So many of My Vacation Lady‘s honeymooners tell us that with the stress of planning the wedding, they are more excited to go on their honeymoon vs. the actual wedding

One of the top questions when deciding on a honeymoon destination is how much time do you have for your honeymoon?

If you only have a week, you need to consider the travel time to get to your honeymoon destination.

Let’s consider this:

  • If the flight time is long (8+ hours) or there are only connecting flights, you need to consider how long you’ll be spending traveling  to see if it is even realistic to go there.
  • If you are flying to Europe or Hawaii or the South Pacific, you need to consider the time difference.  Will you need a buffer day before you can go back to work?
  • We also recommend taking a buffer day after the wedding and before flying out for your honeymoon, especially  if the flight is early in the morning.

Conrad Bora Bora Nui

Your dream honeymoon is Bora Bora:  You live on the East Coast  and you have only 1 week of vacation time left and can’t afford to take any more time.  Your wedding is on a Friday night and you’re ok with leaving on Sunday but you need to be back at work on the following Monday.  I plugged in some dates to look at flights- Wedding is Friday Oct 11.  You will leave on Sunday Oct 13 and you need to be back to work on Monday, Oct 21.

  • You must get to west coast first, if you want to fly to the Tahitian islands.
  • So IF you can fly out early on Sunday morning and get to San Francisco, you may be able catch the afternoon flight to the international airport in Tahiti that will get you in at 7pm ish on Sunday.
  • Unfortunately, you won’t be able to fly to Bora Bora until the next day so you’ll need a hotel in Tahiti for the night.  You can take an early flight from Papeete to Bora Bora and get there on Monday before lunch.
  • Alternatively, if you fly out of Los Angeles on Sunday at 11pm ish, you will get to the international airport at about 5am Monday morning.  You can get the first flight to Bora Bora.  Get the water taxi transfer to your hotel and get there in time for a swim before lunch.
  • Either way, you are getting to Bora Bora on Monday.

For the return flights, the best ones will be in the evening so again, you’re getting home the next day.  If you leave on Saturday night, you’ll be home Sunday.

That will give you a total of 6 days/5 nites in Bora Bora.

It might make sense to go somewhere closer to home so that you can start your honeymoon faster.

So let’s look at a destination closer to home but still a great honeymoon destination—- like the Caribbean or Mexico.

Look for destinations which offer non stop or short flights.

You can go from the NY metro region to

  • Cancun/Riviera Maya
  • St Lucia, Antigua
  • Barbados
  • the Dominican Republic
  • Turks and Caicos
  • St Maarten and Anguilla
  • St Thomas/St John,
  • Puerto Rico
  • Aruba
  • Jamaica
  • Grand Cayman

and other islands or destinations in less than 5 or so, if you can get a nonstop flight.

The beach at Hermitage Bay, Antigua

Airfare will usually be a good deal less than a flight to Bora Bora, as well.  Some resorts have wonderful all inclusive packages that will help on the budget as well by including your meals and beverages.

Who says you can’t get to Bora Bora next year, for your 1 year anniversary?

My Vacation Lady has been working with honeymoon couples plan their dream honeymoon since 1994.  We can help guide you to destinations that will fit your dreams, budget and time frame.  We won’t be the first to tell you that your honeymoon should be special but, as the top rated honeymoon specialist located in New Jersey according to the couples on Wedding Wire and the Knot, we the best honeymoon specialists to help make your honeymoon special.