Thanks and Honeymoon!

First off I want to thank everyone for helping me and Liz celebrate our marriage.

I especially want to thank David Berman, my best man, who gave a wonderful toast and was all around the bestest best man I could have ever hoped for. Like I said at the rehearsal dinner… having David around just makes me happy.

I also want to extend another special thanks to Keith Barden, one of my groomsmen, for opening his home to Jesse Blanco, another one of my groomsmen. I also want to thank Kieth for the excellent Manhattan he brought me. Thanks to Shayan Elahi for making it, despite just moving back to Orlando and the most hellish week one could imagine at his new job. Thanks to Jesse Dean for providing some comic relief and for finding and taking some medicine. And finally, I want to thank Victoria Fernandez for walking up to me at the perfect moment before the wedding to calm my nerves. Vic, you have no idea how much seeing you at that precise moment helped me out.

And thanks to everyone else that helped me and Liz make the day special. You know who you are.

I also want to thank everyone that gave us the wonderful honeymoon that I’m about to detail below. For those that don’t know, Liz and I opted for a non-traditional wedding gift registry. Instead of people buying us pots and pans, dishes and cutlery, etc… we signed up with TheBigDay.com where people could give us a honeymoon. You see… we’ve been living together for a while now… and we’ve even owned a house together… so the idea of getting more stuff wasn’t all that appealing. A nice honeymoon, however, was perfect for us.

We knew one thing about our honeymoon destination. It had to be some place that was so far away that we could not afford to go otherwise. That meant Asia or the South Pacific. We had been to Thailand and Cambodia together in 2003. We wanted a different experience so we looked South. Australia was… well… Australia so we looked East. New Zealand! But we wanted to lose the jet lag the same way I had in Thailand, by spending a few days near the beach on an island. That led us to various South Pacific destinations… and we made a final decision on the Cook Islands. So the Cook Islands and New Zealand here we come!

3/10/06 – Orlando to Los Angeles for the 13 Layover of Doom. We’re getting a room at the Sheraton… and Jesse Blanco will join us at some point for lunch and to hang out.
3/10/06 – Los Angeles to Rarotonga to Aitutaki. Ah Paradise
3/14/06 – Aitutaki to Rarotonga. One more day in Paradise
3/15/06 – Rarotonga to Auckland, NZ. We lose a day crossing the dateline… so it’s really 3/16/06 now.
3/16/06 – Auckland to Waiheke Island. One more day on an island to ease our way for the adventure that awaits.
3/17/06 – Waiheke Island to Auckland. Hanging out in the “big city” for a couple of days. Pick up supplies. Get drunk. 😉
3/19/06 – Auckland to Rotorua. Maori Culture, Hot Springs and Zorbing! Hells Yeah!
3/21/06 – Rotorua to Blenheim. Winery Bike Tour
3/22/06 – Blenheim to Motueka. Abel Tasman Kayaking.
3/24/06 – Motueka to Queenstown. Milford Sound. Birthplace of Bungie Jumping. 🙂
3/26/06 – Queenstown to Christchurch. Botanical Gardens. Rest & Relax.
3/27/06 – Christchurch to Los Angeles… and a dreaded 9 hour layover. Crossing the dateline means we arrive on the same day.
3/27/06 – Los Angeles to Orlando. We actually arrive on 3/28 at 6 AM.

And that’s it folks. Thank you all for helping us make it happen. Best wedding gift ever! 🙂
Love,
–sam (and Liz too)