Weddingbee Blog

There’s a really important part of our wedding planning that is coming up very soon—a part that we’re doing completely backward. So of course, the traditional way to do things is to first get married (!) and second, jet off on a honeymoon. What are we doing differently? Well, switch the order of those two around, and you’ve got it! We’re going on our “honeymoon” before we’re actually married.

If you’ve read my bio, you’ll have noticed that Mr. Jaguar and I are currently living in London. Our big move back to Sydney is coming up soon, and we knew we wanted to do some travels before we headed home and threw ourselves into wedding planning, house building, job finding, and goodness knows what else. If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s planning holidays, so I put my travel-agent hat on, and off I went. It didn’t take long for us to realise that many of our dream-travel destinations were so much more affordable for us to visit here, simply because we’re already in the Northern Hemisphere. I won’t lie—I got very excited when I realised this—and we quickly put our travel plans into action.

I’ve jokingly started calling this trip our pre-wedding-moon because it’s the kind of holiday adventure that would be perfect for a honeymoon…if we were actually married! But since we’re here and we’re on a budget, we’re doing it now. When it comes time for the actual honeymoon, we’ll find somewhere that is closer to home back in Australia and keep it local and on the cheap. Two holidays in the space of twelve months? Sign us up!

So here’s what our pre-wedding-moon looks like—this is what you call taking the long way ’round back home to Sydney.

First stop: Orlando, Florida!

{Personal photo taken in 2008, just before Halloween!}

Mr. Jaguar and I will be spending six days at one of the budget Disney World resorts, and we plan on doing nothing but relaxing, enjoying each other’s company, and nerding it up at the theme parks. I’ve been once before, but on a whirlwind visit where I only managed to spend one day at Magic Kingdom. This time around, there’ll be plenty of time to take it all in with just the two of us.

And…this is the part where I get all wheezy and start making squeeing noises that leave poor Mr. Jaguar rolling his eyes…it gets better. We’ll also be paying a visit to Universal Studios, and you know what that means? I will be releasing my inner geek at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!!!!! (Yes, that warrants bold text, and yes, that warrants a barrage of exclamation points, too. Sorry.)

Next Stop: Las Vegas!

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I spent ages figuring out this part of the trip because I wanted it to be perfect for Mr. Jaguar. He’s only been once, as a child, and he was keen on the gambling aspect of it all, as well as checking out all the hotels. I found a great deal on flights and, best of all, scored four nights at the Bellagio at a decent price—talk about fancy! I’ve never stayed in a hotel that nice before. I can’t wait to see what it looks like on the inside. A word of advice for anyone wanting to splurge in Vegas? GO MID WEEK. The difference in price is just staggering.

We’ll be doing a day trip out to the Grand Canyon on one of our days here because we love scenic places and we can’t wait to stand there and look out over it together, as a couple. It’s going to be breathtaking.

Next stop: Vancouver!

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Beautiful city, gorgeous harbourside, and scenic mountain ranges—we’ve never been to Canada before, and we are so excited to visit. We’re looking forward to a lot of walking around downtown Vancouver, spending a day in Victoria, and hopefully hitting up Grouse Mountain and the Capilano Suspension Bridge. It looks like my kind of city.

Next stop: Calgary and the Rockies!

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This is the only leg of our travels that is slightly organised—because it will be winter while we’re visiting, we couldn’t find any of the cross-country scenic rail journeys in operation. Instead, we’re hopping on a short flight over to Calgary and joining a coach tour that will take us around the Rocky Mountains and National Parks. Weather permitting, we’ll be stopping at lodges in Jasper, Banff, and Lake Louise. It’s going to be cooooold but should also make for some stunning scenery. Maybe I’ll spot a moose! Or a bear! Or maybe just a whole lot of snow. Well, it’ll be beautiful regardless.

Next stop: Waikiki, Hawaii!

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We’re going from an arctic winter to a mild tropical vacation—I love it! The way I see it, we’re gradually increasing our temperature from freezing to mild, ready to be thrown into a stinking hot Australian summer. The last leg of our trip will be a few short nights on Waikiki Beach: this alone is worthy of a pre-wedding-moon, yes?

Mr. Jaguar and I have spent hours Google mapping the hotel location and ogling the blue, blue water. We’re planning on being good little tourists and doing a luau while we’re there, but we’d also like to squeeze in a day trip down to the Big Island to check out the volcanoes and national parks, if we have time. And after recuperating in Hawaii, we’ll be flying all too quickly back to Sydney. But we’ll be home. And home will be just lovely.

Phew. There you have it! Are there any bees out there who live in or have visited any of these cities and have some advice or recommendations? The travelling Jaguars would be very grateful for any suggestions you might have.