"He went to Paris, lookin' for answers..."

The honeymoon is on--and it will be on in France!

We booked the plane tickets yesterday after talking about it and thinking about it for weeks. Paris was actually the dark horse in the honeymoon campaign. I had been pushing for Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, but my mind kept coming back to Paris. We had mostly decided upon Canada when we decided to list the pros and cons for each place.

It turned out that we preferred Canada because it was the low stress, easier option--it had fewer cons, but it turned out to have fewer pros, also. France (as with any international travel destination) had the potential to be much more chaotic and stressful, but the payout (in new experiences and an overall more memorable and exciting trip) was far greater.

What really turned the tide was remembering that B's weekly travel was finally going to pay off--and in a major way. The Euro/Dollar exchange rate is currently disastrous for Americans, but B has enough Starwood points to get us free or very discounted hotel rates for nearly our entire trip. Granted, we have to stay at Starwood hotels, and they aren't the top-rated hotels on tripadvisor, but they are free hotels in Paris and Nice with guaranteed hot water and hair dryers and good locations. And by the time we leave, it's likely that B will have platinum status with Starwood, which means an automatic upgrade to the best room in the hotel. Hello, suite living!

So excited--have to start planning the itin soon. I ordered the Lonely Planet France guidebook from Amazon today and am considering the Rick Steve guidebook (but he tends to make me feel guilty if I don't rent a car, so I might stick with LP).