If you reckon it's tropical escapes and islands you're just partly right.
The latest edition of Holidays for Couples surprises with research results like the Mississippi Delta, Costa Rica and Oman which, for many, seem to have the romance/exotic appeal.
Other less-romance inspired picks were New Zealand's capital city, Wellington, and Northern Ireland's Belfast!
Belfast? Romantic? It's a personal favourite destination more for its grass roots Irishness than anything else.
Featured accommodation in the Mississippi Delta includes the Monmouth Plantation in Natchez, a two-storey Federal-style house built in 1818; Costa Rica's Tabacón Grand Spa Thermal Resort and two five-star resorts in Oman, the Chedi Muscat and Zighy Bay.
Belfast's stylish Merchant Hotel and Wellington's Bolton Hotel round out the others.
The hardcore romantics, however, DO still opt for the tried and true destinations in southeast Asia and the Pacific.
The mag has also noted an increase in couples seeking soft adventure and eco-travel and an interesting fact that many take two major holidays a year.
A yen for cashless doings in Nippon
And we're still mucking around with tickets
I couldn’t resist sharing this with those of you who have had it “up to here” with a State government which cannot even come up with a multi-purpose travel card. Most countries, these days, offer visitors combination travel passes and most have eftpos shopping.
Now Japan has gone one better.
They offer both in the one system with the release of Pasmo, an electronic swipe card combining a train and bus pass with an eftpos shopping card.
At the moment it's only available in Tokyo but will soon be available nationally.
Pasmo allows unlimited travel on most of Tokyo's metro system and buses, and can also be used in an increasing number of shops accessing the technology.
Just look for the Pasmo sign in shop windows.
The card is a great idea for visitors to Tokyo staying three or more days.
The card is easy to buy and use. You simply pass your bag or wallet containing Pasmo over card readers located in metro stations, on buses and in shops.
Cards are sold from ‘everywhere’ vending machines for varying values which include a cash deposit, refundable when the card is finally returned. You top it up as required, again at a vending machine or on the buses.
Purpose-built for cruising
You are excused for thinking Scandinavia was designed for cruising . . . with dramatic Arctic landscapes, Norway's stunning fjords, Stockholm's magnificent archipelago, the beauty of the medieval Gota Canal and ancient waterways all the way to Russia.
Australians are lining up for the experience and there's a lot of interest in a 2009 line-up put together by MyPlanet/MyBentours.
In winter a highlight is the magical phenomenon of the Northern Lights which have wowed visitors for centuries.
Whatever the cruise experience, and style of cruise you are seeking, from icebreaker ship expeditions to the icy waters of the Arctic to the sophisticated Hurtigruten ships that cruise the coast of Norway through to the luxury canal boats that ply the inland waterways of Russia, MyPlanet/MyBentours, in its 2009 Scandinavia & Eastern Europe (including Arctic, Baltic Russia) has the lot.
Other programs include the North Pole, Canada and Greenland Cruise and two tantalisingly named Footsteps of the Cossacks Cruise and Waterways of the Czars Cruise. | 
