A new year brings a slew of resolutions and opportunities — and travel is at the top for us. But whether your plan is to take a fabulous honeymoon, plan a romantic getaway or a trip with friends, or just be ready to hit the road at the right opportunity, now is the perfect time to make sure you’re ready to go international when the time comes. Many people don’t know this, but just having a valid passport isn’t enough to ensure smooth travels, and there are multiple reasons that a country can deny entry to someone holding a seemingly valid passport. Here’s what you need to check, asap.Learn more

Thank you Conde Nast Traveler for calling out one of our go-to online travel tools: Passport Index. This handy website lets you easily search for travel visas entry policies around the world. Just click on the cover of your particular passport nationality, and you’ll get the visa-free score. Click on that and you’ll get a list of countries and their particular requirements for travelers fro your country. The U.S. has 155 countries listed, with caveats from Visa Free, Visa Required, or E-Visa Available. Not only is it an easy way to see which countries require visas, which is super-helpful in trip planning, but it’s a great idea generatorLearn more

I love talking to couples about travel. Some of them are more excited about the honeymoon than they are about their weddings! Which may seem odd to their in-laws and wedding planner, but as an avid traveler myself, I totally get it. But here’s a travel tip: Your honeymoon is an extremely important trip, no doubt — that’s why we make it our business! But it’s not the only trip you’ll ever take as a couple; it’s just the first of many in a lifetime of travel together. I speak to a lot of couples who want to cram as much as possible into theirLearn more

As a honeymoon planner, questions come with the job. Most often, they take some form of the following: Where should I honeymoon? What’s the best honeymoon spot? What’s your all-time favorite honeymoon spot? I love sharing my knowledge, gained by years of firsthand travel around the world as a travel writer and wedding-mag editor. But the truth is, there’s no easy answer to those questions. I love Africa, but I also love Tahiti. And New Orleans. And Thailand. And Tuscany. And so much more. The list goes on and on, and new places are constantly being added as I continue toLearn more

There’s been a lot of news of late about the expiration of driver’s license regulations for New York, New Hampshire, Louisiana, Minnesota and American Samoa. In a nutshell, here’s the issue: The Real ID Act was enacted in 2005 to ensure better safety protocols for domestic flights. Here’s the wording (bolding and ellipses are mine): “Secure driver’s licenses and identification documents are a vital component of our national security framework. The REAL ID Act … enacted the 9/11 Commission’s recommendation that the Federal Government “set standards for the issuance of sources of identification, such as driver’s licenses.” The Act established minimum securityLearn more

Today’s honeymoon travel tip is about online reviews. We all use them, and the sites that showcase them can be great! But they can also be misleading, as this recent Yahoo Travel article attests, alleging that Airbnb scrubs negative reviews from their sites. TripAdvisor has been accused of fake reviews, too, and was fined $600,000 in Italian courts in late 2014 to that end. I’m not saying that either site does those things. But on a personal note, I’ve been to so-so hotels with amazing reviews. And I’ve been to amazing honeymoon hotels that have less-than-stellar reviews online. My advice is to use review sitesLearn more

I travel a lot — averaging once a month for the past 15 years, as I check out hotels and destinations for honeymoons and destination weddings. Which means I’ve come up with a lot of  little travel survival strategies along the way, which I’ll pass on to you as honeymoon travel tips. For most of us, flights are the worst part about travel. That’s why one of my tried-and-true strategies is booking one of the earliest flights of the day, whenever possible. Why? Airline delays start to stack up as the day progresses. So if you’re booked on an afternoon or evening flight, chances are it’s onLearn more