Shannon & Corey

Fabulous would be the one word that exactly describes our honeymoon.

My husband married the best wife (Yes, I'm talking about myself) ever on November 3, 2012. We were married in the beautiful sanctuary at Royal Lane Baptist Church in Dallas Texas, followed by a stunning reception at Nylo Hotel in Las Colinas.

Now our wedding day felt perfect but it did suffer a few set backs, none that we couldn’t overcome. For instance, there was the lost wristlet corsages for our mothers (I saw them at the church but they disappeared).

Or like the staff at the hotel leaving the largest layer of our delicious raspberry liqueur cake on a tray and never serving it. But hey, we made it through!

So after a year of planning and paying for our special day, we were anxiously awaiting some fun in the sun. We hadn’t traveled further than downtown Dallas the whole year and so the U.S. Virgin Islands was the break we needed. We chose the U.S. Virgin Islands because we love the Caribbean waters, love Caribbean cuisine, and love Caribbean rum!

As we avoided sleep due to pure excitement, we merely had time to get our son settled and pack before our Monday, November 5, redeye flight to Miami headed out. Once arriving in Miami, our layover was short enough that we didn’t even complain. Pure excitement and adrenaline kept us sane. Around 11:30 AM, American Airlines announced boarding for St. Thomas. Oh the joy that consumed my body.

Finally we touched down on what seemed like a patch of grass surrounding the ocean. As I looked out at the mountains, I saw all these homes nestled throughout and all the way to the top. It was fascinating! Our honeymoon was now officially underway.

We headed into this taxi shuttle (or rather a truck, with its truck bed modified to add rows of seats). As we traveled through Charlotte Amalie, we passed Tent City (the outdoor vendor market), Pueblos (a great spot to buy Cruzan rum and many other liquors), and of course, the marina area.

We headed straight for our hotel, Frenchmen’s Reef and Morningstar Resort. This hotel was an easy pick. My husband’s co-worker is from the Virgin Islands and offered us many traveling tips, including this resort as the most bang for our buck.

Quickly we learned that St. Thomas is beautiful and everyone enjoys it way too much. Simply no one rushes to do anything! Now we weren’t rushing either, so it didn’t bother us, but the staff clearly doesn’t move swiftly. So we got checked into our hotel and we were ready to get to it.

Our hotel was fab, our room was literally steps from the sand, sea, and beach bar. I must mention unlimited access to amenities which included free water activities for the family. Anyone could be easily captured by the environment that surrounded us.

Meanwhile, the hotel offered a private dock. For $7, you could take a 15-minute water ride to the heart of town and skip the taxi. The boat ride on the water seemed less intimidating than driving on the left. Yikes! At any rate, we loved this feature to sail to the markets for local shopping.

Our honeymoon package was not all-inclusive, but that was our choice. We preferred to try the local cuisine and it was a great decision. From stewed chicken to chorizo and salmon with a slight cream sauce over rice, we savored every dining experience. Now here’s where our package gets interesting. It included the hotel’s SIGNATURE experience. And it was just that! First, it was an experience to get the hotel to honor it, as it was not sent over from FunJet properly. However, once that was situated it was great! Our experience included a couples massage, Sail and Snorkel, and dinner at the hotel’s premier restaurant Havana Blue.

Note to self: Should one be concerned when another woman can touch your husband and in only three minutes he has passed out into a deep sleep? This is what our massage session did to my hubby. He drifted right into heaven!

Second note to self: Should one be concerned if there is a crack in their snorkel mask? Let’s see, for a first-time snorkeler, that was scary business. After seeing a stingray and a turtle and then having my mask fill up with a water fog, I was ready to swim back to the boat and start my "painkiller." Yes, a rum-filled painkiller was all I needed to get over how poorly I snorkeled. My husband is like a fish. He was everywhere, including swimming with the turtles in Turtles Cove and probably the last person back on our Catamaran.

Last note to self: Should one be concerned when we return from a four-hour snorkel cruise and notices they have no water to shower in their room? Now this was an unexpected turn of events considering we were beyond starving, buzzing like bees and almost as dry as raisins. So off I went to the front desk to request maintenance help. As my husband and I continued to drink libations, we noticed an hour had passed, still no water and our reservation time was soon approaching. So I called again, this time more animated. The hotel came up with a remedy and this time it was resolved. As an apology, the staff offered us dinner at the Terrace restaurant and we moved our reservation back to the next day.

On day four of our honeymoon, we took a taxi to Red Hook and boarded the public ferry to St. John. How cool is it to pay $6 each way and visit another exotic island in the Virgin Islands?

St. Johns is less hustle and bustle but still beautiful, culture-rich, and fun! We found a little spot to have drinks, and then took a taxi to Trunk Bay. Now this required that we go up on steep hilly roads in the mountains and then back down. This journey was about 20 minutes but offered you quite the sight. As we made it down to Trunk Bay, we quickly realized we had now been granted the privilege of our own private beach. Or at least that’s what I told myself! This was a secluded beach with great snorkel areas for my MER-MAN, quiet enough for me to finish reading book two of “Fifty Shades” and sexy enough to probably canoodle with your spouse without anyone caring.

There were about 30 people scattered along side the beach, some were families, some couples, and some gypsies. Either way each had their own spot and we all blended well like the castaways from Gilligan’s Island. We returned back to the heart of St. John and headed back on our ferry to enjoy our last evening in USVI.

Later that evening we enjoyed true Caribbean cuisine at Havana Blue and it was worth every penny. We enjoyed the soothing ocean sounds with our cocktails as the stars twinkled and the Disney ship turned on the red party lights and headed to Disney Island.

As we woke in the morning, reality set in that our five-day honeymoon was soon to end. We had the right attitude though; Eat, pack, and buy cheap duty free liquor before heading to the airport. Every dollar we spent on our trip came from the gifts we received through Traveler's Joy. It was a true blessing. Our trip totaled $2,700 for airfare, hotel, and roundtrip transfer. It was totally worth it!

As we arrived back in Dallas sun kissed and refreshed, we both agreed we would return to the islands again. Until then, we welcomed our new journey as husband and wife with our son Dylan and life was complete!