A honeymoon is a holiday taken by newlyweds after their wedding, to celebrate their marriage. Today, honeymoons are celebrated in destinations considered exotic or romantic. In Western culture and some westernized countries’ cultures, the custom of a newlywed couple's going on a holiday together originated in early-19th-century Great Britain. Upper-class couples would take a "bridal tour", sometimes accompanied by friends or family, to visit relatives who had not been able to attend the wedding; the practice soon spread to the European continent and was known in France as a voyage à la façon anglaise, from the 1820s onwards. Honeymoons in the modern sense—a pure holiday voyage undertaken by the couple—became widespread during the Belle Époque, as one of the first instances of modern mass tourism; this came about despite initial disapproval by contemporary medical opinion and by savoir vivre guidebooks. The most popular honeymoon destinations at the time were the French Riviera and Italy its seaside resorts and romantic cities such as Rome and Venice.

Honeymoons would start on the night of the marriage, with the couple leaving midway through the reception to catch a late train or ship. However, in the 21st century, many couples will not leave until 1–3 days after the ceremony and reception. In Jewish traditions, honeymoons are put off seven days to allow for the seven nights of feasting if the visits to friends and family cannot be incorporated into the trip; the honeymoon was the period following marriage, "characterized by love and happiness", as attested since 1546. The word may allude to "the idea that the first month of marriage is the sweetest". According to a different version of the Oxford English Dictionary: The first month after marriage, when there is nothing but tenderness and pleasure. Today, honeymoon has a positive meaning, but it may have referred to the inevitable waning of love like a phase of the moon. In 1552, Richard Huloet wrote: Hony mone, a term proverbially applied to such as be newly married, which will not fall out at the first, but th'one loveth the other at the beginning exceedingly, the likelihood of their exceadinge love appearing to aswage, ye which time the vulgar people call the hony mone.

A fanciful 19th-century theory claimed that the word alludes to "the custom of the higher order of the Teutones... to drink Mead, or Metheglin, a beverage made with honey, for thirty days after every wedding", but the theory is now rejected. In many modern languages, the word for a honeymoon is a near-calque. One possible source of the word is from Persian mah-e-asal, which translates to "month of honey"; the Persian word mah means both "moon" and "month", just as the English word "month" derives from "moon", the kanji used in Japanese is the same for both "moon" and "month". This is a result of most ancient calendars being lunar calendars, where a month is defined as one lunar cycle. Another practical source for the term comes from the early days in the life of a honey bee queen. After her birth within a hive, a queen bee leaves the hive over the course of several days, to meet up with multiple drones in separate drone congregation areas, she is inseminated with a lifetime of sperm, returns to the hive to remain there the rest of her life, laying eggs.

The queen goes away for a "honey-moon" and returns, ready to live the rest of her life. The centuries-old practice of beekeeping may have led to other folklore related to this "going away" before starting a life "in the hive". One 2015 scholarly study concluded that going on a honeymoon is associated with a somewhat lower risk of divorce, regardless of how much or little is spent on the honeymoon itself. However, high spending and incurring significant debt on other wedding-related expenses, such as engagement rings and wedding ceremonies, is associated with a high risk of divorce. An emerging 21st-century travel trend is the "solomoon" or "unimoon", a separate, solo holiday the newlyweds take without their spouse; the New Zealand Herald cites a report by The New York Times that such alternatives to honeymoons are "particularly suited for couples who just cannot agree on where to go". Marriage leave Vacation

Garbhan Downey is a novelist and editor from Derry, Northern Ireland. He is the former Director of Communications and Marketing for Culture Company 2013, delivering Derry's City of Culture year. Derry-born Downey cut his teeth in journalism editing University College Galway’s student magazine in the late 1980s. After graduating with an MSc in computing from the University of Ulster, he worked as an entertainments columnist with the Derry Journal and as a staff reporter with the Londonderry Sentinel, before moving to the Irish News to become the paper’s Derry correspondent, his offbeat reports of the 1994 World Cup for the Irish News were subsequently compiled for his first book, Just One Big Party. Downey spent six years as a BBC news producer in Derry and Belfast, before joining the Derry News as editor in 2001. During his period as editor, the Derry News won two Newspaper Society awards for Fastest Circulation Growth in the UK. Since 2004, he has published six comic novels set in the criminal underbelly of post-ceasefire Ireland.

His books have been described as "a superb blend of comedy, political dirty tricks, grisly murder and bizarre twists". A former deputy-president of the Union of Students in Ireland, Downey was one of the organisers of a student occupation of government offices in Dublin on Budget Day 1988 in protest against education cutbacks. Downey is a product of St Columb’s College, the Catholic grammar school whose past pupils include John Hume, Seamus Heaney and Brian Friel. In June 2002, the Police Service of Northern Ireland got a court order to force Downey to hand over pictures the Derry News had captured of the Real IRA attacking a communications post. In 2006, he helped establish the new Northern Ireland literary review Verbal and edited the publication for its first six issues. A lifelong political anorak, in 2007, he worked as an election pundit for TV3, alongside the Irish comedian Brendan O’Carroll. In 2010, he won a contest to predict the winners of Northern Ireland's 18 Westminster constituencies, missing out on just one, Naomi Long, who beat First Minister Peter Robinson in East Belfast.

Downey donated a framed Ian Knox cartoon, to Ms Long by way of apology. His 2010 comedy-thriller The American Envoy was the first novel issued by an Irish publishing house as a Kindle e-book with its paperback release. In June 2011, he was appointed Director of Media for Culture Company 2013, the body tasked with delivering Derry's UK City of Culture year. Downey is married to Una McNally, they have two children Fiachra and Bronagh. Just One Big Party Creggan: More Than A History with Michael McGuinness Private Diary of a Suspended MLA Off Broadway Running Mates Yours Confidentially City of Music: Derry's Music Heritage with Declan Carlin War of the Blue Roses Invisible Lives: Stories of Adults with Learning Disabilities Editor The American Envoy Requiems for the Departed with Ken Bruen, Maxim Jakubowski, Stuart Neville et al. Across the Line City of Music. Belfast Music, 14 Jan 2009 Garbhan Downey Culture Northern Ireland 18 May 2009 Garbhan Downey’s homepage Guildhall Press Blackstaff Press

Felix Aronovich is an Israeli artistic gymnast who excels in floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings and parallel bars. Aronovich was born on July 18, 1988 in Odessa, Ukraine to parents Sofia, he has Vicky. When he was 2-years-old, the family settled in Kiryat Bialik. Aronovich attended ORT Kiryat Bialik, graduating in 2006, he majored in engineering science and intends to pursue a master's degree in the field of renewable energy at Penn State. He competed in his first competition at the 2006 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and finished in the 113th place in the all-around, he finished third in the all-around at the 2009 Maccabiah Games. He didn't not place well, he finished in 69th place on the pommel horse, 75th place on the rings, 81st place in the all-out, 109th place on the parallel bars, 131st place on the horizontal bar, 189th place in the floor exercise and the 238th place on the vault. In 2010 he started training at Pennsylvania State University and made a tremendous impact as a freshman, developing into one of the team's strongest and most consistent performers by the end of the season.

He was named Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Year, Penn State's first winner of the conference award since 1997 and won the "Big Ten Freshman of the Week" honors twice. He recorded Penn State's highest scores of the season in the pommel horse, parallel bars, all-around. In 2011 he was in the "Academic All-Big Ten" and was named "National Gymnast of the Week" after capturing two first-place finishes and a third place versus Ohio State, he set career highs in the all-around. Once again he recorded Penn State's highest scores of the season in the pommel horse, parallel bars, the all-around and was nationally ranked No. 10, No. 14, No. 16 at the end of the season. At the 2012 European Men's Artistic Gymnastics Championships he qualified for the all-around final in 11th place; this achievement qualified him to compete for Israel at the 2012 Summer Olympics after the Israeli Olympic Committee extra criteria beyond the Olympic qualifications. He finished 38th place on the parallel bars, 39th place on the rings, 46th place on the horizontal bar, 52nd place in the floor exercise and the 80th place on the pommel horse.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics he finished 32nd place in the all-around qualifiers, 4 places short of qualifying for the final. He finished 44th place on the pommel horse, 48th place on the parallel bars, 51st place on the rings and in the floor exercise, 56th place on the horizontal bar and the 68th place on the vault. In 2013, in college he earned All-America honors in the all-around and on the high bar, was named first team All-Big Ten, earned College Gymnastics Association All-America Scholar-Athlete honors, was named Academic All-Big Ten, he was named Big Ten Gymnast of the Week twice, earned College Gymnastics Association National Gymnast of the Week three times. He graduated from Penn Stated in 2013 with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Science. Gymnastics in Israel List of Pennsylvania State University Olympians