I know it is three years away but...

stewby

Hi there.

We are getting married in three years and hope to have a massive (to us) honeymoon travelling in America.

The plan is for us to go for three weeks. At present the plan is to stay in:

* A small bed + breakfast in LA (we have found the one we want).

* The Bellagio in Las Vegas (my OH loves Oceans 11 and I love the fountains).

* Unsure of this one at present. Any recommendations would be great. Even if it is just to stay longer in the other places.

* NYC... distrikt hotel at present but this might change. (we were going to do the plaza due to Home Alone but it doesn't have great reviews recently).

* A small bed + breakfast in Washington DC (again we know the one we would like).

We haven't booked any of this but I am wondering where to start. We have never had a holiday like this before so don't know if there are websites which allow us to book everything all together or whether we should go through a travel agent.
So basically, we are just looking for some advice as to the best way to proceed.

We are getting married in the April of 2018 but thought about having the honeymoon in May or leaving it until August time.
I am trying to price everything so that we know how much we should be looking at.

The plan is to try and save for our wedding so we do not go into debt for it however my credit card is taking longer to pay off than I had hoped so I am now worrying about making it all happen (if you know what I mean).

Sorry it is so far in advance but I am a bit of a worrier. Any advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks in advance,
Stewby.

silvercar

You won't be able to book flights more than a year ahead.

richardw

May is a great time to go, I'd go for that.

It's a long way off so I'd concentrate on saving up and everyday money saving generally.

John259

stewby wrote: »

* Unsure of this one at present. Any recommendations would be great.

How about San Francisco? Either fly there from Los Angeles or Las Vegas, or rent a car and drive the very scenic Pacific Coast Highway from Los Angeles to San Francisco, or drive from Las Vegas via Yosemite National Park, one of the most beautiful places on this planet.
Photo of the Pacific Coast Highway: http://goo.gl/xYyVuY
Photo of Yosemite: http://goo.gl/pQyX3d

Or splash the cash on an internal flight to Jackson Hole Airport in Wyoming and visit the Tetons, yet another superbly beautiful place.
Photo: http://goo.gl/lXbKaY

Tigsteroonie

You don't need to pay Bellagio's prices to enjoy it - you can see the fountains equally well staying elsewhere and just standing on the sidewalk or the overhead walkway Their peach bellinis are really good (hic!)

michele-p

Sounds like a fantastic plan. I'd second adding in San Francisco, and maybe Yosemite Yosemite park too. We did this on our honeymoon, and loved every second of it.

For our trip we found an independent travel agent, who priced it all up for us, and it was cheaper than I could do DIY. So worth a chat with a US specialist.

We asked guests for a honeymoon contribution, instead of gifts it really helped. The travel agent offered gift vouchers, they transfered the amount to our account a day after the wedding.

Flights go on sale just under a year in advance, so be prepared to book them nice and early, then the rest as you can afford it along the way if you go DIY.

It's a long time ago now (2008) but I seem to remember we spent about £3000 in the 2 weeks, but we did A LOT. Sky dive at Vegas, Shooting gallery at Vegas, upgraded the car to an SUV, and didn't skimp on anything.

Some suggestions for hotels ect, based on what we loved.
http://www.villadellestelle.com/ - LA - very romantic apartment. Though given my time again I would probably have left LA off the itinerary.

http://www.ticklepinkinn.com/ Carmel - between LA and San Fransisco.

http://www.argonauthotel.com/ on Fishermans wharf San Fransisco

we stayed in New York New York in Vegas, it was quite good value, and we still saw the Bellagio fountains, lots!

We're off to New York and the East Coast this year, so can't reccomend anywhere there yet.

Have fun planning it all, Trip Advisor is your friend.

agrinnall

While it's fun to plan holidays I'm not sure there's much value in looking at hotels 3 years ahead when it's quite likely that some of them will either not exist or be under different ownership by then. I'd have thought a year ahead should be plenty of time, and as silvercar points out you'll also be able to plan while knowing a bit more about flights then.

SW17

Agree there's not much realistic point trying to price it now, but if you're that much of a worrier and just want to have some idea, try pricing up what you want based on the same period this year, and factor in some rough price inflation.

Do it yourself rather than through an agent at this stage, even if you decide to use one for the real thing. A bit of planning fun if nothing else. You'll quite likely change your mind about what you want to do on the trip in the intervening couple of years anyway...

duchy

I wouldn't go in August Vegas is simply too hot -and the air quality if there are forest fires in California (not uncommon at that time) can be horrible both in California and Nevada. May would be far better. Airfares to the US are always cheaper in May than August too. Unless you are specifically restricted to school holidays for work August really isn't the best month.

Without knowing what you like from your holidays and why you have chosen the places already on the list it is quite hard to recommend anywhere else.

There's enough to see in and around the places you've mentioned to fill three weeks though- especially if neither of you have visited any of them before. Personally I'd drop New York and save that for a first anniversary trip rather than try and squeeze it in at the expense of making the other places more rushed.

Have either of you driven in the US before ? A car is an essential in LA. Downtown LA is tacky and a bit grubby - somewhere like Santa Monica is nicer and more of a honeymoon spot . There are some good hotel deals to be had in Anaheim if you want to visit Disneyland.

Vegas.....I could happily spend a week there shopping, pools, eating out,shows and it's one great place to people watch! Grand Canyon , Red Rock etc but I do think the Belagio is over priced for what it is and there are some very nice hotels with fountain view rooms on the Strip. You can use the money you save for an expensive dinner at the Belagio You might want to check out the Myvegas game on facebook as a way to get some free meals at the Bellagio.

New York if you've not been before is at least four or five days and Manhattan hotels are very expensive

I'd suggest you check out trip reports on line - and read about what other people did as it might give you some good ideas about what else to do and the sort of time to spend in each place.

blindman

stewby wrote: »

Hi there.

We are getting married in three years and hope to have a massive (to us) honeymoon travelling in America.

The plan is for us to go for three weeks.

Good duration

We haven't booked any of this but I am wondering where to start.
.............or whether we should go through a travel agent. :eek::eek:

So basically, we are just looking for some advice as to the best way to proceed.

You've come to the right web-site :cool:

We are getting married in the April of 2018 but thought about having the honeymoon in May or leaving it until August time.
I am trying to price everything so that we know how much we should be looking at.


Stewby.

Short and snappy answers:

Plan for May-cheaper airfares\hotel cost\good weather\

Frequent flyer miles
Look at signing up to various credit cards\Charge cards to accrue FF points to use for either the long haul trip or maybe internal flights.
These tend to be worth it in Economy ONLY if the airfares are really high, or you could splash out and fly Business class.

Where?
Make a list of what you HAVE to see\Do with also places that are nice but can do next time :cool:

Look at a MAP and plan accordingly.
Do NOT be too adventurous

Threads
General thread with lots of links
Vegas
NYC
Southwest USA

Hotel Bidding-priceline and Hotwire

stewby

Thank you very much for the replies. I am very grateful for any help we get regarding our honeymoon.


Due to your responses then we will definitely aim for May as the honeymoon month so to speak.

Unofficially, we have never been to America at all so have only seen it on the internet and in films.
Officially, I spent four hours in a San Fransisco airport whilst waiting on a transfer. However, I was too chicken to actually attempt to leave the airport as I was on my own.
So I class it as having never been to America as the transfer wasn't really a trip or anything. Hope that makes sense.
:undecided

Duchy... that is exactly the sort of information we needed!! I hadn't even thought about the risk of wildfires causing us a problem if we went in August.
I also didn't know that LA was a bit grimy and that we would be better off in Santa Monica.

This was the Bed and Breakfast I was looking at in Los Angeles:
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g32655-d595189-Reviews-Garden_Cottage_B_B-Los_Angeles_California.html

However we might be better heading outwith LA as I had intended to walk places which is probably not a great idea.
:embarasse

We love touristy stuff basically.
So, an example would be: In New York, we plan on going up the Empire State Building, going to the Statue of Liberty, finding the Ghostbusters HQ, wandering through Central Park, walking across Brooklyn Bridge, etc.


We had looked at Chicago as a fifth place but the hotel costs there were crazy. I think we might cut it down to four and stick with that. 4 days in each place with a travel day in between.


New York is somewhere I have wanted to go since I was a child so to go there for the first time with my OH would be amazing and very special (hence why it is so important to the honeymoon plan).


Thanks again for all the replies. I know that I can't book anything this soon but I am just worrying that if we don't start saving soon then we might not be able to afford everything that we want to do... and we would love to have a honeymoon to remember.
:happyhear

Thanks again and any further information would be great.
Stewby.