Hello,

I am getting married at the end of July 2014 and am planning our honeymoon roughly between July 30 – August 12. Further, we must attend our friend’s destination wedding in Hawaii immediately afterwards for the August 16th weekend so we are hoping to make this all one big trip, without coming back home first. We are from Vancouver, Canada and are still undecided on location, however we do have a few criteria:

- We don’t want to be lying around on a beach all the time as we will be in Hawaii anyways for our friend’s wedding

- We enjoy culture, food, wine, and nightlife! We’re thinking a bit more of a city vibe would be nice, but somewhere that feels ‘different’ from Vancouver (We would LOVE to go to Europe, but are thinking it may be too far out for our budget/time..  )

- A perfect balance would be about 60/40 between activities/sightseeing and relaxing

- Our budget is around $5000 (not including Hawaii)

Some destinations we have considered are California, Costa Rica, and New York (too far/$$?)…but we are open to suggestions. Any help is really appreciated – we’re both pretty inexperienced travellers!!



Thanks!

If you can't make it to Europe, how about taking the train east to Montreal and Quebec? I did that train trip year before last with a stop off in Jasper and enjoyed it very much.

I'd consider San Francisco for 4 or 5 days, Napa/Sonoma for a couple of days, Monterey/Carmel/Big Sur for 3 or 4 days, and maybe a bit of time in Santa Barbara. Then fly from SF or San Jose or Oakland to Hawaii.

Thanks for the responses!! @thursdaydsd; I did consider Montreal but my fiance just went last year!

@janisj; This is also a potential itinerary we are thinking about. Just to throw it out there though, does anyone know if Central or South America even realistic with our budget and timeline? I've heard that cities like Lima or Cuzco are beautiful with lots of culture and variety, but I don't know whether I should keep trying to look into Central/South America or just stick to the continental US..

The problem w/ SA may be the budget since airfares can be very high. But if you can find a reasonable fare, yes, a trip to Peru/Manchu Pichu would fit in your time frame. though that is the most crowded time of the year on the Inka Trail.