Milestone travel, designed
A honeymoon isn't a destination. It's a piece of memory you're building on purpose. Anniversaries, 50ths, retirements, elopements, second marriages — same principle. These are the trips couples still talk about twenty years later. I plan them that way: slowly, specifically, and with enough room in the pacing that the moment has space to land.
What I plan
Five milestones, one philosophy — build the trip around the moment.
Honeymoons
From 10-day Italy-and-the-islands classics to month-long round-the-world itineraries. See also the honeymoon planning timeline.
Anniversaries & Vow Renewals
A return to where it began, or something new for the twenty-fifth.
Milestone Birthdays
40, 50, 60, 75 — trips structured around the person, not just the number. See also milestone birthday trips.
Retirement Journeys
The long one. Transatlantic crossings, round-the-world cruises, the 60-day stretch you've earned.
Second-Chapter Weddings & Elopements
Destination celebrations sized for 6, 16, or 60. See also Groups & Celebrations.
Trip shapes I'm planning right now
Five milestones in motion this season — pick the one that sounds like yours, take the quiz if it doesn't.
Italy in Five Itineraries
Five shapes for the same country, depending on how you want to travel. Pick the week that matches you — not the one in the magazine.
Read the dispatch →︎ Honeymoon · 7–10 nights · May–SepSwitzerland for Two
Lauterbrunnen Valley, Zermatt, the Bernese Oberland by train. The country I keep sending honeymoons to — the proposal trips, the second-decade returns, the just-because-they-asked.
Open the guide →︎ Milestone · 7–14 nights · Year-roundA Milestone on the Water
A 40th, a 50th, a 70th — celebrated on a ship that throws the party without making it the staff's project. The Cunard transatlantic is the load-bearing example.
Read the dispatch →︎ Destination wedding · 5–10 nights · May–OctA Wedding in Tuscany
Villa, vows, the people you actually want at the table. The guide for couples doing it small and to taste.
Read the dispatch →︎ Honeymoon · 5–8 nights · Dec–AprTurks & Caicos, the Easy Way
The best beach in the hemisphere on a short flight — the low-friction luxury-Caribbean honeymoon, plus the quieter cays most couples never reach.
Open the guide →︎What I do for the moment
I ask what the day is for.
Before I book anything, I ask what you're celebrating, what you already know you want, and what you're quietly hoping the trip will do. The itinerary follows from that — not the other way around.
I put real money where it matters.
Suite upgrades, private transfers, the cabin on the bow instead of the stern, the table at the window. I know which hotel's "honeymoon amenity" is a bottle of prosecco and which is a private beach dinner — and which one you'll actually remember.
The quiet enhancements add up.
I'm part of Signature Travel Network and the supplier circles that come with it. That means a resort credit waiting at check-in, the suite upgrade that opens up the morning of arrival, the late check-out that turns the last day into one more long meal instead of an airport rush. I apply them where they meaningfully change the trip. The best of them tend to land at check-in, not on the proposal — they're better that way.
Many of the properties I anchor honeymoons around sit in the Belmond Hotels collection →︎
The transatlantic crossing I keep coming back to is Cunard →︎
Trips like these are planned on a fee that scales with their complexity — here's what it actually buys →︎
Why every honeymoon and milestone gets planned from the moment, not the destination — the manifesto →︎
Who this is for
Couples planning a first honeymoon and wanting it done beautifully. Anyone marking a number worth marking — a 40th, a 50th, the year the kids are finally old enough to leave behind. Second-chapter couples doing it smaller, smarter, and more to taste. Interfaith couples weaving both traditions through the trip. Same-sex couples who want to celebrate without spending the planning conversation on where they can and can't.
Keep Reading
More from the Journal
How to Plan a Honeymoon Without Losing Your MindHoneymoon planning doesn't have to be chaos. Here's what actually matters.Read the dispatch →︎
The Honest Truth About Honeymoon Budgets: What Each Tier Actually BuysPrice transparency without judgment. What your honeymoon budget actually buys.Read the dispatch →︎
Hawaii Honeymoon vs. Abroad: When the Domestic Answer Is the Right OneThe honest comparison most honeymoon guides skip: when Hawaii is actually the right call over Europe, the Caribbean, or Asia — and when it isn't.Read the dispatch →︎
What Couples Always Forget on Their HoneymoonThe things couples consistently overlook. Don't be that couple.Read the dispatch →︎
Solo Celebration Travel: Post-Divorce, Post-Promotion, Post-RetirementCelebrating alone is serious. Here's how to plan it.Read the dispatch →︎
All-Inclusive Resorts: An Honest TakeI recommend all-inclusive resorts to clients regularly — and I also talk people out of them regularly. Here's the honest framework, and when each answer is right.Read the dispatch →︎