PLANNING A HONEYMOON

The Honeymooners

Planning a honeymoon is not only an adventure, it's another opportunity to discover who you are as a couple. Be open-minded! Are you up for athletics? Relaxing by a beach? Hiking in the mountains? Touring the French countryside? Or, are you both city people seeking fine food and culture? Ideally, you'll both want the same kind of honeymoon, but if your ideas are different, compromise (i.e.: three days in a city plus four days in the country).
Since travelling is almost always involved, choosing a destination should be your first step. Some locations to consider are: Hawaii, the Caribbean, Mexico, Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific Islands or going on a cruise, to a resort, or on an action-packed honeymoon (think rafting, skiing, sailing, horseback riding, or mountain climbing). If you travel abroad, you'll need to be conscious of passports, Customs regulations, and rates of exchange.
Don't hesitate to ask other couples, especially newlyweds, for suggestions. Then, contact your travel agent.

The Honeymoon Budget

When creating a honeymoon budget, remember to include transportation, accommodation, meal costs, and entertainment costs. Be sure to add an extra 10% to the total to account for the unexpected. Assuming that meals are not included in your accommodations, you should plan on spending approximately $200 per day for three moderately priced meals (including alcoholic beverages) and a few incidentals (i.e.: admission tickets to a museum or a souvenir T-shirts). A current guidebook for your destination will help you estimate honeymoon costs.

Before you leave

Before you take off on the honeymoon of your dreams, do the following:
" Check the expiration dates on your credit and debit cards.
" If you haven't travelled abroad recently, let your credit-card company know. To protect against fraud, some companies put a hold on your card if they see unusual activity, such as overseas purchases.
" Check on your daily credit-card, debit and ATM limits. Some companies cap your daily charges and most have daily limits on how much you can withdraw from your account with an ATM or debit card.
" Separate your cards so they're not all in one place.
" Get the name and phone number of the financial institution that issued your cards. If your card is lost or stolen, you won't have the number on the back of the card to refer to for help.
" Organise your passports, visas and vaccinations.
" Organise a phone card

CRUISING WISELY

Before leaving on a cruise, consider the following:
" Get medical and dental checkups beforehand. If you have special health needs, call your cruise line for information about the ship's medical facility and whether there's a doctor or nurse on board.
" Ask your doctor for a letter explaining necessary care if you have a medical condition. Notify the ship's staff.
" See a doctor if you're concerned about seasickness.
" Have proper identification. If you are sailing from and returning to an Australian port, in most cases you will need a passport or a certified copy of your birth certificate. If you are sailing within a foreign country, you may need a visa in addition to a passport.
" Pack wisely. Bring an extra pair of prescription eyeglasses, sunglasses and/or contact lenses, all prescription medications, the instructions and dosage amounts. Bring copies of all your prescriptions.
" Choose a cabin suited to your needs. An inside cabin on the lowest deck is the least expensive and in some cases, the most stable, particularly if it's in the centre of the ship. However, some people feel claustrophobic if they don't have windows or portholes.
On board the ship:
" Never leave your cabin door propped open. Always lock the door and never leave the cabin keys unattended.
" Don't let your guard down. Keep an eye on valuables or put them in the ship's or room's safe.
" Determine a person's identity before you open your door.
" If you think someone is following you, don't go back to your room. Go to a public place and ask someone to escort you to your room.
" Familiarize yourself with the ship's safety features like personal flotation devices, lifeboats, sprinkler system and emergency exit plans.

COMMON HONEYMOON MISTAKES

The most common honeymoon mistakes:
" Forgetting to book a double bed. Many cruise ships and foreign hotels will give you twin beds unless you ask for a double.
" Taking off too early. You'll be weary from your wedding. Book an afternoon flight and enjoy a nice hotel near the airport your first night.
" Going cheap. This is the one trip to splurge a little to avoid disappointments.
" Budgeting. Even if you splurge, you should both agree on how much you'll spend.
" Not sharing honeymoon planning. It's a trip for both of you - agree on the destinations, activities and duration.
" Clinging. You want to shop. Your spouse wants to snooze. So split. A little time apart isn't going to kill the marriage.
" Going incognito. Everyone loves honeymooners. Mention you're just married when making reservations. At worst you'll likely get a free bottle of champagne. But who knows, you might get upgraded to a suite.
" Not consulting a travel agent. They know the deals and can make arrangements while you handle the wedding-plan crush.

HOW TO PAY WHEN ON VACATION

Sure, it's easy to use plastic to pay for your vacation. But some transactions are better than others.
Plastic sure makes vacations easy. But before hitting the road with a wallet full of plastic, make sure you know how your cards work. Here are a few tips so you don't wind up with a huge bill at the end of your trip.
Just charge it
Credit cards are still a traveller's best option for purchases. It's a cheap form of insurance.
Credit cards offer consumers protection from billing disputes and card fraud. Lose cash and you're done for. Lose traveller's checks and it's an administrative mess. Lose the card and help and a replacement are usually just a phone call away. Those protections extend to transactions overseas as well.
Just make sure you're not digging yourself into a debt hole. It's pretty easy to just start charging drinks, souvenir T-shirts and other trinkets, tour fares and all meals.
Great exchange
One advantage of credit cards is a decent exchange rate if you're travelling overseas. You'll get the bankers' buying rate'' or wholesale rate, a bit better than if you actually converted dollars at a currency house or bank.
One little wrinkle in this plan: foreign currency surcharges. Many credit-card issuers charge banks that issue cards with their brand name a 1 percent fee for foreign-currency transactions.
A few years ago, banks not only started passing that cost along to consumers, but they also tacked on an additional fee, according to bankrate.com, which tracks various interest rates.
If you haven't been overseas lately, you'll notice the fee on your credit card if you make a purchase. Today, you can wind up paying a 3 percent surcharge.
For example, charge $5,000 in Rome and you'll pay an extra $150, or 3 percent. The bank keeps the 2 percent, and the issuer gets the 1 percent. Still, that's a small price to pay for the currency rate you'll get using your credit card. You'll pay a fee of some sort whether you're converting dollars to currency or buying traveller's checks.
Skip the cash advance
Cash advances with a credit card are the most consumer-unfriendly option available, experts say.
First, there's a fee just for getting a cash advance. For a $1,000 cash advance, most companies charge a maximum of $30 to $50. Three years ago, it would've cost you a mere $10.
In the past three years, cash-advance fees have risen steeply. The minimum a company will charge for a cash advance has increased from $2 to $20, with most charging about $5.
What's more, the interest rate for a cash advance is hefty, usually in the 19 percent to 20-plus percent range. It is always significantly higher than the rate for purchases.
And, unlike a purchase rate, the interest rate on cash advances kicks in immediately -- no grace period. You're paying interest the minute the money is advanced to you.
You're in for a double whammy when you request a cash advance overseas, you'll get socked with the fee for the actual cash advance plus the foreign-currency surcharge.
The ATM connection
A better option for cash is a teller machine. You'll probably be charged a fee if you go out of your bank's own network, but that won't be as high as a cash-advance fee. Plus, you don't have the super-high interest rate that comes with a cash advance. Of course, there's a catch: You've got to have the money.
If you're travelling in Australia, most banks have ATM networks in more than one state, so travellers can access money without surcharges.
Many Internet banks pick up the fees for a certain number of ATM transactions per month.
Usually, a bank charges $1.50 to $2 for going outside its ATM network. But the bank that owns the ATM may add an additional fee of the same amount. If you're going overseas, find out what fees are charged for using ATMs outside the country.
Some charge as much as $5 per transaction. Also, find out your daily maximum withdrawal limit.
Debit me
Merchants domestic and abroad widely accept debit cards. Shoppers don't have to deal with the identification routine that comes with using paper checks. And the transaction is either immediate or posted to the merchant's account within a few days. There's no worry about interest rates and paying off a credit-card balance.
However, a debit card is not a credit card. Lose your credit card and, if someone uses it fraudulently, the most you'll pay is $50.
With a debit card, you'll pay $50 if you report your card missing within two days. Take more than two days but less than 60 to report the loss, you're responsible for $500. Beyond 60 days, your loss is unlimited.
You also need to track your expenses with a debit card so you don't overdraw your account.
Another caveat: Many debit cards have daily limits. If you've got $10,000 in your account, that doesn't mean you can debit your account $9,000. Many banks have debit limits of $600 a day, but check with your bank for yours.
Phone home
With the popularity of prepaid phone cards, the traditional phone card looks practically obsolete. It may be cheaper to get a prepaid phone card.
Many prepaid phone cards tout rates of cents per minute for domestic and international calls.
Many prepaid phone cards tell the cost of the card and the number of minutes you get. But you want to know the per-minute rate: Divide the cost of the card by the number of minutes.
Also, treat your prepaid phone card like cash. If your card is lost or stolen, you usually lose all of your unused calling time.