The Journal I The Curated Mile

 You made it through the wedding. The photos were taken, somebody cried during the vows after insisting they absolutely would not, and there's a decent chance at least one relative did something you'll be talking about for years. Now you get to the honeymoon. This is supposed to be the easy part, right? Pick somewhere beautiful, book a great hotel, eat too much, drink something expensive near a body of water and take 600 photos you'll eventually narrow down to twelve. Except LGBTQ+ couples know there's sometimes another question sitting quietly underneath all the fun ones -  Are we actually going to feel comfortable there? Not whether you're technically allowed to visit. Not whether you'll probably be fine . And not whether the resort puts a rainbow on Instagram every June. I mean comfortable. Can you hold hands walking back from dinner without thinking about it? Can you casually say “my wife” or “my husband” without doing that tiny mental calculation first...

 Let me start by saying something that might sound strange coming from a travel advisor. You absolutely can plan your own trip. You can book flights, reserve hotels and buy museum tickets without me. You can spend a Saturday morning reading hotel reviews, save restaurants on Google Maps, watch destination videos on TikTok and ask AI to build you a two-week itinerary through Italy. There has never been more travel information available to us. And that, strangely enough, is part of the problem. The hard part isn't finding information anymore. It's figuring out which information matters for your trip, your people and the money you're spending. That's where I come in. My job isn't simply to book things you could book yourself. If that's all I did, I'd probably tell you to save us both the trouble. My job is to help you make better decisions with your time and travel budget, put all those decisions together into a trip that actually works, and be there when the p...

 So, where are you going on your honeymoon? It's such a fun question when you have an answer. When you don't, it can feel like one more decision added to a very long list of wedding decisions. You've spent months talking about flowers, guest lists, food, music, seating charts and whether anyone will notice the difference between two nearly identical shades of linen. Now you're supposed to casually choose where in the world you'd like to take one of the most memorable trips of your life. No pressure. Maybe you have a list. Italy is on it. So is Greece. You've always talked about Japan. One of you keeps sending beach resorts to the other, who keeps responding with videos of castles in Scotland. Then you see Costa Rica, Portugal or South Africa on Pinterest and suddenly the list is getting longer instead of shorter. This happens all the time. And here's what I tell couples: stop trying to pick the destination for a minute. When I'm planning a honeymoon, I d...

A practical guide to figuring out what you want, what you want to spend, and where in the world that might take you. There is a point somewhere in wedding planning when people stop asking about the venue, the dress, the flowers and whether you've found a photographer yet and move on to a much more enjoyable question: “Where are you going for your honeymoon?” And you may have an answer. Or you may smile confidently while thinking, Excellent question. We have absolutely no idea. Maybe you've saved an overwater bungalow in Bora Bora, a tiny hotel in Positano, a Japanese ryokan, an African safari and a resort in St. Lucia. One of you keeps sending the other reels of beautiful beaches. The other has a Google search history that suggests you're apparently touring every major city in Europe. You know you want it to be amazing. You know approximately how much money you're willing to spend. You know this is your honeymoon , so it should feel different from just taking a vac...

 Somewhere between choosing a venue, answering texts about centerpieces, finalizing a guest list that somehow keeps changing, and wondering why chairs cost that much, someone will eventually ask: “So…have you booked the honeymoon yet?” The answer does not need to be yes. But depending on where you want to go, when you’re getting married, and what you’ve imagined for this trip, there is a point when we have plenty of time quietly becomes why is everything we like sold out? So, when should you actually start planning your honeymoon? For most couples, I’d start seriously thinking about it 9 to 12 months before the trip . Earlier can be even better if you’re traveling during a popular season, have your heart set on a particular resort or room category, or are planning something more complicated than a week at one destination. But there’s something I’d do even before making a single reservation. I’d figure out what you actually want your honeymoon to feel like. Before You Pick ...

I love traveling with my family. I also know from experience that traveling with your family and planning travel for your family are two very different things. The picture in your head when you first start planning is always lovely. Everyone exploring a new place together, grandparents experiencing something with their grandchildren, long dinners where we talk about the day, and those great family photos that become more meaningful as the years go by. What you don't picture quite as clearly is standing in a hotel lobby wondering how the people who were told we were leaving at 9:00 are still upstairs at 9:17. We've traveled together enough over the years that I've learned to expect both versions. Our trips include different generations, personalities, interests and energy levels. We have people who could spend hours exploring a historical site and others who would be perfectly content to give it a respectful 45 minutes and move along. Some of us want to see everything. Some...