Let’s be honest now. Honeymoons aren’t as perfect as they’re made out to be. Not many of us in the new jet-setting, mismatched-official-leave situation are lucky enough to have one at all – my husband and I only managed to drive down for a night to a golf resort in neighbouring Noida where we lounged about in the pool and had a massage in the spa. Luckier couples who do manage to have full-length holidays to scenic destinations have to contend with the hazards of travel – including uncomfortable train or cab journeys, unromantic flight delays and boring stopovers – besides the discomfort of living out of a suitcase, eating unfamiliar food and sleeping in beds they aren’t used to. Add to that the awkwardness of having to share your intimate space with another human being, no matter how beloved, for 24 hours a day, and there’s a recipe for anything but a honeymoon.
And yet, if there’s anything my little one-day getaway taught me, it’s that the essence of honeymoons doesn’t lie in glamorous five-star memories or breathtaking panoramas from your room window. It lies in tiny little moments of sharing and tenderness, the silent conversation you have with your eyes over dinner, the silly way you pull the other’s cheeks to soothe a grumpy mood. It lies not in dazzling landscapes but the lighting up of your heart when the other holds your hand with a sense of both ownership and belonging. It lies not in expensive wine but in the simplest of human touches and the quietest of whispers, in the vow of commitment two souls make to one another, unannounced, unasked for.
Honeymoons are not just about travel and romance. They’re about the little things that make up a marriage, that make two hearts a home. Here’s to journeys of love and togetherness.
First published in the November 2013 Travel Special issue of Wedding Vows
CORALESQUE 
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