The pandemic has changed the way we live our lives over the last 18 months, and despite vacations and lockdowns lifting around the world, the UK continues to face shifting travel restrictions as new COVID variants and outbreaks limit our abilities to plan holidays or trips abroad, including honeymoons, with any certainty.
Unless you are confident that you have a robust cancellation policy on your exotic honeymoon abroad, the safest option at present is to plan a UK-based honeymoon, or simply take a short break after your wedding to enjoy married life in peace before returning to the daily grind.
Photo by Wayan Parmana / Unsplash
The tradition of honeymoons
As with many religious traditions, the honeymoon has a dark past and is based on the practice of marriage by ‘capture.’ While often permitted by consent from the bride’s family, the groom would traditionally kidnap the bride and travel far away for an extended period of time, until the bride’s family stopped searching for her, or until she got pregnant thereby sanctifying the marriage.
The term honeymoon refers to a moon cycle – or month – of drinking honey mead which was theorized to improve fertility, linking in with the notion of the honeymoon being the time after the wedding when the groom and bride were expected to become pregnant.
While eschewing many of the more immoral facets of the traditional honeymoon period, many couples still choose to travel to remote destinations for an extended period of time after their wedding. This is the perfect opportunity to decompress after months of planning the wedding, and bond as a couple in a new and exciting location.
Staycation
While the closest UK alternative to sipping pina coladas on a Caribbean beach is a fish and chips on a bench by the sea in Whitby, the UK still has a lot to offer in terms of diverse cultures, culinary experiences, and adrenalin fueled adventures.
If you’re never traveled throughout the UK, why not hop the borders between England, Scotland and Wales, or take a ferry to a Scottish island for some remote one-on-one time with your new spouse.
Whether you are looking for rural camping or glamping in nature, an active break with watersports, hiking, mountain biking or treetop adventures, or a more lavish city break to soak up some culture, there are endless opportunities here in the UK.
Photo by Jeremy Banks / Unsplash
Home-ymoon
Another seedling trend is the idea of taking a break after the wedding to spend some quality time at home. This is the perfect time to redecorate, do some DIY, update your home décor, or take up a new hobby.
Life is so fast paced, we often move into a home with a ‘that’ll do for now’ approach to nesting, with some moving boxes remaining unpacked for years. This is the perfect opportunity to spend some quality time with your spouse creating the ideal home for your future together. Some more daring couples may even purchase a fixer-upper around the same time for precisely this purpose – to move in after the wedding and use the time to create the perfect home together.
Photo by Blake Cheek / Unsplash
Alternatively, you could take the time to learn a new hobby or skill with your spouse, or even learn a new language in preparation for a time when you can travel to your dream honeymoon destination.
