How did you chose your honeymoon destination?

SBmini

My fiance and I love to travel. This is making it very hard to chose a destination that is "special" enough for a honeymoon. We are literally all over the map- Galapagos, Costa Rica, India... We're basically thinking of a place, checking out airfare, exchange rate and activities and either putting it on the list or taking it off the list. The list isn't getting much shorter.

How did you decide on your destination?

DixieNormous330

We went some place that interested us. It was special enough because we made it special.

tawillers

We went all in and decided on the trip we may never get the chance to take again as young people once we started having children.  Sort of like "what is the one place we HAVE to go in our lives?" and it was an easy decision for us.

We spent 10 nights in Australia at two different locations - Sydney and Cairns.

 

DixieNormous330

We did 10 days in Morocco. 5 in Casablanca with a day trip to Fez and 5 in Marrakech with a day trip hiking in the Mid-Atlas Mountains.

dharmabunny

Special is what you choose to make of it. I think my mom casually mentioned the location, it fit the budget, looked cool. Enough stuff to do without TOO much stuff to do. Neither one of us were into cruises or tropical all-inclusive at all.

GBCK

very very small budget and very short time-frame we could be away...

we spent a week in Chicago and called it good.

PMeg819

Price. We went to Puerto Vallarta. I hated our honeymoon- I knew we weren't going to like Mexico but it wasn't a cruise. In hindsight, I wish our poor asses would have gone on a freaking cruise.

Oh well, DH and I already planning a 10 year do-over honeymoon.

GetThePointe77

To be honest, we were starting to talk about one idea fairly seriously, but my FI knew I was sorta more doing it because its someplace he wanted to go. So he started to throw out ideas, and one (costa rica) just seemed like it made sense for us, so we went for it. It has a bit of romance, some beach, some rainforest (something I want to see before they all disappear), and a lot of wildlife. He was sorta suprised when I was so enthusiastic about it since I'm not a huge nature girl, but as long as where we are staying has a/c I'm super excited. At the end of the day its just a trip, yes a really fun awesome one, but its not like you will never be able to take another, so unlike things like your wedding dress or venue, its not something thats a once in a lifetime decision in my opinion

cbrown828

We chose somewhere neither of us had been to before but both wanted to visit- Charleston, SC.

SBmini

GetThePointe77 said:

To be honest, we were starting to talk about one idea fairly seriously, but my FI knew I was sorta more doing it because its someplace he wanted to go. So he started to throw out ideas, and one (costa rica) just seemed like it made sense for us, so we went for it. It has a bit of romance, some beach, some rainforest (something I want to see before they all disappear), and a lot of wildlife. He was sorta suprised when I was so enthusiastic about it since I'm not a huge nature girl, but as long as where we are staying has a/c I'm super excited. At the end of the day its just a trip, yes a really fun awesome one, but its not like you will never be able to take another, so unlike things like your wedding dress or venue, its not something thats a once in a lifetime decision in my opinion

Being able to travel after a honeymoon doesn't mean a honeymoon is not special. You will also wear another dress after you get married, and have other parties with all your friends. I see the honeymoon in the same way. After 30 years of marriage my parents are still talking about their honeymoon and that is what I want. As travel enthusiasts we can be quite snobby when it comes to locations and we want this to be something we remember forever, a trip that we compare all other trips too. 

PirateBarbie

we did an all-inclusive at Dreams in Puerto Vallarta - just wanted to relax on the beach and do an excursion or two. We loved it, and we're planning to go back for an anniversary. 

price was also a factor - we were only 23 when we got married and just starting in our careers and setting up our household. 

given the vacation time and budget that we have now, we'd probably do something else - now we're just dragging our daughter along for the ride, and waiting until she gets a bit older to do some planned trips (African safari, Alaskan cruise/land tour, Machu Picchu, Easter Island)

PMeg819

Can I just say, I still look at our honeymoon with some fondness. But it also forces us to laugh. It wasn't perfect- far from it. If you enjoy traveling together- you will enjoy wherever you go and the fact that it's your honeymoon will add to that. Putting all this effort and expectation into a destination may end up disappointing you a bit. Since our honeymoon we've traveled plenty. Each place we've gone has a certain special quality to it because we did it together. Just throwing it out there.

Wzz

for us, it was price.

i would suggest looking at a few places you always wanted to go, and get the prices. maybe someplace you both have never been to, either separately or as a couple.

then narrow it down by what you want to do on the trip. do you want to sightsee? relax on a beach? do you want to be active on hikes and ziplines? i think if you think about what you want out of this vacation that will help. for instance, you might have always wanted to visit europe, but you know for sure that after the wedding you'll want to relax and do nothing. then again, some people will pick a place they know they may not have a chance to visit because of time and money.

don't forget, you'll have lots of married life to do more vacationing together. it may not be in 6 months from the wedding, but you'll be able to plan other trips together in your future.

to me the honeymoon is like the bachelorette - it's nice in theory, but in the end it's just a vacation. don't hype up your expectations. it'll be wonderful because it will be your first trip married, but it won;t be the only trip you'll ever get to take EVAR in your life, so no need to put so much pressure on yourselves.

(side note, i know not everyone has the flexibility to travel all the time, but that doesn't mean the honeymoon should be made out to be the only big trip you'll have in your life.)

hmonkey

Price and travel time. We only had a week and we didn't want to spend two days in transit.

RoseofOrion

Price: We wanted to go to either Costa Rica or Belize, but couldn't afford the airfare+hotel+food, etc. So we're opting with a cruise. Room and board's included and we still get to go to Belize.

fre3doms

My fiance and I used price, stuff available to do, warmth and lack of passport needed for our pick.
Originally we wanted to go to Brazil. But that's expensive and my passport has expired and I don't really want to get a new one before changing my name.

Then we thought about Houston cause he's been there and likes it. My dad suggested Puerto Rico because some of his co-workers are from there and love it. So I mentioned that idea to my fiance and it fit his budget so that's where we're going. Neither of us have been there before and it will be exciting.

My favorite part of the honeymoon I am sure will be just spending a week with my love.

Best of luck in picking where you are going!

mrsconn23

It was definitely price based for us and we also knew we wanted a 'do nothing and sit on the beach' honeymoon.  So we went to Puerto Vallarta.  It was nice.  Probably not somewhere I'd go again, but we had a wonderful time while there. 

We've had better trips since and hope that they keep getting better in the future. 

SBmini

We're stort of torn on affordable and fun vs once in a life time right now. I'd love to go to New Zealand, but it would be three times more expensive than Costa Rica. Because Costa Rica is so cheap, however, I feel it would be easy to go there any time, but not so much New Zealand. Get kids involved and suddenly $3,000 in airfare turns into $4,500 or $6,000. I think it is going to depend on if we get help paying for the trip or not. If parents want to pitch in and buy plane tickets, then I definitely think we should take advantage of it and have the honeymoon we really want.

Wzz

costa rica is easier, and you can go any time. i agree with you.

Bubbles2014

I'm in the middle of working out where we should go on honeymoon, too. I'm a HUGE traveler, and FI has only left NZ once, to go to Australia, so we are struggling to find somewhere
- In budget
- That I haven't been to
- That isn't Australia (been all over, many times) or a Pacific Island because I've been to one and I wasn't a fan. Sitting on a beach is not for me.

I would actually LOVE to go to San Francisco again, then see some more of the states, but it is WAY out of budget. By a lot. We will probably do Aussie or an island for a few days and then save like crazy for a cool 1 year anniversary trip.

Jessica41381

We both love the food, culture, and music of our honeymoon location so that was a huge factor!

Deelovesunited

We chose to do a typical all inclusive in DR as we've both travelled extensively through Europe and North America but not so much the Caribbean. Do your research...It might be time consuming but it really does pay off in the end. Ideally I would have gone back to Europe to Canary Islands or Madeira but we always like to try somewhere new.

Jessica41381

Deelovesunited said:

We chose to do a typical all inclusive in DR as we've both travelled extensively through Europe and North America but not so much the Caribbean. Do your research...It might be time consuming but it really does pay off in the end. Ideally I would have gone back to Europe to Canary Islands or Madeira but we always like to try somewhere new.

I loved the DR !! Fiance and I went on valentines day last year!

thejucheidea

We're wanting to do something pretty baller because we're planning to start trying for kids pretty quickly. I really wanted Iceland and he really wanted to include Sweden, so we're going to try to go to Iceland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. At the very least, we're going to Iceland. We're also taking two weeks for our honeymoon and delaying it until next year after getting married in October.

PirateBarbie

I'm getting a serious case of wanderlust from reading this thread. 

Jessica41381

PirateBarbie said:

I'm getting a serious case of wanderlust from reading this thread. 

I love Wanderlust... Hysterical!!

dharmabunny

thejucheidea said:

We're wanting to do something pretty baller because we're planning to start trying for kids pretty quickly. I really wanted Iceland and he really wanted to include Sweden, so we're going to try to go to Iceland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. At the very least, we're going to Iceland. We're also taking two weeks for our honeymoon and delaying it until next year after getting married in October.

If you go to Iceland PLEASE let me stow away in your luggage! I promise to get my own room, procure my own food, go do my own thang and be absent

(I don't have much of a bucket list, but going to Iceland in the winter and watch the aurora borealis is one of the items)

SBmini

thejucheidea said:

We're wanting to do something pretty baller because we're planning to start trying for kids pretty quickly. I really wanted Iceland and he really wanted to include Sweden, so we're going to try to go to Iceland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. At the very least, we're going to Iceland. We're also taking two weeks for our honeymoon and delaying it until next year after getting married in October.

Super jealous! I would love to do that, but we are getting married in April and it will be tooooooo cold. I suppose we can wait until summer, but I'm looking forward to a vacation right after the wedding.

thejucheidea

We're planning to go in February, so it's gonna be pretty damn cold. Fortunately I lived in Vermont and he never gets cold ever.

kipnus

Both of us have done quite a bit of traveling individually (I've been to six continents and lived on four; he's been to three continents and lived on two), but we hadn't gone anywhere together. Neither of us had been to Mexico and it made the most sense financially, so we spent two weeks at an AI in the Mayan Riviera. It was all about getting to relax together, enjoying the heat, and not having to worry about cooking and cleaning. We played tennis, went scuba diving, and spent lots of time just chilling, which was nice after the stress of the wedding.

thejucheidea

kipnus said:

(I've been to six continents and lived on four; he's been to three continents and lived on two)

Lucky. I've only been to three .