The Less Discovered Cook Islands

AMANDA: "Are there any cannibals there?" asked my culturally sensitive fiance, Dan, referring to the Cook Islands, the current focus of our honeymoon saga. We both have demanding jobs where the honeymoon is the one acceptable time to go away for a long while. So we're trying to make the most of it and pick an exotic place that's far away - where we couldn't go with kids. (We have no immediate plans to have kids, but it's out there somewhere.)

When we were in Spain earlier this year, we decided that we wanted to honeymoon in an English-speaking country so as to avoid communication anxieties. We want to go somewhere neither of us has ever been, so Hawaii and Australia are both out. Tahiti's great but it's a French-speaking country. We finally decided to split our time between Fiji and New Zealand. But one peak at hotel prices in Fiji and holy cow! Those little beach bungalows do not come cheap. My friend and bridesmaid, Danielle, suggested the Cook Islands, halfway between Tahiti and Fiji, English speaking, and far less "discovered." Off the beaten path (slightly), difficult to get to, and not likely a place where we'd ever bring the kids. Beachfront bungalow, here we come.