To get from Hawaii to Costa Rica, we took a red eye/overnight flight, which saved us the cost of a hotel room for one night.
We stayed at Dreams Las Mareas, which is around an hour and a half drive from the airport. This was our first time at an all-inclusive resort for both my husband and me.
This is such a beautiful country!! We booked an ocean view room, which had a stunning view.
The resort had put a few really cute surprises in our room for our honeymoon! They put a Honeymoon sign on our door, a cute message made of coffee beans on our bed, and also a basket of fruit, bottle of champagne, and a note to wish us a happy honeymoon. They also later dropped off a cupcake to our room.
The next day, we explored the resort, swam in the pool, went to the beach, and got some drinks and snacks at the bar. Later in the evening, there was a show going on near one of the pools, so we watched that for a few minutes. One thing I noticed about both Costa Rica and Hawaii - it gets dark fairly early as compared to back home this time of year!
A romantic breakfast was included as part of our room package! They sent way too much food, so we ended up saving leftovers for breakfast the next day: two plates of pancakes and bacon, two plates of omelets, a plate of fruit, a basket of mixed pastries, two mimosas, and a pot of coffee.
We opened our patio door to sit outside, but then went back in to a mix a couple drinks to bring out with us. After a minute or so, I heard a noise behind me, and there was a monkey sitting on the chair at our table!! The monkeys were my favorite part of this resort. They often climb around the outside of the buildings, visiting balconies and entering rooms if you're not careful (they know how to open patio doors if they're not locked). Once we got the monkey out of our room, they were fun to watch!
Spent some more time at the beach and the pool, and had my first experience at a swim-up bar! The resort looked gorgeous at night, and the grounds were very well cared for.
On what was supposed to be our last full day in Costa Rica, we did an all-day excursion that my husband signed us up for, called the Pure Adrenaline tour. It included zip lining, a rappel line, a rock climbing wall, a Tarzan swing, a hanging bridge, horseback riding, white water tubing, and a buffet lunch.
For dinner that night, we did a private romantic dinner on the beach! Salad, mushroom soup, beef tenderloin entree for me and chicken parmesan entree for my husband, and strawberry cheesecake for dessert.
Afterwards, we went back to our room and sat on the balcony with the bottle of champagne that we got on our first day there, and reminisced about the trip and our entire relationship. It was a beautiful way to spend the last night of our honeymoon. We also joked about extending our trip by a day or two. Turns out, we should have...
We ran into a bunch of flight issues (delays and cancellations for multiple reasons, plus rescheduling issues) trying to leave Costa Rica, so we ended up getting a bonus night in the country! The airport experience was less than ideal because of everything, but we made it work. One of our checked bags also didn't make it back when we finally landed at our final destination, but we had put a GPS tracker in it, so we were able to get the bag back within a couple hours.
Overall, the flight issues weren't a major issue, since we had built a few buffer days into our schedule. I'd much rather the delays occur at the end of the trip instead of the beginning or middle. The rest of the trip was SO worth it, and I'd absolutely recommend both resorts that we stayed at! Both locations were amazing, but my favorite was Costa Rica. My absolute favorite part of the trip was the person I traveled with.
