Honeymoon Advice

Zola.

Hello folks, we get married late next year, and we are starting to think about the honeymoon.

Does anyone have any advice about shopping around, good websites etc? Should we map out our own route, or go through an agency?

We are based in N.Ireland, so there are companies like STA Travel, Trailfinders etc that we could use.

We hope to do a 3 week honeymoon, taking in 2 or 3 countries if possible, Japan possibly being one. Another somewhere like Thailand where we can laze on a beach for a week or so.

Any advice appreciated

Gloomendoom

We decided where we wanted to go first, then bought the plane tickets, then sorted the accommodation.

We didn't use an agency.

lika_86

Depends what you want. There's an argument that an agent may have more swing in getting you room upgrades/extras for free. In addition, some (Kuoni spring to mind because a friend used them), allow wedding guests to make contributions directly to them as wedding gifts.

Whatever you do, I'd advise doing some research first so you know what you want to see/do but be open to ideas. If you don't have any idea, maybe go into a few and see what they offer or pick up brochures.

arbrighton

We sorted our own honeymoon, UK based, but would recommend trailfinders for long/ multilocation trips

We're about to go off to Australia and for us, the lack of hassle as everything is booked makes it worth it.

We used them to sort the trip to the USA where we got engaged too

psychopathbabble

It's sometimes easier/cheaper to use a travel agent for flights as we found it difficult to book return flights to the USA, flying into one city and flying out of another... the price was ridiculous.

You could speak to some of them, get some ideas and then price up booking it all yourself. As someone else said, the travel agent might have incentives for you being on honeymoon (free upgrades or champagne etc) and it's always good to have someone to moan to if anything were to go wrong.

selement

I'm currently planning a month in Japan for my honeymoon. Using an agency is easier but more expensive compared to what I could find myself, but I'm having a very bespoke trip! Multi countries might be easier through an agent though I don't know. I looked at inside Japan tours but felt I could get myself a better deal

Kimmie26

My colleague is in the process of organising his honeymoon (a surprise for his fiance) and has found and is probably booking, through trailfinders. They were able to find a really good deal, luxury accommodation including transfers, half board, activities etc for a lot less than an independent travel agent - who was also able to find a good deal but not quite as good as trailfinders.

He had been unable to find anything quite as good by dealing with it himself and I think trailfinders has actually taken out a lot of the stress it was causing him!

Good luck!

AndyBSG

Usually I will book things myself or use a High Street travel agent but earlier this year I went to Autralia.

What with it being such a big, once in a lifetime holiday and with multiple different internal flights and accommodations involved I decided to use a travel counsellor.

No doubt I paid a premium for it but the counsellor I used had spent 3 years back packing round Australia and Asia so straight away he told me the places worth visiting, ones to not bother with, how easy it was to travel from my hotel to each tourist spot, etc.

Additionally he did everything for us and really made the whole thing so easy.

Obviously not someone i'd use for a week in Spain but definitely for any long haul trip with multiple stops it's worth paying the extra and I can definitely recommend him for Asian trips.

https://www.travelcounsellors.co.uk/wayne.barsby

bimbo84

If you're going to go the booking things yourself route is worth checking out websites based in other countries. I recently booked flights to Vietnam into one city and out of another. Saved £135 each by booking on Canadian Expedia. That's even taking into account exchange fees on my credit card.

Gloomendoom

I must admit that I prefer to book things myself. When things go wrong, as they sometimes do, I've found that it is usually easier to sort out than when arranged by a third party.

I arrange and book my work trips too, for the same reasons.

rdone

We've been to almost every country in Europe and have done all the booking ourselves so were going to do the same for our honeymoon in South East Asia but we found this was more difficult.

After pricing it all up ourselves and hoping we'd found the right prices and times for bus/trains we went to STA to see what they could do. They found a better route for us than we could do, and we're taking in one more country all for the same price. As the last two weeks of our honeymoon are on one of their tours we also don't have to worry about finding the right bus/train and some of the activities are included. Most days we'll go off on our own.

We're going to Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore on the 17th December... we can't wait!!