezy dresses, a few skirts, 1 or 2 lightweight sweaters/cardigans, shorts, a few bathing suits, and shirts. Then, I'll need to pack all my comfy clothes for the dreaded 28 hour flights. :(

With that said, I'm searching for pieces that are easy to dress up or dress down (as we'll be at the beach in the day and in town by night), pieces that are universal (i.e. cardigans), and pieces that are lightweight (for both the weather and for packing!).

So, here's a dress that I LOVE! I think it would be great to wear to the beach as a cover up, but would also be great paired up with a thin sweater, metallic sandals and a cute purse to wear into town for dinner.


And for under $30, this is sooo worth it.

Gee, Thanks Uncle Sam!

Most people, for good reason, don't enjoy doing their taxes. I for one, am a big fan.

Using my handy-dandy software, I can usually crank out my return and Tom's in less than a few hours, start to finish. So what does this have to do with weddings, you ask? Two words: the refund.

Because I'm not too interested in actually figuring out my correct withholdings, I usually end up with a fairly sizable refund. And because I don't know how much I owe every year, I just pretend like I don't have any money coming back, which makes it that much sweeter when it does. Last year, my refund came just in time to use during my fabulous trip to Ireland with my younger sister and maid of honor. Our travel recap is here.

This year, my refund came just as I was eyeing plane tickets for our honeymoon. As with every decision for the wedding thus far, the honeymoon choice was fraught with indecision. I asked Tom for a list of places he'd like to visit, and was greeted with this: Australia, Italy, Greece, or Scotland. I flatly told him Australia wasn't an option, as airfare is usually $2,000 a person, and you need to have plenty of time to travel across the globe. Thus began our inquisition into Europe. We entertained two main itineraries: Scotland, London, Paris or Rome, Venice, Florence. I even went so far as to purchase a Best of Italy guidebook.

And then my friend Kayak showed up. (Best airfare search engine EVER!) I wanted to assure myself that I hadn't cut down Tom's idea too quickly, so I did a rough search for airfare to Sydney, Australia. Imagine my surprise when I found that a 7-day trip was cheaper than a 7-day trip to Italy. In that instant, I knew there was no turning back. As a sucker for the unique, I knew that this would be the perfect honeymoon: exotic without being strange, touristy without being too busy, relaxing without having nothing to do, and the best part, fulfilling Tom's dream vacation.

All the pieces began falling into place. My boss said I could take my 10 days of vacation straight, the airfare price kept dropping, our hotel rewards card could get us 4 free nights at a 5 star resort, and the US dollar vs. the Australian dollar kept getting stronger.

So when my refund showed up in my bank account on Friday, and my Yapta account emailed me to let me know that airfare prices had dropped AGAIN, I bought the tickets.

We'll be leaving on Monday, the day after the wedding. I'm sure it will be crazy, but well worth it. We fly from Chicago to San Francisco, then board a 14-hour flight to the land of Oz. On arrival Wednesday morning, we'll find ourselves with this view:

Sydney Opera House @ Sydney Harbor

and this view:

Sydney Harbor Bridge

And we'll see a few of these guys:

Koalas!

We'll spend our time in Sydney visiting all the above, including a trip to a wildlife sanctuary to feed some kangaroos, a day trip to the Blue Mountains, and a trip to Hunter Valley, Australia's wine region. We'll also visit the Sydney Olympic Park (Tom's pick!), Darling Harbour, the Rocks, and Manly Beach.

After a few days, we'll fly to the north coast to the Great Barrier Reef for the rest of the trip. We'll be staying at this hotel:

Yep --- it's built on the water! It's actually a pool, but for some reason, they call them "lagoons." Apparently they want to sound more exotic.

We'll spend a day out on a boat in the Great Barrier Reef snorkeling, possibly scuba diving, and picnicking on a private island. Like this one:

I'm totally hoping to see some turtles and nemo fish. And hoping to not see any jellyfish or sharks. Or maybe to see them, just from afar.

Then, we'll take a hike through the Daintree Rainforest, and view these:

I am so unbelievably excited for this trip, and you can imagine how giddy Tom is! All in all, we'll be spending 9 days in Oz, and another 2 just flying. But with $1,000 airfare and everything else at roughly 60% (because of the exchange rate), it just seemed the perfect time to travel.

While I was totally in love with the thought of honeymooning in Italy (cliche, no?) or London/Paris, this trip just seems so much more fitting. So thanks again, IRS!