Hi My wife and I will be spending our honeymoon in Europe. The trip is for 19 days and I think I may be in trouble. I wanted to get to Greece as cheap as possible and found those flights from Boston to Ireland the cheapest and then worked my way down. With this Itinerary I saved $500 over just flying to greece-$1800 for 2. However have really shortned our time in greece with seeing these other countries also for the first time. Our booked itinerary is as follows---What do you think? Will I be divorced at the end? Any suggestions? we have already booked flights.

4 Days Ireland -Shannon south along coast to Dublin-Fly to Paris
2 Full days Paris-by train to Brussels
1 Day Brussles-Fly to Athens
8 Days Greece -Santorini-Mykonos/Crete?
2 Days Dusseldorf

Thanks

If you hadn't already booked the flights, my answer would be... won't you spend more than the $500 saved in getting from Ireland to Greece?

I'm sorry but this looks more like a scavenger hunt than a honeymoon.

If you really want to just go and relax in Greece then do it. (You have only one honemoon - what difference does a few dollars make versus half your time?)

What plans have you for Ireland (Shannon is on the West coast, dublin the east - how will you get between and what will you see/do?

If you want to add a city to this itinerary then why just fly through Paris and bag Brussels?

Dusseldorf??? (I assume you have family here to visit.)

Have you looked into the Greece part - ie getting between islands etc? Three islands plus Athens seems out of control for 8 days. Do you ever plan on sitting down?

Also - you don;t say when this is - how will the weather be where you're going?

I don;t wish to be cruel - but your time is worth something - esp on your honeymoon. Frankly I don;t understand people who don;t insist on non-stop flights if they're available. Getting to europe can be exhasuting enough - but this is just too much - unless you really want to see all these places!

Have you looked into changing the flights to what you really want? How does the cost of that compare to the entire cost of the wedding itself? Can't you cut down on the flowers or something?

Hi H,

>Our booked itinerary is as follows...

Which parts of your itinerary can be cancelled?

Well with 19 days I wouldn't be opposed to a "double" honeymoon, picking two completely different places. In this case, Ireland and Greece, but I'd sure drop the rest out of the picture.

Maybe this helps answer some of your questions-

#1-We have no family abroad
#2-I expect some criticism
#3-I couldn't find inexpensive fares for summer travel
#4 all segments are direct flights
#5 we begin May 29-return June 16

Paid per person
Boston-Shannon, Irland-$205
Dublin-Paris $40
Brussles-Athens $40
Athens-Dusseldorf-$60
Dusseldorf-New York $250
Bus Home $15

In Irland we will rent a car and drive along the southern coast to get to Dublin

In greece we will see santorini and crete-as we have cut mykonos out

Well - you certainly got inexpensive transport.

So - the questions now is - what is your financial situation - and obviously this is none of our business. Perhaps you would both rather do this and have money for someting else.

And how much will your wife mind this trek? Have you gone over the details with her? If you have - and she hasn't cancelled the wedding yet - then I guess you're good to go.

(I would have either completely rebooked the honeymoon or cancelled the wedding - but then my philosophy is that my time/convenience is worth a lot - and definitely worth a lot more than saving $500 each.)

I guess I/we feel that we are getting perhaps more by getting these stops than we would if we had flown direct. I'm not sure that we would get to see these countries at all if it were not for these sneek peeks.

This travel is definatly a step up for me as when I was 18 I traveled for two years by thumb from Alaska to Mexico and to a few Natoinal Parks as well. Working at a salmon cannery, and selling t-shirts in the park in San Diego.

My fiance (24) paid for the flower $800. If it had been me I would have gone to the supermarket and ordered a few rose boquets with a $100 budget in mind-Probably also stopped at the bakery and had them do the cake too.lol!

Usually I like to travel for about three weeks-I/we have done this many times to Latin america, where things are cheap. In fact every winter break I would travel while in school because I couldn't return home (don't ask) and it was almost cheaper than paying the dorm fees and being stuck on campus alone.

After this trip I will probably try asia, and do a three week trip if my life permits it.

It sounds as if you've thought this out and it is the kind of trip that's right for you. You mention you expected some "criticism" but you also asked us all what we thought, would this trip lead to a quick divorce, and if we had any suggestions.

It's hard to make intelligent comment when you don't know the whole story. Hearing more details, I don't think you need our help at all.

congratulation BTW!