Gold Coast Honeymoon, Part 1

Give me my honeymoon, now!

I have determined, through absolutely no rigorous research whatsoever, that many couples determine a honeymoon to be an indulgence, a good way to trim the burgeoning costs of weddings in this day and age. And I can understand that line of thought. After all, as New Zealanders we are supposedly a ‘nation of travellers’ who flit off to Whereversbekistan at a moment’s notice. Why should a honeymoon even be necessary?

I’m here to tell you it is necessary. Very necessary.

The final days leading up to the wedding were some of the most pressure-intense that I have experienced in my life thus far. Being away from home, often separated from each other while we ran around doing jobs or seeing to visitors was gruelling, all the while dealing with the constant thought that you would, very shortly, be engaged in an event of monumental import, where everything must be just so. Thank goodness, my wife-to-be did not go bridezilla on me or I may have snapped. In truth, she is the most laid back bride-to-be I can imagine, which in part explains why I was so flabbergasted by the amount of stress we both felt over the whole thing. It seems like a great test of your commitment to one another. In a way, I can understand why some brides or grooms just gap on the big day, don’t show up at all. I don’t believe it’s a case of whether you love your partner or not as much as a case of whether you can handle the pressure leading up to it. Without murdering anybody.

So I felt a distinct feeling of liberation when we boarded a plane to disappear for some much-needed time together. We left three days after the wedding, enough time to catch up with everybody who stuck around after the wedding and take care of the business end of things – returning suits, getting people to the airport, and dishing out goldfish (not as weird as it sounds).

I intend to spend the weekend putting my New Zealand life back together and hanging out with my wife, then I’ll tell you all about it.