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Honeymoon Heaven By Amy Ziff, Editor-at-Large July 2006 I've got honeymoons on my mind these days. Maybe it's because I just got back from one myself, or maybe it's just the season. Did you know that weddings are equally abundant year round? In fact, National Health Care Statistics reports 2.3 million nuptials each year, and you know what that means; more than four and half million honeymooners. The wedding industry has sky-rocketed in the last decade with elaborate events and honeymoons to match. More couples are paying attention to where and how they want to spend what is often considered the most important vacation of their life! In order to get to the bottom of what is most important to honeymooners, where they want to go and how they plan to spend their time after the ceremony and reception, I teamed up with the staff from Modern Bride and polled six thousand honeymoon planners. The following is what I found out about today's honeymoons, including my own. Even though I'm the travel expert, I let my husband plan our honeymoon. After all, isn't that supposed to be the groom's job? As it turns out, that may be just a silly old wives tale. It turns out that more brides (52%) actually do the honeymoon planning and only 31% of grooms do the planning. Some allow parents or friends to help and others rely on travel agents. With all this planning to do, 41% go online, 38% use an agent and 28% call the supplier directly to book. Like many others, my husband and I are internet people, and, not surprisingly, we arranged ours online. We planned to take a "dream vacation" but agreed it had to be a place neither of us had visited, so we settled on Africa. This desire to explore a new place is common for many couples. After all, if you're going to spend an average of two weeks to a month away it's important to go someplace with plenty to discover. The "dream" locations for the majority of honeymooners are: Hawaii, Fiji, Australia, Italy and Tahiti. But when it comes right down to it, weather and price are the most important factors to would-be honeymooners. The most frequented honeymoon destinations are: Hawaii, Mexico, Florida, Aruba and the Bahamas. Given the popularity of sunny locales, it's not surprising that our poll found that the majority of planners (49%) say the ideal honeymoon is one that revolves around relaxing on a beach with cocktails. My safari experience was matched by just 4%, while 7% would tour a big city and stay in a grand hotel. Charming inns in the countryside were selected by 13% of planners and 23% said cruising exotic ports was ideal. But lets face it, price is always important, even when planning a honeymoon. The largest number of planners (27%) reported spending from $500 to $999 a person. Nearly 25% spent $1,000 to $1499 and 23% spent $1500 to $3000 per person on their honeymoon. If planners had an extra $1000 to spend, most (33%) would use it on special activities (think hot air balloon rides or sunset sails for two), but a significant number (20%) would use it for spa treatments, while 19% would upgrade accommodations and 18% would go shopping and spend it on souvenirs. Only 10% would use it to upgrade their seats. While anything goes when it's your honeymoon, couples did say that alarm clocks, fax machines, blackberries and mobile phones were the most banned items from their trip. That means plenty of personal time for couples to enjoy one another. Fortunately, most say that they expected their trips to live up to or surpass the expectations they had. The one thing they feared most was getting sick while away. Overall, the honeymoon landscape is one packed with fun, loaded with relaxation, sprinkled with adventure and perhaps a touch of lingerie. Most importantly, it's a terrific time for the couple to get away from it all and simply be together wherever it is they choose. Just like no wedding, no two honeymoons are exactly alike. Most honeymooners are pleased with their trip – I know I was. Now if only I could take my honeymoon everyday! Then I'd really be in heaven. For more travel tips and advice, check out Amy Ziff's monthly column, Travel Trends & Advice from A to Z, at www.travelocity.com/atoz. To suggest a topic for a future column or to tell about a travel experience of your own, please email Amy Ziff at ask.amy@travelocity.com.

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