Plan your honeymoon in 6 easy steps with our simple guide. Make your honeymoon an unforgettable experience that you’ll want to repeat.
Start planning your honeymoon early
You should start thinking about your honeymoon 8 months to a year before your wedding. Yes, it’s very early but this way you can make sure that you get the best rates and you can also avoid the stress of planning the trip once you get closer to the wedding. You should choose the location, buy tickets and book hotels at least 8 months in advance, everything else can wait until 6 months before the trip.
Consider hiring a travel agent
It seems like today everyone plans their trips on their own and books everything on the internet, making travel agents a thing of the past, but it is not quite so. Think about using the services of a travel agent for your trip – they have relationships with many hotels, airlines and tour guides and can get you special honeymoon vacation packages, upgrades and discounts, not to mention they can help you plan the perfect trip tailored specifically to your couple.
Think about your budget
No matter what your wishes and plans for the honeymoon are, the money question will come up eventually, so try to come up with a set budget for the trip before starting to look at packages and hotels. Once you have the budget and a list of places you potentially want to visit, do thorough research to determine how much you can expect to spend on food, plane tickets, local transportation, tour guides, tips and everything else so you can determine how much of your budget you can spend on hotels.
Plan transportation and excursions in advance
Your first trip as a married couple should bring nothing but happiness and relaxation and the only way you can achieve that is by planning by every detail your honeymoon trip in advance. You don’t want to run into problems with getting to your hotel from the airport or trying to buy a guided tour from dozens of street vendors. Arrange all the tours, transfers, spa services and more about 6 months before you go and avoid the stress.
Pick several locations for your honeymoon
While you might have always imagined spending your entire honeymoon on the beach drinking cocktails, don’t be afraid to shake things up. Think about what you and your spouse like: if one likes the beach and the other prefers the mountains, spend a part of your honeymoon enjoying each of them. Or if you really love art but also like skiing, consider going to Europe for your honeymoon and spending a week in Switzerland skiing and then going to France and Italy for the art.
Don’t forget about your health
Getting sick in a foreign country is pretty bad but it can be a real disaster if it happens on your honeymoon. First of all, if you’re going to Africa, South America or Asia check the Center for Disease Control website for a list of immunizations recommended for trips to the country you’re visiting and make an appointment with a doctor to get those shots – don’t wait until the last minute, as you may need to get several doses over a few months. Secondly, get travel insurance that will cover medical services in the country you’re visiting. Lastly, pack a first aid kit with some standard medications and your prescription medications to last the entire trip.