One Happy Podcast | EP94: Travel designer Beth Johnston gets familiar with Aruba

Hello, everyone! We are in for a fresh and informative episode of One Happy Podcast as Beth Johnston, a travel designer and Aruba first time visitor joins us to recount her familiarization trip with the island.

Beth is the first ever travel designer that I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing. As a travel designer who specializes in destination weddings and honeymoons, Beth’s job involves handling all the arrangements for her clients in their trips. It’s a career that Beth pursued after having the time of her life in a destination wedding vacation herself.

For the first time just last month, Beth decided to head off to Aruba, as a new travel destination offering for her clients. Well-known for being out of the hurricane belt, Aruba is the absolute perfect place to plan a destination wedding. This was a familiarization trip which is something travel professionals do as a way to get to know more about the island. As you can imagine, in the process of becoming more familiar, Beth fell in love with Aruba as well.

Her stay on the island was basically non-stop resort-hopping, which included visiting the Aruba Marriott, Hilton Aruba, The Ritz-Carlton, and Divi & Tamarijn, among many other beautiful Aruban resorts. She describes the Holiday Inn as being reasonably priced with great service and an ideal location. Beth really enjoyed her time at the Bucuti and Tara, where she did sunset yoga on its gorgeous beach and even had a photo shoot.

The resort that she stayed at, the Brickell Bay Beach Club, was in her words economical, nothing fancy but very comfortable. She also adds that the Brickell Bay has a responsive staff and a cute little restaurant.

During the trip, Beth and the group she was with went to both hotel areas of the island – the high-rises along Palm Beach and the low-rises along Eagle Beach. She recommends visiting Ocean Z, a fairly new boutique hotel up towards Malmok that is upscale and luxurious, but affordable.

She also got to experience a 3-hour tour of the island, courtesy of De Palm Tours where they visited the California Lighthouse, Alto Vista Chapel, the Natural Bridge, Casibari Rocks, and Aloe Museum. Kudos to Beth for being Brave enough to climb the Casibari Rocks despite her aversion to heights.

In Beth’s words, it was fascinating to see the two contrasting sides of the island: the beaches on the touristy side and the raw natural beauty of the backside with its caves, crashing waves, and limestone formations.

Her first time on the island was definitely a memorable one. Not only will she return to Aruba to familiarize herself more for her clients, but also because she truly felt the wonders of Aruba that makes so many people come back time and time again.