2019-10-01Travel+Leisure

34 TRAVEL+LEISURE | OCTOBER 2019

ANDERS OVERGAARD/TRUNK ARCHIVE

to take pictures! All we cared about was being

together,” Catherine told me, which is totally

corny and also the most romantic thing ever.

What a difference a half-century makes. Not

only has Niagara fallen out of honeymoon favor,

but the very premise of a “romantic getaway”

has evolved beyond recognition. Where, our

parents might ask, did all the chocolate-covered

strawberries go?

To gauge how far we’ve come since those

simpler, sappier times, we asked the experts

on T+L’s A-List, our guide to the world’s top

travel specialists, who navigate the romance-

industrial complex on a daily basis. They see

two trends at play.

First, travelers are swinging for the fences

with “statement” vacations. “Romantic trips are

becoming way more ambitious,” says Kara Bebell,

whose agency, the Travel Siblings, plans some

500 honeymoons each year. The common refrain:

bigger, faster, more. One pair asked Bebell to plot

a weeklong trip to both Amalfi and Japan. “It’s

doable,” she says. “But couples aren’t allowing

enough time to immerse themselves. They’d

rather just take the perfect shot and move on.”

Even small gestures are growing outsize. “It’s

all about partners impressing each other” with

over-the-top surprises, says Bebell, who’s often

the facilitator of said surprises. Like the groom

who wanted a cake delivered from his bride’s

favorite bakery to their honeymoon resort. The

catch: the resort was in rural New Zealand.

Among millennials, honeymoons have begun

to resemble team-building retreats, complete

with ziplining, rock-climbing, canyoneering—

any opportunity for couples to prove their mettle

and devotion. “This is an active, adventurous

generation,” says Kimberly Wilson Wetty of Valerie

Wilson Travel, “and they want the Instagrammable

moment.” Nor are they averse to flying halfway

around the world to get it. For Jack Ezon’s clients

at Embark Beyond Travel, “far” is the unifying

theme, as honeymooners use gifted airline points

to splurge on long-haul flights.

The second trend—tied to the first—is that

romantic travel has become, essentially,

performative. With social media, private

moments are suddenly on public display, and

programmed accordingly. (If you bungee-jump

into a ravine and your spouse doesn’t get the

Boomerang, are you two really meant for each

other?) To that end, today’s couples are hiring not

just wedding but honeymoon photographers.

B

ACK IN 1964, Niagara Falls was still

calling itself the Honeymoon

Capital of the World, even as

farther-flung destinations—now opened up

by the jet age—sought to usurp the title. That

January, my friend Chris’s parents, Catherine

and Dario Grdovic, spent their honeymoon

at Niagara, and somehow took not a single

photo. Their Kodak Brownie stayed in the

Pontiac’s glove box. “We didn’t even think

T+L’s Most Romantic

Hotels in the World

When visiting the Aman

Venice (aman.com; doubles

from $1,617), it’s easy to

forget which era you’re in.

The hotel occupies a

16th-century palazzo on the

Grand Canal, with opulent

frescoed walls and Rococo

artwork alongside sleek

contemporary furnishings

from B&B Italia. There’s

beauty in every corner, wall

panel, light fixture, and

garden path. I can’t think of a

better combination of city

and hotel for a couples

getaway. — John Wogan

man o e

The Romance of Travel