Take a Honeymoon Break: Relax on an Alaska Cruise

Are you stressed out by your wedding plans? You should consider a relaxing Alaskan cruise for your honeymoon destination. If you are like most people today, your life is very fast paced. Planning your wedding is like adding in another job on top of all the other details and pressures of your everyday life.

If you observe others around you, you’ll see they aren’t much different. They often end up fatigued. They take no time to relax. They sacrifice even their precious sleeping time until their body gives in to the accumulated pressures and stress.

Many times, you skip meals or eat in a rush. Are you are always watching the clock, your  appointment pad, or planner to juggle it all and fit it all in?

Don’t you know that keeping to the fast rhythm of life without a break could result in some time you can not afford off work sick, or worse, to the grave?  Mental and physical fatigue accumulated, but ignored through the years could make you ill.

Wait! Work, call the caterer, work, call the photographer. Doesn’t it sound like too much? Why not give yourself a break on your honeymoon?

Life need not to be lived at a fast pace. After all, life is better enjoyed when regular breaks are squeezed into the day to day pressure of one’s job or chosen endeavor.

You can do plenty of relaxation activities during your spare time. If you are planning to make it more exciting and fun, Alaska could be the best choice for you.

Alaskan cruises are divided into three categories of packages. Each of the packages will give you an enchanting experience that you find only in Alaska. Here are the types of cruise packages you can expect to find available:

• Alaska Inland Cruise – you will have the chance to visit all the wonders that can be found in the inland passage of Alaska and even enjoy some kayaking destinations. You will surely be captivated with icebergs and glaciers.

• Alaska Day Cruise – here, you will have a clearer view of specific areas of Alaska. You will visit one location on a day cruise. You can come face to face with a huge wall of ice in Alaska from the warmth of the boat facilities.

• Alaska Celebrity Cruise – this is the so-called first class cruise in Alaska. You will also experience more royal treatment with the celebrity cruise. On the other hand, this is the most expensive among all Alaskan cruises.

The usual attractions that cruisers love about Alaska are the humpback whales, sailing the Fjords and glaciers. You can have an actual view of these depending on the package that you have chosen.

In addition, nothing can also be compared to the magic of Alaska cruises. This is one place where you can find mystery of ice and wildlife side by side. You also have the opportunity of go sailing amongst the icebergs.

The package that you choose will also help determine the length of your stay in Alaska. The seven-day cruise is one of the most popular choices. This is enough time for you to explore the entire variety of Alaska points of interest. However, the length of your stay can also be extended to 14 days or the two-week cruise.

You have the ability to choose the size of the ship where you can be most comfortable. Sometimes, it is more preferable to ride inside on smaller ships with lesser number of   passengers. You can have closer, less crowded vista.

On the bigger ships with more than a thousand of passengers, it is harder for you to get away from the crowd, get a closer look, and even experience the glaciers firsthand. However, the larger ship has more luxurious amenities and a slower pace. The smaller day ships can be more exciting and thrilling because of their speed.

You will need to plan ahead to have the chance of choosing the best package. Find the best package that will fit your honeymoon needs. Alaska Cruise is also offering amazing trips by helicopter that actually land on the glaciers. If you want to give yourself an adventure, you can also take a walk on the glaciers.

Your honeymoon Alaskan cruise will be an unforgettable experience and relaxing reward after all the wedding planning.

What are you waiting for? Leave your worries in life behind and enjoy an honeymoon Alaskan Cruise!

Saving Money On Your Beach Honeymoon

South America has some of the world’s best beaches for you to enjoy during your honeymoon. The problem is you might not think your budget will allow you to take that honeymoon trip to one of South America’s beautiful beaches. With a little creativity and research, you can take a honeymoon trip to one of these beaches. When you know how to cut expenses, you will see that you can make this trip a reality.

First off, the big expense is the flight to one of these South American beaches. Most flights are cheaper when the flight is taken during the weekdays instead the weekend. So try to plan your beach vacation so that your flight and return flight will take place on weekdays. Also, purchase round trip tickets instead of two separate tickets. Most people think that they are getting a better deal if they do the tickets separately. This is just simply not true especially since the airlines started adding in all those fees.

As a side note, there are some cases where you can get some great deals on flights by booking a last minute flight. Of course, this won’t help in the case of your honeymoon if you have the time off from work planned. But, your honeymoon won’t be the only trip you take together, and this is a helpful tip to keep in mind for your future travels.

If an airline has many cancellations, they will sometimes offer those tickets up for a discounted flight. The only way that this is a good idea though is if you can travel at a moment’s notice. You will not want to wait until the last minute, and then find that you are going to have to pay a higher price than you would have if you had booked a few weeks ago. It is a gamble, but the savings can be substantial.

Another major expense is the your hotel stay which can start to add up to a pretty high figure. When taking a South American honeymoon to enjoy the beaches, look into staying at the smaller local hotels instead of the major hotel chains. These hotels are called pousadas and you should look for that name in the hotel name when doing your booking. If the hotel name has pousadas in it, then you are ensuring you are getting a fairly inexpensive hotel stay.

The old adage of “Ask and you shall receive” also applies to these privately run hotels. When you ask for a discount of some sort, more than likely they will give you one. After all, they would rather have you stay at a discount than not get your reservation at all. Not all private run hotels will give a discount all the time, but it does not hurt to ask. If they do give you one, then you have saved some of your honeymoon budget for food or souvenirs.

Remember that when visiting a South American beach you are going to have to eat sometime while you are there. This can get expensive has most tourist attractions are highly over priced. The best way to save on your dining while there is to avoid the tourist hotel restaurants and restaurants that cater to tourists in that city.

Instead, consider dining where the locals eat. When you dine a local restaurant that is frequented by mostly locals, you will find the food is a lot cheaper than what you would pay in the tourist areas. You’ll also find that the cuisine is truer in these restaurants. The tourist hotels tend to offer the same types of meals you can get at any hotel at home.

If you follow these tips: research your flights, ask for a discount and stay in the smaller hotels, and eat where the locals eat, you will find that your dream of a South American beach honeymoon can be a reality.

Carnival Cruise Lines: Honeymoon Travel in Style

Taking a honeymoon cruise can be a great experience. You should really consider taking your honeymoon vacation on a cruise ship. It offers a relaxing trip while traveling to exotic locations around the world, tasting different world cuisines and experiencing fun wherever your cruise takes you.

Just try to imagine the two of you waking up on a cruise ship with a freshly brewed coffee and delicious breakfast, waiting for you in your own breakfast table. After having your breakfast you go outside and just bask in the sun or enjoy the beautiful scenery on your way to your honeymoon destination. You then decide to take a dip in the cruise ship’s onboard swimming pool and Jacuzzi. After having that refreshing dip in the pool, you then decide to get a relaxing massage with their onboard professional masseuse. At night, you can attend parties or play on their onboard casinos, and you can have luxurious dinner in their dining room. After that, you both go relax in your room and think of what activity you will do tomorrow.

Cruise ships offer endless activities that will enable you to relax and have fun. You will be thinking of nothing, but relaxing under the sun for days and even weeks. It’s the perfect way to unwind after spending a year planning your wedding.

One of the most popular cruise lines is the Carnival Cruise Lines. They offer one of the most enjoyable floating resorts available in cruise ship’s vacation packages today. They have Carnival Fun Ships, each a floating resort full of fun activities that everyone, young and old, can enjoy.

Carnival Cruise Ships offers a wide variety of honeymoon destinations that you can choose from. They have cruises available in the Americas and Europe. Here is a list of their cruise destinations:

• Alaska
• Hawaii
• Mexico
• Panama Canal
• Caribbean
• Bermuda
• Transatlantic
• Canada/New England
• Europe

With so many destinations to choose from for your honeymoon, you will surely have the best vacation that you will ever have.

Carnival Fun Ships have a lot of different activities that you can enjoy. You will certainly not get bored with the variety of activities they offer. They conduct parties every night with different themes. They have parties that would attract older guests with classic music and they also have parties for teens.

Here are some of the activities and facilities that you can enjoy in a Carnival Fun Ship:

• Daytime Activities – Daytime activities in a Carnival Fun Ship will include golf instruction, using their onboard swimming pool and Jacuzzis, and trying your luck in their casinos or you can simply bask under the sun and enjoy the view.

• Dining – Carnival Fun Ships offers first-class dining experience. They will serve you with fresh lobsters, first class wines and other exquisite meals that you will surely enjoy. They also have casual dining where they serve buffets and other meals such as pizzas, sushi bars, European style cafés, and other meals that would suit your taste.

• Spas – Carnival Fun Ships have onboard spas and gyms. If you think that you’re overindulging yourself by relaxing too much and in need of an exercise, Carnival Fun Ships have facilities and professional trainers that can assist you in your workout.

They have gym equipment like weights and weight machines and they even have a jogging track and an aerobics class. They also have spas with professional masseuse for that relaxing massage. The spas also have beauty treatments for men and women to enable you to always look your best as you walk around the ship.

• Casinos – Feeling lucky? Carnival Fun Ships have onboard casinos where you can try your luck. They offer casino facilities like that of a first class casino found on land. Try your luck with slot machines, blackjack, poker, craps, and roulette and maybe you’ll win enough to pay for your honeymoon cruise.

• Camp Carnival – Carnival Fun Ships also offer activities that youngsters can enjoy. They have activities that toddlers can enjoy like bingo, cartoon time, face painting, playtime, coloring and drawing contests. For juniors, they have activities like t-shirt painting, puppet shoes, outdoor games and more.

For intermediates, they have ping pong, video games, dance classes, talent shows, and more. For teens, they have parties, games, swimming, dinners, late night movies. And, for older teens, they have the Club O2 where they can enjoy popular music, great movies, video games, teen shore excursions, teens-only lounges and other great ways to hang out.

If you are planning a cruise vacation, booking on Carnival Cruise Ships will ensure you fun and enjoyment on your honeymoon.

The Top Scenic Train Trips Through the US for Your Honeymoon

Looking for an unusual idea for your honeymoon? How about a train trip? Many trips are actually tours where you stop and spend the night in a hotel and visit areas of scenic or historical interest. You can sightsee from the comfort of the train and spend the days talking about your wedding and concentrating on each other and not the road.

Thanks to great plains, grand mountains, sweeping vistas, and a varied selection of things to see, you can take a scenic honeymoon train trip through the continental United States and have a great time by simply just taking a seat and kicking back. There are train tours that constantly operate during the year, and they will last anywhere from seven to ten days. These train tours also have featured stops at popular tourist destinations, overnight stays at hotels and resorts, visits to national parks and historic sites, and other amenities that you will enjoy. So all you need to do is book the tour, relax, and get packing!

If you’re not ready to spend over a week on the road for your honeymoon, you can still get short train rides that will allow you to comfortably board your train and sleep in it over a few days. This means that you don’t need to spend a lot on hotel fees or worry about what to eat – and all you need to do is to look for these short trips and plan your own walking tours when you reach your destination.

There are many different scenic train trips that you can take. For instance, you can take the California Zephyr, offered by railway giant Amtrak. This popular trip takes a two day, two night scenic route from Chicago, Illinois to San Francisco, California. While on board the Zephyr, you can view the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevadas, pass through scenic plains, view deep canyons, and go through waterways. Another top tour is the Southwest Chief, also by Amtrak, which goes from Chicago to the United States’ West Coast. This tour goes through eight states, and goes through a variety of scenery, from mountains to plains, fields to deserts.

Planning a Fall wedding? Love the colors of the Fall? There’s nothing like Autumn in New England and Canada, and you can take foliage tours during the fall months across several states, and across the border. You can go through historic Massachusetts, scenic Connecticut, sea-swept Maine, picturesque New Hampshire, and beautiful Vermont. If you’re more for the bluegrass and the Blue Ridge Mountains, you can take scheduled tours through the Deep South and go through Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, and adjoining states.

If you’re after lakes and the plains and fields of the Midwest, then take scheduled train tours through Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and nearby states. And if you want to view scenic, historic canyons, take Canyon railways and ride the sky tram as you go through Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Even the Grand Canyon has its own planned out scenic routes. In the mood for some snow? Then ride the Polar Express through Alaska. And if you’re up for a brush with the fine, good life, then take a scenic route through Napa Valley, which will allows you to stop at wineries, and even sample wines with your food on the train!

These are only a few ideas for scenic train trips you could choose as your honeymoon destination through the U.S. Thanks to the hand of Mother Nature, the U.S. is gifted with a lot of scenery and landscapes that will allow you to relax and enjoy your ride without worrying if you will have time to see anything. So do your research, plan out a great scenic route, and you will soon find yourself enjoying your honeymoon time together on a train ride!

7 Safety Tips when Riding in a Foreign Taxi

If you are going overseas on your honeymoon, or to any foreign country, taxis will be part of your trip. Chances are you will not be renting a car. The hotel shuttles we are all accustomed to here in the US are a rarity in foreign countries. Riding a taxi can generally be safe. It’s at least safer than journeying through the subway with your luggage and other travel paraphernalia.

But lets be honest, there are things, bad things, that can happen when riding in a foreign taxi. You’ve probably heard the reports of kidnappings by taxi drivers in the news. If you’ve spent the last year of your life planning your wedding, had your big wedding day, then hopped a plane and flown several hours to your honeymoon destination, you are going to be very tired and very probably jet lagged. In this state, your normal street defenses are very likely to be impaired and small details that you normally would notice as red flags may escape you. Before boarding any kind of vehicle, consider your safety first and then be alert about your surroundings when traveling. The good thing, in this case, is there are two of you– if you both use your common sense, you will be safe.

Tip # 1 – Locate a taxi stand.

If you just came out of the airport, you can easily find taxi stands in and around the area. It will be a bit similar to what you have in your country. You just look for the line of taxis under a sign that you probably won’t be able to read and that will probably be it. If unsure, ask a policeman or security guard. In general terms, only cabs that are authorized by the government to board passengers are the ones that can park under these stands. This also means that the taxi driver is licensed. Never let drivers that are aggressive bully you into riding with them. They might have a more sinister intention than bringing you to your honeymoon destination.

Tip # 2 – Know something about the place where you’re heading.

You should have some general idea regarding how to reach your hotel or lodging destination. You can find foreign city maps on line, or you can contact the property where you are staying and ask for general directions. A few minutes invested in planning at home can prevent you from being taken advantage of there. Try to avoid shortcuts because this can confuse your memory and lead to other streets that you are unfamiliar with. Notice what direction you are traveling in. If you know from asking that your hotel is south and the taxi is going north be determined to ask about it. Otherwise, be prepared to make the cab stop if something seems wrong. As a last resort, jump out of your seat and ask for help.

Tip # 3 – Pay attention to cab similarities.

Look at the color of the taxi. Is it the same as the others? Do they have certain similarities that can reassure you that the cab is really safe? You can never trust a taxi that seems different from the others because in some places, thieves use fake cabs to get your money or sometimes more.

Tip # 4 – Keep your belongings close.

If you’re traveling abroad most likely you will have a lot of big, heavy luggage. It is probably not going to be possible for both of you and your luggage to be inside the cab. But at the very least, keep your carry ons with all your valuables and important papers inside with you. Keep them very close to you. Losing your papers and money in a foreign country is a far more serious matter than losing your luggage in case anything bad happens. This is why you should be very careful when selecting your cab in the first place.

Tip # 5 – Note phone numbers.

Taxi companies love advertising. That is why legitimate taxis are always plastered with company numbers either on the trunk, doors and roofs. Never get into a taxi that doesn’t have the company’s phone number on its interior or exterior surface.

Tip # 6 – Sharing alert.

Sharing your cab with someone can minimize your expenses and might give you a false sense of safety. Generally, you should not agree if your taxi driver wants someone to share with you no matter how
peaceful the stranger looks – especially in foreign countries. You could end up being kidnapped becausethe peaceful-faced stranger is wearing a mask and is actually a monster in league with the cab driver.

Tip # 7 – Pay attention to the door handle.

Open the door to the cab and check the inside door handle before allowing your luggage to be loaded into the trunk. Do not ride in a taxi when the door handle inside is malfunctioning or is broken. It would be very difficult for you to escape a predicament with a busted cab door.

Always have an emergency line where you can call local officials. When you are setting up your honeymoon trip abroad, be sure to ask for these numbers and check with your cell phone provider that your phone will have service where you’re journeying. If you use your common sense and plan ahead, especially in foreign countries, you will honeymoon safely.