Tahiti & Bora Bora

This is my dream honeymoon…”dream”! Never did I foresee this becoming reality! It all happened because of the great savings plan…learned from mom :)

While growing up, my mom created savings accounts for all her kids. Each month, she’d put away a certain amount and when we got old enough to make money, she’d teach us the same. Once I got to grad school, I decided to try a new method, put as much away as possible rather than the minimum. When I hit the jackpot and got a ‘real’ job, I put away half of my paycheck since I knew it was possible to live on bare minimum (learned that while in grad school). I already had savings bonds and CDs, therefore, I thought it was time to begin a wedding savings account. After all, I was getting old enough to consider the possibility of marriage in the future. Funny thing is…I was saving for my dream honeymoon as well (didn’t know that was the groom’s duty).

As newly-weds in Memphis, we joined a Dave Ramsey class at church. We were already putting half of my paycheck away to save up for our dream honeymoon and eventually a car. But, we felt like we could save more…and we did! Thanks to Dave Ramsey (and my mom), this honeymoon was possible after 1.5 years of saving (plus a little of my childhood savings)!!! We shopped around and found with our Costco membership, a FANTASTIC deal to Tahiti & Bora Bora! I frequently watched the travel channel when I was younger (on my parents’ cable) and knew exactly where I wanted to go :) We highly recommend saving (even if it takes several years), to book a trip to Tahiti & Bora Bora! While pictures do not do its justice, it’s a MUST on the list of places to visit before you die!!

As most people know, we were unable to take a ‘typical’ honeymoon after our wedding due to Andrew’s residency. A mini-moon in Nashville was just right! There were no plans, activities scheduled, and so forth. Just complete relaxation, time with each other, and walk around downtown. We stayed 2 nights at a 5-star hotel and I couldn’t have asked for better! I knew we could take the next couple years to save for something like Tahiti…I didn’t expect it to be exactly what I dreamed of though. We originally thought of Hawaii or St. Lucia.

Andrew did an AWESOME job surprising me with Tahiti & Bora Bora! He has been counting down the days and I’ve never seen him so excited about a trip!! NOTE: this is our very 1^st vacation together (not weekend trips, or visiting family)…just us! So yes, we were MORE than ready for this unique, once-in-a-lifetime moment (especially after all the moving stress!)…