It’s no secret here that we planned our wedding in three months and then emigrated to Dubai. As Rhys was still employed we didn’t have a lot of time to take a honeymoon, you know the standard 2 week long-haul trip of a lifetime. However, we find ourselves in a unique situation, we have moved to Dubai which we see as a base where we can travel to other parts of the world while still working. We decided then, while we could see our whole stay in Dubai as a “honeymoon”, that we would actually plan lots of minimoons while we are here. We want to go on many wedventures to explore this side of the world while we’re young and pretty much free of responsibility. As we have high hopes for our travels from 2015 we are thinking of taking shorter trips like long weekends, 5 days or in some cases a week and that’s why we see these trips as our mini-moon. Not a really long trip but still the trip of a lifetime. We have already spent a few nights in the Fermanagh Lakelands after the wedding, before we left for Dubai, then we spent a long weekend in Abu Dhabi which is only an hour up the road from us.

It’s not only because we live here that we can go on a minimoon. A minimoon can be for anyone, regardless of situation or budget, some of my best trips have been staying local and camping in the Mournes in Northern Ireland. Or when we lived in London we jumped on a train and spent a perfect weekend on the Isle of Wight. Weddings can already be expensive and you don’t have to follow the crowd when it comes to your honeymoon. It’s a chance for you and your partner as a newly married couple to make the most of your new life together, so make your honeymoon, regardless of destination or length, about you as a couple, think of your dream holiday and do it. What does a mini-moon say about us? We want to try and see as much of the world while we have this unique opportunity and before we settle down in Northern Ireland. Because no matter where I go in the world, home is always my favourite.