When travel advisor Sarah De Sousa and her partner set off to backpack through Vietnam with no wedding venue booked and no fixed plan, they found something more valuable than any itinerary could offer.
At a Glance
Ha Long Bay's dramatic karst limestone towers and emerald waters make it an ideal elopement destination for couples seeking an unconventional wedding. A travel advisor's ten-day backpacking trip through Vietnam led her to a private island in the bay, where she discovered that unplanned travel often yields the most meaningful locations for life's significant moments.
There are travel advisors who sell destinations, and then there are those who have truly lived them. Sarah De Sousa falls firmly into the second camp. Detail-oriented, approachable, and genuinely passionate about travel, De Sousa has built a reputation for honesty with her clients, telling them what a place is really like rather than simply painting it in the most flattering light. But it is one deeply personal journey, a ten-day backpacking elopement through Vietnam, that quietly underpins much of what makes her so effective at helping couples plan the most important trips of their lives.
A Journey With No Fixed Destination
De Sousa and her partner did not arrive in Vietnam with a wedding venue confirmed and a colour palette chosen. They arrived with open minds, a sense of adventure, and a willingness to let the country reveal itself to them. For ten days, they backpacked through Vietnam, moving through its landscapes and cities, absorbing its rhythms and textures, until the right place simply appeared. As De Sousa puts it, they "just kind of backpacked through Vietnam" and "found the perfect place to elope, and that's where we did it."
That place turned out to be Ha Long Bay, one of the most breathtaking corners of Southeast Asia. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Ha Long Bay is a vast seascape of emerald waters punctuated by thousands of limestone karsts rising dramatically from the surface. Somewhere within this otherworldly landscape, on a private island, De Sousa exchanged vows. It is the kind of setting that needs no embellishment, and the kind of experience that leaves a lasting mark on anyone fortunate enough to witness it.
Planning From the Inside Out
What struck De Sousa most about the experience was not the scenery, remarkable as it was. It was the discovery of something within herself. She describes being genuinely surprised by "how much I enjoyed it and how easy it was for me to put something together" in a place she had never visited before. There is a quiet confidence in that admission, the realisation that the skills she had been developing, her attention to detail, her instinct for what works, her love of the craft of travel, were more transferable than she had perhaps imagined.
Planning an elopement abroad, in an unfamiliar country, with all the logistical complexity that entails, is no small undertaking. De Sousa handled it from start to finish, and the result was not just a wedding but a full ten-day immersion in a country that would go on to become one of her areas of genuine expertise. That firsthand knowledge is the kind that cannot be replicated by reading brochures or scrolling through review sites. It is earned.
What Experience Actually Gives You
When asked whether the elopement was what first drew her toward travel advising, De Sousa is characteristically straightforward. "Not necessarily," she says, with the same candour she brings to everything. But what it did give her is something she carries into her work every day. "It just gives me the experience of being comfortable to plan a honeymoon for them," she explains, "or if they want to elope, I can help build them itineraries."
That comfort, rooted in genuine lived experience rather than theoretical knowledge, is a meaningful distinction. When a couple comes to De Sousa wanting to elope in Southeast Asia, or hoping to craft a honeymoon itinerary through an unfamiliar part of the world, they are working with someone who has navigated exactly that kind of planning herself. She knows what it feels like to be in an unknown country trying to create something meaningful and personal. She also knows that it is entirely possible, and that with the right guidance, it can be extraordinary.
A Philosophy Built on Honesty
De Sousa's approach to advising is shaped as much by what she will not do as by what she will. She is upfront about the fact that detailed European itineraries are not her speciality, and she will say so directly rather than take on a trip she cannot serve well. It is a refreshingly honest position in an industry that can sometimes prioritise the booking over the fit. Her clients, particularly families and couples planning destination weddings or honeymoons in the Caribbean and Southeast Asia, benefit from working with someone whose enthusiasm is genuine and whose knowledge is personal.
She describes herself as approachable and detail-oriented, quick to respond and willing to go the extra mile. But perhaps the quality that ties everything together is simpler than any of those descriptors. As she puts it, "I actually love what I do." In travel advising, that love is not a small thing. It is the difference between an advisor who processes bookings and one who helps clients find their own version of a private island in Ha Long Bay.
Looking Ahead
For De Sousa, the story of her Vietnamese elopement is not just a charming anecdote. It is a lens through which she understands her clients, particularly those standing at the beginning of something new, hoping to mark it in a way that feels true to who they are. She knows what it is to wander through a country until the right moment reveals itself, and she knows how to help others do the same with a little more confidence and a great deal more support. With her sights firmly set on continuing to grow her work in destination weddings and group travel, De Sousa is looking forward to bringing that hard-won, deeply personal expertise to every couple who walks through her door with a dream and an open passport.
