Information overload trying to plan a honeymoon

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Joab_Anias

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I am getting married Feb 3rd and hoping to leave immediately on a honeymoon.

I am having trouble finding a good source to plan this.

Hoping to go on a tour of Vatican city or somewhere tropical.

Any trustworthy and reliable planning resources for a honeymoon anyone might know of would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
 
I’m not sure why you are having trouble finding a good source to plan your honeymoon. Any local travel agent can help you plan a trip “somewhere tropical” including airfare, lodging, package deals, excursions, etc.

As for Rome, any local travel agent can help you plan that as well. They can get your airfare and hotel.

But, you can also get airfare, hotel, and packages online by going to sites like Travelocity and Orbitz or the airlines themselves.

If you want specific information on how to see the sites of the Vatican, I can suggest these resources:

Santa Susanna- the English speaking Catholic parish in Rome. They have lots of tourist info on their website but they are not a tourist service. They have info on how to get tickets for the Papal audience, etc.

santasusanna.org/index.html

Vatican website: Info on Scavi tour:

vatican.va/roman_curia/institutions_connected/uffscavi/documents/rc_ic_uffscavi_doc_gen-information_20040112_en.html

Pontifical North American College- They will also help you get tickets to things in the Vatican.

pnac.org/

To go to the Vatican itself or the Vatican museum, you don’t need a tour.

Not sure what you are wanting.
 
Joab_Anias said:
I am getting married Feb 3rd and hoping to leave immediately on a honeymoon.

I am having trouble finding a good source to plan this.

Hoping to go on a tour of Vatican city or somewhere tropical.

Any trustworthy and reliable planning resources for a honeymoon anyone might know of would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
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We went to Italy in 2006 and used the Rick Steves books to find many things: restaurants, hotels, sights, etc. He gives good information about what is worth your money as far as what to see and also helps with ways to get around. I carried his book about Rome around with me and saw other tourists doing the same thing!
 
I forgot to mention that we stayed in a nice hotel at the center of the old part of Rome that was recommended in his book. We were able to walk to many sites because of this and saved money on cabfare (very important!). Rome and Italy in general is a beautiful, fascinating place to stay. I hope you enjoy it if that’s what you decide.
We’ve also been to Maui and a book called “Maui Revealed” was very helpful as far as where to eat and what to do. Maui is absolutely gorgeous and you can’t go wrong staying there for a honeymoon. And it’s supposed to be cheaper right now as well. There are other “Revealed” type books out there that are probably just as helpful.
Have a great trip, whatever you decide!
 
Just presenting the alternative–hope you don’t mind. Of course, it’s all up to you and your honey.

Do you really want an “ambitious” honeymoon? I mean–a tour of Vatican City?! I would have a difficult time focusing on my new spouse while I was touring and oohing and ahhing over this marvelous city.

My husband and I went to a State Park and stayed in a cabin for three days. Then we came back to our home city and stayed in the fanciest hotel in our city for another 2 days. (No one knew where we were except the Best Man in case of an emergency. They all thought we were far, far away!)

We focused on each other, not touring. Our agenda in both places was “make love, talk, relax, repeat.”

For many couples, the wedding is absolutely exhausting. For months, you have lived with the constant grind of planning and carrying out a wedding. It’s fun, but it’s also nerve-wracking, and of course, no matter how carefully you plan, something will go wrong and mess up the “perfect” day. Hopefully you will take it in stride and consider it a foreshadowing of a real marriage, where things do go wrong quite often, and couples have to figure out ways to make the best of it, stay in love, and keep hanging onto each other.

To head straight from a wedding to an activity-filled honeymoon with an “itinerary” is rather daring, if you ask me. Already, you’re stressed about it.

Why not just plan something simple and cheap, and save the grand trip for the One Year Anniversary?

The tropical get-away sounds OK, though. Turn it all over to a travel agent. Give him/her your budget and tell him/her to plan it down to the last detail. You don’t need this additional stress.

BTW, this has nothing to do with the topic, but it’s an example of what can go wrong on the wedding day. My son-in-law’s cousin was married a few weeks ago. The day before their wedding, the men went to pick up the tuxes. Instead of the elegant black that they THOUGHT they had ordered, someone at the tux store had put in an order for ghastly gray pin-striped tuxes that looked, literally, like something out of a 1920s James Cagney mobster movie! The men kept joking that they should all carry guns down the aisle! There was nothing they could do about it at that point. The bride especially was devastated–she was kind of a Bridezilla anyway, and this was definitely not what she planned! Oh, well. The wedding happened anyway, and hopefully, she and her new husband will joke about the “Mobster tuxes” on their 50th Wedding Anniversary.
 
Thanks for all the great suggestions everyone.

I was hoping to avoid paying a travel agent as I have traveled extensively and can do what they do myself but getting one is sounding better all the time because I don’t want to just take a shot in the dark about where we wind up.

We want to take the opportunity to see a holy place but on our own with out being tied to a tour group and I am torn between doing that sort of thing and the complete get away to somewhere sunny too, so long as we don’t have to miss Mass to do it.

The idea of the guide books and the links are a great help as well.

Much appreciated. I just have to decide which way to go I guess which I think is my real problem. 😉 I just want everything to be as perfect as my bride, for her. 😃
 
If you’re looking to go someplace tropical, you might consider a place like Sandals. Their resorts are all-inclusive. Thus, there is no tipping of busboys, bellhops and waitresses. No dishing out money for dinner or drinks. You can literally lock up your wallet in your room and not take it out until you’re ready to go home. It can be a bit pricey depending upon the package, but it is very low stress.
 
Rick Steves books/videos for Rome or all of Europe.

If you do Rome, call the Chancery office at your Diocese and see about getting to see the Pope. There is the thing where you wear your wedding clothes and get a special blessing…
 
I went to Italy on my honeymoon. We went to Venice, Florence and Rome for 8 days.
I booked everything through Gate1 travel gate1travel.com/italy-travel/default.aspx.
It was very affordable and I did virtually no planning on my part…they book your airplane, hotels and give you the train passes, etc. It is not a tour group, you are on your own the whole time BUT you can sign up for guided tours if you want and they sign you up with local tourguides.
On other trips to Europe I have gone on tours through a company called Globus.
 
Don’t have honeymoon advice…we didn’t have one. :o

But I just wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS on your upcoming marriage! :extrahappy:

BTW: February is an awesome time to get married! 👍 Our wedding was February 18, 2006! 😃
 
Joab_Anias said:
Thanks for all the great suggestions everyone.

I was hoping to avoid paying a travel agent as I have traveled extensively and can do what they do myself but getting one is sounding better all the time because I don’t want to just take a shot in the dark about where we wind up.

We want to take the opportunity to see a holy place but on our own with out being tied to a tour group and I am torn between doing that sort of thing and the complete get away to somewhere sunny too, so long as we don’t have to miss Mass to do it.

The idea of the guide books and the links are a great help as well.

Much appreciated. I just have to decide which way to go I guess which I think is my real problem. 😉 I just want everything to be as perfect as my bride, for her. 😃
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Be careful of travel agents. We had one advise us on our first trip to London. She had stayed in London for a year so we thought she would know where the better places were to stay. We were travelling with our family of 6 plus my mom and my husband’s mom. The pictures of our hotel looked good on the internet. When we got there, it was a disaster! The hotel was in a rather seedy, student section of the city and was very run down. We wound up losing our deposit money, cancelling our reservations there and paying a walloping amount to stay at the Hilton Metropole. This was when I didn’t know much about using the internet. I’d never use a travel agent again.
One more bit of advice: there’s a site called Tripadvisor that’s really helpful. People write in their impressions and experiences of hotels and restaurants and attractions in places throughout the world. When we went to Italy, I found places through Rick Steves’ books and then checked them on Tripadvisor to see what “real” people had to say about them.
Good luck with this and congratulations on your upcoming wedding.
 
Thanks for the additional advice in the last three posts. Its very helpful and appreciated.
 
My DH and I just got married on September 25th, then 6 days later we left for the CA Mediterranean cruise with the 4 days in Rome. I know someone mentioned that you want to focus on being married and being a couple, and not so much on “touring”. But, let me tell ya, being in Rome and experiencing all the spiritual sites…it was amazing and a great blessing for our marriage. We left the hotel early one morning before Mass was scheduled, because we wanted to find the church and go pray. We actually got lost, but in getting lost we found a church down the road that had 24 hour Adoration. We didn’t have time to go that morning, but the next morning we did, and there is nothing quite like being in front of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament with your new spouse. 😃

As an aside, lots of couples on the cruise that had been to Rome in the past mentioned that renting an apartment or loft from people that sublet is actually a MUCH cheaper way to go. Then you have your own place, you can possibly be down in an old section. We were in walking distance of several beautiful, historical, spiritual places, but at a hotel. At any rate, maybe you can check into a rental like that. I’m sure if you Google it you will be able to find something! 👍
 
kage_ar said:
Rick Steves books/videos for Rome or all of Europe.

If you do Rome, call the Chancery office at your Diocese and see about getting to see the Pope. There is the thing where you wear your wedding clothes and get a special blessing…
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I was just looking into this as we’re getting married next year and still need to decide if/where we’ll go on our honeymoon. Apparently, you can still get the Audience with the Pope, and get to sit in a separate section up front, but they have discontinued the individual blessings of the newlyweds. I don’t know if that means he does a general blessing for all the newlyweds attending or what, but it’s not individual like Pope John Paul did. It said that practice is discontinued indefinitely.

If you wear your wedding attire, you do get better seats in this section apparently. I still think it’d be an awesome thing to do on a honeymoon and plan on showing my fiance the site about it.
santasusanna.org/popeVatican/tickets.html
 
I might just have the website for you. You indicated that you had traveled extensively before. Well, this forum is made up of independent travelers who like making their own way around. If you are like-minded, go to this site

fodors.com/search/results_community.html?search=rome+italy

It gives you a wealth of information. And if you are interested in other places, just use their search engine. I put in rome, italy since that was your place of interest.

Here is the section on the Vatican

fodors.com/search/results_community.html?search=vatican%2C+rome

By the way, congratulations on your upcoming wedding!!
 
seeking_my_path said:
I might just have the website for you. You indicated that you had traveled extensively before. Well, this forum is made up of independent travelers who like making their own way around. If you are like-minded, go to this site

fodors.com/search/results_community.html?search=rome+italy

It gives you a wealth of information. And if you are interested in other places, just use their search engine. I put in rome, italy since that was your place of interest.

Here is the section on the Vatican

fodors.com/search/results_community.html?search=vatican%2C+rome

By the way, congratulations on your upcoming wedding!!
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Outstanding thanks! I already found round trip tickets for both of us cheaper than half of most tour packages. 🙂 Now a place to stay, a light itinerary and maybe a rental car and we should be set. I wonder what the weather is like in Rome during Feb? 😃
 
Wherever you lead us I will go. 😃

It doesn’t matter where our honeymoon is, just as long as I am with you, and we are together, away from our daily lives and all the business it entails.

I thought perhaps Rome would be a great idea at first, but now, well… I just want to be with you, anywhere, just the two of us, for at least a week. It doesn’t have to be far, or expensive, we will have a lifetime together to travel.

I trust the Holy Spirit will lead you to whatever is perfect for us, wherever that may be. :angel1:
 
Woohoo, a cousin of mine out on the West Coast got his travel agent license yesterday and is on it. 🙂
 
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