A typical Indian honeymoon starts at the “Roka Ceremony”. Eh, I meant honeymoon planning, of course !
Roka ceremony is a pre-event when both the families gather to confirm their novel relationship. Parents having done their job wash off their hands. Now the courtship period begins. One day the bride would flutter her eyelids and pop up the big question for you: Where are we going for our honeymoon ?
You would pretend to be relaxed, and with a slight hesitation would say “Oh ! I have *some* plans. We will figure it out”. This, triggers off an endless search for that honeymoon spot which is beautiful and dreamlike.
Everybody wants their honeymoon to be special. Everybody wants it to be different. But nobody has a clue on how they should go about it. *Sigh!* Where should they look for it ?
Three things you do not realize while planning your honeymoon are :
a) That you have never been to THAT place : Unlike other trips, where you could repeat a place, you would never want to revisit a place on your honeymoon. And just because the honeymoon destination is a first-visit, you would not know the do’s and don’ts about it.
You just can’t pick a place your friends suggest because they have gone on different dates, with different budgets, and most importantly, with a different mindset. You don’t want to follow the herd, but be a leader. Most likely, you would google up or hunt the yellow pages for that travel agent who has never visited THAT place. Just like a patient cannot measure his own blood pressure correctly, you cannot do justice to your honeymoon if you make wild guesses. You hardly think of leaving it to someone who can do the dirty job of planning, calculating and making calls for you, while you get busy preparing for your big day (Wedding !).
b) That you are bound to get CONFUSED : All things, places, hotels etc. would appear glossy and chic in the pictures, and this would do nothing but confuse you. It will dilute your opinion, kill your focus. This is the first stage of your planning- disarray, confusion and that fear of making the wrong choice.
c) That it all depends on the Budget : Yes, budget – really! Each package would make you clutch your heart. Ah, money is honey! Budget is the first thing that you should calculate while planning for your honeymoon. Most people get it wrong. Not the calculation, but the destination. Never, never commit the witless mistake of thinking of a place, and then trying to fit it in your travel budget. The principal question before you start thinking of a place should be – “How much money do I have to spend in my pocket, beyond which I will never spend ?”. After sorting that out, you have to divide it into 2 parts – Cost T and Cost H. Yah, that’s some Math for you.
Cost T = Cost of the transport which gets you to that place.
Cost H = Cost of the actual fun that you have when you get to that place.
Now, let me tell you this. In order to squeeze value out of money spent on a good honeymoon you have to keep the Cost T less than the Cost H. This is where all of us go wrong. How? We never realize that most of the travel packages available in the market (or advertised) are designed to have a higher Cost T than Cost H. And you end up spending more on traveling and less on your real honeymoon!
So how can HoneymoonSwami help you here ?
a) We have First-hand knowledge of the places where you want to go – We have been to the places where we plan your honeymoon. So you can rely on our first hand information, which can be very good while choosing a destination.
b) HoneymoonSwami helps you find music and discard noise – Almost everything on the internet looks, Uber / Chic / Cool / Sexy. But amidst all this noise, you lose focus. There are plenty of other factors other than location which makes a hotel worthy of your stay. We will not give you too many choices. We only offer you choices which are good, relevant and which make sense. Too many choices confuse you. We only select what will work for you. A normal travel agent books hotels blindly, without researching them. We don’t do that ! We would consider the location, proximity, past user feedback, and more importantly – your preferences, before selecting a hotel for you.
c) HoneymoonSwami derives more value out of the money spent : Anyone can get confused when they receive multiple quotes from various travel agents for the same honeymoon 🙂 You need to ask the right questions to your agent to derive maximum value out of the quote. For any given package, we will help you TWEAK it to the best possible extent. Armed with insider knowledge of the travel trade, we know the optimum value of each travel product, and hence, no travel agent can swindle you with an unfair quote.
d) HoneymoonSwami also believes in KYC : Honeymoon is all about YOU as a couple. A standard travel agent will not take the time to get to know you as the unique couple that you are and put together a tailored honeymoon experience based on you. He would send you pre-fabricated, ready-made itineraries. However, we believe, we need to know a LOT ABOUT YOU, before we can even suggest a destination to you.
Let Honeymoon Swami give your honeymoon the attention it deserves.
Now, knowing this, perhaps you could sing to your bride,
“You could always count on me
From that day on I made a vow”
Cause’ baby, there ain’t no mountain high enough….
Best of Luck,
Puneet “HoneymoonSwami” Aggarwal