Tag Archives: anniversary trip

An anniversary in London, and why I picked ME London for Joy and Michael

Beacon & Burgundy Travel

The first photo showed up on my phone the day they checked in. A slice of cheesecake that said “Happy Anniversary,” a bottle of champagne already chilled, and a bouquet of flowers waiting in the room.

The next one was the view from their verandah, looking out over London.

Joy and Michael R. sent me pictures all through their anniversary trip to London. I smiled at every one, because I knew what was waiting for them before they walked through the door.

Why the hotel matters so much for a milestone

Telling a hotel it’s your anniversary takes about 5 seconds. What happens after that depends completely on the hotel.

Some properties add a line to your reservation and stop there. Others treat it as the reason you came. When my clients are celebrating something big, I want them at the second kind.

And you can’t tell which is which from a star rating. You find out through research and through people who’ve actually stayed there.

Planning their anniversary trip to London

Joy and Michael came to me wanting a 4 day, 4 night getaway to London for their anniversary. I put together a few options that fit their budget. Once they made their decisions, I took it from there.

ME London came to me through a fellow travel advisor and good friend who has been to London more than 30 times. When someone with that much London experience tells me a hotel is special, I pay attention.

Then I did my own research to back it up.

This is how a lot of my best recommendations happen, honestly. Advisors talk to each other. We share which hotels take care of people and which ones we’d never send a client back to. When you book with me, you get my research plus a network of advisors who’ve been there in person.

What I set up before they ever left home

For an anniversary, I want the room itself to feel like part of the celebration. So I upgraded Joy and Michael to a room with a verandah overlooking the city.

I also arranged for champagne and cake to be waiting when they arrived. That’s the cheesecake from the first photo, and a bouquet of flowers was there too.

None of this is complicated. But it has to be requested ahead of time, by someone who knows how to ask and which hotels will follow through. Otherwise you land after a long flight, drop your bags, and it’s just a hotel room.

The last night

On their final evening, ME London celebrated them again at dinner, with a sparkle dessert to close out the trip.

That last-night moment is exactly why I care so much about which hotel I pick. The welcome is great, but a hotel that remembers you’re celebrating on day 4 is a hotel that’s paying attention the whole time.

Partway through the trip, they messaged me to say it had been amazing. By the end, they were calling ME London absolutely the best hotel. The room was perfect, the view was great, and they loved the entire staff.

In their words

Here’s the review Joy and Michael left after they got home:

“Allie planned a perfect 4 day 4 night getaway to London for our anniversary. She gave us options that were within our budget. After we made a few decisions, she took care of everything. She is detailed and that made our trip smooth and relaxing. It was one of the best trips we’ve ever taken (only second to the trip she planned for us last year). We stayed at ME London and loved the entire hotel staff. Location was perfect.”

That line in the parentheses makes me laugh a little, because the competition is me. London was the second Europe trip I’ve planned for Joy and Michael, and we’re already working on Paris for 2027.

Couples who come back year after year are my favorite part of this job. By the third trip, I know how they like to travel, what they’ll splurge on, and what makes them feel celebrated.

If you’re planning a milestone trip

Tell me what you’re celebrating, even if it feels small. An anniversary, a birthday, a retirement, finally taking the trip you’ve been talking about for 10 years. It all counts.

Tell me the dates. Tell me whether you’re champagne people or cocktail people, cake people or cheesecake people. I’ll match you with a hotel I trust to do something with that information, and I’ll make every request before you leave home.

Then you can literally just pack your bags and go. May adventure follow you wherever you may go.

3am, a volcano, and the trip my clients still talk about

Beacon & Burgundy Travel

“The 2am wake up call was totally worth it!! The tour guides were awesome, we learned a lot and it was so beautiful.”

That came in from an anniversary couple I’d sent to Maui, a few hours after they watched the sunrise from the summit of Haleakala. I’ve booked this excursion more times than I can count, and I still grin every time a client’s text comes in still buzzing from it.

Here’s what nobody tells you before you book a sunrise tour on a volcano: it starts in the middle of the night, and if you don’t plan it right, that 2am alarm turns into the worst part of your trip instead of the best.

Why the wake-up call is earlier than you think

Pickup is usually around 3am, though it shifts depending on where your resort sits on the island. If you’re staying in Wailea, you’re looking at a different pickup window than someone in Kaanapali. That’s not a detail most people think to ask about until they’re staring at their alarm clock wondering why it says 2:45.

I book these through Viator, and I always tell clients the same thing: reserve this early. Spots at the summit are limited by the National Park Service, and this tour does sell out, sometimes weeks out during peak season. I’ve had clients wait too long and lose their preferred date entirely.

The timing mistake I see over and over

Here’s the call I make as their advisor that most people wouldn’t think to make themselves: I recommend booking Haleakala at the beginning of the trip, not the end.

It sounds backwards. You’d think you’d want to ease into a 2am wake-up after a few days of relaxing. But it’s the opposite. Early in the trip, your body’s still running on your home time zone, so 2am doesn’t feel like 2am yet. Wait until day 5 or 6, and you’re asking someone who’s finally adjusted to Hawaii time to blow that up for a pre-dawn drive up a mountain. That’s when people bail, or drag themselves up there miserable.

Who this is actually right for

This isn’t for every client. If someone’s trip is built around sleeping in and doing as little as possible, I’m not pushing this on them. But for clients who tell me they want one experience from the trip that they’ll never forget, this is usually the one I bring up first.

My anniversary couple fit that description exactly. They wanted Maui to feel different from every other vacation they’d taken, and standing above the clouds watching the sun come up over a volcano does that in a way a resort pool never will.

What I’m actually doing when you book this with me

Anyone can find a Haleakala sunrise tour with a quick search. What they won’t find is someone checking their resort location against pickup times, watching the reservation calendar before it fills up, and telling them flat out to book it day one instead of day four so they actually enjoy it.

If Maui’s on your list and you want that “I can’t believe we did that” moment, this is where I’d start. Reach out and I’ll get it locked in at the right point in your trip, before it books up.

May adventure follow you wherever you may go.