The Wish Fulfillment Honeymoon

So the first honeymoon plan was a month in Paris. We would rent a dingy apartment, buy vegetables every morning, sleep and sit -- just like the Parisiens! We decided an apartment in the Marais would be best because that's the gayest part of Paris. We would hit up the local pride parades and get married some more -- France will marry us, right? I looked at apartments on-line, we had friends sending us links, I researched the Pride events around France. This idea was a little wish fulfillment, a little escapism, a little rite of passage, which I've decided are the three major honeymoon categories. (Come with me as I hypothesize.)

So, Wish Fulfillment Honeymoons are opportunities to achieve personal goals and dreams unrelated to the wedding or marriage, or even the relationship, really. So, for example, I happen to have taken 10 years of French from age 12, but never made it farther than Montreal with a native speaker who did all the talking while I did all of the nodding and smiling. Lauren also took a few years of French, but more importantly, she tells me she went through some phase in college related to some chick named Romaine Brooks. So, I thought, OK, good. You'll go hang out on the Left Bank, I'll go to language school 8 hours a day! Then we'll meet up for some bread and coffee in the afternoon and decide at which club we'll be sexy in the evening. Perfect!

Left unconsidered was what to do with the engagement present, how to pay for two rents, or maybe we would sublet our place or maybe quit our jobs and be homeless, and, finally, who exactly was going to pay for all of this bread and unemployment? And where would we live upon our return? It seems a little over-the-top now, the idea that we could tackle first-time, month-long international travel on the heels of a 15,000 dollar party. Or however much these shenanigans are going to cost. During a recession.

Which brought us to the idea of an Escape Honeymoon . . .