honeymoonin’! stories from bloggers

hey y’all– i’m currently in greece on our long-awaited honeymoon! as an attempt to have as unplugged a trip as possible, i’ve rounded up some of my married lady expat-blogger friends to talk about how awesome their honeymoons were. i hope you enjoy their stories!

how long have you been married for? in january we celebrated our four year anniversary.
where did you go for your honeymoon? las vegas
how did you decide to go there? there were a few factors that led us to las vegas: 1) we did not want to be cold and that cancelled out a lot of places in january, 2) we were on a budget and found in las vegas we could get a great quality of hotel that was hundreds and hundreds more in other cities– flights from southern california are cheap! 3) we wanted a short flight time as the summer before we had done a trip to europe and then a road trip from southern california to canada! 4) we liked the idea that las vegas is a 24 hour place so we could sleep in and not feel guilty we were missing out on anything , and 5) we like to gamble and enjoyed las vegas so much the first time we went together.

a great memory or two? my aunt gave us tickets to see cher as a wedding present– we had so much fun watching her perform and are still quoting the old man we overheard saying “remember when they showed concerts on the home box office?” it was great seeing a concert on our honeymoon as it gave it its own soundtrack and now whenever i hear cher, i am taken back to the trip and those feelings of being just married!
who would you recommend this honeymoon locale to? those who want some great luxuries at a good price and not having to have a set schedule.

bailie is an american living in sweden with her husband, and they will soon be making the move to england! you can find her at the hemborg wife.

how long have you been married for? one year now– our anniversary was july 5th!
where did you go for your honeymoon? our official honeymoon was to valenica, spain (we vacationed around italy right after our wedding but with my family so i guess that doesn’t really count as honeymooning!)
how did you decide to go there? quite frankly, money! summer is high season in europe and honeymoon-like destinations get expensive very fast so we didn’t have a lot of time to plan the whole thing. we knew we were already spending a lot of money for the wedding, especially with the added expenses of having my family from mexico in slovenia. plus, we wanted to go to a place 2 hours away by plane. we were in a long-distance relationship for awhile and the thought of spending our time together in airports was something we really wanted to avoid. we just wanted an affordable airport where we didn’t have to take an extra bus, train, or tram to get there. plus, i wanted the beach and M wanted to explore and see. that’s when we found out that valencia had all of those things. it’s not just an old town beach but a whole city that offered a lot of fun activities with the charming seaside edge.

a great memory or two? a lot of them just involve drinking too much tinto de verano (a lighter, much sweeter version of sangria)! one in particular was the moment that we arrived at the airport, we immediately went to the tourist checkpoint and the ladies there seemed extremely busy. i waited a couple of minutes and asked, “excuse me miss, i was wondering if you could help us out once you are finished” in the most polite manner i could. i knew spanish people had a bit of a reputation when it came to service so i knew i had to be very patient. a couple minutes later she comes back with free souvenirs and extra coupons because she said i was the first person to ever treat her in a respectful way! i tell this story to some of my friends who have been to spain and they tell me they can’t believe it, since they always have a short temper with customers. so see, kids? respect really does pay off! it was really nice to start our honeymoon on such a high note.

would you recommend valencia as a honeymoon locale? YES! the food, the sights, the tinto de verano will win your heart! and go during the summer festivities, like the battle of the roses with parades, contests, and music. you will never get bored!

isabel is a mexican living in slovenia with her husband. she’s got more photos from valencia to show you! you can find her at the sunny side of this.

how long have you been married for? since august 2013, so next month we’ll celebrate our second anniversary.
where did you go for your honeymoon? we opted to go to portugal.
how did you decide to go there? there was never too much discussion about it; initially we briefly discussed going to italy, where neither of us had been, but one day my husband through out portugal, a country i knew very little about. he had gone once more than a decade ago, when he and his dad took a road trip there (beginning in germany and spending time in the algarve), but he didn’t get a chance to see lisbon or the north. i agreed, not knowing much of what to expect; in that sense, it felt like one of those “blind bookings”, even though i did research things in anticipation of our trip.

a great memory from your trip? we spent so much of our time on foot, and since portugal is such a “hilly” place, one of the best parts was arriving at the top of a steep climb and turning around only to be rewarded with an absolutely gorgeous view, something that happened a lot in both lisbon and porto. the former is just as a capital city should be, with countless nooks and crannies and fascinating neighborhoods to explore. meanwhile, the latter has an artistic, working-class vibe, which really appealed to me, and if i lived in portugal, porto would be my top choice. we also loved spending a day exploring sintra, with its beautiful palaces and fairy-tale like scenery. finally, i loved the azulejos– painted tiles that line interiors and exteriors of buildings all over the country. of the approximately 4,000 photos i took, nearly half of them were just of the countless variations in tiles.
who would you recommend portugal to as a honeymoon locale? anyone who knows very little about portugal; it’s such a vibrant, multi-faceted country, and in my mind, one that is extremely underrated. but one thing is for certain: you must love walking, because if you go to portugal, you will be doing a lot of it!

natalye is an american living in germany with her husband and newborn (or should i say, new bjorn?) she has written extensively about her trip to portugal, and you can find her at deutsch bitte.

how long have you been married for? i’ve been married for just shy of 3 years. our anniversary is coming up in october!
where did you go for your honeymoon? ireland.
how did you decide to go there? we knew right away we didn’t want to spend our honeymoon on the beach– we wanted to explore a little more. we just started looking at vacation packages and when a really great deal to ireland popped up, we realized it would be perfect!

a great memory or two? because we visited ireland in november, it was not crowded with tourists at all. the weather was chilly but everything was so lush and green; it was magical. we both loved the light frost and moody fog rising from the rivers and streets when we’d get going in the morning. we hopped around, warming up in adorable cafes, and i really enjoyed taking our time driving around the countryside in our little rental car. near the end of our stay, we visited blarney castle on a crisp, clear and sunny day, and it was empty except for us. it couldn’t have been more perfect!
who would you recommend this honeymoon locale to? anyone who likes to feel welcome in a foreign country and can appreciate old world charm.

yalanda is an american living with her husband in south korea. you can read more about her irish honeymoon here, and you can find her writings and art shop at laugh anyway.

four very different and beautiful honeymoons! out of las vegas, valencia, portugal, and ireland, which locale might you choose? where did you go on your honeymoon?

if you have any hot tips for santorini & athens, i would love to read them!

see you next week, friends.

linking up for travel tuesday