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Dare To Be Different? 10 Top Tips for a Unique Honeymoon!
Guest post by Laura Jeffrey
Bespoke travel expert extraordinaire at
www.rubyanddiva.com/travel
You’re engaged – congratulations! You’ve found your perfect venue, you’ve chosen the most beautiful wedding dress, the invites are winging their way to guests and the band has been booked. After all this planning you and your new husband really deserve the ultimate honeymoon…but where to start?
Maldives: Not everyone's cup of tea
The obvious thing is to book two weeks in the Maldives but, blissful though it can be, honeymoons don’t come in one-size-fits-all. So get a little creative for something truly memorable.
With years of experience in the industry, organising all sorts of holidays, I’ve found that planning honeymoons is the most exciting – especially when the couple will consider something a little more adventurous!
As an independent travel agent, the key for me is meeting (preferably both) clients face to face to decipher what kind of people they are and what ingredients will make this the trip of a lifetime rather than just another holiday.
Head for heights: Trekking in Nepal
To get you started, here are my top tips for planning the ultimate honeymoon:
1. Consult an expert before you settle on a destination. We will help you discover the hidden gems others don’t know about, the ones that make the difference between a lovely OR simply jaw-dropping honeymoon.
2. Give us a clue. Sit down, close your eyes and picture your perfect setting. A few key words like ‘relaxation’, ‘active’, ‘tribal’, ‘heritage’, ‘authentic’, ‘glamorous’ and ‘wilderness’ will help get a feel for the style of the trip.
3. Don’t get hung up on review websites like Tripadvisor. If you are dealing with an expert who has actually stayed in these places they will be more objective.
Your back garden in Bhutan
4. Be open-minded about considering weird and wonderful combinations such as Bhutan+Indonesia or Oman+Maldives. These can add real spice to a honeymoon and make you feel like you are really experiencing something completely alien while also considering your chill factor.
5. Don’t be tempted into doing it yourself if you want a fail-safe trip, unless you are doing something incredibly straightforward and close to home. A good travel company will offer a 24 hour back-up service so that you are never left on your own to deal with any problems like flight delays.
Camping: not exactly Eurocamp in Oman
6. Do take the time to relax for at least four days at the start of the trip, especially if you are having a big wedding. People often underestimate how shattered they are after the emotional rollercoaster of their big day.
7. Be realistic about a budget. This is the holiday of a lifetime and you don’t want to be shortchanged and find yourself in a country or hotel that is a let down. You don’t want to remortgage the house either so start thinking about your honeymoon early on and….
8. Book well in advance. You would be amazed how quickly flights and hotels can get booked up and often the later you leave it the less you get for your money. Take advantage of early bird offers and cheaper seats. Also once it is booked you can tick if off the list knowing you need pay it no further attention.
The morning commute along the Mekong
9. Consider having experiences like hot air balloon rides, temple breakfasts, private whale-watching safaris, sand dune dinners, a full orchestra to serenade your arrival (it’s your honeymoon!) or even simple honeymoon contributions on your wedding list.
10 . And lastly, enjoy it. Half the fun of a holiday is the anticipation and this one should be a corker!!
As a little inspiration check out my unique honeymoon itineraries to Rajasthan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Turkey/Montenegro which you can find here.
If you would like your own tailor-made itinerary, feel free to send me your dream honeymoon keywords via our travel page and I will be in contact with some suggestions!!
Much Bespoke Love
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Hello ladies and thanks so much for posting our article – it looks brilliant! 🙂
Love this article, some great tips, a private whale watching safari sounds amazing! I also fancy enjoying that back garden in Bhutan, looks stunning. Thanks for all the great ideas, food for thought x
This really made me think. I was going to do something pretty mainstream but I might look into something a little more adventurous. It’ll be September and it seems so many places are going through a change of seasons then. Any ideas anyone?
Hi Caroline – you should definitely consider something a little different – it’s the once-of-a-lifetime trip and there are so many unique places out there. If you ping an email to Laura via our travel page at http://www.rubyanddiva.com/travel (where is says ‘Ask our travel expert’) she will be able to suggest a few options for September-time. She is always travelling (she’s just back from India – again!!) and knows all those hard-to-find places you would never find in a normal travel agents. Good luck and let us know how you get on. Sara 🙂