Honeymoons and Solo-moons! ft Romance Travel Expert Alyssa Dial

9:46PM Jun 3, 2022

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Keywords:

couples

destination weddings

people

destination

wedding

honeymoons

love

beach

travel

title

nice

romance

single

realise

vows

jamaica

resorts

uptick

renew

seizure

Do your summer plans involve romance and travel? Any destination weddings in your future? What about a solo trip to a beautiful place for some self care? Well, today we have a romance travel expert, who's here to share all the tips for planning your perfect summer getaway. I'm Sarah Wendell. I'm Alisha Rai. Welcome to love struck daily where we bring a love story to your ears every single day.

I'm in love with that love with you. Happy Friday, Sara. It is day five of our sizzling summer we yay. Very exciting. Are you getting hot?

Seriously, it's already having we're already having a heatwave here. Oh, it's

hot here. It's hot here. I was in Vegas last week and it was creeping up to the 90s and I was like, Man, I guess we can't go to Vegas now.

But you know where hot is totally tolerable and I don't care what temperature it is. And I am by some water. I love being at a beach. I love yeah, like I love bug spray. Also, I would just like say I love insect repellent but I love going to the beach to relax because it's always so much cooler right

by the water. Yeah, I used to have an issue with the beach because one time when my little sister was really little she was like six or seven. We were at the beach. And when she came home she had a seizure. Like it was the most terrifying thing that's ever happened. She never had a seizure before. And it turned out she had like a very benign form of of seizures which kind of disappeared by the time she was 12 or 13 Yeah, but it was terrifying. And so I had a mental block against beaches for years. Like I did not go I didn't like them I didn't want to go. And then I came to LA and I realised that LA beaches are different from like FLORIDA BEACHES, which is what I was used to. Yeah. And now I love the beach because it's it's like a nice cooling place here like It's like noticeably if you go to Santa Monica or Venice or Manhattan Beach or something. It's like a 10 degree drop from wherever we are a little more inland. So it's just like cool breezes and you know sun but not like a gentle sun like a lot of fun. So, except unless you know you're in the heat of the summer but but otherwise, it's like, oh, it's such a relief to go to the beach now.

Well, our guest today is going to take us much farther than our local beaches, right? Oh, much further. Yes. Loving away, is a personalised travel service that specialises in destination weddings and honeymoons Alyssa dial is loving aways. Get ready for the best job title, lead romance expert and brand manager. Literally romance expert isn't her job title. And she's here to tell us all about the most romantic travel destinations. Welcome, Alisa.

Thank you for having me.

Can you tell us a little bit about your title and the business that you work for this little rundown of what you do?

Sure. So I am the brand manager and lead romance expert for love in a way. We are a travel agency based out of Kenosha, Wisconsin, so we're right in between Milwaukee and Chicago. But we work with couples nationwide and globally. For destination weddings, romance, travel honeymoons, stuff like that.

I love that your title is literally lead romance expert did you come up with that? Or boats that the opening like was that the job operating?

I came into the position with the title. I love it. agency owners just saw a need for destination wedding requests. So they decided to up the romance level with those titles.

And what are some of the best like romantic destinations for weddings and or honeymoons

or honeymoons? I think everybody thinks of the iconic like Overwater Bungalows and to Bora Bora, Fiji, stuff like that. But I do think that couples don't realise that they're actually closer to home now. So you can find those in Mexico, Jamaica, Antigua. So I think it's a really nice destination to go closer towards Mexico or Jamaica for those reasons. One, you get all inclusive experience and you're not on the plane as long as when it comes to destination weddings. Your guests are going to be excited to travel, but not necessarily for you know, 15 hours or so plus, so it's really nice to have them just hop on down to Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, those kinds of destinations. Not only are the guests getting more bang for their buck, but so is the couple so I would say probably those are my top destinations for those kinds of occasions.

Now those are all pretty hot places like tropical places. How are they was in the summer like is that like a summer destination for for people,

we usually try to take advantage of the shoulder seasons. So especially in my area, we have harsh winters. So a lot of my couples will actually wait until the winter to take a honeymoon. So we're seeing more couples do delayed honeymoons as opposed to going right away. I will tell you we do have couples who want to envision you know, leaving their reception getting into the car and going straight to the airport and leaving, but I don't think they realise the reality hits once you're hungover from the reception.

I can't even imagine the day after the wedding doing anything. Except I because ours is kind of a semi destination wedding. So we're doing Las Vegas. Las Vegas. Yeah. And that was exactly our issue was we wanted to do kind of a destination wedding. But we have people coming from all over. And not everybody has a passport. And you know, we were really thinking like, how to do a domestic one. What like, are you seeing a lot of people doing domestic destination weddings as well. In addition to like, further away,

we've had a higher increase in Hawaii requests. I think a lot still want to hold on to that tropical vibe. Yeah, I'm all for Hawaii actually did Hawaii myself? Oh, yeah, absolutely. So we do see a high request in Hawaii a lot in Florida.

What's what's the advantage of working with a travel agent like or a travel agency like yourselves like Is it is it that you have like a middleman sort of like a wedding planner almost.

Almost, it really depends on what agency you work with. For us, for example, we do wedding concierge services included in our travel arrangements. So while I'm working with a couple as a liaison between them and the resort, I'm working with them as a coordinator almost as well. So the they'll work with somebody in destination. But as you can imagine, sometimes it's difficult in translation, yeah, timewise trying to get in contact with these coordinators. So we kind of serve as that push, I always tell my couples, they don't have to like me by the time you get there. Their little Pitbull is what it really comes down to. But one thing is is, regardless of why you're travelling, whether it's a destination wedding or anything like that, if you go to one of the online travel agencies, and you book a trip, there's a commission already built into that package. So you're paying for a service that you are not receiving. But then when you do work with an agent, not only are you getting those services that you're already paying for, but you're getting the relationships between the agency and the brand as well. I have, you know, constant contact with these individuals if there's a need on site. So for example, I actually had a wedding and just get back this past weekend. And while they were there, one of the guests slipped and fell and busted a lip right before the wedding, of course, Oh, no. But they weren't able to have the hotel assist. So they contacted me and I was able to get them in contact with their insurance company. Oh, that's fantastic. Yeah. And as you can imagine, planning a wedding yourself. Whenever you get to the point of travel, that's when you seem to have issues. So if there's flight delays, flight cancellations issues with baggage, if they are not using a travel agent, guess who they're contacting? They're contacting the couple. Yeah, Jake with my own. So I always Yeah, my couples, you can focus on planning the wedding, and use my assistance as needed. I've had couples where I have no clue what venue they've selected for their reception. And then I've had other couples where I pick the hair for the bride. So like anything in between, we can assist with, and you're not paying any additional charge for that through us. So it's kind of like why not situation? Yeah, that's it. Is that you? Right?

Yeah. If you're, if you're single, is there a good place to go to find some people?

Absolutely.

We'll be right back after this short break

I'd love to say that I haven't had to deal with some heartbreak but I have with clients. Yeah. So there's definitely some more partition vibe resorts that I do recommend and they also don't have what's called a single supplement. So for some properties, if you're going by yourself as an adult, they charge more because you're not sharing the room with somebody else. What I know Regis

I did not know that. It's like a sales tax. That's not fair.

Pretty much that's it. But there's some resources that don't do that. There's also cruise lines that offer single occupancy special But then you also have some clients who are looking for more like a luxury experience, or they just want to relax. So you can also find destinations and resorts that offer that as well. So it's really just determining what people's preferences are. Because, as you know, if you go to a location that fits your preferences, you're probably going to meet like minded people, right, though. Those are the people you want to meet. And then I'm sure you know, we've all had that experience where we'd love to fall in love in the airport, you know, right. Sit down. You don't know who your son Yeah, so the love of your life is right next to you, right. I've heard a couple of stories. I haven't had that experience. My clients, but I'm hoping one day I hear Yeah, fingers crossed. That's

such a cute idea. I don't know if I'd really love that because I never looked my best on an aeroplane. But that's the charm, I guess. Right? Like, Oh, you don't look your best.

They fall for you that they're gonna continue. They're

gonna keep falling in love with you. What? What do you think is like the best city for singles? Right now? Like, is it is it Mexico? Is it Cancun? Is it Miami? And also keeping like, I guess those are the probably the best party cities but what if you're just like bookish.

Let's see. One that just always leads me to the locations like Austria where you find these fabulous library. Thing, Beauty and the Beast style. I would love to try something like that. If I was a booker. Hey, all right. If you want party I think it's obvious domestically to probably do Miami your class. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. You finally call the festivals going on out there too. So that's great. When it comes to international Cabo Wabo is always a fantastic Cancun, you can do the whole senior frog, Coco Bongo kind of scene. I would say honestly, Playa Del Carmen on Fifth Avenue would be fantastic for something.

That sounds really Yeah, that sounds wonderful. I'm just trying to think of like me, like, when I was single, I, I always thought like, Oh, I'd go to like some party place and I'll meet the love of my life. But honestly, like, I hate party. And that sounds exhausting to meet somebody who's really into partying. So I was like, well, we're like a bookworm. Go. But I like the idea of Austria like I like I like a nice calm European city.

Maybe backpack once in a while, you know, you never know who you'll meet on a train either.

What are what are some of your favourite destination weddings that you've helped, like coordinate? Do any stand out to you or any locations or any couples,

they're all very unique. I do have to say that we had a couple who we had a Catholic ceremony and Indian ceremonies that were mixed in. So it was really fun when it comes to those kinds of events. And what I really appreciated about it is I got to learn about their culture as well. So I went through the training for South Asian weddings, and I actually got to physically see it in that regard. So you got to see the bride and all the entrances and you know, it's so beautiful. So I have to say that wedding probably stands out. I do have a couple that I hold near and dear to my heart because they do a trip every year now for their anniversary. Started to do and I absolutely love it as they got married a specific property, they continue to go back to that property and then they recreate their wedding photos while they're there. Oh, that's

a really sweet thing to do. I love

and I love maintaining the relationships. It's not like a one time kind of deal. I love a you know, I've seen my couples you know, not only get married but have children get and it's so fun to follow their journey.

That's really nice. It's nice to be able to like still feel like you're a part of their life. Are you are you seeing an uptick in like I see at least on Tik Tok and stuff I see a huge swing of Italian like destination weddings and French destination weddings is that like a big trend right now to go to like some rent out like a huge Airbnb in Italy or something like that.

I've seen a lot of people do villas. Yeah, there's a lot of villas and like the Sicily area or but I'm off Amalfi Coast, I would say, Yeah, I think European just has been really aesthetically pleasing to the trends that are going on right now. So like the stonework. Yeah, ruins ruins are a big deal now to write. So I would say probably Yeah, I've seen definitely an uptick. I do think that people are still concerned with the requirements to get to destinations like that. So I haven't seen it necessarily for destination weddings, but for anyone's Absolutely. So do

you have any love stories you'd like to share with us?

Um, well, one I could share firsthand is what I this idea actually came from Um, my fiancee at the time husband now, and I highly encourage it is, every year we renew our vows somewhere different in destination. Oh, yes. So I always encourage that because I think it's really fun to celebrate, you know, marriage is hard. Yeah, celebrate those, you know, even smaller moments, so not necessarily milestone, so I really love when people renew their vows or agency owners did it themselves at 25 years. So it's really nice to have one the firsthand experience but I love when people go and share their vows once again, whether it's new, the old ones I've seen couples do 50 years I have one coming up for a couple and it's just so sweet that they celebrate not only the first adventure that they had together, but continue to

I love that that's such a great thing.

Yeah, my favourite story in all honesty is my couple that goes back every year to recreate their photos.

That's really great. I love it I love I love everything about that it's important to like keep remember that like that first like step you took together and keep it going through the year. Absolutely. Well thank you so much for coming on with us Do you have where can people find you on the internet if

they're looking for you? Sure. So you can find us at Levin away.com lovinaway.com my handle on Instagram it's Alisa dot loving away

Thank you so much for joining us this

is really a treat me I appreciate it I

really enjoyed it that's such a cool like business model and what a great I love title like what a great job to have is just send people on their way for their for their happily ever after. It's so cool.

I love it.

What is your love to go for us

today? Sarah? I think that it is sometimes you can go back you can go back and renew your vows every year and recreate that moment. I think that is just adorable.

Yeah, I think that's or renew your wedding photos are so that's so such a great way to like remember the first step you kind of took together legally and you know we affirm that vow it's really a cool thing. Yeah, I'm for it.

Well if you've renewed your vows, we want to hear from you. If you've gone on a destination wedding we also want to hear from you we want to see pictures. You can email us at lovestruck daily at frolic dot media if you have a story to share, or again, sharing pictures I love vicarious travel. You can follow us on Instagram and Twitter at lovestruck daily and if you would leave a review, I will personally compliment everything about you in our next episode. Our researcher is Jesse Epstein. Our editor is Jen Jacobs. We are produced by Abigail steckler and little Scorpion studios with executive producer frolic media. This is an I Heart Radio Podcast. We wish you a very well travelled happily ever after. I'm in love with that I'm in love with you. I'm in love with you