Remember how I said our next big trip was going to be Ireland?  Well, June just seemed too far away and the Emerald Isle isn’t tropical enough, so we just booked an additional trip to PANAMA in May!  I think it’s necessary for me to do some firsthand research for the honeymoon blog, don’t you?

Bocas Del Toro via Erik Cleves Kristensen

We’re going to fly into Panama City, and then spend four nights in gorgeous Bocas del Toro.  Needless to say, I can’t wait.  Hopefully my tan lasts until our trip to Ireland in June : )

So how did we decide on Panama?  My husband and I first identified our biggest travel priorities.  Mine: beachesbeachesbeaches.  His: the intangible “cool factor.”  What makes the “cool factor” cut?  He didn’t want to go to a generic all-inclusive resort, and I think he just ixnayed all of Mexico on principle (even though he’s only been to Tijuana).  Fine.  But one day we’re going to go somewhere awesome in Mexico and he’s going to realize how much he’s been missing out!

Alright, back to how we chose Panama.  Since we can’t take too much time off of work, we didn’t want to travel TOO far from California, so that cut out Asia, South America, and the Caribbean.  We also didn’t want to go overboard with expenses since we have a European trip coming up, so that excluded Hawaii (since we’d also need to get a rental car there).  And that left us with Central America.  I’d only been to Costa Rica before, so we had lots of other countries to choose from and we narrowed our choices down to three: Belize, Nicaragua, and Panama.

From there I did what most young people do these days: relied on my social network.  In a Facebook status update I asked my friends if they’d rather go to Belize, Nicaragua, or Panama, and why.  Fortunately, my well-traveled friends had lots of opinions!  While all three countries still sounded great, I realized that I was just the most excited about Panama.  Even though it’s the furthest country out of the three, the flight times to Panama City also made the most sense for us and our attempt to take off only two work days.  Also, a friend of mine went to Bocas a few years ago and made it sound in.cred.ible.

I’ll definitely write a post or two about that trip once we get back, so stay tuned!  And if you’ve been to Panama before and have any recommendations, please send them my way.