Honeymoons Worth Telling Your Grandkids About

Gail Holzworth

Williamsburg

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In 1987, a retired Peace Corps volunteer ( moi ) married the daughter of an airline pilot. I took charge of honeymoon planning. We settled on a week on Crete followed by a week in the Scottish Highlands.

Our goal was the small town of Hania, on the northern coast of Crete. The "plan" was to arrive around 6 p.m. and scope out the hotel possibilities, rather than making a reservation sight unseen. That's how we RPCVs travel. This is not how daughters of airline pilots travel, but I got the benefit of the doubt (for the last time).

Because of a canceled connecting flight, we arrived in Hania at nearly midnight. We caught the small airport bus into town, and I finally spotted a hotel where, for an amazingly low price, there was an amazingly crummy room available. The next morning I was up and about early while my bride slumbered (despite the bedbugs). It was not only the first non-travel day of our honeymoon, but also her birthday. I brought her back fresh yogurt, along with news of a very nice room in a very nice hotel available for immediate occupancy. As soon as she stopped crying, we went directly there.

The rest of the trip in Crete went well, except for the cheap local rental car and the hotel we chose a few days later that featured motorcycle races and honking just below our window until 2 in the morning. We had more of that soothing fresh yogurt and fruit for breakfast.

Michael Crosswell

Arlington

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We spent our honeymoon on St. Thomas. As many Caribbean hotels do, ours asked that we close the sliding glass doors in our room to save electricity.

One day we decided to order room service and eat out on the terrace, with its great view of the harbor and downtown Charlotte Amalie. After signing for the food, I dutifully shut the sliding door as I stepped out, and watched as the security bar fell down from its upright position and locked us out on the terrace. It faced the harbor and not the hotel grounds, so it was unlikely that anyone would hear our calls for help.