Our Honeymoon - LHR-YYZ BA in F; Fairmont Royal York, Marriott Niagara Falls, Boathouse in Northern Ontario (lots of photos)
**There are loads of photos in here using Flickr, which may take a little time to load dependent on your connection and how friendly their servers are being**
I'm not making any apologies for the length of this trip report, but I genuinely hope you take the time to read through and enjoy the fantastic experience I've just had. I don't travel much (compared to the frequent flyers here), so each experience is always exciting for me, and I perhaps view things slightly differently to someone who spends most of their time up in the air.
A trip report 11 Years in the Making
I met future Mrs Malkie in mid 2000 while studying for my doctorate; she was studying for her undergrad at the same University in southern England. In Jan 2002 I made the crazy decision to move to Washington Dc to take up a 2-year post-doctoral position. We continued dating and both made regular trips LHR-IAD for two years, always in Y. I view this as my travel apprenticeship, and certainly contributes to my enjoyment of the comfort of premium cabins I find myself in these days.
Fast Forward to March of 2010, and I treat myself and future Mrs Malkie to a trip to China and Japan (
TR) with the intention to propose while there. She accepted and the whirlwind of wedding preparation began. In the trip report someone suggested that seeing as she'd flown J for the proposal it was only 'right' she should fly F on honeymoon. Joking aside, it was clear that if I took out a BA Amex card and put wedding spend on the card I'd quickly achieve the threshold for a 2-4-1, and with my miles balance have no problem booking a long haul F.
So essentially I have FT to thanks for giving the push to use the miles balance properly, and getting myself and Mrs Malkie our first ever trip in F. (My company pays for J travel which is where I get my miles balance from).
Booking the flights
We had no idea where to go on honeymoon. We'd been to south east asia the year before, and while we'd considered the traditional spots of Maritious, we liked the idea of a break split between a city and a quiet spot. Eventually we decided upon Toronto as a city, and then a very quiet private boathouse on a lake in northern ontario as the quiet spot.
I refused to look at flight availability on BA.com until my 2-4-1 had triggered. I genuinely need not have stressed as BA was wide open in F throughout June when I booked back in February. Of note is that BA passes on Government taxes and surcharges to passengers when booking a redemption flight, something which has caught a few people out. I was fully aware, and I'm unwilling to complain about getting £10k flights for £750 and 150k BA Miles.
The Wedding
To be honest, most of the honeymoon planning was left to one side as we had the rest of the wedding to organise. We got married local to where we live in
Hanbury Manor, which is owned and run by Marriotts (and hence earned me a significant amount of Marriott points and instant silver status - is that worth anything?!?).
I cannot fault them for the service we received, and I'd thoroughly recommend them for a wedding, a function, or a quiet weekend away. We had a thoroughly amazing day, and both really enjoyed the experience.
I really debated about including any photos of my wedding here because (a) it's private, and (b) it wasn't really a *trip*. However, I was so impressed by the venue that I felt compelled to share, and seeing as this is a mammoth TR I thought; why not!
Hanbury1 by
malkie76, on Flickr
Hanbury Manor Exterior shot
Hanbury2 by
malkie76, on Flickr
Hanbury Manor, Poles Hall (set for the ceremony)
Hanbury3 by
malkie76, on Flickr
Hanbury Manor, Thundridge Room (set for the dinner)
Hanbury4 by
malkie76, on Flickr
Hanbury Manor, Poles Hall (set for the evening)
These photos are not mine; they were all taken by our amazing photographer;
Tavistock Photography. We are permitted to use these photos online providing we provide a reference to him directly. If you are into photography you may wish to visit his
Project Site, with amazing photo journals taking
Trains Across America and in Africa with
Wells for Ipafu
We had a junior suite to stay in overnight after the wedding, which was far more room than the two of us needed at the end of a very long day. However, if you were staying for a few days and wanted to do a little work, or enjoy in room dining, then it's certainly the way to go.
Hanbury6 by
malkie76, on Flickr
Hanbury Manor Suite photo
Hanbury5 by
malkie76, on Flickr
View from the suite window
we took a couple of days after the wedding to spend time with family and friends who had travelled. This included one couple who'd travelled from PER to LHR on Royal Brunei in Y which I feel needs some sort of award for painful travel. We were then packing and off to enjoy our well earned honeymoon.