Planning the Perfect Honeymoon Trip

By Christina VanGinkel

If ever a trip should be as perfect as it can be, your honeymoon is it. Choosing where you are planning to go can even have an effect on the date you and your loved one choose to be married. With this in mind, making the arrangements for your honeymoon should be something you and your intended spouse do together. You can choose to plan it all solo, or with the help of a travel agent, but no matter how you approach it, be sure to give it the consideration and time that it deserves.

Begin by sitting down with your future spouse to be, and decide when the wedding itself will take place. You will also need to determine how much time and money you can afford to devote to the honeymoon. Depending on your employers, you should also check with them on the availability of the dates and time frames you have in mind. Only after these issues are decided, will you both be able to consider the honeymoon of your dreams. Look at it as practice for the many major decisions you will be making together in the years to come, as planning a honeymoon can be quite the trial when it comes to meeting in the middle, whether it is on the big or small issues that come with planning such a trip.

If you are both not immediately decided upon at least a general location, both of you should make a short list of what you would consider the honeymoon of your dreams. This list might not even be place specific, but more action specific. If one of you is dreaming about sipping cocktails on a beach, with room service, and a private hot tub, and the other one is thinking more along the lines of battling the rapids down a rigorous section of the Amazon, followed up with a jungle trip deep into the wild, you both might be learning the concept of meeting in the middle quicker than you ever though you would have to. By creating a short list of what each of you wants, you will both at least be spared the possible surprise of just how different an outlook you each have.

Upon going over your short list, if your ideals for the perfect honeymoon do not meet somewhere in the middle, take the time to explore various scenarios. It is often possible to combine two very different tastes into one magical vacation that will be a memorable start to a marriage. Possibly, you could compromise on a location, by considering a place that would meet both of your wants when it comes to activities, at least part way. Instead of heading off to the Amazon when your spouse to be would rather be lazing on a beach soaking up the sun, why not search out a beach front that would allow one partner to be active while the other is soaking up the sun, but also have enough activities that would be tempting to both. To find such compromises, it might mean spending more time than you thought you would have to researching locations to spend your honeymoon, but in the end, it will be well worth it.

Once you have decided on a type of honeymoon, and the location, you should then take care of the details. If either of you will require visas or immunizations for the journey, get them taken care of right away. If you wait, details such as these can slip away with all of the other planning that goes in sync with planning a wedding. If a flight, whether short or long is part of the honeymoon, be sure you take the time to go over the many new rules that airlines have instituted in the last few years, especially if flying is not something you routinely do.

Honeymoon packages are often available at great savings when compared to similar packages, or with additional benefits not normally included. Some hotels, cruises, and other getaways do this in hopes that they will be tempting these couples to make return visits in the coming years. If a honeymoon is in your future, take the time to plan all of the details and you will end up having the perfect honeymoon of your dreams!