Modem Whoopee

Modem Whoopee back to TTN home page
by Joe Harkins - Jun 02, '99

    It's June again and, as saucer-eyed Eddie Cantor pointed out, it's time for, " . . . another bride, another groom, another sunny honeymoon." Were he performing today, knowing what the Internet offers, instead of singing, "Makin' Whoopee," he might have made it, "Modem Whoopee."

    For reasons that should not have to be explained, the honeymoon virtually always follows the wedding, not the other way around. Wiser folks than I have remarked that in too many situations where the honeymoon occurs first, the wedding never happens at all. Your mother probably discussed this phenomenon quite clearly at one time or another, and often.

    Given the usual sequence in which the two events occur, it's disappointing how many wedding-related web sites avoid the opportunity to deliver an interactive honeymoon-planning tool. I'd expected to find at least a few good online questionnaires that would lead couples through such issues as personal preferences, time of year, costs, etc. with the goal of suggesting appropriate choices. One of the few I found is Vacation.com.

    As a matter of fact, there aren't many genuinely interactive honeymoon planners online at all. Many of the web sites that claim to offer a "honeymoon planner" actually are nothing more than a brochure site determined to sell you a packaged tour to a destination chosen by an advertiser.

    What's in a good planner? Money is always a big issue, so a budget is fundamental. You'll find a simple but effective honeymoon budget-making form at <site name censored>. The identical form (right down to the wording) is offered by Modern Bride Magazine. I wonder how that happened?

(for the story behind that <site name censored> click here )

In the absence of interactive guides, online directories are an alternative. The biggest and best of all is the Honeymoons Guide Section of recently renamed About.com, whose maiden name was The Mining Company. Your real live human guide, Susan Breslow Sardone, even has built a highly lucid section titled, "How to use this site." If you visit that page, be sure to review her encyclopedic, "Honeymoons A to Z"

    A smaller package of good articles can be found at All About Weddings. When you get the home page, select "All About Honeymoons."

    The Wedding Channel has an impressive set of planning aids. The site is elegantly designed yet swift in delivering pages. You can set up a totally detailed online scheduling calendar. However, suggested destinations are limited to paid advertisers. That's not much help if you are looking for creative input for one of the most heavily anticipated trips you'll ever take.

    Speaking of anticipation, during an earlier era of more virtuous pre-nuptial behavior, Oscar Wilde said, "Niagara Falls is the second biggest disappointment of the standard honeymoon." I must disagree with him. The Falls are quite exciting.

    But to return to our main topic, WedNet offers a Library of honeymoon planning articles, as well as tips and tricks. Weather Planner is a fee-based service promising, " . . . detailed, reliable and customized forecasts up to one year in advance!" Somewhere on the site I'm sure there's a disclaimer. I suggest you read it very carefully. Either that or pack an umbrella.

    The Knot has archives of dozens of well-organized and well-written essays on where to go and what to see. Likewise, Brides and Grooms has links to many honeymoon ideas.

    An excellent source of advice is the recent experience of other couples. One of the best Chat Areas for that is Epicurious. Scroll down to and click on Forums in the lower right corner of the page. On the next page, scroll to and click on Two On The Isle.

    If you are familiar with Newsgroups, subscribe to the two leading resources, news:soc.couples.wedding and news:alt.wedding. If these are news to you, subscribing is simple. You can click on either of those links and it will open the program on your computer called a "newsgroup reader" or go to the web site DejaNews and follow directions

    Finally, observant readers will have noticed that I've not once mentioned the alleged state of wedded bliss that supposedly follows the honeymoon. I'm referring now to the dreaded "m" word. Don't expect a Travel The Net column about that in the foreseeable future.

-30-

the story behind
<site name censored>

When the existence of the identical planners was brought to their attention, a representative of Modern Bride responded,

"We have had this planner on ModernBride.com since first quarter 1997. It was created by our editors and programmers, and I am sure that anywhere else it appears online has come from us (without our permission) . . . it seems that our planner has been copied."

Within a short time after notice was sent to <other site name censored> that this column was about to reveal the pirated planner's existence on their site, the stolen page disappeared. Although the webmaster there has admitted appropriating the Modern Bride planner, he expressed no repentance and closed his last message with:

"Hopefully you can make a good story of it because it will surely draw curiosity seekers to (my) site."

Because some of Travel The Net's best friends are hard working programmers who code their own work, I'm not going to abet the theft of Modern Bride's work by providing a link to the offending site. back to where you were in the column

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