This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Groupon Getaways for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.
The other day I sat down at my computer, bride magazines in my lap, a full cup of coffee in hand and I was determined to start planning a wedding.
It all started off pretty good. For the first five minutes or so I was super focused. And then like a child distracted by a shiny light I happened to glance at a photo on my desk from the time Chris and I were in Paris like 100 years ago and I suddenly got the urge to take a trip somewhere. We haven’t gone on a vacation, just the two of us, in forever I realized. I feel like everyone says travel when you’re young and not tied down, well we’re both of those things right now so why not?
This photo is slightly blurry because it was taken in the 80s. But look at little baby Chris. All clean shaven and everything.
I started daydreaming about where we should go. Maybe back to Europe? Or to an island somewhere? Pretty much anywhere but dreary Chicago sounded good to me.
I started casually looking at trip prices online. We’ve had some friends book vacations through Groupon Getaways and they had a great experience so I decided to start searching there. I clicked on the Europe, Asia and Africa tab first and let my little travel-dreaming heart go nuts. These were the first packages that caught my eye:
A ten day trip to Greece- Greece! I have heard nothing but great things about this place and have always wanted to go there.
Then there was the ten day safari in Africa. Um, can you just imagine for a second how awesome that would be? I know I’m sounding a little outlandish with these destinations, but these are actual affordable packages on Groupon Getaways. I was shocked, as well.
Or an eight day getaway to London and Dublin. Castles and pubs? Yes please. Or perhaps a trip back to Venice to cruise the canals? I could definitely wrap my head around that.
And of course there were a bunch of amazing island vacations that were super tempting as well, but I’m not in swimsuit shape right now so I’d prefer to keep my pants on.
Chris is a bit more “realistic” than I am, so I figured before I tell him we need to jet off to Europe for a few weeks because I need a vacation I should suggest a few closer vacation spots, as well. So I clicked on the Midwest tab on Groupon and picked out some great spa resorts in Wisconsin, a dog friendly cabin in Michigan and a cool hotel in Nashville. Regardless of where we go, a vacation is a vacation, you know? I’ll enjoy myself anywhere. There were so many choices within driving distance to where we live so they all seemed very accessible.
And so within the next day or two, I am going to kindly suggest to Chris that we plan this vacation of ours and high tale it out of a Chicago for a week or two. I’ve got the travel bug and it’s not going away. What do you think? Which vacation would you choose for your #MyGrouponGetaway?
And more importantly what did we learn from this? Planning a vacation is way more fun than planning a wedding.
Planning a vacation is world's more fun than planning a wedding. Therefore, I'm sure you've considered eloping and just taking a really killer vacation. Weddings mean nothing to me. Marriage, on the other hand, is really important. p.s. I vote Europe.
I like this DeNae chick. while I'm super excited for my wedding coming up, I'm also excited to have other things to talk about besides my wedding. Elopement sounds glorious.
Congrats on your engagement and upcoming wedding. I am so glad I got married before people went totally freaking off the wall about weddings. I was 20 when I got married and didn't give one single hoot. I told my bridesmaids to find a black dress in their closet and wear it. It was a nice little wedding and we're in the middle of a nice, little marriage. Well, really, sometimes it's rotten and other times it's glory. That's marriage. 🙂
2 words for you: Destination Wedding. Kill 2 birds with one stone. We got married in Mexico….over 60 friends/family came with us. It was the best time ever!
I've never heard of Groupon Getaway before. I might need to look into that for my next vacation. I'm a cruiser, myself, and I'm going to Grand Cayman and Castaway Cay in October. Hello, Glorious Caribbean Sun!
Tay as soon as you decide on a theme/date you might get more into it, don't worry, it took us a few months to get into the planning aswell, but once it started I had a board for everything on pinterest!
But I couldn't agree more with LC, destination wedding! It gives you a reason to go away to check the venue options first hand (Can you say mini Vacay!!!) and then you get to go back for your big day, it's awesome! We tied the knot on the beach approximately 700km away from home, also with about 70 friends and family, it was the best wedding weekend ever!! 😀
http://www.ourflavourfullife.blogspot.com
The Groupon Getaways are such a tease – great prices and I want to take them all! Greece and Ireland are top picks for me, too.
I LOVE this post. You guys are babies!!! XX Kat
First off, you two are precious. Second off, I saw a 10 day vacay to Antigua on groupon for $800 the other day and nearly died.
cominguprosestheblog.com
well, i'm so tired of all this cold crappy weather, so i'd choose somewhere tropical! lounging on the beach, drinking mai tai's or margaritas (bc those are my favorite) and drifting off to sleep to the sounds of ocean waves. ok, now i'm craving a vacation getaway!
You're dead right. And I live in Ireland and I STILL have the travel bug. I'm constantly trolling Groupon Getaways, and all of the deals are amazing. But I just can't fit it in the schedule sometimes! So tired of the cold! Give me a plane and a beach somewhere! haha <3 Thanks for justifying my cravings 😉
My boyfriend and I spent 3 weeks in South Africa and it was amazing. We did the safari thing, went to the wine country, did everything in Cape Town. We compare every vacation now to it. Nothing will ever top it!
Dublin and London 🙂 🙂
Here's the thing about weddings. When you're planning a wedding, you also get to plan a built in vacation! (honeymoon). For the past few months I've been way more focused on planning the honeymoon than the wedding lol. We are going to Ireland! Starting in Dublin and taking a road trip around the coast.
You should totally use this to plan your Honeymoon!! Groupon Getaways is my downfall. I am on there ALL THE TIME trying to plan vacations, it's a sickness. I want to go everywhere and right now.
I definitely would much rather plan a vacation than a wedding, vacations are so much less stressful!
I don't remember planning my wedding in fact I think my mum did most of the planning
I have barely started wedding planning, but I can already tell you that planning a vacation is 100x easier and more fun. If I were planning one, I'd be headed to somewhere with a beach. ANYWHERE with a beach.
acupoftay.com
I had fun planning our wedding (I focused on the signature cocktails and the karaoke performance and the rest fell into place), but I also have fun planning vacations. I would totally go to somewhere gorgeous and beachy. Our southern winter has not been as bad as that of more northern climes, but any time it goes below 50, we get cold (& I'm used to Western & mid-western winters. Or I used to be used to them).
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Jen – Pierced Wonderings
Take the one close by and then GRAB UP that Greece vacay for the honeymoon ha!
I feel like a total creeper since I'm commenting on two of your posts in one day, but oh well … I've been trying to catch up on some of my blog reading today and this is the result.
My husband and I took a late honeymoon/one year wedding anniversary trip to NYC and a few places in Europe (Paris was one of them!) last November, and we used Groupon Getaways for the European portion. We were kind of nervous about it, but the company doing the actual tour had (mostly) great online reviews so we decided to take the risk and buy the Groupon deal. It was an amazing vacation, and even though it wasn't cheap, we definitely saved a lot of money by going through Groupon. We're now obsessed with checking out the new deals and are currently trying to decide where we want to go on our next trip.
Oh, and don't worry … We also had a lot more fun planning that trip than we did planning our wedding!