As you probably know by now, I recently went to Aruba on a surprise vacation with my husband. I’ve been asked about the details of this surprise, mainly did I really not know? How did I know what to pack? When did I find out? Before we get into the amazing scenery and fantastic restaurants in Aruba, I will answer those questions.

Alex started planning this surprise trip about eight months ago. I knew we were going on a trip and was told to request the days off from my job, but I had absolutely no idea where we were going. Throughout the last eight months, Alex has occasionally given me a clue as to our surprise trip destination, but I honestly had no idea what to expect. Sometimes the clues came months apart and if I had a guess about where we were going, I was usually thrown off my path by the next clue. For curious minds, here are the clues Alex gave me:

I really don’t remember the “someone” referred to in clue #1. Apparently a man on the plane mentioned Aruba, but I clearly wasn’t listening. So no luck with that one. #3 was a tough clue because, living in Florida, pretty much everything is north or south of us. I was really thrown off by that one. When I got clue #4, my first guess was Aruba, but then I immediately proceeded to guess about 25 other places and quickly forgot that I even thought of Aruba. #7-9 REALLY threw me off. Based on the weather referred to in the clues, I guessed that we must be going somewhere out west, maybe California or even Mexico. Obviously I needed to brush up on my Aruba knowledge. I had no idea the weather was so perfect!

I packed the Friday night before we left based on Alex’s guidance and believe me, I wasn’t the easiest person to deal with. I’m not a heavy packer, but I like looking nice so I usually have all of my outfits picked out before a trip. Not knowing where we were going or what we were doing was somewhat torturous and certainly created some anxiety about what I should be bringing. However, I put all of that aside because my sweet husband was doing the absolutely nicest thing in the world by planning this entire trip for us!

I first found out we were flying to Orlando when we got to the airport. I found out that we were flying to Aruba at the hotel in Orlando the morning of our flight to Aruba. To say I was excited would be a huge understatement. A lot of things make me happy, but traveling to a new country with my husband definitely takes the cake!

Next up on the blog: I’ll be telling you all about the best restaurants in Aruba and where to go for the most memorable hikes and beautiful beaches. And get ready for lots of gorgeous travel eye candy like this: