So, I’m on vacation this week with some girlfriends from college. I have to say – I’m staying at quite an amazing resort. As I type this, I’m sitting on my screened in private balcony sipping a colorful, fruity drink (complete with a aqua polka dot umbrella) overlooking the seashell filled, white sand, private beach watching my friends toast their skin on their pink beach towels. Behind me, inside, the two bedroom, two bathroom villa is decorated in plush oversized furniture in soft yellows, blues, greens, and corals and adorned in white bead-board furniture and cabinets with soft caramel granite – defiantly something that looks like it jumped off the page of a much coveted Pottery Barn catalog. It’s all just so luxuriously relaxing - why can’t my apartment look like this!!!

 I can’t help but wonder about where I’ll go next year, then the next, and better yet, where I’ll end up for my honeymoon. Your honeymoon is the most special vacation that you will ever take – how do you possibly begin to narrow down what’s the perfect place for you and your FH? When we picked The Pink Shell, we were taking a big risk because we’d never been here or to Fort Myers Island at all. Many times, pictures on the internet are a total scam and just don’t give you an accurate depiction on what you will really be walking into. I didn’t want to just give away my pain-stakingly saved money to take this much needed vacation; I would have been so unraveled if I had walked into a dive rather than a dream. How much more so will I be if that were to happen on the most exceptional trip of my life?

While the internet can leave you completely disenchanted, it can also help you plan your trip with ease and simplicity. There are so many resources for brides now on the internet to help you narrow down where you want to go. What helped us most on this trip was reading the reviews for this hotel on www.tripadvisor.com. It helped us narrow down where we wanted to go and where to stay based on several criteria. We wanted something warm but in the US, a quiet spot  without  a lot of tourism, something clean and modern, friendly, helpful  staff (always ask the locals where to go and where to eat!), but that was affordable. There were several locations in this area that were suggested: Fort Myers Island, Naples, and Sanibel Island. We narrowed it down to the Pink Shell on Fort Myers Island simply because everything that I just mentioned we wanted was what they offered. Now, the real test, was the resort really everything they advertised it to be? Trip advisor gives you actual reviews from guests that have stayed here and all the stories were the same – A++ service and accommodations all the way. The only negative was that the spa was a bit outdated but, you know, we weren’t looking for that and it wasn’t important to us at all.

So, in short, brides, perfect honeymoons don’t just happen – they take a lot of thought, effort, and planning.  Make sure that for your special trip, know exactly what you are looking for, pay attention to details, do your research, don’t depend on just the pictures on the internet, and read lots of reviews to see what people are saying about their stays. Happy Honeymooning! ~ Miss K

Name (required)

E-mail (required)

URI

Your Comment

Security Code: