Congratulations on your wedding. We hope the glitter has settled and the guests have left and you are left with all the energy you’d need to go on a honeymoon. Well, honeymoons can get a little tricky, what with the costs involved and the fancy travel itineraries that cost a bomb but deliver just the regular. With all the money that’s been poured into the wedding, it is only common sense to spend wisely on your honeymoon. Here are five honeymoon travel hacks we are sure will make your big trip sweeter.

1. Research online, together
It’s important to know where and how you want to spend your honeymoon and research helps clear your mind. There are many travel sites like Trip Advisor and even specialised wedding planning sites like The Bridal Box that help you plan your honeymoon and list places you can visit on a shoestring budget.
2. Book early, very early!
Once you’ve decided on the place, book everything — the hotels, the flights, the tours and the shows. Book everything as soon as you’ve finalised your wedding date, which generally could be months in advance unless you are a runaway bride or a groom, in which case you’d be spending a little more than usual. Jokes apart, there are many great ticketing sites, tour operators and hotel booking agents like MakeMyTrip and GoIbibo where you get great deals and can actually call them and haggle if you are booking months in advance.

3. Shift the focus on discovery
Well, this could go against the whole honeymoon thing of staying in bed but we think times have changed and so have couples. You don’t go on a honeymoon just for that any more. It’s a nice holiday, actually your first as husband and wife, so go around, enjoy the sights and scenes and in the process, you will realise that you don’t really need to stay in the fanciest hotel; you just need a nice and decent place to go back to, chit chat, romance and sleep. This would let you enjoy the holiday as well as help you in saving on wasteful room rents which you can use to travel and see some interesting places.

4. Travel like a tourist
Yes, it’s your honeymoon but you really don’t need to take a limo everywhere. A honeymoon isn’t about grand style, it is more about how awesome the crazy little adventures were and all about the memories you make. So travel like a tourist, take a rickshaw or a bus, eat on the go, do crazy things, be young and in the process you’ll spend it all on making memories rather than wasting it on things that really aren’t about happiness.
5. Eat, drink and chill like a local
Chill like a local — the old men weren’t crazy when they said “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”. Try the local cuisine, their bars and their entertainment programs. It doesn’t make sense attending a ballet in Bali does it? Rather, go to the beach, enjoy the Balinese dance performances while you save on the expensive ballet tickets. It is plain common sense — local ingredients for food or talent for shows etc. are easily available and hence cheaper. So go with the flow and you’ll save like a boss.
Well, that’s all folks! Spend time on research, plan and book beforehand and you’ll be surprised how economical even an exotic honeymoon destination can be. And by the way, a very happy married life!
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