Taking Off…In Style
Anne & Mike start their honeymoon around the world with a first class liftoff to Brazil!

After years of dreaming (and saving), our HoneyTrek has finally begun! No matter how much planning you do for a trip like this, the week before you put your life on pause for the next  500 days will be madness. Still frantically packing, we didn’t sleep a minute before our flight and just when we were about at our wits end, we made it to the airport to find the ultimate reward: First class seats all the way from snowy New York to sunny Brazil.

Our friends over at Copa Airlines took amazing care of us the entire way, from our ultra fast and smooth check-in, to the plush seats with ridiculous leg room and three-course meals on both legs. The service was excellent, everyone had a smile on their face and the dining experience was top notch  (loved their poached salmon and asparagus!) The little details weren’t overlooked either, from the hot towel before our meal to choosing the toppings on our ice cream sundae, the pampering was just what we needed.

Though it was only 11AM, we were so excited we had to enjoy a glass of champagne on our first leg and toast the fact that our HoneyTrek was officially underway….in style. https://twitter.com/#!/HoneyTrek/status/161082164946022401

We wanted to extend a huge thank you to Copa Airlines and Honeymoons.com for making this upgrade to Manaus,Brazil happen; it has definitely set our honeymoon on the right foot, poised for luxury, relaxation, and as always, adventure.

Much love from Brazil,

Mike & Anne

www.HoneyTrek.com

Their Ultimate Hideaways and Insider Tips Will Be Revealed on Honeymoons.com
A recently married New York couple, Anne and Mike Howard, are making their dreams come true and taking off on a 500-day honeymoon to search out the world’s most romantic places and most memorable adventures.

Sponsored by destination wedding and honeymoon expert, Honeymoons.com, Anne and Mike will post their own travel tips and secrets via their blog on Honeymoons.com. Couples who are about to embark on their own honeymoons or romantic trips can follow Anne and Mike around the globe via their blog on Honeymoons.com as well as the couple’s own blog, HoneyTrek.com

Their itinerary will take them through five continents, exploring big cities, small towns and remote areas. It will include luxury and boutique hotels, as well as 2-4 star properties and even beach huts and mountain cabins around the globe. At each stop, they will blog about their out-of-the-box experiences and share their insider tips on outstanding places to stay and exciting things to do—or not to do—as they begin their new life together.  Future honeymooners   who may not have as much time to travel will get plenty of ideas of where to go and what to do as they follow the Howards around the world.

Anne Collins Howard, 29, is a decorating and design editor and her husband, Mike Howard, 34, has been a digital media strategist and entrepreneur since 1999. After working hectic full-time jobs for years, they knew their honeymoon was their big chance to indulge in the exotic and far-flung places they’d always dreamt about.

As they travel to some of the world’s most romantic places and embark on once-in-a-lifetime excursions, they will share every enviable detail on Honeymoons.com.  They’ve planned a mix of everything from extreme adventure travel to relaxing days on sun-drenched beaches, amid some of the world’s most breath-taking scenery.
Traveling with romance as their guide, they are leaving their itinerary flexible as they fall in and out of love with each new locale. Chasing summer, they are timing their trip for the best weather and optimal times to experience each country’s wonders.
Starting their journey on the comfort of Copa Airlines, they have just landed in Brazil to revel in the world-famous Carnaval,  will go on to tango in Argentina, safari in Tanzania, scuba dive the Maldives, wander the temples of Thailand, and ring in Chinese New Year in Asia…and this is only the beginning.
“Whether it’s 16 days or 16 months, there is no bonding experience better than travel,” says Anne. “So when it came to planning our honeymoon, we thought an around-the-world trip would be the ultimate foundation for our new life together. We hope our story will inspire other couples to discover all the wonders the world has to offer. See you on the road!”

About Honeymoons.com
Since 1996, the goal at Honeymoons.com is to cover the world and provide in-depth travel and resort information to brides- and grooms-to-be. The site’s in-depth resources help the destination honeymoon market research and book the ultimate escape. Whether it’s a destination wedding, a custom itinerary, a honeymoon package or an all-inclusive honeymoon resort, Honeymoons.com helps newlywed couples book the dream vacation getaway.

Introducing Honeymoons.com’s favorite newlyweds and newest bloggers, Anne and Mike Howard. Follow the couple as they take the ultimate honeymoon—a 500 day trip around the world!

At a fateful happy-hour two years ago, friends of ours told us they were taking a honeymoon around the world. Our jaws dropped to the floor then stuttered out, “What do you mean? Is that even possible?” They were just going to quit their jobs and go. The concept seemed unfathomable but yet affixed itself to our brains from that moment on.

Mike and my love for travel runs deep. With a mother who was a flight attendant all through her 20s and Mike’s parents who were known for their spontaneous ski trips to the Alps, we were taught traveling is an essential part of living. In our five years of dating, we’ve been to nine countries and have constantly been thinking, where to explore next? So when it came to picking a place for our honeymoon, we knew one exotic beach wasn’t going to satisfy this case of wanderlust.

So which place did we settle on? The world. As of January 22, 2012, Mike and I are celebrating our marriage with a 500-day honeymoon around the globe and are thrilled to be chronicling our adventure in our new blog on Honeymoons.com.

The Honeymoon Itinerary
The plan is to go the places too far to visit while we have a job and too rugged to do when we’re old (I’m a 29 year-old design editor and Mike is a 34-year old digital media strategist—at least we were, until we quit our jobs last month). This means neighboring Central America and cushy Europe, we’ll see you at a later date. South America, Africa, Asia, Oceania—here we come!

To be honest, our itinerary right now is pretty loose, and we’d like to keep it that way. Of course we’ll be tightening up our plans as we approach each new destination but you never know what you’ll find out there, so we are keeping a little wiggle room for spontaneous inspiration!

Countries we’ll be exploring, in this order:
South America (January-May, 2012)
- Brazil
- Argentina
- Uruguay
- Chile
- Bolivia
- Peru

Africa: (June-August 2012)
- South Africa
- Mozambique
- Zambia
- Tanzania
- Kenya
- Madagascar
- Seychelles

Asia (August 2012-October 2012)
- Nepal
- Tibet
- China
- Japan
- South Korea

Southeast Asia (November 2012-February 2013)
- Philippines
- Laos
- Vietnam
- Cambodia
- Thailand
- Malaysia
- Singapore
- Indonesia

Oceania (March-May 2013)
- Australia
- New Zealand
- Fiji

Honeymooning Adventures
From celebrating Rio de Janeiro´s Carnival, hiking Machu Picchu, sunbathing in the Seychelles Islands, safari in Tanzania, scuba diving Australia´s Great Barrier Reef, we want to experience the most exciting and romantic things each of these 29 countries has to offer. If you are planning a honeymoon or anniversary getaway, we hope our adventures will inspire your once-in-a-lifetime trip. It is going to be one heck of a journey—one which we’d love you to participate in, from observing, commenting, asking questions to offering your suggestions, even requests!

We hope you’ll join us for the ride…
Anne & Mike Howard
www.HoneyTrek.com