North American Honeymoon vs. Honeymoon Overseas

I'm choosing to stay in the states for money and there are so many places in the states I haven't even seen before! I was born in and have been to Europe a few times in my life though, so I might feel differently if I hadn't.

My FH hasn't been out of the country in awhile and has never been to Ireland, so we decided to go there. Plus, he isn't much of a sea, sun, sand sort of man, so tropical was out of the question.

I would stay in the US mostly due to travel cost. I'm not much of a beach vacation person myself, but there are so many places in the country that warrant a visit! FH and I have both traveled a lot in the US both together and independently. I really want to do a honeymoon in Utah of all places, but we're planning a "honeymoon" a year after our wedding in Germany. FH has never been out of the country and wants to go to (his grandmother was from Germany), and I've been a bunch of places in Europe, but not there.

We're taking is safari honeymoon to Zambia in South Africa. Both FH and I have traveled extensively both in the States and internationally but either of us has been to Africa. We didn't want to a beach honeymoon because we go to the beach annually twice a year for family trips.

We’re going on our honeymoon to San Diego. It’s special to us because it was our first vacation together, but also our work schedules are totally opposite and it’s almost impossible for us to take more than a few days off at the same time. Plus, my FH is not a huge fan of traveling.

We originally had planned on going to Atlantis because it looks so fun plus all kinds of open water dolphin interactions. But instead we are flying to Venice Italy from there taking a 7 day cruise around the Greek Isles which is great because I just love Greek mythology so it will be fun to see those sites. We will end the cruise back in Venice and stay there a few days. Then depending on budget we may go to Romania and visit Dracula castle and the Forrest that I can't remember the name of but is said to be very haunted.

We are going back to the islands of Hawaii. We got engaged in Maui and will see two others this trip. We wanted Nalo but travel time is rough from the east coast and my FI gets 13 days for the year while I get 32. We didn’t want Europe or anywhere else with extensive sight seeing just want to chill. I would of been fine with St John if it wasn’t for hurricane season and past damage. We travel a ton so we aren’t looking at it as a ‘once in a lifetime’ sort of thing.

* we wanted Bali!!

Good question.
We had many different ideas for a honeymoon, all over the world really. We decided to go with a “traditional” honeymoon in the Caribbean. We love all inclusive resorts when we’re looking for relaxation because they are super convenient and we feel we get our money’s worth.
Our other idea was a few countries in Europe we really want to go to. The timing just didn’t work out with the seasons, weather, and pricing, so we are going to save that trip for now. We’re hoping to go the year after the wedding if we can afford it, or maybe the year after that.
We just went to Canada, which was great travel-wise (we live in New England) but if it wasn’t so recent we would have considered that again. There was so much to do.
And finally, we have a list of destinations in the US we want to go to, and we realized that those will be the easiest trips to do when we have kids so we are saving them for then.

We’re taking a BIG trip because it seems like prime opportunity. I feel like my employers are more sympathetic to “honeymoon” versus “vacation” and it’s like “yes! Take all the time off!!”

caribbean vacations make for great honeymoons because its a romantic setting and SUPER relaxing after wedding stress. Overseas travel sometimes has its own added , so I definitely appreciate the appeal of the all inclusive one stop shop adventure!
BUT FH and I are not big beach people (and go every year with my family already) so we knew we didn’t want that. The only drawback to our overseas adventure is it won’t be inherently romantic. It’ll be more like a standard vacation, except ya know, extra awesome haha. I think it’s really just a matter of preference

View Quoted Comment Definitely understand, Tiara. There are tons of great places stateside, especially if you have been/are from Europe. Where did you decide to go for your honeymoon?

View Quoted Comment Wow, Ireland!? That’s definitely on our bucket list. I’ve heard driving around the whole island is breathtaking, plus a pint here and there 😁. How long will you be over there, Melissa?

We picked the caymans due to shorter travel time & that it’ll be more relaxing. i’ve never been to europe & would’ve loved to go there but if i go on vacation somewhere like that- that i truly want to explore- there won’t be much relaxing lol- i like to get up early & go go go lol, so i also took that into account too.

View Quoted Comment Yeah, we are trying to get handle on budget so we were curious. We have had friends take trips to Utah in summer and winter and both look fantastic! Germany would be a different kind of incredible. Do you have a budget set for your potential Germany honeymoon?

View Quoted Comment Can totally relate to the beach trips annually, Yoomie. Wow, Africa!? What part are you visiting? And how are you getting there? Would love any planning details.

View Quoted Comment San Diego is awesome, Tiffanie! And the sentimental piece is terrific, especially given your time constraints. Thanks for sharing!

View Quoted Comment Omg that sounds incredible, Robyn! How did you choose on those destinations instead of say an Atlantis? Sounds like a once in a lifetime trip so would love to learn more.

View Quoted Comment We are going for 10 days and taking more of a southern loop of Ireland.

View Quoted Comment I’m sure any visit to Hawaii is well worth it. We want to go at some point, so maybe honeymoon. I can understand traveling a lot would lessen the appeal of a more touristy vacation too haha. I’ve heard Bali a few times before but not too familiar with it. What makes you want to go to Bali?

Hurricane season was a major reason we decided against the Caribbean, each island there is beautiful in its own right but it also felt common since we've been to so many islands already. We considered Bali and Maldives since they would be new to us and seemed exotic, but travel time is literally like a full 24hrs one way which eats up our limited leave from work. So we chose Hawaii. 😊