Brian and I are officially back in the office! Our trip to Aruba was AMAZING! It was so much better than I could have expected! This was our first time traveling out of the United States and we didn’t really know what to expect! I don’t think either one of us expected to have as much fun as we did in Aruba! We tried lots of new foods, saw baby sea turtle nest on the beach and unplugged from social media!

After a brief delay in Newark, we were on the plane headed to our destination! The first thing that I noticed when we landed at Queen Beatrix International Airport was that it was extremely hot! With our flight being delayed, I was a little worried that our prescheduled transportation wouldn’t be waiting for us. But as we approached the airport exit, I saw that they were there waiting for us! Our driver was hilarious! He even gave us a little bit of a tour and history about Aruba on the way to our hotel!

When it comes to traveling, I like to do a lot of research! During some of my research, I learned that there are 3 main hotel areas! There’s Oranjestad (downtown), the low rise area closer to Eagle Beach and the high rise area of Palm Beach! We chose the Holiday Inn Resort on Palm Beach. We loved the Palm Beach area! It was quiet enough to lounge at the beach during the day and busy enough to feel like you were part of the action at night! There were lots of restaurants within walking distance and taxis were always available just outside of the hotel! The room was spacious and the staff was very friendly! After traveling all day, we were hungry and tired! We grabbed a pizza at Casa Tua and called it a night!

The next morning, we grabbed breakfast at Diana’s Pancakes and hopped a bus over to Eagle Beach! We had heard really great things about Eagle Beach. It was pretty busy when we arrived, but we met some really cool guys who found us chairs and shade! A little while later, we found an open palapa and set up camp for a few hours! We actually stayed there a lot longer than we expected! Sitting beside the ocean is so relaxing! Plus, we found a cute little hut that had happy hour drinks a few feet from our palapa! Once back at our hotel, it was time to shower and get ready for our photo shoot! Marta came over to do my makeup and then we headed downstairs to meet Demian and Mary Ann! We had so much fun adventuring to the north part of the island for photos! One of the things that I find beautiful about Aruba is that it’s a desert island! On one side you have these dreamy beaches that are straight out of a magazine and on the other side, you have a desert with cactus and rocks! It’s beyond amazing!

The next day was our UTV tour with De Palm! We saw the shortest rain shower ever! It rained for like 2 minutes and quit! We’re so glad that we did this one! We had so much fun driving and riding through city streets and Arikok National Park! We visited some really neat spots along the way. This was definitely one of the highlights of our trip!

Thursday was a chill day for us! We adventured into downtown. Did a little shopping at Zara and caught a boat out to Flamingo Island! The flamingos were so pretty and fun! Brian and I got a couples massage on the island. It was so relaxing! The waves hitting the rocks and the breeze! That night we grabbed dinner at Madame Janette’s. This was definitely one of the more “romantic” places that we ate!

Everyone told us that snorkeling was a must while in Aruba! On Friday, we headed out to sea on a really cool catamaran! This was our first time snorkeling! I was so nervous. Especially since I don’t know if I can actually swim or not! I learned to swim while in college, but I haven’t swim since then! So I just tell myself that I can’t swim! Thankfully, there were life jackets available! Seeing all of the fish and coral underwater was so cool! It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen! I can totally see why everyone recommends snorkeling!

Saturday was another chill day for us! We grabbed smoothies and bowls at Eduardo’s Beach Shack! Then had lunch near our hotel! The rest of the day was spent packing and getting ready for our journey home!

Aruba is such an amazing place! We can’t wait until our next visit to what everyone calls One Happy Island! I can definitely see why it has that name!