On our second trip back to Cook Islands, we opted to stay at Nautilus Resort and Spa, after glamping with Ikurangi prior. It was nice to have the contrast between an eco retreat (from our previous trip) to something a little more luxurious.

Kia Orana! Welcome to Rarotonga, where the sun is always shining and your worries just automatically float away. 

Whenever I decided upon a place to stay on my trips, the first thing I look at is Instagram. I like to see what the property offers and who's stayed that (that I either follow or know). I also want to make sure the accommodation is picture worthy.

However, with my trip to Cook Islands, I took another route and went off a list of suggestions from the tourism board. I went through the list, went through the websites of the accommodations and chose Ikurangi Eco Retreat for two reasons.

Scroll through Instagram and you'll see a ton of images from Bali, Hawaii, Santorini, and Paris because that's where people typically dream of vacationing. However mention Cook Islands and you'll get 9 out of 10 people asking, "where's that?" This includes our cellphone providers (AT&T and T-Mobile), who had to Google where the country was before telling us that they do not provide coverage there.