You’re planning a destination wedding from Houston. Awesome, but don’t begin the research process by throwing darts at a map. Starting next week, we’ll explore Mexico and Caribbean easy travel destinations from Houston.
Houston is a major hub. Many of our clients understand and ultimately select Mexico and Caribbean easy travel destinations from Houston for their destination wedding and/or honeymoon. If you’re not located in Houston or need to find easy travel destinations from another location, we would like to share few bullet points to help you with this process.
Why do most destination wedding couples select easy travel destinations for their destination wedding?
Most destination weddings host events over two or three days. Either you’re saying, “Is that’s all?!” or “That’s enough!”. Either way, we must accommodate for guest travel time, event time and free time. Yes, even though it’s your destination wedding, it’s not polite to monopolize the entire wedding weekend. True, some guests may decide to or afford to extend their stay. However, we must still plan forward with a lead in days of travel plan. A good start is understanding that your guests will stay a minimum of three nights and four days. Therefore, cutting the travel time is essential to ensure that guests don’t spend more time traveling than at the destination.
What should I consider when calculating travel time?
We like to ask our clients to think of all key points to get an overview of travel time. Although your guests may be traveling from different places, it’s common to see one or two major places that the majority of guests will be traveling from. When calculating travel time, consider the majority. Here is what you should consider:
- Travel time from home to the airport: _________
- Arrival time before flight: 3 hrs (International Flights)
- Flight time: _________
- Arrival airport procedures time: _________
This is the tricky part! Below is an example of Airport Arrival Procedures.
This time will depend on how well traveled your guests are. We will use Cancun International Airport as an example. This is a very popular destination amongst Houston travelers.
Filling out Tourist Card (if it’s not filled out on the plane)
Note: During my last few travels, this form has only been provided in Spanish. Some airlines are really helpful and others will direct you to ask the immigrations agent upon arrival.
Proceeding to immigrations and get though immigrations
Getting to and claiming baggage
Restroom break (many travelers don’t seize the opportunity to do so before not being able to do so on the plane)
Going to and clearing the red light / green light customs procedures
Well informed guests will not stop to exchange currency. It’s costly at the airport and not needed for transportation and baggage handling tips. USD is widely accepted at this airport.
Well informed guest will speed past vacation sales agents and continue until clearing the building. Getting stopped is sure to add time.
Locating the correct transfer company, proceeding to designated vehicle and waiting (unless private transfers are booked, highly unlikely with guests)
Given all of the above example, I would estimate arrival airport procedures time as 1 hour.
- Transfer travel time to hotel or resort: _________
- Time to Check in, escorted to your room and await baggage delivery: _________
- Total One Way Travel Time TO the Destination: _________
You mention that three nights and four days is a good start for guest travels. How will I be able to ensure that this is enough time for the wedding events and to allow for “at leisure” time for my guests?
Below is an example of how guests staying three nights may spend their time.
Day 1: Arrival Travel
Night 1: At leisure (unless accounting for travel later in the day/night)
Day 2: Possible Group Excursion (Wedding Event) or At Leisure Time
Night 2: Welcome Cocktail Party or Dinner (Wedding Event) + after event at leisure time
Day 3: At Leisure, unless it’s a day time wedding ceremony + reception
Night 3: Wedding Events
Day 4: Day After Brunch (Wedding Event) or Departure Travel
When selecting destinations that are not easy travel, depending on the destination a full day or more can be lost from the example above.
Stay tuned each Thursday as we begin to explore Mexico and Caribbean easy travel Houston destinations!
