Great escapes
Fantasy settings for starting life together
Hawaii, Mexico top honeymoon spots
By Tammy Marshall
Staff Reporter
The moonlight reflects off the ocean and
lights up the beach that seems to stretch on
forever. A man and a woman walk along hold
ing hands and talking softly to each other.
Suddenly they run laughing into the water,
where the surf softly laps at them as they
embrace.
This could be a scene from a romance novel
or “The Blue Lagoon,” but it isn’t. The couple
on the beach are honeymooners. This is a very
special time in their lives — the few days
between their wedding and their life together
when the romance in their relationship is in full
bloom and they can play out their fantasies.
Couples can choose any place in the world
for their honey moon spots, but Donna Rudolph,
president of Contact Travel, and Jon Van
Bloom, director of sales of Via Van Bloom
Tour and Travel, agree that Hawaii and Mexico
arc the most popular places Lincoln newlyweds
choose to go.
Van Bloom said many couples like Cancun,
which is located on the east coast of Mexico in
the Yucatan peninsula. Maui is the most pre
ferred of the Hawaiian islands, he said.
Van Bloom said cruises are also very popu
lar for couples. Rudolph said she thinks a cruise
is “the very best honeymoon cost-wise and
value-wise,” because it “includes all your food,
fun and transportation in an all-inclusive price
that you know before you leave.”
“Couples want to enjoy each other’s com
pany and not have a lot of hassle” with planning
everything for their trip, she said. “On a cruise
they can have either a lot of privacy or they can
get in on all the activities.”
“Eighty perccntof people who goon cruises,
go again,” Rudolph said.
Rudolph said other popular honeymoon
spots arc Florida, California, the Ozarks, Colo
rado, Wyoming and the Poconos. Because of
national advertising, many couples want to go
to the Poconos at first, but when they find out
the cost, they reconsider, she said.
Van Bloom said a couple’s age makes a
difference in where they choose to go. He said
many younger couples choose all-inclusive
resorts like ones in Jamaica and Hawaii. These
arc often advertised in bridal magazines and
appeal to younger people. Van Bloom said
many older couples like to travel to Europe.
“People in their 30s or 40s will often take a
short honeymoon because of work, but they
will pay more for luxury because they know
that their time is precious,” Rudolph said.
“However, younger people will be more cost
conscious and choose a lower-priced honey
moon, but will spend more time because they
have more time.” ,
For couples who aren’t sure where they’d (
like to go or wish they could see it first before
deciding, Contact Travel has a solution — a ]
video destination and cruise library. I
Rudolph said Contact Travel has more than
m Michelle Miklos/Daily Nebraskan
100 videocasscttes of resorts, cruises and scen
iry from all over the world. They consist of
>uch places as Athens, Spain, Switzerland,
Oisncyland, Africa, Morocco and the Carib
bean islands, she said. People can rent the tapes
bvernighl.
“We have a lot of requests for the tape on
dawaii,” Rudolph said. “Our cruise ones are
bopular and so are the seven tapes on Mexico.
“We felt that today’s traveler likes to have a
picture of where they’re going. Our slogan is
‘Watch Where You’re Going.’ It’s what a
library is meant to be.”
Rudolph said most people whocheck out the
tapes arc future honeyrnooners.
Travel agencies can recomrflend interesting
and exotic places that couples might overlook
because they feel they can’t afford such a place.
“Wecan find the good buys,” Rudolph said.
And agencies don’t charge for advice, she said.
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Honeymoon plans / Say no to Poconos
Just call it the Las Vegas for
Lovers.
Almost every bridal magazine
runs regular travel features on honey
moon hot spots. They always men
tion the typical tourist havens —
Hawaii, Colorado, Europe, the Car
ibbean — and a group of small,
grassy Pennsylvania mountains
called the Poconos.
Just what are the Poconos, and
why would anyone want to spend a
honeymoon there?
Perhaps it’s the resorts. Not just
your average resorts, but “honey
moon resorts.” These honeymoon
mtecas are filled with outlandish,
rc.nantic amenities: hotel rooms
with private Olympic-size swim
ming pools, heart-shaped whirl
pools, two-story hot tubs in the shape
of huge champagne glasses, and
mirrored ceilings and walls to make it
all seem kinky.
An ad in a bride’s magazine
claims the Poconos have “the charm
of Europe, the glamour of Holly
wood, the excitement of New York.
And everywhere, a special kind of
magic.” Hew come they don’t men
tion the dinosaur playlands?
Letmecxplain. When I lived back
East, my family always drove
through the Poconos on our annual
trip to visitall the hillbilly relatives in
West Virginia. I loved the place, but
my parents would never stop at any of
the roadside attractions there be
cause they said they were “tourist
trap trash.” Maybe they were afraid
my virgin eyes would glimpse two
nude honeymooners in a giant cham -
pagne glass.
The Poconos arc an Eastern ver
sion of the Black Hills, replete with
trashy tourist traps like miracle
caves, waterfalls that change color,
Santa Claus amusement parks, anti
gravity houses. There’s justone thing
missing: Mount Rushmore.
The Poconos’ popularity is the
result of clever marketing.
“It was over 40 years ago that a
man named Rudolf Von Hocvenberg
first had the inspired idea that honey
mooners deserved a world of their
own,” says Modern Bride magazine.
‘He couldn’t have chosen a more
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romantic setting than the Poconos.”
My main question is this: Why
honeymoon in the Poconos? They’re
hills, not mountains. The bridal
magazines laud all the fun you’ll
have “meeting other newlyweds and
sharing memories of your weddings
with them.” A honeymoon’s purpose
is to get away from it all. Who would
want to waste time lounging around a
pool with boasting brides who say,
“Well, at our wedding we had live
pink flamingos, and I wore a black
corset and cape instead of a gown.
What did you wear, darling?”
Wouldn’t it be much better to fly
to Vegas, get married by an Elvis
impersonator at a wedding chapel
(they do have Elvis impersonator
priests there), then spend your honey
moon in singles bars across the
country, telling all the sex-hungry
people about all the AIDS-free,
monogamous fun they can’t have?
Then there’s that other honey
moon haven, Niagara Falls. Again,
why here? Who would want to spend
a honeymoon next to an annoyingly
noisy waterfall? Maybe the thought
of water constantly falling off the
side of a cliff and crashing below
turns some people on. But if you
think you’ll need the sound of rush
ing water as an aphrodisiac on the Big
Night because your spouse isn’t
enough to get you hot, maybe you
should skip the wedding.
Harrah is a senior news editorial and
English major and Daily Nebraskan night
news editor.
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