How much time do you need for your honeymoon?

My Vacation Lady helps many engaged couples plan their dream honeymoons and some come to our consultation a bit unsure of where they want to go and how long they need for their honeymoon.

First, we need to tell you that there is no right or wrong answer to where you should go and how long you should go for.  We’ll never tell you where to go.  Instead, after our in depth consultation and after getting to know more about your likes and dislikes, we’ll be able to make recommendations based on your dreams and budget and based on the amount of time you have to travel.

 So how long should your honeymoon be?

Let’s say you want to travel to Fiji or Bali or Thailand for an exotic honeymoon.  Did you realize that you’ll be crossing the international date line for each of these destinations?  What does that actually mean?

• We just spoke to Lauren and Steve.  Bali is their dream honeymoon and they live in NYC.  If they fly out of JFK at 11:20pm on April 13, they will arrive in Bali at 10:20pm on April 14.  That ones of the shortest flights to Bali and it’s still 23 hours of travel time.
• For Fiji, you would depart from Los Angeles at about 11pm on Monday evening and arrive in Fiji on Wednesday morning at about 5am.  It’s only a 10 hour flight but again, you are losing a day crossing the international dateline.  If you’re coming from the East Coast, you’ll need to add on 6 more hours of flight time to first get to Los Angeles and then time to switch airport terminals and check in for your flight to Fiji.
• Tahiti is in the same time zone as Hawaii and you won’t lose a day traveling but it’s an 8 hour flight from Los Angeles.  If you leave at 11:45pm on Monday, you’ll arrive at 5:05am (with plenty of time to take the 8:10am ferry to Moorea)
• If you want to go to Santorini, Greece, it’s a 9 hour nonstop flight from New York to Athens and then you would need to take another flight to Santorini.  We always recommend spending at least 1 nite in Athens before heading to one of the Greek islands— just to prevent a long wait in the airport or potentially missing a connection.  The flights TO Athens usually leave in the late afternoon or evening and arrive the next morning or afternoon.

Whenever, we plan a honeymoon for our clients, we need to take into account the time they will be traveling and then consider how long they would really like to be in their destination.

So if you have only 5 nights, where should you go?

Our rule of thumb would be– fly somewhere that you can get to in 4 hours or less.  If you are on the East Coast, think Bermuda, the Bahamas, the Caribbean or Cancun, and try to find a destination that you can fly nonstop.

If you have a week, where should you go?

If you have 7 nights, we would recommend flying somewhere that will take 8 hours or less.  So, again, if you are coming from the East Coast, think Aruba, maybe some of the islands of the Caribbean that may require a connecting flight, Costa Rica, the Pacific Coast of Mexico, or perhaps London or Paris.

If you have 10 nights, where should you go?

With 10 nights, you can go to 2 islands in Hawaii, Fiji, most destinations in Europe.

If you have 2 weeks, where should you go?

Now you can think more exotic— Tahiti, the South Pacific, Bali, Asia, a multi-city honeymoon in Europe, 3 islands in Hawaii and so many more destinations.

So, to answer how many days do you need for a honeymoon— it’s all up to you!

My Vacation Lady is the top rated honeymoon specialist located in New Jersey according to the couples on Wedding Wire and the Knot.  When it comes to your honeymoon, don’t you deserve the best?  Contact us and let us help you plan your dream honeymoon!