Searching for destinations

[Tav]

Hi All, I'm at an impass trying to figure out where to go for our honeymoon, and could use some advice from people that may have considered or went to great places.

 

Wedding date: June 2008

Honeymoon date: first week of August 2008

Budget: $6-8k

time: 10 days (fri-sun) roughly

 

First, my fiance and I have travelled extensively so would prefer something "really exotic", but want to be at least somewhat high-end since this is our honeymoon (we often stay at hostel and B&Bs to save cash, but prefer not to for our honeymoon). We've gone to Southern Africa, Thailand, Japan, and Costa Rica together. Both of us have travelled fairly extensively by ourselves.

 

Because our time is fairly short, it is August (peak), we're looking to spend at least 2-3 days vegging on a beach, and then maybe the rest of the time running around and "seeing stuff". So I've given some thought to:

 

- Hawaii/other places in the US - not exotic enough, and we go to Hawaii every year or so for a long weekend.

 

- Europe: Croatia seems high on my list, but not sure if August will be too hot,a nd since it is peak, will it be a total cluster. I know to avoid Europe during August due to things being closed, and it being really high-peak season. A thought was to spend 4-5 days in Croatia, and maybe a few days in another country nearby... maybe even Moscow or St Petersburg or Prague.

 

- South America: Argentina was a thought, since my fiance lived there as an exchange student. We're considering doing 3 weeks in South America though, so I don't want to overlap. If we opted for Brazil, she'd be disappointed we didn't make it to Argentina.

 

- Centernal America/Carribean: hot, humid and approaching hurricane season. I've been there a number of times, so would prefer someplace more exotic.

 

- Asia: a tad far, and not enough time. We want to do 2-3 weeks in China sometime. India is 2-3 weeks (plus I'm indian so I'd want to go for longer). Vietnam is an option, and would be cool to do 2-3 days in HK or singapore then a week in Vietnam. We really liked Thailand, and Vietnam is high on our list. I'm not sure on how "high end" it will be though.... going potty in a hole is probably roughing it too much for our honeymoon.

 

- Australia/NZ: my company is australian, I might be able to actually wrangle a free flight, and turn the HM into 16 days by working a week. I've been there before, though I'd love to go back. NZ is not beachy at all, and driving around in an RV doesn't seem like much of a honeymoon (though would be fun).

 

- South Pacific: Maldives, I've always wanted to go to, Sechelle and Mauritis all are LONG plane rides and are rediculasly priced to go, in the $2500+ per person range. Cook islands are a tad more reasonable, but still pretty crazy. Tahiti is like $1300 for a ticket and an 8 hour flight out of LAX.

 

 

So really in my mind my main options are Australia if I could do some sort of work trip too, eastern-south pacific, Eastern SP (Tahiti), Vietnam, or Croatia.

 

Tahiti seems the best option for the short trip, meets all of our requirements except that it is not THAT exotic, and I may get really bored unless we have some active stuff to do. Although in August they say it is perfect weather (68-82 with no humidity). It may also work to visit another area nearby for 2-3 days like Fiji or whatever. Do you guys think a package would be best, or book the stuff separately? Usually I book things separately since you have a lot more flexibility with hotels, and it is almost always cheaper for large trips.

 

Anyone have any ideas?