A Travellious Take on Aruba

I was recently invited to attend a press trip sponsored by the Aruba Marriott and I'll admit, my first thought was I'm totally going to lose my street cred heading to some resort. I'm normally not a beach chair-lounging, daqueri sipping, island resort kind of girl. I do love the beach, but when I think of travel (at least how I've done it in the last decade) I think of walking until I can't possibly walk anymore, finding offbeat art venues or sampling the latest food vendor craze. But after a crazy weekend with travel bloggers (or aka TBEX) in New York City, I knew that the beach might be the perfect antidote. So, I silenced my inner critic, hopped on a plane with a bunch of travel bloggers and went down to check out what the Aruba had to offer.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be blogging incessantly about Aruba. Not only because I went on a press trip, but I returned home with my mind altered about leisure travel. Yes, you can indeed be travellious in Aruba, although I might have to go back to test out some of my recommendations (and be sure to bring a full wallet.) I'll answer the question I keep getting asked "are Arubans the happiest people on the planet?", take you along with me on my island offroading adventure, talk about conquering my fear of organized sports, and give you my opinion on the Aruba Marriott resort.

I've kept a pretty insular definition to travel since I started doing it a decade ago. I didn't like resorts or tours or doing anything "mainstream." This trip somewhat changed my mind about resort travel and made me realize that going to the beach doesn't have to mean checking your brain at the door. That doesn't mean I won't be going on anymore backpacking trips, hunting out that amazing meal that only cost $5, or spending an entire day in an art museum. But, I've learned to put my prejudices aside, live in the moment and enjoy each travel experience as it comes.