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Costa Rica, a lush land that is often the destination for eco-tourists, is located in Central America between Nicaragua and Panama. Although it is relatively small - about the size of West Virginia - there is a lot packed into it.

If you're looking for adventure, this is a great place to go! You can do anything from ziplining through the cloud forest to whitewater rafting to surfing to deep sea fishing...and of course all these kinds of experiences are great things to put on your honeymoon registry :-)

My favorite adventure was a one day trip on the Pacuare River. The vegetation on the riverbanks is incredibly dense, so dense that most of the monkeys, birds, sloths and jaguars that live there are hidden from your sight. You'll surely hear the howls of the monkeys as you drift by and the calls of tropical birds announcing your presence. My favorite part of the trip was maneuvering under a waterfall that cascaded out of the green to fall into our raft as we passed underneath.

Up in the Monteverde area, a couple of students took off one day to swing on vines Tarzan style. Many of us visited a butterfly garden where we tried to outdo one another with photos. Everyone on our trip took the time to go through the cloud forest either with a guide or on our own. If you are interested, this is the place for ziplining or a trip along the suspended walkways in the forest canopy.

Because Costa Rica is located in some of the newest land on the planet, you'll find a number of active volcanoes that you can visit -- and the nighttime view can be absolutely spectacular!

Traveling in Costa Rica is made easier for those of us from the US since most of the population speaks at least some English.

One of the things that I enjoy the most about working on the registry at TheBigDay is finding funny or clever items that couples have put on their registries. A recent one is from a couple from the Big Apple, listed as a "Hot Damn Media Interface." The description they offered their guests is "At least we think that's what HDMI stands for. We need it to actually use the PS3 we are so eager to enjoy."

I'll admit that I had to look up the Hot Damn Cable in order to be able to tell you that it's a cable for a Playstation 3 and that HDMI stands for high-definition media interconnect.

What a lot of people don't understand about the honeymoon registry here at TheBigDay is that they can make up whatever they want for their items. In other words, you don't need to limit yourselves to listing airfare, rooms, meals and the like! One of our early couples had snake charming lessons listed - they were going on an extended trip through China, India, and the Mediterranean and were planning to pick up some new skills on the way.

We have some statistical evidence that couples who customize their registries (that is, those who don't just use the stock items we have) do better gift-wise than those who don't.

Both Vicki and I are here to help by answering questions, making suggestions and sharing our experience with the couples who use the registry. We can be contacted by email, phone, IM etc. here.

It's November in the Pacific Northwest where, according to the Mt. St. Helens web site, "it has either just stopped raining, is currently raining, or is getting ready to rain." With a forecast like that, you can see why many of us from the Northwest head out to the sunshine in the 6 month long winter!

The recent rains have made me look longingly at the photos of our trip last year to the Cook Islands. The Cooks are located in the South Pacific between Tahiti and Samoa. If you're looking for an authentic South Pacific experience this may be the destination for you! Their official site can give you a lot of basic information on the Islands as well as a really nice slide show.

So, when it rains in Oregon, where TheBigDay is located, my thoughts turn to the sunshine of the Cooks. Fortunatley, imagining ourselves in other places is part of our jobs as TheBigDay is a honeymoon registry and travel agency and finding the right destinations for our clients is what we do best! If the Cooks are of interest, check out our listing of Cook Islands resorts and give us a call at 800-304-1141 or contact me directly.