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Where Do Geeks Honeymoon?

Posted by on Nov 20, 2006 | 13 Comments

For argument’s sake, let’s brainstorm a few prime locations where a geek may enjoy going on his or her honeymoon. I bet we can come up with ten if we think hard enough:

  1. Redmond, WA (Microsoft Campus)
  2. Cupertino, CA (Apple Campus)
  3. Arecibo, NM (Arecibo Observatory)
  4. Mountain View, CA (Google Campus)
  5. Boston, MA (MIT Campus)
  6. Ames, IA (Where ENIAC was born)

Okay, so I couldn’t quite come up with ten ideal geeky destinations. Regardless, I’m chucking all of those choices into the ethernet in exchange for the Carribean! We’re taking the Regent Seven Seas Voyager, Radisson’s six-star cruise ship, for a New Year’s honeymoon – foregoing any kind of geekery that might be happening at CES 2007. Don’t cry for me just yet; check out the ship’s description:

All-suite, all-balcony accommodations; emphasis is on providing 700 guests a memorable experience, aboard and ashore, for those who appreciate unsurpassed service, attention to detail and elegant, relaxing surroundings; four dining venues to choose from including Signatures Restaurant, dedicated to Le Cordon Bleu® cuisine; single, open-seating dining; full entertainment program; port-intensive itineraries; guest lecturer program; complimentary wine with dinner; shipboard gratuities included

Color me anxious! I hear the ship has Internet access, though it’s probably not half as nice (or “affordable”) as the Holland America line we took a few months ago. I guess this kinda makes me a… cruise geek?

[tags]honeymoon, cruise, carribean, carribean cruise, travel[/tags]

  • Phil Grenier

    And all this time I thought Arecibo was in Puerto Rico (PR).

  • Mona Carol-Kaufman

    From one cruise geek to another – have a -great- time, and color me jealous :)

  • Fred Olmstead

    Chris… I think you’re on the right track heading for the Carribean, but personally I couldn’t think of a more boring, limited trip then a cruise. Locked on board with 700 other people, told when and where you can get off and for exactly how long. I don’t care how luxurious it is, I want to be free to do what I want, when I want, where I want and to change my mind about it any time I want. Com’on… are you really that limited and afraid of travel that you’ll give up freedom of choice?

    I say Caribbean: Yes. Puerto Rico: Yes. Just spend a week or 2 there, traveling around the island, exploring, discovering on your own. Free to do whatever you feel like. And, BTW, the Arecibo I know about is in PR, not NM. see: http://www.naic.edu/

    Whatever, have fun, That’s what’s most important.

    Fred

  • Reynaldo Fuentes

    Hi Chris, I enjoy reading your columns. I must point out that you have transplanted the Arecibo Observatory to New Mexico. The observatory is actually in the city of Arecibo on the island of Puerto Rico. I was born in Arecibo and visited the observatory just two years ago while on vacation back home.

    Rey, a proud Puerto Rican Gnomie!

  • Herb Younger

    Your #3, Arecibo, isn’t in NM, it’s in Puerto Rico. And well worth visiting on a Geek’s Honeymoon, especially one in the Caribbean. Enjoy!

  • http://www.WilliamAFord.com William A. Ford

    Hey Chris,

    IIRC, I found the GeekTools web site through LockerGnome several years ago. They have both an International listing of Hotels with High-Speed Internet Access and Wireless Hotspots.

    http://www.geektools.com/geektels

    http://www.geektools.com/hotspots

    Maybe y’all should convince them that they also need to start adding a Cruise Lines list? :-)

    Bill

    William A. Ford
    Glen Allen, VA
    http://www.WilliamAFord.com

  • Albert Molina

    Hummm… I see your Atlas is a little dusty. The “Arecibo Observatory” is located in Arecibo, Puerto Rico and not in “NM” (Whatever that is!). So if you want to go to the Caribbean and enjoy a “Geecky” place go there. You and your other half won’t regret it!!!

    Happy Honeymoon!!!!!

  • Tom Smith

    Arecibo New Mexico? You would probably like the scenery at Arecibo, Puerto Rico better (as in SETI). They are closed on Mondays, as I found out at the gates. While you were there, you could also take in the nearby caves and the third largest underground river in the world (also closed Mondays). My wife was born in Rincon, on the far West corner of PR Too bad that the cruise ship schedule will probably only allow a day’s sojurn in San Juan. For REAL Puerto Rican food, try Cafe Ochoa in Old San Juan, a block or two from the cruise ship dock It handles about 8 or 10 people and the locals eat there. It is also a block or two from Barcadi rum tasting.

  • Arnold J. Kiner

    As I Penn alumnus, I wiah to inform you that ENIAC was developed and built at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

  • Ian Hynes

    Chris,

    May I suggest Ireland for your Geek’s Honeymoon, where you visit Birr Castle which includes the Great Telescope and Museum. The castle’s Web site describes as follows:

    “During the 1840s and starting from virtually first principles, the third Earl of Rosse designed and had built the mirrors, tube and mountings for a 72 inch reflecting telescope which was the largest in the world at that time and remained so for three quarters of a century. With this instrument, situated near the middle of Ireland, Lord Rosse was able to study and record details of immensely distant stellar objects and to provide evidence that many of these mysterious nebulae were actually galaxies located far outside our own.”

    “Ireland’s Historic Science Centre contains astronomical instruments, cameras, photographs and photographic equipment used by the Third and Fourth Earls and Mary, Countess of Rosse, in the middle and late 1800s. Also on display is electrical and engineering equipment originally belonging to Charles Parsons and used in his experiments as well as a large area devoted to the botanical work carried out in the Demesne. The whole collection is housed in the restored stables of the castle.”

    While you are over here you could also visit (among others) Valentia Island, from where the first trans-atlantic cable was laid, and my own town of Wicklow, birthplace of Capt. Robert Halpin who laid many thousands of miles of underwater cables. (Could Ireland be desribed as the true birthplace of the Internet, which is based on international communications networks?)

    Love your newsletter – read every one.

    Ian Hynes

  • http://www.backwash.com/content.php?id=412 Bill Webb

    Happy honeymoon, you guys!

    I agree about the cruise, and the other remarks about the Caribbean and PR. Two other great spots are the Dominican Republic and Barbados, but for exploring, Puerto Rico is hard to beat.

    Whatever you do on a honeymoon, the wireless hotspot is a must! (Computer optional)

    Bill

  • Al Neumann

    Chris:
    I recommend that you put Urbana, Illinois on the Geek Honeymoon List. It is the home of the Illiac’s, the first operation Williams Tube memory, and the home of HAL 9000 of ’2001, A Space Oddeesy’ fame.

  • http://www.cruiseknowledge.com/index.htm Leland Garner

    Hello Chris!

    Through your newsletters I’ve been following your travels through life since even before Sprocket, so may I say congratulations. Being a cruise geek myself I totally agree with your choice of a honeymoon on a Caribbean cruise. I’d like to suggest to you and Ponzi my website for some tips. It’s http://www.cruiseknowledge.com/index.htm