Our Dream Honeymoon Booked Directly By Yours Truly!!

[XmasKisses]

Hey gals (and guys!)

Okay our wedding is on the 7th of December this year which is a Friday. Our original plan was to fly out on the Sunday the 9th to Cancun and spend 9 nights in Secrets Maroma and then 5 nights in the Fitzpatricks Hotel in New York, arriving back into Ireland on the morning of Xmas Eve. However with travel agents such as Trailfinders, Escape2, Tropical Sky, Travelmood and Cassidy Travel etc, that was costing between €5000-€6500. No way were we paying that! Our original budget was €3500!

So we decided we'd look into booking our own holiday. We'd often thought we'd love to drive around America because we're that kind of people to be honest, we'd sunbathe for an hour and then get sick of it and we had been worried anyway that Cancun might not have been the best option for us as we'd tire easily of just sitting aroung and sunbathing. Also we both love cars and driving, we rally together, he drives and I navigate so it's something that suits us! We also said we still definitely have to go to New York because it's somewhere neither of us have ever visited and I HAVE to go shopping there!!

So I looked up flights first and eventually the cheapest from Shannon to Orlando on the 9th turned out to be with Ebookers.ie and the airline was Lufthansa. Then I organised hire car of a full-size jeep with Alamo. Then I looked up TripAdvisor for hotels with good reviews in the areas we were looking to travel to. Ended up booking our 1st night in the Baymont Inn & Suites on International Drive, they were the best price. Then booked 2 nights in Dreams South Beach Miami, 2 nights in a beachside cottage in the Island Bay Resort in Tavernier in the Florida Keys and 2 nights in the Hard Rock Hotel in the Universal Orlando Resort. We'd have 3 floating nights where we could choose where we wanted to stay when we were over there, probably somewhere in Clearwater, St. Petersburg, Tampa etc. We'd be dropping the hire SUV back on the morning of the 19th and then flying to New York where we would be staying in the Fitzpatrick Grand Central for 4 nights. I booked the transfer flight with Expedia.ie and the airline is JetBlue. The flight from New York back to Shannon would have us arriving back on the morning of Xmas Eve, exactly what we wanted. I booked most of the hotels through Hotels.com which was the cheapest, except for the Hard Rock which I booked through Ebookers and the Island Bay Resort which I booked direct.

In total the honeymoon is costing us €4500, more than we budgeted for but less than with the travel agents and it is a dream holiday for us even if it isn't to everyone's taste!

[mrssuperexcited]

CONGRATULATIONS No wonder your jumping for joy. How many hours did you put into that???? It sounds amazing!!!!

We have no idea what to do, never been on hols together and have tiny budget so will be picking missies brains in the future. But fair play, well done and YIPPEE DIPPEE DOO DAA for you.

I can see it all, like a romantic flick, such a wonderful honeymoon to look forward to and judging by all that planning your wedding must be amazing.

Go on the Rally Drivers

[XmasKisses]

Haha thanks!! yes I can't wait!!! So looking forward to it, I'm like a child!!

You could knock €1100 off the price if you didn't go to New York between the hotel and inward flight.

It took be two weeks to organise it between doing it at home and doing it sneakily at work! Did a fair bit of research into what hotels were really nice and where to get them cheaper. The amount you could pay for some hotels is crazy!!

You could actually stay in Orlando cheaply on a package holiday as so many missies seem to be doing, it's so much fun, always brings out the child in me!!

[mrssuperexcited]

You should celebrate this weekend on a job very well done, YOU DESERVE it. Bet H2b is extremly happy

[Lilylou]

That sounds amazing!! And a big GO YOU for all the planning, researching and saving so much money! Will definitely research ours when the time comes!!

[XmasKisses]

Yeah you definitely should!! It can definitely help to make things cheaper!

Thanks!!

[MrsMollahan2be]

aw xmaskisses that honeymoon sounds just so amazing!!!!

and huge well done to you for boking it all yourself!!!!

It'll definately be an amazing honeymoon and you also saved quite a bit also!!!!

Well done!!!

[misssunshine000]

Aw wow that sounds amazing! Well done you, what a saving