Eco-Fab honeymoon is a great option.

For your honeymoon – timing is absolutely everything. Did you know that ‘timing your vacation’ to be on the slightly off (called shoulder) weeks can save you money?? It seems that 'shoulder weeks' are considered the few weeks right before and after peak season for your particular destination. Ask your travel agent, or call your desired location directly and ask them what are their ‘non-peak seasons.’ This can save you up to 50%.

What to fly, what is the price, where is my seat – oh my! When you booked your reservations in the past, Saturday night stays saved money. Now that’s not necessarily true. Use some of the search engines like kayak.com, cheaptickets.com, lastminute.com, dohop.com, tripadvisor.com, sidestep.com, or farecompare.com to help you find savings on your travel and hotels.

Only the wizard know for sure until now. Have you heard of yapta.com or farecast.com? Both of these sites will send you price drop alerts on your flights and hotels. Farecast.com even has a ‘price prediction’ screen so you can actually plan well into the future for your travel. Of course once you find your flight, use Seatguru.com to pick your seat location (especially good if you or your partner is tall). Hmm, now that I think of it, some airlines are now charging for exit rows, so keep this in mind.

Will that be Cash, Amex, MC or Visa? One of the best and easiest ways is to pay for everything is with your credit cards. I know you may not want to incur more debt, but think of the ‘points’. You can earn everything from flyer points, to cash back. It’s also a great insurance (see your individual cards for their travel policies). Also make sure that you have airline and hotel rewards cards so you can collect points that way as well. You may not think of it as a big deal, but points add up and that could be a free mini-trip for you both.

You want a honeymoon destination that gives back? I Do Foundation is a site that does give back. If you book your honeymoon using their site, they will ensure that a portion of your total price will be donated directly to the charity of your choice.

Let’s get your hands dirty on your honeymoon? I do know a few couples that just might like this. Why not consider a volunteer organization like Cross Cultural Solutions where you are actually working with people who can immediately benefit from your time in their country. Build a house, school or dig a well. If climate change, or the coral reefs is more your passion, then earthwatch.org, is the organization for you. Hey don’t forget we have lots of national parks right here in the US – in NY we have the Central Park Conservancy and I know they can always use a hand (if you want to stay closer to home).

There will be a listing of hotels, tourism offices and more in the coming weeks. Here’s hoping that this is a start and gives you some ideas on being more eco-fab and having eco-fun during your honeymoon.

Until next time...