Choosing our Honeymoon

When it came to choosing our honeymoon destination, B and I had a pretty hard time. We both have a love of travel and we both have a lot on our travel wish list. As much as we want to see everything, we had to keep our small budget in mind, while still treating ourselves to the vacation time alone that we craved. 

We were working with a travel agent at Flight Centre to plan it and from the start we jumped around all over. My dream honeymoon destination is Greece - with a visit to Santorini an obvious stop. We also played with the idea of visiting Barcelona during that trip - how great would that have been?

{Photos via here, here, here and here}

{Photos via here and here}

Unfortunately, no matter which way we twisted things a trip like that would've been too far outside of our budget. We daydreamed a little more, and then got realistic and decided we could save those cities for another day... or year. 

We also touched base on Croatia - though we never did get a quote from our travel agent. We know it's a beautiful country with a lot to explore and experience. Croatia is definitely a place we would like to see, but we will probably save for a longer trip where we can experience as much of the country as possible in one go. 

At the end of the day we wanted to go somewhere where we could enjoy some walking time, some good food and some great beer, after all we are all about food when we travel. Of course there are many, many places we could have picked, but we finally ended up choosing Scotland.

{via here}

So, why Scotland? I am madly in love with the UK! I've been to England twice, and just can't get enough. Of course, that love has also implanted in me a strong desire to see more of the area - including Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Scotland has been high on my list for a while, and we have already visited Ireland (though it was Dublin - not part of the UK) so in a way it was a bit of a no brainer. B was on board as well, just thinking of all of the great Scotch he'll be able to try.

Our plans are to spend the first few nights at the very posh Cameron House in Loch Lomond. There will be lots of relaxing (including a spa day and a sunset cruise on the Loch), eating and drinking, as well as exploring the area. I know we'll enjoy our walks in the area. From there we will head to Glasgow and spend the remainder of our nights at the Fraser Suites. We'll be squeezing in a day trip to Edinburgh as well (we were going to make it a couple of days in the city, but it actually increased the cost of the trip by well over $1,000 and a day trip set us back roughly $30). 

We're slowly planning some of the stuff we want to see and do, while still leaving ourselves enough wiggle room to just explore and "get lost" in the places we visit. I even joined a "deal of the day" website for Glasgow and scored us 3 pretty great deals on restaurants! 

I can't wait to share all the details of our exciting trip! I know it will be hard to be away from Halle, but B and I so need this time for just the two of us. 

So - how did you pick your honeymoon destination? Did you get the honeymoon of your dreams, or did you have to plan something else because of budget constraints? What was your favourite part and/or memory from your honeymoon, and if you could do it all over again - would you do it any differently? Go ahead - DISH!