Hope you’re all enjoying the super sunny weather! It’s not exactly ideal today considering that I’m stuck in the office, but at least we got to enjoy it over the weekend. I spent Friday night at the pub with Ben’s sister (one of my bridesmaids!) and her boyfriend, Saturday in the garden with a book and a BBQ with my family at our house in the evening, and Sunday lunch with all of Ben’s family (including new baby cousin Lydia!) at a local pub then back at his Aunty Sue’s in the garden – we actually ended up having to shelter under various parasols and brollies when it got too warm for us. So British – the weather can never do anything right!
Anyway, back to the post! I’m still on the honeymoon theme here at the blog as we haven’t made any final decisions yet. As I said before, Ben and I initially had quite different ideas about what to do for honeymoon, oddly enough. We actually tend to have very similar thoughts on a lot of other things – the food for the wedding, theming, marquee, location – we agreed on these pretty much straight away (and not because I forced him to, I swear!). But the honeymoon was a different story: I wanted to go exotic; something that was once-in-a-lifetime, far-flung and completely different. Ben wanted to go for something that was more luxury travel in Europe – the kinds of places we know and love, so that we would be pretty much guaranteed something we would enjoy.
We’ve managed to come to a compromise that we’re both definitely very happy about, and though we haven’t booked it yet, we’re about 98% certain what our honeymoon will be. As I’ve already talked about, it’ll most likely be one week in one place, one in another, but I won’t reveal all just yet. For now, I wanted to talk about one of our honeymoon considerations – another place that made it onto our whittled down shortlist, and the reasons why: Aruba.
Aruba is a Caribbean island, 15 miles off the coast of South America – . I’ve visited the Caribbean once (well, kind of twice if you count Jamaica when my mum was pregnant with me!) and loved it. That trip was to Barbados when I was a teenager and I could have happily stayed behind when everyone else left. I loved the weather the most, which is similar to Aruba: year round sunshine and average temperatures of 32 degrees. It also helps that it’s really easily accessible from the UK – KLM (via Amsterdam Schipol – which is my favourite airport in the world, I should write about it sometime!) and Thomson are the two big operators, both with flights from Manchester and London among others.
So how did Aruba manage to make it to our honeymoon shortlist? Here are some reasons, 5 things you can do while on honeymoon there:
1. Yoga
Because I wasn’t going to let a post slide by without mentioning yoga, was I?! I highly doubt that I’ll get Ben doing yoga on honeymoon, but I can still cross my fingers (or my arms and legs – get it?!) or just do it by myself ;D Digging around on the Aruba site, I discovered that they not only offer yoga on the beach as in the photo above, but also private yoga sessions and 3 hour yoga journeys – you load up into a 4×4 Jeep to experience the centre and north side of the island via asana and meditation practice in a totally different landscape to the usual. After doing SUP yoga and realising how amazing an experience that was, I’m 100% up for this! And of course, there’s also SUP yoga in Aruba too – don’t be surprised if I go to Aruba, stay there for longer than expected and turn up back in England with a yoga teacher training certificate as they offer that too (and I’m actually seriously considering it!).
2. Sailing
Whenever we take a holiday by the sea, we tend to hire a boat or take a boat trip of some sort. Our recent trip to Florida including renting a boat to explore the intercoastal waterways and spotting dolphins. With its turquoise waters, Aruba seems to be the ideal place for couple sailing – I’ve even read that you can take a sunset cruise out into the ocean which sounds uh-mazing.
3. Spa Day
Aruba prides itself on being a luxury destination as well as a fun and active one, so the island is packed full of spas, ranging from budget friendly to the height of luxurious living. Ben and I did the whole Turkish massage experience when we went to Turkey a few years ago and we loved it. Seeing photos of people stretched out in front of gorgeous views across the sparkling sea, with the sunshine drifting in, I’m definitely thinking that a spa day would be in order for a honeymoon in Aruba.
4. Beaches
I couldn’t not include the beaches on a list of things to do in Aruba on honeymoon! To be honest, I’d probably spend the vast majority of my time hanging out in the sun on the beach and swimming in the sea. The island has 9 miles of pristine beaches, so you’re bound to find an area that’s as quiet and calm as you want it to be, or an area where they rent out equipment for water sports if lazing about with a book on the sand all day isn’t your thing.
5. History & Culture
Aruba isn’t all beaches and spa days though! It’s got its own amazing history and culture. I’m pretty certain I’d spend at least a day exploring the Arikok National Park in the centre of the island which is home to wildlife, cacti (yes!) and some pretty awe-inspiring rock formations. It’s always been a family fave for us to explore national parks wherever we go, so this would be no exception!
I’ve also noticed that they have an archaeological museum – if you know my obsession with all things ancient, you’ll realise that this is a big yes for me! And considering that there would most likely be some air conditioning inside a museum, I’d imagine Ben would only be too happy to get out of the sun and check out the museum too ;D
Final note: Aruba.com actually have a giveaway on for a 7 night stay on the island for two people, staying at the Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort – make sure to enter here if you like the sound of that (I do!).
So what do you think about Aruba? Have you learned something new about it and would you consider it for honeymoon?
Images licensed by the Aruba Tourism Authority, aruba.com
This is a sponsored post.
