Eight Days 'til Our Honeymoon

So excited we finally get to use these cute luggage tags!

We got an e mail with "upcoming Hawaiian vacation" in the subject line and it dawned on me.  Our honeymoon is next week!  We didn't jet off from our wedding and straight to the honeymoon mostly because the resort was booked until October but I'm actually glad it worked out that way.  We had plenty of time [3 months] to unwind and settle in after the wedding and by stretching out the festivities it gave us something else to look forward to even after all of the wedding day hoopla.

Hawaii was not our first choice.  At the beginning of the year we had our heart set on Europe.  Greece in particular.  But as we started the house hunting and wedding planning process the enormity of what an expensive year this was going to be hit us and we decided that it would be best to scale it back.  We have to save Europe for a year that we don't buy a new house and pay for a wedding.  Neither one of us has ever been to Hawaii and by going there instead we were able to keep costs low.  So low in fact that the whole trip is basically free!  We'll be staying at Hilton Grand Vacation Suites at Hilton Hawaiian Village right on Waikiki Beach in Oahu.  With our HGVC timeshare there was plenty of points to cover the hotel.  Mj had enough points earned from his USAA Credit Card to pay for both of our airline tickets.  We even have $150 in discover gift cards as spending money that I earned using my Discover credit card.  Score! We have a little bit of left over wedding cash but we will definitely need to bring more spending money then that.  And that's where things get difficult for me.  I am the type that will go on vacation and not spend a dime more then necessary while I am there.  I am already so overwhelmed by the expense of just getting to the darn place so I feel like I can't.  No souveniers no extras.  Spend as little money as possible.  But I can't do that this time.  Spa treatments will run about $300 and the underwater Atlantis submarine tour is $89.   We will be eating out.  This is our honeymoon and it only happens once so I'm going to really try to let go of that hang up.  The trip was basically free so don't think about the money and just enjoy it already!!  I'm also going to try not to worry about all of the excess delicious food I'll undoubtedly be pigging out on and how many LB's I'll gain.

Atlantis underwater submarine tour [Pic Source]. 

I'll be getting my mani/pedi this weekend.  I didn't need to buy much to prepare for the trip.  My bikini's get so little use that they last long time and I bought a few things during the summer that I've been saving for the trip.   My main concern was making sure I had some non greasy high SPF sunblock that I would actually feel comfortable putting on my face.  I got Aveeno which is a bit pricey just for my face and I will save the gunky Banana Boat stuff or whatever it is we have for the rest of my body.  The worst thing for me will be packing because I am such an anxious packer.  I am so terrified of not having what I need on my trip to the point where I triple check everything and agonize over every single thing I put into my suitcase.  The only thing that alleviates my stress at all is packing early so that's exactly what I'll do.

Next Saturday we'll be on a plane to paradise.  It's not the one way ticket I want but we'll have eight whole days of rest, relaxation and romance to ourselves.   There will be white sand between my toes and a margarita or two or three in my hands.  We actually have a 2 bedroom suite because that's all they had available but you know we didn't invite anyone else to come along.  This trip is exclusive.  It's not a group type of party and you can bet there will be a "do not disturb" sign hanging on our doorknob.