I still get the warm and fuzzies when I think back to our honeymoon road trip to Florida National Parks! There’s nothing more romantic than the thought of hitting the open road with “nothing behind [us], everything ahead of [us]…” (as I play with Jack Kerouac’s famous saying).
The honeymoon is typically the first trip that a newly married couple embarks upon together. I used to think that honeymoon’s were all about being pampered and eating chocolate covered strawberries while watching the sunset. And while some pampering and good ol’ rest and relaxation are certainly in order, don’t sell yourself short by opting for nothing but catered luxury. There’s an even better way to celebrate your first adventure as newlyweds – the honeymoon road trip.
Reasons to Take a Road Trip Honeymoon
If you’re wondering why you’d want to take a road trip for your honeymoon, here are a few reasons that I’d urge you to consider.
Road trips provide the best opportunity to be alone, together.
Often, you will have stretches of time where you have nothing to do but drive and talk for extended periods of time. This creates space for dreaming together.
You’ll learn so much about your partner on a road trip.
Jason and I have been on countless road trips together, and each time, I feel like I learn something new about him. It’s often the unexpected things that occur on the road – a sign that you pass, a person that you meet, a town that you visit – that might trigger a memory or cause you to deviate from the plan. These create great opportunities to see your partner in a new setting… they might surprise you!
You’ll be able to define “how we travel”.
By this, I mean that even the most planned people may discover that they behave with spontaneity on the road. When released from the constraints and expectations of your daily life, the sky is the limit. You also get to solve problems together like how do we split up driving (because two drivers is better than one), and what channel do we tune in on the radio as we pass from town to town. Want some more inspiration? Check out these great road trip quotes!
Road trips can be more cost effective than traditional all-inclusive resort honeymoons.
Ultimately, the cost of a road trip is dependent upon decisions that you make, but it’s totally possible to take a long trip with a relatively low average cost per day. This can be a huge win for those that opt for an expensive wedding and that may not have a lot of budget left for what comes next.
Check out our thoughts on road trip costs – a honeymoon road trip can definitely make the overall cost of a wedding + honeymoon more manageable.
Memories grow sweeter over time.
Admittedly, this is true for most travel experiences as we tend to grow nostalgic as time passes.
3 Things That We Learned On Our National Park Honeymoon Road Trip
Jason and I love to take road trips to the National Parks in the USA. Part of our love story is falling in love at the Smoky Mountains and growing closer with each new park that we experience together. If you can imagine then, it was easy for us to set our sights on a National Park road trip for our first trip as newlyweds. Even though we have a routine down for road trips, there were a number of things that we learned on our road trip honeymoon.
Start Your Trip When You Are Fresh
We decided to drive from our home in Central Ohio to Marco Island, Florida, a trek that we started on the day after our wedding. Honestly, looking back, I wish that we had waited a day or two after the wedding as the wedding day itself (while fun!) was taxing.
Our wedding day was fun with a lot of family and friends, food and dancing. We started in the late afternoon, and wrapped up after sunset with a literal fireworks display (courtesy of a local event). It was so much fun, but I didn’t realize how tired I would be after all of the stress and nerves wrapped up in the moment. Also, I felt bad about hitting the road the next morning because I had several guests that were visiting from out of town that I would have loved to have spent more time with the following day.
So, retrospectively, a piece of advice that I would have given myself was to wait a day before jumping in the car.
It’s OK to Stop and Smell the Roses
I used to think of road trips as being a drag. Seriously!
As a kid, road trips for me were primarily about suffering the long, 9-hour drive to visit family a couple of times a year. We typically travelled interstates, and were as efficient with time as possible, not stopping for breaks other than to top off gas or grab a bite to eat. This didn’t leave space for luxury or indulging in roadside attractions that grab your attention as a kid.
But aren’t honeymoons supposed to be fun and romantic? I mean, a long period of time on the road may sound like torture if your only experience with road trip is the “are we there yet?” line of questioning of a kid.
Our route took us from Ohio to Florida. We made a number of stops through Georgia where we visited National Park sites, and wacky roadside stops (like the worlds largest peanut). Our decision to make these stops added time to our trip, but were such amazing adventures in and of themselves.
It’s kind of humorous, but it’s a fact that we got married, and then within 48 hours, we both found ourselves in a Prisoner of War camp (at Andersonville National Historic Site, an infamous Confederate POW camp during the Civil War). These are the types of memories that we will have forever!
The point here is to slow down and take time to smell the roses. It’s nice to get to your destination, but the trip itself is part of the fun!
You Don’t Have to Choose Between Luxury and Roughin’ It
Even through we did have long stretches of time driving, we also integrated some of the traditional honeymoon things like sip smoothies on the beach, and having a lazy brunch at the rooftop restaurant with the warm sun on our skin, the calming sound of steady waves greeting us on the balcony, and all the while inhaling the liberating scents of hibiscus and salt water! Yes, I’ll take more of that!
The reality is that you don’t have to choose one or the other. It’s even better to integrate components of sporadic stops on the road!
After several days of pampering, we were more than ready to take a meandering path back to the Buckeye State. We drove from the east coast of Florida to the west coast, passing through the Everglades and Biscayne, and meandering north along the west coast, stopping to visit beautiful Forts and Historical Sites.
It has been (several) years since we took our own honeymoon road trip to Florida, but I do think that I’ll write a post about our experience. Afterall, it is so core to the story of who we are, how we travel, and why we love making an effort to visit our parks and public lands.
Conclusion
We highly recommend that you consider a road trip for your honeymoon (here’s a guide with great ideas)! If you enjoy National Parks, historic sites, or just taking some time to experience the open road with your partner, then a road trip honeymoon may be just the right fit for your first memories together as a married couple! Happy exploring!
