Hey there folks. So I'm getting married in a few weeks. The future wife is planning the whole wedding so I've been tasked with figuring out the honeymoon. Have any of you world travelers visited both, and if so, which did you like better and why?

I'm looking to keep it under ~$7000 for the whole trip but am flexible if it is worth it. I know next to nothing about Fiji outside of what I have read online. I realize Australia is gigantic so I probably won't be able to see everything if we end up going there but the one thing I definitely want to see is the great barrier reef so we'd probably be staying on the eastern side. We're looking to go sometime between the beginning of November and Christmas, ideally right after Thanksgiving.

I'm leaning towards Australia but that is only because I know nothing about Fiji. Please educate me on your experiences!

8/14/2012 12:58:35 PM

Quote :

"I'm looking to keep it under ~$7000 for the whole trip"

Quote :

"Fiji"

haha

8/14/2012 1:08:06 PM

Congrats!

(Although I have no input for either of those places!)

8/14/2012 1:08:55 PM

I have travelled quit a bit (though not figi), and Australia is one of the few places I really want to return to.
I spent 10 days in Sydney and 3 days in Gold Coast.

8/14/2012 1:12:50 PM

Congrats on the wedding!

I agree your budget is a little optimistic. Why not look into the Caribbean or Central America? Do you just want something more exotic? Your $7000 will get you a lot farther in those places ... you'll save at least $1500 on the air fare.

8/14/2012 1:34:11 PM

7000 is not a little. don't listen to these people. also, check living social and groupon frequently as deals may come up and actually get you under budget.

worst case scenario is you spend 4000 on the flights then have 3000 left in your budget. Fly into brisbane as it is cheaper and closer to the reef.

rent a car. im going to go big and say 100/day for 10 days(you could also do train/plane but it kills flexibility. may save money though. you now have 2000 left for your hotel. you can drive down to sydney and melbourne stopping along the way at BB or nice hotels. your lodging budget for a 10 day trip would be 200/day so B&Bs may be a little more authentic and will also add money to your budget so maybe you could splurge a little in the cities. Not bad.

[Edited on August 14, 2012 at 1:45 PM. Reason : lol]

8/14/2012 1:44:35 PM

I was basing my budget on what I've found at this site... a friend of mine studied in Australia for a semester a few years ago and sent this to me:

http://www.aspiredownunder.com/

Most of the packages there seem to be about $3-$4k per person (including the airfare to their destination). Most of their packages fly out of Los Angeles, but I wouldn't think airfare to LA would be more than about $300 per person. These are fully involved packages including classy hotels/spas and stuff. I was assuming that if I did what The E Man suggested and rent a car and stay at whatever the Australian equivalent of a Holiday Inn is while there I'd be pretty much within the price range I mentioned.

Regardless, this thread was mostly meant for a comparison of Fiji and Australia, not for a critique on whether or not I can get a good deal. Although I appreciate your comments on pricing that isn't really the main purpose of this thread.

8/14/2012 1:59:22 PM

I don't know of anyone who has visited Fiji, but about a dozen of my friends have traveled to AU for school, work, vacation and all of them have loved it fwiw.

8/14/2012 2:04:25 PM

My fiance lived in Australia for six months and traveled to Fiji at the end of her stay. She absolutely loves Australia...but her opinion is that Fiji blows it out of the water. So much that its a honeymoon possibility for us even though she prefers some place new.

And I could be wrong...but I think it's the airfare that is so expensive to Fiji. I did some browsing a couple years ago and you can get some ridiculous accommodations for pretty cheap. It just costs and arm and a leg to get there. So maybe if you can swing some airline miles or something...maybe you can fit a bad-ass honeymoon in your budget.

Also...don't you think you should have figured this out already?? A few weeks is a short amount of time to plan a honeymoon. Especially one in Australia/Fiji.

8/14/2012 3:01:43 PM

Ideally yes but the engagement ended up being a lot shorter than originally planned. I won't go into details but no, she isn't pregnant. We're both pretty laid back so if we have to figure out a bunch of stuff when we get there it's no big deal.

8/14/2012 3:19:10 PM

Last thing you want is to scramble when you get there. Honeymoons are for drinking and fucking, with sightseeing mixed in between. Don't go without a plan. Maybe thats how you role in England, but not here.

8/14/2012 3:33:32 PM

Forget either one. Go to New Zealand.

8/14/2012 3:40:18 PM

^^lol someone has been checking out my photo gallery.

8/14/2012 3:41:49 PM

Coincidentally I've been researching trips to Bora Bora and Tahiti recently and I say go to Fiji. I feel like $7000 will be pretty tough to do but then again I just BS'd for an hour or two when I was checking prices so you can probably beat that. One question I have for you is how long will your trip be? For either Australia or Fiji I would recommend no less than 10 days.

BTW I had to look up flights to LAX (from RDU at least) when doing this research and I didn't see anything out of RDU for less than $450/person.

8/14/2012 4:36:22 PM

Did ~3 weeks in Australia last year on honeymoon. Stayed exclusively (Sydney, Melbourne, Whitsunday Islands) on the east coast to keep travel times to minimum. Completely amazing trip but I'll say we did go over your budget a bit. Considered both Fiji and Bora Bora and almost worked out a stopover on the way back but ultimately decided we'd save them for another day.

Don't really think you can go wrong either way. Fiji would obviously keep you more in one area and eliminate the intra-country travel time sink. Agree w/ TKE-Teg on LAX flights these days. They're nuts. Also agree on no less than 10 days..especially if you chose Oz.

8/14/2012 4:51:00 PM

start earning airline miles now. Get an airline miles CC to use for wedding expenses (preferably one with a great signup bonus) and you can cut the plane ticket price in half (at least).

Some such as AA charge points by zones so you can fly from RDU to Sydney with the same amount of points as flying from LAX to Sydney since RDU and LAX are both in the North American zone.

8/14/2012 5:14:36 PM

I'm not in Raleigh so I won't be flying out of RDU. Ticket prices from here to LAX are a little lower plus there are a number of bigger airports within reasonable driving distance that may have even lower prices.

We haven't fully decided on the duration, that will depend on the cost once I've got a few other things figured out.

I actually am registered with the airline miles programs of most major airlines so I plan on seeing what I can do with that too. Thanks for the heads up on the credit card idea, I hadn't thought of that.

So from some more online research it looks like since Fiji is a lot smaller, it is a lot more of a relaxed and laid back type destination. Like sheldavie said, less travel time once we get there and for the most part we'd probably be staying in the same general area the whole time. Australia probably has a lot more activities though so this one is a humdinger.

8/14/2012 5:33:06 PM

isnt fiji ruled by a despotic junta?

8/14/2012 8:12:36 PM

Quote :

"Congrats on the wedding! I agree your budget is a little optimistic. Why not look into the Caribbean or Central America? Do you just want something more exotic? Your $7000 will get you a lot farther in those places ... you'll save at least $1500 on the air fare."

I'll agree, the wife and I did a week at Sandals in Nassau and it was pretty awesome. The package we got was around $5000 and you really don't have to worry about anything.

8/14/2012 10:25:52 PM

Neither.

I've been to all 50 states and all over the world, and here's the harsh truth about Fiji and Australia.

Australia is *just like America* except it's more expensive. I kid you not. Visit the Gold Coast. You'll get the same thing in Florida or California. Visit the red center. Now go to Southern Utah. Australia is, for some reason likely linked to marketing, the *dream destination* for all Americans. It's not worth the money. You don't have to believe me, but it's true.

Fiji: whatever you do, do not spend any amount of time on Viti Levu, the island with Suva and Nadi. You have to remember that Fiji is a third-world country. The roads are godawful (worse than Panama). They have no clean water. A 20oz. bottle of Fiji water that's bottled in the country at one of the very few clean sources of water costs 5x what it does in the USA. I shat you not. The out islands, a solid 2+ hour boat ride from Nadi, are what you see in the postcard-worthy pictures. That's fine, but it's not worth the cost and plane ride from America. It's just not.

There are two places in the world that I've been that I can assure you will be amazing honeymoon destinations. Kauai and Moorea. Kauai is obviously the more practical and inexpensive of the two, but I've yet to visit a place that screamed "this cannot be the real world" than Moorea.

It also comes down to what you're after. Do you want a beach? Tons of hiking with amazing views? Skiing? You could go to Kauai for two weeks and splurge like crazy for under $4k, and $7k would definitely get you an overwater bungalow in Moorea for roughly that amount of time. I'm telling you -- Fiji is not paradise. It's a really, really poor place. And Australia is entirely too much like America to spend your one and only (hopefully) honeymoon on.

/$0.02

8/15/2012 2:15:18 AM

^ Pretty much the only thing I agree with in your post is that Kauai is amazing.

8/15/2012 6:46:59 AM

how the hell do you get to Moorea/Tahiti? NC to LAX to island airport?

8/15/2012 8:56:40 AM

^^ No sweat! We're all different people with different views.

^ Super easy, in a relative sense. You can go RDU > LAX > PPT and a 30 minute ferry to Moorea. Or, what I did was RDU > HNL (spent a week on Oahu) and then Hawaiian Airlines runs a direct flight every Saturday from HNL to PPT, where I then flew to Tahiti and caught the quick ferry over.

8/15/2012 9:22:50 AM

Totally different option but Costa Rica was pretty awesome for us. We went there with limited set plans and were there for 10 days for both of us for like $2500 or something crazy and we saw and visited all kinds of stuff all over the country in that time.

We're not packaged resort, sit on a beach for a week type people though. So that might not be the route you're looking for.

8/15/2012 9:35:19 AM

[Edited on August 15, 2012 at 9:37 AM. Reason : ]

8/15/2012 9:37:24 AM

Thanks for the input, SouthPaw, I'll introduce the idea of Moorea to the fiance. Your post makes it seem like Fiji is a shithole though. I actually had a friend who went to Fiji say that pickpockets and scam artists are all over the place there too but I'd imagine that you could say the same about any tourist destination. Regardless, you have tipped the scales against Fiji, that's for sure.


One thing I should probably point out is that my fiance has a kidney issue... she had a transplant a few years ago and hence has a very weak immune system and every now and then has to go to the hospital for things that regular people would brush off. One of the appeals of Australia was that since it is a very [what I would assume] civilized country and would have an ample amount of hospitals that may not be as well staffed on small Pacific islands. Although unlikely that she would need a hospital visit, it's possible that the combination of the change of environment/food, change in climate, and overall stress of traveling may make an episode more likely.

8/15/2012 9:42:23 AM

^ I'll second CalledToArms re: Costa Rica. We spent minimal money and stayed at the Best Western (cues laughs) in Tamarindo and it was amazing. Home cooked free breakfast in a terrace every morning and really great surfing. One of the best / least costly vacations we've had aside from the folks on the beach that push trinkets 24/7.

^ Fiji *as a country* isn't a dump. That'd be like saying America is a dump because you only visited a slum in inner-city [insert city here]. What I am saying is that the infrastructure is that of a third-world country, with blips of bolstered infrastructure on the out islands to cater to Aussies and New Zealanders who flock there. My personal preference would be to skip Fiji for something more first-world and less expensive to fly to.

As for your wife's immune issue, that could easily crop up on a 14 hour haul to SYD. To be honest, perhaps it's best for you to consider something a bit closer to home if that's a very serious matter. Bermuda, St. Thomas and even Key West are all amazing destinations close to home. Heck, if you go to St. Thomas or one of the USVIs, you can even use your AT&T cellphone without roaming charges to phone local urgent care centers or what have you, still while feeling like you're in paradise.

You'll run into a problem that we did: there are too many seemingly amazing options. But in all honesty, as long as you can go with the flow, you'll be happy wherever so long as you're having fun with your wife.

8/15/2012 10:19:43 AM

Also look at the Greek Islands. You can find deals in certain places and I've had friends find flights from NYC to Athens for $400.

The Mediterranean is beautiful and the Greek Islands are ridiculous.

8/15/2012 10:24:24 AM

Just found these deals on Groupon. Anyone have any thoughts? The Tahiti one actually includes Moorea

http://www.groupon.com/deals/ga-to-pacific-holidays?c=all&p=10

http://www.groupon.com/deals/ga-to-travelscene?c=all&p=55

Thoughts?

8/15/2012 10:33:12 AM

as someone who has been married a while, i think you should consider going somewhere closer, cheaper to get to and less amazing on the honeymoon and take the crazy trip of a lifetime around the 1-2 year mark. you'll enjoy it a lot more since you won't spend the whole time in the hotel after the honeymoon .

8/15/2012 10:36:21 AM

^^ Eat that Moorea one up. That's a stellar deal.

^ Not a good way to look at. Go on an insane honeymoon, and then do something more insane each anniversary after that. Why settle? Bust your arse, make some money, save up and make it a yearly thing to look forward to.

8/15/2012 10:38:25 AM

ARG THE MOOREA ONE IS ONLY GOOD FOR DEPARTURE BEFORE SEPTEMBER 2. Wedding is in early November.

On terms of spending, here is the thing I told my future wife. Every wedding I've been to has been full of stress for the bride and the groom. All my friends have said "have a small wedding, as small as possible!" so that is what we are doing. Spending as little on the wedding as possible so that we can spend more on the honeymoon and enjoy it. Who knows when kids will come along and mess everything up so I want to make sure that we get in all the good trips while we are still young, healthy, and have the disposable income.

8/15/2012 10:45:11 AM

^ Darn. I used http://www.pacific-for-less.com/

That site looks *awful* but the people behind it are world-class. Scored and amazing deal on the overwater bungalow at the Hilton Moorea with gratis breakfast, ferry ride, it's all taken care of. Shoot 'em a note with your dates and they'll try to package it all up -- flight included -- for the best possible deal.

EDIT: This is the kind of stuff you see / do in Moorea:




[Edited on August 15, 2012 at 10:58 AM. Reason : pics]

8/15/2012 10:56:46 AM

Yeah...my next "huge" vacation will be going out there.

8/15/2012 12:48:50 PM

Quote :

"On terms of spending, here is the thing I told my future wife. Every wedding I've been to has been full of stress for the bride and the groom. All my friends have said "have a small wedding, as small as possible!" so that is what we are doing. Spending as little on the wedding as possible so that we can spend more on the honeymoon and enjoy it. Who knows when kids will come along and mess everything up so I want to make sure that we get in all the good trips while we are still young, healthy, and have the disposable income."

I would second this. I had to skimp on the honeymoon because we had to spend so much on the wedding to keep the wife happy. She loved it, I thought it was nice but not worth the money.

8/15/2012 6:10:27 PM

Locked in 11 days in Australia staying at two different five star hotels for $7700 total. A little bit over budget but not by much.

9/5/2012 3:39:58 PM

I was going to recommend Thailand. You can use Agoda to find cheap high end hotels and resorts from downtown Bangkok (~100 night for swank), to Phuket and Koi Samui (<$200, very possible). You'd be going during high season in Thailand but food there is very cheap (use bottled water though), as is a lot of the things to do. We went on a guided tour of the marine park in the Gulf of Thailand which included a meal for something like $75. You'd have about $5,000 when you get there which is a lot, you can go for ~20 days and still have 1000 left over when you get back (or as "OH SHIT" money).

Intrepid has a lot of fully guided tours in that part of the world as well for cheap (relatively).

No offense, and I hope that you and your bride have good time, but your money isn't going to go far in Australia which will seem more like visiting England / US, rather than some 'exotic' location. It's just so same-same.

9/5/2012 3:59:30 PM

^ See...that's kind of what I want to do. And while the fiance is up for that kind of thing...she's not up for it on the honeymoon. She wants more of a, "relax, be waited on hand and foot, and eat and drink well" type of vacation after the stress and confines of a wedding. She'll be up for "scheduled adventures" during the trip...but I don't think I can swing her on a Thailand excursion...but I will keep trying.

9/5/2012 4:14:51 PM

Quote :

"No offense, and I hope that you and your bride have good time, but your money isn't going to go far in Australia which will seem more like visiting England / US, rather than some 'exotic' location. It's just so same-same."

This. A million times this.

That said, I hope you have an absolutely amazing time.

9/5/2012 7:36:33 PM

I'm all for adventure and I'd love to do Thailand, unfortunately the future wife isn't nearly as adventurous as me. She's never even left the country and has led kind of a sheltered life. She is very resistant to going out of her comfort zone. I feel like going to somewhere like Thailand as her first experience out of country would be a bad idea given how different the culture/food/language/toilets/etc. are. I realize Australia is very similar to USA/England but that is kind of what we are going for this time around. Additionally if she does end up having to go to a hospital or doctor or something for some reason I'd much rather it be in a first world country.


As a side note, what are you guys' thoughts on travel insurance? My health insurance works internationally so I am not too worried about that, but it would cover flight delays (we have a connection in Fort Worth before going on to Brisbane) and loss of luggage, theft of anything, stuff like that. I've never gotten travel insurance before but I've also never taken an international trip to such a distant location.

9/5/2012 9:00:08 PM

I know it's too late, but you should've just booked a trip to Hawaii

Yeah it's still the US, but I can't imagine other places being more 'worth it' than remote/secluded places in Hawaii. It's not that bad of a flight and it's not nearly as expensive as Australia.

I was on Maui for 8 days a few weeks ago and I wanted to cry when I got on the plane

[Edited on September 5, 2012 at 11:59 PM. Reason : .]

9/5/2012 11:58:25 PM

^ 4 jbrick83 - it will cost a tad more than 7k but there are a plethora of all inclusive resort spas in Phuket or Koi Samui. There are ones in Bangkok as well but lack that island feel. Still cheap compared to any place in the States. That would leave the outside option of random jungle or urban adventures as well.

9/6/2012 1:52:49 AM

^^ We used Travel Guard. Relatively in-expensive but it was nice knowing that we had a nice safety net to get the gently caress out of dodge if circumstances went south.

9/6/2012 10:49:18 AM

Quote :

"I was on Maui for 8 days a few weeks ago and I wanted to cry when I got on the plane "

THIS. God that place was amazing. I was depressed for months after leaving

9/6/2012 11:48:53 AM

Felt the same way about Kuaui. Wouldn't mind going there for the honeymoon as well, but the fiance (and me), would like to get out of the US and go somewhere neither of us have been before.

9/6/2012 11:51:13 AM

How many Great Barrier Reefs are there in Maui ? Because that is something that both me and my future wife have wanted to experience for years.

Quote :

"We used Travel Guard. Relatively in-expensive but it was nice knowing that we had a nice safety net to get the gently caress out of dodge if circumstances went south."

If you don't mind me asking, how much was the insurance and how much was the total trip cost? What was covered? I'm still trying to decide if I should bother with it -- most places I've looked at are offering the standard stuff for $200-$300.

[Edited on September 6, 2012 at 1:39 PM. Reason : ]

9/6/2012 1:13:24 PM

I think you made the right choice. I lived in Australia for six months and vacationed to every state multiple times. I also took a trip to Fiji. Although Fiji was the most picturesque and relaxing beach vacation i have ever done, I don't plan on ever going back there (a beach resort is a beach resort). I can't wait to go back to Australia. The Gold Coast and Whitsundays are stunning!

9/6/2012 1:52:40 PM

We had it for part of the trip so we put the value low (it was required for one of the tours we did) but I had the dates extended to cover the whole duration.

It was $202.00 for $1500 trip value each ($3000) that covered 20 days.

Also covered:

Standard Packages
ACCIDENT AND SICKNESS MEDICAL EXPENSES
$50000.00 Per Insured
ACCIDENTAL DEATH/DISMEMBERMENT
$50000.00 Per Insured
BAGGAGE & TRAVEL DOCUMENTS
$2500.00 Per Insured
BAGGAGE DELAY
$500.00 Per Insured
CANCEL FOR BUSINESS REASONS
Included Per Insured
CONCIERGE SERVICES
Included Per Insured
EMERGENCY MEDICAL TRANSPORTATION
$1000000.00 Per Insured
IDENTITY THEFT ASSISTANCE SERVICES
Included Per Insured
LIVETRAVEL ASSISTANCE
Included Per Insured
MISSED CONNECTION
$500.00 Per Insured
ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE
$50.00 Per Insured
TRAVEL GUARD ASSIST
Included Per Insured
TRIP CANCELLATION
100% Trip Cost Per Insured
TRIP DELAY
$1000.00 Per Insured
$200.00 Payout Limit Per Day
TRIP INTERRUPTION
150% Trip Cost Per Insured
TRIP INTERRUPTION - RETURN AIR
$1000.00 Per Insured
15 Day Benefits
DEFAULT/BANKRUPTCY
100% Trip Cost Per Insured
PRE-EXISTING CONDITION WAIVER
Included Per Insured

9/6/2012 4:24:39 PM

Quote :

"How many Great Barrier Reefs are there in Maui "

5 hour snorkel cruise to Molokini yo. No words...

Saw 4 pods of spinner dolphins, got up in some sea caves, and I swam with like 15 sea turtles

http://www.bluewaterrafting.com/


Make it your next big trip

9/6/2012 11:01:19 PM

i've been living in melbourne for the last year and a half and went to fiji (beqa island) for my 30th back in july for a week - fiji weather is great year round for the most part other than the rainy season - end of november is starts getting a bit warmer in australia but it's not hot unless you go to queensland - by christmas it'll be hot in most of the country though - last year we spent christmas at the beach

fiji is beautiful if you go to the right spots - it's definitely a 3rd world country but it's one of the nicer ones comparitively

i love australia and would recommend it to anyone but as mentioned previously it's expensive - it's hard to do any meals out for under $20 pp and more realistically $30 with a drink - a pint of beer is $8-11 for example - you can spend a few days each in melbourne and sydney - oing a 3 day live aboard dive trip off of cairns at the great barrier reef starting on thursday next week which i can talk about once i'm back - depending on what you want to see in australia and how much time you have - it's a massive country and depending on time you likely won't be able to make it to perth or ayers rock - best to stay on the east coast for a shorter trip (less than 10-12 days)

let me know if you have specific questions

9/7/2012 7:48:45 AM