The Honeymoon

How did you decide where to go on your honeymoon?

Our decision was somewhat of a compromise.

I wanted an African safari – the lions, the tigers, the bears?
“,customize bobblehead;Oh No!” Michael said,customize bobblehead.
“Fiji,personalized bobbleheads? Tahiti?”
“,custom bobblehead;Travel so far for a beach? Hawaii?”
Alas,personalized bobblehead,DOH!, I went there for my post-bar trip!
“Paris, city of lovers?” Michael asked.
“I’m not a lover of that city. California wine country,.?”
“Um .. been there.”
“With whom… don’t answer that,customized bobbleheads. Italy? Greece?”
“Italy or Greece or Italy and Greece” Either.

So Italy it was. Mix of sightseeing and chilling. I think we’re doing too much in too little time, but our schedule was somewhat dictated by the flight upgrades available (I’m not flying ghetto class on our honeymoon, honey).

So without further ado…,Design Your Own Wedding Dresses Online,personalized bobbleheads; We fly from NY JFK to Venice (via stop in Paris) the day after our wedding (pray for Delta to stay in Business),customized bobbleheads.

Days 1 & 2: Venice,,. We’ll be staying in the Westin Europa & Regina. Its an old, grand hotel, which is probably more than a bit run down (shabby chic is what they call it nowadays), and more than a bit overpriced. But its right near the Piazza San Marco and I got a half way decent rate in dollars (as opposed to Euros) on hotels.com. The only negative is that we had to pre-pay.

Day 3: Take train from Venice to Florence. Its a pretty short trip, so we should be in Florence around mid-day.

Days 3, 4 & 5: Florence. This was the hardest decision. We didn’t know if we wanted to stay in Florence or the Tuscan country side or perhaps split the 3 days between the two. Ultimately, we decided to stay in Florence in a very central location and take a day trip (or 2!) to Sienna, San Giamangia and a winery or two.

We’ll be staying the the Hotel Montebello Splendid in Florence. The hotel is probably the least fancy of all of the hotels we picked (although not the least expensive). But it’s walking distance to the train station so it will cut back some of the commuting time. We booked directly through the hotel’s website. On the website, there was a place to put in a promo code. I took a shot in plugged in “AAA” — it worked and saved us 40 Euro per night!

Day 6: Travel Day to Amalfi Coast! We’ll be taking the train from Florence to Naples (hold on to your wallets). And then will likely arrange a car to drive us from Naples to Ravello. I’ve heard that you should have the car take you via Pompeii so that you do not have to make a special trip of it. Hopefully we’ll be able to do this, but it depends on the train schedule (we haven’t figured out that part yet).

Days 7,personalized bobblehead, 8, 9 & 10: Ravello on the Amalfi Coast!!! I wish we could spend weeks here. It seems absolutely incredible. We’ll take day trips to Capri, Positano, Sorrento and just soak up the sun. The Hotel Caruso is unreal. I can’t wait. It will bankrupt us. I don’t care.

This is the view …

Day 11: Travel to Rome. We’,custom bobblehead;ll probably take a car to Naples and a train from Naples to Rome. I hope the total trip will take less than 4 hours and we will be in Rome by mid-afternoon.

Days 11, 12, 13: Rome!!!! I was in Rome when I was 3 1/2 but that doesn’t count. I can’t wait. Again, I wish we had more time. The hotel in Rome is really a find. We’ll be staying in the Palazzetto in the Roman Wine Academy right on the Spanish Steps.

The Palazzetto has four rooms which were recently refinished. It is run by the Hassler Hotel (one of the top hotels in Rome) but is much less expensive and the rooms look nicer! The only “negative” is that we will have to go across the street to the Hassler to have breakfast and there’s no room service. I can live with that. Our least expensive hotel in Italy. To reserve, you have to send the hotel an email and they will get back to you; no online booking.

Day 14: Back to reality … flying home.

A few notes:

- If you’re planning on going to Italy in the summer,custom bobbleheads, book EARLY! One of the reasons that we are going to Venice is that Delta didn’t have any upgrades available for flights to Rome, Naples or Florence. We booked 6 months in advance. Hotels weren’t too difficult with the exception of Florence, where all of my top choice hotels were already booked (around 5 months in advance).

- Italy is expensive. Very expensive. I had a budget in mind which I thought was very generous. We blew right through it. But you only go on a honeymoon once, right? To keep costs down,personalized bobble heads, with the exception of the Hotel Caruso where we booked a deluxe sea view room (what’s the point if you don’t have the view), we booked “regular” hotel rooms everywhere else.

The Palazzetto only has one class of rooms, but hopefully we’ll get upgraded in Venice (not their busy season yet) and possibly Florence (I doubt it, given how many hotels were fully booked) I have included that fact that we are on our honeymoon in communications with every hotel.

-Tripadvisor ROCKS! Especially the button that lets you compare all of the online travel services prices at once.

- I personally think we’,Guide to Buy Wedding Dresses at Low Cost;re trying to do too much in too little time. I wish we could have skipped Venice and added the two days elsewhere but the flights dictated the itinerary.

- Our to-do list for the honeymoon: book trains, book a car from Naples to Ravello (I’ll hold off on booking a car from Ravello back to Naples, in case there is a much cheaper way to get around), possibly book half-day tours in the cities, book trip to Tuscan country-side through the Montebello Splendid, get reservations to museums in Florence (you can’t see anything without a reservation, and you need to get one at least a few days in advance), learn Italian, pray that the dollar goes up,Wedding Magazine Fiend,custom bobbleheads, lose weight.

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