Satisfying Our Wanderlust: Our Bhutan Replacement Trip is Booked!

As some of you may remember, we had booked our dream trip to Bhutan back in early 2011, about 2 weeks before we found out we were pregnant.  Unfortunately, the altitude of Bhutan is such that they do not want pregnant women visiting there, so when the pregnancy test came back positive, the Bhutan trip went bye-bye.  Since that was supposed to be our last big ‘hurrah’ before we got pregnant, we suddenly saw our visions of child-free travel slipping away.

We continued to go about our lives, packing up from Manila and starting home leave in the States.  The thing we noticed though is that despite all the domestic travel, the thought of not having an international trip on the calendar to look forward to left us feeling a bit glum.  So we started talking about it one night, playing with the idea of still doing an all-out Babymoon trip for just the two of us, despite the fact that we would have a baby by that point.  The more we talked about it, the more excited we got.

The thing is, since Bhutan was larger-than-life in our minds, this replacement trip had to match it in worthiness.  There are very few places on earth that hold that same kind of awe for us, but it just so happened that one of them would be quite near to us in Peru.  And what mind-blowing, once-in-a-lifetime location would that be, you ask?

Well, none other than the Galapagos Islands!

Named as the first World Heritage Site back in 1978, these beautiful islands are a photographer’s paradise with hundreds of exotic species found nowhere else on earth.  The strange thing is, because of the absence of natural predators, the animals are fearless; allowing you to get right up close and personal with them.  While neither of us know much about wildlife, it seems like the perfect way to immerse ourselves in something new and different!

Best of all, we get to balance all our outdoorsy time with pampering on the luxury cruise ship that we’ll be staying on.  The Celebrity Xpedition is one of a handful of ships that have permission to bring in cruisers, with only 100 people aboard each ship.  A typical day includes a morning and afternoon outing with a naturalist (2 different stops each day) and an evening briefing on what we’ll see the next day.  It includes all the typical amenities of a cruise ship, just with a much smaller number of guests.

We booked it yesterday and have been absolutely giddy ever since.  Never mind that it’s not until the end of 2012 or that we’re not quite sure who’s going to watch our baby…. I trust that it’ll all come together.  The cool thing is, now we have another fun place to add to our research list.  And with a year to study up, I’m pretty sure we’ll be quite knowledgeable by the time we go (or at least Nick will!)