After three nights in tropical mountain paradise, we were certainly sad to leave Montpelier. The happy news, though? Our honeymoon wasn’t over! After a short trip down the mountain and around the island, we arrived at Nisbet Plantation Beach Club. Once we had decided on traveling to Nevis, John began to explore places to stay, and Nisbet was an immediate and obvious choice. They’ve received the AAA Four Diamond Award for the last 7 years, they were Conde Nast Traveler’s #1 Resort in the Caribbean for the last 6 years, and #1 in the Caribbean according to Travel + Leisure for the last two years. They also have fabulous reviews on Trip Advisor. (John loves Trip Advisor, so this meant a lot to him!) Aside from all the awards, we liked that Nisbet, which is directly on the beach (in fact, the Caribbean’s only historic plantation inn on the beach), would be a nice foil to the mountains of Montpelier. When we arrived at reception we were given our choice of their signature welcome drinks; we chose the Palm Frond, which was delicious and pineapple-y despite its alarming color. We walked down the Avenue of Palms to our cottage, which, like the one we stayed in at Montpelier, was a duplex. (We were in a deluxe garden suite.) All of Nisbet’s buildings are a buttery yellow color, giving the whole resort a warm and friendly feeling. There are about 15 cottages scattered across Nisbet’s property, and each is surrounded by almost a quarter acre of land, which keeps things feeling private. Compared to Montpelier, the decor was definitely more Caribbean in feel, but elegant Caribbean. Nisbet bills itself as “not ultra fancy and opulent, just private, romantic, and personal,” and John and I definitely found that to be an accurate

Warning: This post is very long, but I wanted to provide a good amount of detail for those thinking of traveling to Nevis! Enjoy! :) From this Marvelous Money post, you know that John and I highly prioritize travel and new experiences when thinking about how we’ll spend our money. It probably comes as no surprise, then, that we were very excited about our honeymoon! John is an excellent trip planner; he really enjoys digging into new places, and often serves as an informal travel agent for our friends and family. For our first trip as a married couple he took the lead as usual, but we discussed many options together. After we crossed off France and Italy (flights were too expensive combined with a bad exchange rate), he spent weeks considering possibilities in the Caribbean. In no particular order, our priorities were: unspoiled physical beauty; safety; amazing hotels; both beaches and rainforest; relaxed atmosphere but things to do; and vibrant native instead of tourist culture. St. Lucia, the US and British Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico were in the running, but Nevis eventually won out. (With no small thanks to our friends Meredith and Michael, whose glowing review of the island definitely influenced our decision!) I wasn’t immediately onboard — after all, John was suggesting a destination that neither of us could pronounce (for the record: KNEE-viss), that no one we talked to had ever heard of, and that frankly I thought sounded a bit like a skin condition. Despite this somewhat inauspicious beginning, the end result was clear: Best. Decision. Ever. Because we took the week before our wedding off (highly recommended!!), neither of us had the vacation time to take the following week off, as well. So, we took a “minimoon” through Virginia on the Sunday, Monday,

Pinch me! We are leaving for the island of Nevis in less than two weeks!! With all of our house craziness, we haven’t been focusing on our upcoming trip too much, which is a shame, because it’s definitely deserving of some hype. It’s not too often that we get to go to a Caribbean paradise for a week of honeymoon relaxation! In the last few days we have gotten around to making final reservations and prepping our packing lists, so I thought it would be fun to share a few of my must-takes here! A. Jack Rogers Navajo sandals in platinum. Pretty much the only shoes I wear in the summer. Casual enough for the beach and stylish enough for dinner. B. Boscia B.B. Cream. Just enough for beach days. I use this every day and really like it. C. Josie Maran Argan Daily Moisturizer SPF 40. Joanna wrote about this sunscreen here and I’m intrigued. We haven’t purchased any sunscreen yet this year, and I’m considering picking this up. D. Striped maxi dress. $15 – can’t beat it! I like that it’s not too precious to wear to the beach but is easy and acceptable to throw on for an inside dinner. A note: unlike the photo on the website, mine is wayyyy long, so I’m getting it hemmed! E. Favorite sunglasses. F. Monogram tote. I’ll just be bringing a tote I already own for the beach, but this one is so cute! And reasonably priced. G. Bathing suits! I love this emerald one I picked up from Target last year (I wrote about it here!) H. Cameras. In addition to our iPhones, we’ll be bringing our digital camera and our film camera. (Don’t worry, we won’t be lugging all three around all the time!) The digital is great