Over the years, I’ve come to dread New Year’s Eve more than any other holiday. In college, most of my close friends were in Atlanta while I was down in Savannah, wishing I could be with them to celebrate and party but not wanting to cut my vacation with my family short. When I moved to Philadelphia, each year we’d try something different, whether that meant hanging in and cooking a romantic meal together or doing the hotel party thing with friends. But, three years ago, our first New Years Eve in New York City, we experienced New Years Eve in a way that we’d never be able to top. Our friend Liz worked for BMO at the time, a company who has a huge office in Times Square, directly across from the ball. She was able to invite friends to the office to watch the ball drop while we toasted to the new year. It was so much fun and such a quintessential New Year’s Eve experience, especially in New York.

After that, we both agreed we were tired of the traditional New Year’s Eve plans and decided to get friends together for a trip instead. We thought that nothing would be more fun than to plan a tropical, warm vacation with friends after the Christmas holidays so we could all toast the new year with a Corona while enjoying some fun in the sun before the brutal winter months.

Last year, since it was our first time, we only went away with one other couple and planned an easy trip using American Express travel. We looked at prices and ratings before choosing a resort in Cozumel due to reasonable plane prices and the fact that it is located between Seattle, where they live, and New York City.

Here are a few of the posts from last year’s Cozumel trip:

• Bienvenidos a Cozumel

• Casa Mission Restaurant in Cozumel

• Cozumel Day 2 in Pictures

As you can see it was absolutely fabulous! We loved the experience of relaxing with friends over the holiday. Therefore, this year we decided to make it a larger experience for more of our friends. Back in July, we sent a quick email to friends asking if they’d be interested in a tropical vacation with approximate costs of airfare and renting a house on either Turks and Caicos and St. Croix. Now, five months later there are 9 of us spending the next six days together in St. Croix. I ended up using VRBO to rent a large house in St. Croix with a pool, full kitchen, grill, and plenty of space for everyone.

To say that we’re excited is an understatement! The house is just as we imagined and the views are spectacular! I’ll check in each day to share our adventures with you!

A winner will be announced tomorrow morning from my Thank You giveaway!