Anatomy of a Frugal HoneyMoon
Getting married is a very special event in any couple’s lives. My new wife and I wanted nothing less than to drive off into the sunset after getting married, leaving our troubles and stress behind as we embark on our honeymoon.
That vivid fantasy aside, we needed a plan. Our wedding cost us over $10,000 and we wanted a honeymoon that would not shortchange our future. A future where having a 20% down payment on a house featured prominently.
Together, we put our ideas on the table and looked at each for the alternatives
DO Nothing
This one definitely wins in the cost category. We thought about this one long and hard for about two seconds. We are not going to be absolute cheapskates. Completely cutting out any semblance of a honeymoon would have saved us money but it would have robbed us of an opportunity to build our new memories together as wife and husband.
Remember that line between being frugal and being cheap? Yep, this one crosses it I think.
Take a Cruise
We have done this before and loved our trip. We estimated the cost to be around $4,000 for a week long cruise to some tropical destination.
But we really had already done it. We had a collective been there done that feeling about taking another cruise. So we thought about other destinations.
Road Trip to Nova Scotia/French Canada
This idea was all the wife’s. I have to confess that I didn’t see too much into going to Canada for a week and a half. This was the one we eventually chose and I am glad we did. It was a very fun vacation! It had all the feel of some far off European destination, without all the pain of actually going to Europe.
The budget for the trip broke out into three broad categories.
- Hotel ($200.00 / night)
- Food ($100.00 / day)
- Misc ($100.00 / day)
For a ten day total trip, that made out to roughly $4,000.00, same as the cruise.
Hitting the Road and Saving Some Money
Our destination set, we jumped in our car and headed off. Here are a few tips to save some dough on an international trip.
- Don’t exchange money at the tourist centers! They will gouge you on fees. Use a local bank which will have much more reasonable fees. You need cash for a lot of things so you might as well get the best deal possible when exchanging.
- Use a no-fee credit card whenever possible! My wife’s Capital One card has no international exchange fees. You simply pay the current exchange rate and viola! This saved us big bucks by paying with credit card for things like eating out and souvenirs.
The best part of our honeymoon above all else was the fact that our guest’s gifts more than covered the full expense. It was a pleasant surprise to have so many loving people in our lives who together gave us an amazing honeymoon without us having to dip into our house savings.
July 16th, 2008 at 5:59 am
[...] Getting married is a very special event in any couple’s lives. My new wife and I wanted nothing less than to drive off into the sunset after getting married, leaving our troubles and stress behind as we embark on our honeymoon. That vivid fantasy aside, we needed a plan. Our wedding cost us over $10,000 and we wanted a honeymoon that would not shortchange our future. A future where having a 20% down payment on a house featured prominently. Together, we put our ideas on the table and looked at Source: http://personalfinancestory.com/2008/07/16/anatomy-of-a-frugal-honeymoon/ [...]