“I get a surprising number of last-minute honeymoon bookings,” says Barbara Poczyniak, a certified travel planner at Honeymoons By Designs. “It may be because couples are becoming accustomed to booking holidays at the last minute.” Honeymoons, however, require a different kind of booking. Barbara says that couples will only get the honeymoon they want if they start planning early – as early as six months before the honeymoon. But six months before the wedding, couples are juggling their giant wedding to-do list, so they may want to hand off the role of travel agent to someone – or something – else. Your smartphone, whether it’s an iPhone or Android, offers resources to help you manage your trip efficiently.
TripIt: TripIt’s goals: “To bring calm to chaos. Peace of mind to panic.” With TripIt, you just forward travel confirmation emails to the app’s system. From the emails, TripIt builds an itinerary you can access anytime, anywhere and even share with your friends and family. You can customize your itinerary with directions, notes, photos and recommendations. COST: Free. iPhone, Android, BlackBerry
Packing Pro: Let Packing Pro create lists to fit your travels based on inquiries as detailed as how you’ll wash your clothes. Finally, customize and update your list, create a list for your spouse and share via email. COST: $2.99. iPhone (for Android, try PackPoint)
City Guides & Offline Maps: Navigating a new city can be romantic, but it can also be stressful if you don’t know where to go or what to see. Stay.com created City Guides and Offline Maps, a resource you can access without racking up roaming charges. Before your trip, download the map of your destination and then customize specific places: hotels, restaurants, attractions and more. Share your map with your friends, who can add suggestions to your map. COST: Free. iPhone, Android
Fast Talk: If you don’t speak the native tongue of your honeymoon getaway, Lonely Planet offers a go-to phrasebook. You can access hundreds of the world’s most popular languages. Listen to pronunciations, replay specific words and save your favourite phrases for easy access. Phrases fall into categories like entertainment and dining so you can find the words for every occasion. COST: Free. iPhone (for Android try Phrasebook)
Trip Journal: Trip Journal is about memories; it will remind you of all the little things from your vacation. Trip Journal records your time, distance and geography in real time. You can also document your journey with videos, photos and notes on the app’s old-fashioned scrapbook interface. Trip Journal works with Facebook, Twitter and other social media so you can share your trip with family and friends as you travel. Cost: $2.99. iPhone, Android, Symbian
Originally published in Today’s Bride magazine, Fall/Winter 2015.
