What are your honeymoon plans?

By Julie Ndagire

Too often, a honeymoon takes a backseat to all the wedding planning. But shouldn’t you give it just a little more attention? After all, the wedding is for your family and friends, but the honeymoon is just for you. It is a time to relax and reflect, but most of all, enjoy each other. Here are the basic things you need to know.

Decide on honeymoon budget.
You may have already decided this when planning your wedding budget. If not, sit down and do this before you decide anything else. Figure out if you have frequent flier miles or hotels miles that can be used towards your trip. Consider putting all of the wedding expenses on a credit card that earns frequent flier miles for your honeymoon. (Be sure to pay it off every month – you don’t want to start a new marriage with a ton of new debt.)

Decide when to go and for how long
First, figure out how many vacation days you have accrued and how many of them you will need before the wedding for last minute planning. (it is common for brides and grooms to take a couple of days off.)
Do you want to leave the morning after your wedding? Or do you want to go on honeymoon sometime after the wedding to unwind and pack when you’ll be more focused on it, and take your honeymoon a few days or even a few weeks later?
Another option, for those whp don’t have a lot of vacation days, is to take a weekend “mini moon” after the wedding and then take a long second honeymoon on your first anniversary.

Decide where to go on you honeymoon
Each of you should take a few minutes to separately write down what you envision doing on your honeymoon. Do you want somewhere warm or Cold? Do you want to go some place far away and new, or someplace close to home? Do you want a resort where there will be other honeymooners to socialize with, or someplace secluded where it will be just be the two of you? Do you want to be in a city with museum, restaurants and night life or, do you want there to be lots of athletic activities available? Perhaps you’ll just want to spend a lot of time in the room! Once each of you has your list, compare. Where there are differences, see if there’s one place that might have the best or both worlds.

Consider visiting a travel agent
While most people are booking travel online these days, a travel agent can be extremely helpful when planning a honeymoon. Not only will he or she have ideas about places you might not have thought of but they will be familiar with those details like “do you need a visa?” and when the rainy season is. They might also have special packages or deals to pass onto you.

Learn more about where you are going
It is never too early to get excited. As soon as you have picked a spot, buy a travel book, so you can read about all there is to and see.

Arrange for passports and Visas, if necessary
Make sure your driver’s licence is up to date.
These pesky little details can take time and therefore are on of the first things you should do, once you know where you are going. I will never forget the trip where I got to the counter of the rental car agency only to be told that my driver’s licence had expired only days before. Luckily the person I was with could rent the car, but I would have been better off with a little forethought.

Honeymoon at Home – Making the best of it

By Julie Ndagire 

 You are in a fix. The wedding has cost you a lot of money, there is little money left for honey moon. You had longed to get away with your wife, to have the most romantic gate away together, but here you are with little money and probably in debt. What do you do? Try out a honeymoon at home. Get a few items beforehand to get you started. Make it romantic and memorable with these tips.

Getting Started
You have to both agree on honeymoon at home then start preparations.
If you have children or live with anybody at home send them off to relatives and have the home to yourselves.
You need to buy a few items like sexy lingerie and boxers.

Working on the ambiance
Buy some scented candles for a candlelight setting in your bedroom at night. Instead of the usual bulbs, use candle light to give your bedroom a romantic feel.
Alternatively, you can install coated bulbs in your bedroom for a special light setting.

Bedroom
• Spice up the room with a touch of nature. Pick up and put in a flowers or beautiful leaves from a compound and put in a flower vase or if you can, get red roses and place in beautiful pots and decorate your window seal, bathroom, dressing table in your bedroom and sitting room. Petals can work magic. Spread them nearly on the floor, or just over the bed or the entire bedroom.

• Change your beddings. Work with bright magical colours like red, maroon, pink and yellow to create a paradise in your bedroom.
• Write love notes on small pieces of paper about how much you love your wife or husband and put them in places they can easily see them like under the pillow, under their toothbrush, in the fridge, on the dinning table and on the bedroom walls. Just watch how they react when they see them. You will enjoy the look on their face.
• Red bedtime stories to each other, tell each other jokes, tell him or her why you fell in love with them and why you still love them.
• Give your bedroom or entire house walls, a new painting. Use colours that will create romantic feeling.


Food and drinks
• Cook together, even if you do not know how to cook. Learn from each other and have fun in the kitchen.
• You can opt to hire an affordable, but good cook or get a relative or a friend to cook and serve you for the entire honeymoon.
• If you love wine, include it on the drinks menu. Red wine is said to arouse good sensual feelings for both of you.

• Step out of your comfort Zone with the drinks or food, try out as many drinks as you can. After all it is your day and you are drinking it indoors. Yu can actually get to do all crazy things you have never done before.
Movies &Music
• Buy or borrow as many romantic movies as you can to get you through the entire honeymoon. These movies will help keep your mind focused on love.
• You can buy as many slow love songs as you can to play in your bedroom, and all day long especially in between meals.
• Create a musical montage of your relationship on a CD burner or MP 3 player – Songs that either remind you of moments in your relationship, or say something significant about it. Then spend the evening dancing in the living room. Take this idea to the next level by going out somewhere that offers dance instruction, or hire a dance instructor to teach you the basics.
• You can even dance to the music together.

Adventure
• Try out crazy things you have never done before like sleeping on the floor for the entire night.
• Take turns cooking breakfast for each other
• Do the breakfast in bed

• Take short walks together around the compound hand in hand.

What is your Honeymoon Personality?

By Julie Ndagire

After months of planning and finally walking down the aisle, you might be shocked at your partner’s idea of a honey moon. Your personality types may affect your preference of honeymoon destinations. So before you rush to book a honeymoon location, each of you should think about what you would like. Do not concern yourself with finances. Let your mind wander! Think about what you would like to fill your days and nights with. This should help jog your memory;

What type of atmosphere do you see yourself stepping into?
• Do you picture a long stretch of beach?
• Acres of picturesque greenery?
• A lovely petite compound?
• A down to earth but clean and smart place?
• A posh city environment?
• Exotic, wild nature?
• Or it doesn’t matter as long as you have each other?
• Are there many tourists around?
• Are there many locals around?
• Do you see yourself interacting with others much?

Would you rather;
• Stay within the resot and taking advantage of only its facilities?
• Go on guided tours daily
• Stay indoors mostly?
• Create and go in search of your own entertainment?
• Or it doesn’t really matter?

What is more intriguing to you?
• A drink by the pool?
• A never before done activity like snorkeling?
• Do you visualize romantic evening strolls, holding hands and pinching each other?
• Or Romantic candle – lit dinner in the room?
• Or high energy party activities like gambling or dancing
• Or a sleep in with you lover?

Are you eating exotic foods and Pizza?
• Are you enjoying locale cuisine?
• Or it doesn’t really matter?

What would you pay extra for;
• A luxury room?
• A breathtaking view to die for?
• Execeptional customer care?
Awesome guided tours?

• What would you fear most on your honeymoon?
• Boredom?
• Being too secluded?
• Crowds?
• Being in foreign country?

What is most important to you?
• The room?
• The Service?
• The food?
• The facilities?
• The entertainment?

Armed with your answers to the above questions, both of you should agree whether to go to a beach resort, a safari in the wild, a swanky and posh location, a laid back gateaway, an adventure-packed location or a scheduled, romantic location specifically for honeymooners.

8 Steps to Book your Honeymoon

By Alexa Ondra

Ever heard of the saying; “Proper prior planning prevents pathetically poor performance?” Most Ugandans are guilty of last-minute booking with no planning at all. This creates a headache for both the couple and the travel agents. Start planning your honeymoon along with your wedding.

Set a budget. Decide whether you would like to spend more on wedding or the honeymoon. How much money can you spend on the honeymoon? Remember it is possible to be in a particular location but choose the 5-star, 4-star, or 3-star option.

Lake Victoria Serena Hotel in Entebbe; One of the best honeymoon destinations in Uganda 

Decide what type of honeymoon to take. This is purely based on your personalities. Are you adventurous? Are you the type that prefers to be left alone? Are you water-loving? The choice is yours.

Seek advice from a travel agency. The world of tour and travel even within your own country is complex beyond your imagination. Things like connecting flights are best done by the pros else you end up spending four hours in transit while an agency would have sorted you out better.
With your budget and ideal vacation in mind, take your ideas and talk them over with a travel agent. A good agent should be able to produce a number of options that will be tailored to your preference and your budget.

Research your destination before sealing the deal; the internet, the tourist board or the travel agency can provide you with information. Check out activity ideas and weather.

Know the logistics before you go. Know the distance between your hotel and the other attractions you plan visiting during your honeymoon. Check out hotel amenities.

Find out about necessary vacations or diseases endemic to your preferred area for honeymooning. Visas, Taxes, Know it all.

Let everyone know you are on honeymoon. Hotel staff, restaurateurs, and drivers should be informed of the special occasion for your trip. Do not be shy, because divulging this information often results in special discounts, treatment or gifts.