Traditionally, deciding on the honeymoon destination is a choice that the Groom is responsible for making, but Kevin and I aren’t really the traditional sort and we like to make decisions together. But with everything else that’s going on at the moment, figuring out where to go has been a bit harder than expected.
Originally, we had thought that going wine tasting somewhere nice and warm would be a lot of fun, but the last two weeks in February aren’t wine season in Europe. We thought about South Africa for a bit, but then decided maybe not. Chile or Argentina would be a possibility, or even Australia, but I would prefer not to suffer jetlag on my honeymoon – it takes days to get over jetlag properly, and I get enough of that when travelling for work.
Since we started to think about our honeymoon destination, though, our priorities have changed a bit. Both of us are in a semi-permanent state of knackeredness, not just because we’re both very busy at work at the moment, but also because every spare minute is full of something, frequently wedding planning. The emphasis has moved towards spending two weeks somehwere very quiet, where we can crash out and do nothing. We’re just not sure where we want to go, so I thought I’d use the wisdom of crowds, and ask you lot.
Here are our criteria:
– It must be warm. I’ve had it with cold, wet and miserable, and I’m sure I’ll be even more fed up with the British climate by February, so I’d like a bit of winter sun. Doesn’t have to be hot; temperatures in the mid-20s C would be perfect.
– It must be quiet. I want to do a lot of sitting about, maybe a bit of reading, and really very little else. Maybe some leisurely walking, possibly some swimming (pool or sea). But I won’t want to hear traffic noise, crowds or thumping bass. Somewhere where the only other human beings we see are the ones pampering us would not go amiss.
– Countryside or seaside, but no cities. I want to hear nature at its finests: birds singing, insects chirruping, kittens purring. Oh, if only one could hire kittens. *sigh*
– Close to GMT. I really don’t want to have to deal with jetlag, so I’d prefer it if we didn’t have to cross more than two or three time zones.
– Not too expensive. We’ve got a wedding to pay for too, so destinations beloved by the rich and famous are out, as we’re neither.
– Maiden-name friendly. This is a tricky one. Due to having to send my passport away to the Home Office in order to get a Certificate of Approval so that I can marry one of them furriners, and then due to possible work in Italy in Dec, I can’t send my passport away in enough time to get it changed to my married name. (In fact, I haven’t even decided if I’m going to change my name yet – that’s a whole nother post.) But some countries apparently do not let you in if your passport still bears your maiden name. Not sure which ones, need to find out.
I think that about covers it. So, where would you go?
As far as maiden/married names are concerned, I never heard of countries not letting you in with your maiden name – if that were the case, they would have to not let you in if you weren’t married, too, surely?
What *is* an issue is that you have to make sure you book your flights in your maiden name, which will still be your passport name. I’ve been so bloody slow getting the passport changed to my married name (and yes, I could have written several blog posts about the name change thing though I never did – I really like my new name though, and am so happy with my decision although my mother still swears she’ll never call me anything but my maiden name and I let down my feminist upbringing) where was I? Oh yes, my passport is only NOW at the embassy having its name changed, half a year after the wedding – well I was travelling a lot, you need weeks at home to renew your passport! and now I’m anxious I won’t have it back in time to travel to the States for Christmas…
Anyway, I’ve never had a scrap of trouble travelling with passport and tickets in my maiden name, despite that name not exactly being my legal name anymore.
As for where to go, I always cross time zone so don’t really know – but I have friends who LOVED the Seychelles, aren’t they closish timezone-wise? How about drawing a line straight south and seeing where it takes you? We went wine-tasting in Spain which was lovely in July but no, not in February 🙂
Tunisia? Not sure how it is in feb, or if it’s maiden-name friendly, but both grandparents and parents have been there and said it was really lovely.
Otherwise, maybe this — but it’s not a no-jetlag one: http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2007/11/30/vacation_was_gl.html
To get the warmth you are probably looking at Southern Hemisphere? I’ve got no absolute recommendations but I can point you towards http://www.kuoni.co.uk/, a company I think does a lot of good holidays, such as Mozambique. Always my favourite brochure for browsing as they have some great suggestions.
Hello,
If you don’t want to go too far and you want warmth can I recommend Morocco? A work colleague from Australia is going over for Xmas as she needs her sun top-up, and I’m told it’s great. Obviously you would have to find somewhere more rural and quiet than the capital though…
greece! that’s where i’m going 😉
i’ve heard that there are tons of stray cats around. so i guess that’s good on the purring front.
Thanks for the ideas! Kev’s been keeping a close eye. Do keep commenting if you have any other suggestions.
Croatia is really beautiful, and unspoilt. I would go there for my honeymoon if I hadn’t been so recently
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