You may, or may not, have caught a tweet or two of pure excitement from me. And why? Only because we ruddy booked our flights and accommodation for our Honeymoon didn’t we!! After nearly 2 years of planning It was such a moment to finally book the holiday of a lifetime. The part we have both been sooo eager to do for a fair while. Due to funds, we have only just booked with only 5 odd months before we jet off!!
Since I am soooo flipping excited, and it’s taken months to find and sort the perfect hotels. And, we have booked everything ourselves, saving nearly £2,000, I thought I’d share some of the finer details!!
Thailand
Yes, we are heading off to the place I have been ever sooo eager to visit. Since we are getting married in July, and wanted to head straight off, we are staying in Koh Samui.
We originally looked at the infamous Krabi area, but due to the weather and season in Thailand, we would be lucky to experience good weather. After a long time researching, we settled on Koh Samui as the first place on our little Honeymoon exploration.
Whilst the original plan included a couple of nights in Bangkok first, funds and budget meant we had to scale back slightly. It’s worked in our favour, since we have bagged a stunning hotel where we have our own private villa and plunge pool for a whole ten nights. Perfect for relaxing after the big day!!
What we have planned
Lots and lots as per. Including some sightseeing to temples and natural sights like waterfalls. There is a ‘main’ area, as well as gorgeous beaches away from our hotel. We plan to see as much as possible, without running ourself ragged! We want to relax as much as possible, but also experience life and culture on the gorgeous island!
Singapore
It’s a place I had never imagined we would be able to visit. But when we were in the very early stages of brainstorming, it cropped up and hasn’t left our minds since. We actively did everything we could to make it viable to head off and experience Singapore after researching it’s endless attractions.
We have a hotel reserved, yet dependant on the kind donations into our wedding fund, it may change if budget doesn’t allow. Thankfully, in a city like Singapore, the hotels are stunning whatever your budget. And honestly, how much time are we really going to be in it!
What we have planned
Once again, the list is never ending. With Universal Studios on the top of my list, and a track walk on the top of my fiancee’s, we will be rushing around to fit everything in. But there is plenty of city to see, and 5 days to do it, so I think it will work itself out. One thing I am hopeful we can pencil in, is to enjoy breakfast with Orang-utans at the zoo. Once in a lifetime experience for sure!
How we did it on budget
Honestly, I am still pretty shocked we managed to do it on such a tight budget. We didn’t have many places on our honeymoon visit list, purely because we both wanted to experience somewhere new together. Top honeymoon destinations like Mexico, Mauritius and Cape Verde have already been visited by me, so they were promptly off the list. We also wanted a bit of city as well as beach, and didn’t want to be confined to one resort. We settled on Thailand and Singapore shortly after realising it was viable, if planned carefully.
Use on-line services as much as possible
For a good couple of months I gathered quotes from leading travel agents, as well as spoke to many specialists on the ideal locations for our honeymoon. Whilst I was pretty keen to book with a agent, who could deal with all the flights and individual bookings themselves, as well as offer us a deposit option, it was pretty expensive.
Around £5,000 to be exact.
I didn’t feel as in control as I wanted, and actually rather pushed by some agents to make a decision quickly. Some of the leading honeymoon providers offered fantastic service, but unfortunately that did come at a cost. After lots and lots of comparison website, flight sites and hotel sites, we managed to find hotels and flights nearly £2,000 below the quotes we had received.
Before we made decisions and booked, I was constantly going onto travel websites searching similar locations, as well as all-inclusive resorts to compare prices. Whilst we were saving considerably, we were still nervous to commit to the cost ahead of knowing the contributions we would kindly receive in our honeymoon fund.
For our flights, I was looking on Skyscanner. It’s the most amazing website that pulls together prices from all websites. We ended up booking through Carlton Leisure, who offered the cheapest tickets for the flights we wanted. Internal and all! Whilst it was a little painful having to change our flight times due to the website not being updated effectively from British airways, we got all it all booked pretty fast.
For our hotels, I was mainly looking on booking.com. However, we have used Agoda to secure our Koh Samui stay, after researching found it cheaper there, than on booking.com. I would always recommend looking and shopping around as much as possible! The price difference on the two websites were nearly £200!!
As always, be sure to check reviews, and always take with a pinch of salt. I try and not look too much into the reviews and more so on the general consensus.
I am sooo stoked on our honeymoon destination and the fact we are heading to the place we always wanted. There have been lots of debate as to where and if we should go at all. As always, cost is the main underlying factor. But since we have spent the last 2 odd years planning for the big day, we thought we would cut ourselves a little slack and do what we wished for. Now here’s hoping we have a little help for those planned day trips and experiences from our friends and family in the honeymoon fund!
Have you been on your honeymoon?
Where did you go?
Have you been to either of these places?
Any advice you have?
As always, let me know in the comment section below!
Charlotte x
