If you’re of the marrying kind and are one of the growing number of LGBT Americans living in one of the 19 states or District of Columbia (a whopping 43 percent of the country’s total population) and you’re just beginning to plan your honeymoon, San Diego LGBT Weekly has some great news. San Diego was recently ranked by WalletHub.com as one of the top 10 honeymoon destinations; only slightly behind Los Angeles, the only other Californian city to make the top-10 list. (Take that, San Francisco!)
But you don’t have to take our word for it. WalletHub.com, a new-ish Web site which bills itself as a ‘social network for your wallet,’ specializes in finding experts (or gurus) in a wide-ranging variety of fields that can help make financial sense of everything from negotiating a car loan with poor credit to opening a checking account to, you guessed it, planning a honeymoon.
We approached them when we stumbled across an article they had written entitled, 2014’s Best Summer Honeymoon Destinations for Your Wallet, and were completely unfazed by the fact that San Diego made the top-10 list. After all, anyone who has lived in San Diego for any length of time doesn’t need to be sold on the idea that, all things being equal, our city basically rocks.
But we wanted to learn more and John Keirnan, a senior writer and analyst for WalletHub.com, was kind enough to spend some time talking to LGBT Weekly about the whole honeymoon experience. He notes, too, that, “Perhaps it will help that people are waiting longer to get married in the face of financial turmoil.” The median age at first marriage in 2006 – before the downturn – was 27.5 for men and 25.5 for women, according to Census data. By 2013, it had risen to 29 for men and 26.6 for women. Regardless, some cost cutting is certainly in order because you definitely don’t want to start marriage behind a mountain of debt. Not only is money one of the most popular subjects of arguments among couples, but also financial arguments early in a relationship are the top predictor of divorce.
Divorce? Hell, we just got the right to marry!
John Keirnan: WalletHub’s rankings of the Best and Worst Honeymoon Destinations for Your Wallet are based on our analysis of 100 cities – both small towns long known as attractive honeymoon spots and major cities that have a lot to offer any vacationer – using 13 metrics that collectively speak to the cost, fun, romanticism and weather associated with each city.
There are a number of factors supporting San Diego’s top-10 ranking, with perhaps the most significant being the most obvious. San Diego is known for its excellent weather, and historical data regarding average temperature, precipitation and humidity certainly bear that out. Predictably nice weather is extremely helpful from a honeymoon planning perspective and can go a long way in reducing logistical stress. It also enables honeymooners to explore San Diego’s natural beauty and numerous attractions – other area strengths. Honeymooners eventually have to leave the bedroom, after all!
Honeymooners don’t want to break the bank on that bedroom either, and San Diego offers some value in that regard as well – ranking 41st out of the 100 cities we looked at in terms of the affordability of a 4-star hotel. It also ranks 20th in terms of rental car affordability and 8th for the prevalence of affordable restaurants with at least 4.5 stars. So, all things considered, San Diego is a great option for honeymooners given its picturesque setting, reasonable prices and multitude of recreation and relaxation options for couples who have all manner of interests.
The first step in planning a successful honeymoon is to make a budget. How much can you afford to spend, when all is said and done, and how much are you actually comfortable spending? Having a price range in mind will help you determine which destinations will be feasible and encourage you to explore cost-cutting measures.
Starting with this step will help you avoid justifying unnecessary expenses. You can then check out prices for flights, hotels and the various amenities and activities you have in mind in the destinations on your short list. This will help you narrow down your options and/or re-adjust your expectations. It will also force you to make choices in terms of how you wish to allocate your budget. For example, you could opt for a drivable locale and use the money and time you would have ordinarily spent on a flight to stay in a nicer hotel or to extend your trip by a few days.
Once you decide on a destination that fits your budget, explore ways to minimize your biggest expenses which are likely to be airfare and hotel accommodations. Price comparison and review Web sites are great for this. Checking out how rates would change if you went a different week, month or season is a great idea as well. If you decide to wait a couple of months, you could even apply for a credit card with a hefty initial bonus and use that to subsidize your spending. The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, for example, offers a $400 cash back bonus if you spend at least $3,000 during the first three months. Along those same lines, it’s especially important to use the right type of credit card if you’re traveling abroad, and to use it for the majority of your expenses. A no foreign transaction fee credit card will save you up to 10 percent on currency conversion costs and international credit card surcharges. Credit cards also offer $0 fraud liability.
First and foremost, gay and lesbian couples have limited options in terms of where they can get married. This, in turn, could limit their honeymoon options since many couples like to travel locally right after the ceremony. What’s more, gay and lesbian couples may not wish to patronize areas that do not support their lifestyle, or alternatively, they may wish to give business to areas that do. Everyone ultimately wants to be comfortable on their honeymoon.
On the one hand, you need to trust your spouse. He/she is from Tupelo and should have as good an idea as anyone about the town’s suitability for a honeymoon – whether in terms of how much fun it will be or any potential discrimination that you might face. Who knows, maybe the people there will surprise you.
On the other hand, you should be comfortable on your honeymoon and have a say in its planning. Heading into a trip with an expectation to have a bad time or to encounter problems can be something of a self-fulfilling prophecy. My advice would be to talk with your spouse about your concerns, listen to his/her thoughts, and hopefully reach a decision that you both can live with. Exploring some other options, at least as a basis for comparison, should help as well. Either you both fall in love with another honeymoon destination or you come to the realization that Tupelo won’t be so bad.
In terms of making the most of Tupelo, should you decide to go there, research and a plan are your biggest allies. Knowing that you and your spouse have a lot of fun activities on the books should brighten your outlook a bit. Besides, at the end of the day, you’ll be together and that’s all that really matters.
Romanticism is rather difficult to quantify. Much is ultimately in the eye of the beholder. However, our rankings tried to account for romanticism by comparing the number of hotels in each city that are classified as “romantic” on TripAdvisor as well as the number of bed and breakfasts in each city. How scenic a city is and the nightlife options it offers also factored into this category.
As a society, we have trouble managing our money responsibly and that is only magnified when we’re on vacation. It’s easy to get into a splurge mindset or to justify unnecessary expenses with a when-in-Rome mentality. This can lead to post-trip buyer’s remorse that may taint your memory of the experiences you had.
You obviously don’t want that, so it’s best to set a budget in the early stages of honeymoon planning. Figuring out how much you can afford to spend will help you pick the right destination as well as prioritize the activities you want to partake in while there.
In compiling our report, we spoke with a number of travel and household finance experts about what they perceive to be some of the most common honeymoon money-wasters. They mentioned things like traveling during peak season, flying first class for short flights, booking all-inclusive packages without reading the fine print closely, over packing and getting your heart set on either a destination or a date for your honeymoon. Flexibility and prioritization, it would seem, can pay off big time.
This seems to be a nice site where you may be able to turn to when looking for LGBT friendly hotels – http://sandiego.gaycities.com/hotels/
