Where should we go on our honeymoon?

That view Lester_King... wow!

HeavyFuel wrote:

If you enjoy skiing, you could hit the slopes at a ski resort on the East Coast for a couple of days

Confession: neither me nor my fiancee have ever skied before.

Floomi wrote:

My girlfriend and I did a week-long trip around Crete this summer

We went to Kos this summer, highly recommend it. It's touristy yes, but in a good way.

DevilStick wrote:

New Orleans is great - but Mardi Gras may be a bit "inner-city sensory overload".

Agreed I don't even like carnival in Belgium, not my cup of tea.

DSGamer wrote:

If you don't go to the US I would humbly suggest Croatia. It's gorgeous there.

Good call, I've heard good things about Croatia. I would like to use our honeymoon as an excuse to go somewhere more 'exotic' though.

Maq wrote:

How about a farm stay in Tuscany? Beautiful villas. Great food and wine. Warm sunshine. Rolling countryside.

We went to Tuscany by car in summer 2011. Lovely sights indeed, but the traffic among Italian 'drivers' was very stressful.

Charleston is sounding more and more appealing actually. Bonus points for not being that well known, so we can go all hipster on our friends

The fiancee and I will really start looking this weekend. Thanks again all of you for the great suggestions. Don't hold back if you have anything else to add though

In Charleston, you'll note there are lots of horse drawn carriages which give tours of the Battery area. You might look into hiring one to take you and your new bride to a romantic evening dinner after you get all dolled up.

There's also a fun market on... Market Street.... during the day. Charleston would be a good place to rent bikes to get around.

You might consider a day trip to one of the plantations in the area. I took a day trip out to Middleton Plantation once which was interesting.

The Wikitravel page looks like a decent overview, and I'm sure the Charleston GWJers will have other suggestions.

http://wikitravel.org/en/Charleston_...

Oh, and try the shrimp and grits at one of the nicer restaurants at some point while you're there.

If you want east coast US, I'd look into Key West. You can fly into Miami (even stay there for a day) and rent a convertible and drive down to the Keys on the Overseas Highway.

If you want to keep going south, my wife and I went to the Riviera Maya in Mexico. Fly into Cancun, and stay in one of the resorts south of the city along the coast. Amazing!

Went to the Paradisus Rio de Oro in Holguin, Cuba for our Honeymoon, coming up for 4 years ago. We stayed for two weeks at the end of January/Start of Feb. It was warm, but not too warm, maybe 26 C each day.

Arriving back in Scotland in February, to a snow-framed runway and -5C was quite a body shock.

The resort was absolutely fabulous, all inclusive and as much privacy/interaction as you cared to go for.

Might I suggest the lovely hamlet of Valentine's Bluff?

Someplace with a bed.

Crete and Santorini is a great week trip.. when I got married this past summer thats where we went.. we did 9 days... the Hotel in Crete was fabulous.. And from where you are its a quicker flight if you only have a week..

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/prefer...

Probably the greatest Breakfast/Brunch I've ever had..

In Santorini we stayed at a hotel thats more inland and super quiet and romantic.. we did the "old walking path" from Fira to Oia which has some of the most spectacular views in the world.. and chances are you will be alone the whole time (bring good walking shoes though lol)

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/prefer...

How much do you like winter and winter activities?

You'll be right in the middle of Winterlude; though I need to check the dates.

Ottawa Ontario Canada has a two week long winter festival in Feb. Skating on the canal (worlds longest prepared ice surface), ice sculptures, winter fun parks with ice slides, Nordic skiing in Gatineau Park. Four alpine skiing hills within 30 minutes of downtown. Plenty of historic sites and museums. They just renovated the Natural History Museum. The National Art Gallery. The National Arts Centre(performing arts). Chateau Laurrier, Parlaiment Hill. The Nordic Spa is awesome, yes especially in winter.

...but you have to like winter... A lot.

To me. Feb in NYC is slushy streets and cabs. My winter in Ottawa/ Gatineau is cold sunny sparkling snow... But cold. If cold is not your thing then it could be a miss.

Nevin73 wrote:

Someplace with a bed.

Yep.

DevilStick wrote:

The Wikitravel page looks like a decent overview, and I'm sure the Charleston GWJers will have other suggestions.

Don't mind if I do!

For off the beaten-path stuff in Charleston, I'd suggest the Angel Oak. It's the first place I took my wife (then GF) when she came to Charleston, turns out she loves trees. A >1500 year old Oak Tree.
IMAGE(http://www.toptenzpictures.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/angel-oak-tree.jpg)

Also have some amazing restaurants and other things to see.

Wow! No votes for Kauai yet?

My wife and I honeymooned there and had an amazing time.

Snorkeling and spinner dolphins on the Na Pali coast; Waimea Canyon; some tropical gardens all to ourselves that the filmed Jurassic Park at; the freshest pineapple at breakfast

It is winter in the north, but that means it is summer in the south. As in South America. I have see too many things on the travel channel that make me want to go to Chile. Miles and miles and miles of coastline and the food looks amazing!

fangblackbone wrote:

Wow! No votes for Kauai yet?

Mostly because it's the other side of the world for them and they only have a week. I love Hawai'i, though.

Hawaii is awesome, but that'll be a long flight for you guys.

Oahu has the tourism of Honolulu with the more natural beauty of the north shore. The Big Island has volcanoes, lava beds, black sand beaches, and ziplining in Hawi.

Lester you may have chosen our next vacation! Which airport did you fly to to get there?

Quintin_Stone wrote:

Hawaii is awesome, but that'll be a long flight for you guys.

Oahu has the tourism of Honolulu with the more natural beauty of the north shore. The Big Island has volcanoes, lava beds, black sand beaches, and ziplining in Hawi.

I particularly enjoyed the island of Lanai when I was visiting the Hawaiian Islands. It's beautiful and peaceful. There are snorkelling day trips, and gorgeous golf course (though I only saw photos of that), tours of the island (most of it on foot), and so much fresh pineapple you'll wonder how you ever drank alcohol out of anything else.

Plus, the stars at night there seem so close and so huge, it seems that you could reach out and touch them. I highly recommend Lanai.

If you're considering East Coast US destinations, you might also think about Savannah, GA. Dragonfly and I just did an anniversary trip down there and had a GREAT time.

The historic district is pretty well contained to a modest sized area. Lots of shops, museums, historic (for the US, anyhow) homes and architecture. Great food. There's a decent sized wildlife preserve just north of the city for birdwatching and such, and it's a short drive to Edisto beach (with its own small set of attractions) if you want to spend a day walking on the ocean (Feb will likely be a bit nippy for ocean swimming)

Even if you do Charleston, SC instead, you could easily do a day trip down to Savannah. Just a suggestion!

USA in 1 week from Europe = long flight & jetlag. I'd be tempted to do something closer like Spain (I liked Cadiz fwiw) or Greece.

If you're dead set on the US, we had fun on a trip in Florida...I suspect you could fly direct into Orlando, then tour around. Swim with manatees, Disneyworld, St Augustine for some historic/pirate stuff.

Cod wrote:

USA in 1 week from Europe = long flight & jetlag. I'd be tempted to do something closer like Spain (I liked Cadiz fwiw) or Greece.

If you're dead set on the US, we had fun on a trip in Florida...I suspect you could fly direct into Orlando, then tour around. Swim with manatees, Disneyworld, St Augustine for some historic/pirate stuff.

That's why I suggested Hvar in Croatia. Hvar is absolutely gorgeous and isn't very far. I don't think I consider much in the US exotic. Different if you're in Europe? Sure. But not so different.

DSGamer wrote:
Cod wrote:

USA in 1 week from Europe = long flight & jetlag. I'd be tempted to do something closer like Spain (I liked Cadiz fwiw) or Greece.

If you're dead set on the US, we had fun on a trip in Florida...I suspect you could fly direct into Orlando, then tour around. Swim with manatees, Disneyworld, St Augustine for some historic/pirate stuff.

That's why I suggested Hvar in Croatia. Hvar is absolutely gorgeous and isn't very far. I don't think I consider much in the US exotic. Different if you're in Europe? Sure. But not so different.

Croatia is actually the one European suggestion in here that sounds appealing. The jetlag thing is certainly something to take into account. I'll probably take another week off after our honeymoon, as I have some free days left from this year, but my fiancee can't get away from her teaching job of course.

Another vote for Hvar (and Dubrovnik/Mljet)

TempestBlayze wrote:

Lester you may have chosen our next vacation! Which airport did you fly to to get there?

We flew from Atlanta to Belize City. Then a local plane will fly you to Dangriga, Belize.

The resort set us up with the local flights since we were on the honeymoon package. They're incredibly helpful, pick you up at the airport at Dangriga and then the Coco Plum is about 20 minutes by boat off the mainland.

It was a perfect trip for us.

How would one best fly to Charleston, if that were to become our preferred destination? I have very little experience with flying, the few times I have actually flown were for work (meaning I didn't book it myself).

It looks like you would have to change in the US, which can be a pain as you have to go through immigration and customs when you first land and don't really know how long that will take. Looking at it quickly in expedia I would suggest going with one of the longer layovers, ie 2+ hours. There was one with a 7 hour layover which is too long unless you want to try and see something in the city.

Yeah, Charleston is a smaller regional airport. So you'd have to come in through a bigger city. Atlanta, New York, Philadelphia, or Detroit are the bigger airports you'd be coming in from.

I don't know how the layovers would work, though, with going through customs. I know when we came back from Belize it only took us ~45 minutes to get through customs, but we're residents...

You go through customs on your first landing inside the US. Then you make any connecting flights after you've been cleared. Schengen countries are visa waiver though, so it shouldn't be anything except time. You'll want at least a two-hour layover in that airport.

dejanzie wrote:

How would one best fly to Charleston, if that were to become our preferred destination? I have very little experience with flying, the few times I have actually flown were for work (meaning I didn't book it myself).

Some thoughts:

1/ As Lester said, you will need to fly through a larger US airport. In February I would strongly suggest flying through an airport as far South as possible to avoid flight disruptions due to snow and similar inclement weather. The flights I found seemed to go through Washington DC or Philadelphia. I'd go with DC if you can't something farther south

2/ Use sites like Orbitz to find a flight, but try to book directly with the airline if you can get the same (or close) fare. If a problem arises, Airlines will be more flexible with you if you have a directly booked ticket. Note that I tend to book through my credit card's points program, but absent that I would try to book direct if the fare was equal or very close.

3/ It used to be that you always cleared customs and immigration upon landing in the US, but I've noticed some airports having you clear clear customs and immigration before you board your international flight to the US. You'll want to check with the airline to make sure you know whether you need to arrive extra early to get through immigration/customs on the front end.

4/ Rather than risk missing a flight connection, you should give yourself a layover of 2-3 hours so you have buffer in case your prior flight is delayed. You can always grab some drinks/dinner during the layover.

dejanzie wrote:

How would one best fly to Charleston, if that were to become our preferred destination? I have very little experience with flying, the few times I have actually flown were for work (meaning I didn't book it myself).

I've done a bit amount of international flying for work, to Europe, South Africa, and that crazy country/continent thing the local called Australia.

DevilStick has it pretty much right; When flying from Europe to the US, Washington DC (probably Dulles International-IAD) is probably your best bet for entry on the East Coast. Customs lines are pretty short, and processing (with a US passport) was fast. Weather is occasionally a problem, but I don't think the airport closed at all last winter.

I'd avoid New York (JFK - long lines in Customs) unless you want to pass through there for the novelty, but you aren't going to see anything from the airport anyway.

Personally, if you don't choose to go somewhere warm (as in beaches), I'd go for somewhere very cold, as in snow and mountains, whether it's for skiing or general mountaineering. Think Conway, NH or Jackson Hole, WY. That gets pricey, though.

I'd also say look into flying Delta into Atlanta for proximity, but I've never gone through immigration there. it's a nice airport to kill time in though, if all your layover options are on the long side.

Delta and Atlanta was my first thought as well, but I didn't see any reasonably priced flights. :/

Again, thanks a billion guys/gals.

As far as I know, Brussels - New York (JFK) is the most common connection from Belgium to the States, but I'll try to avoid that. Some good advice here, as always!