Love is February's flavour of the month

Cheapflights.co.uk, the UK’s leading flight price comparison website, is spreading romance in 2008 and proclaiming February the month of love. Two amorous events, Valentine’s Day and the Leap Year, combine to ensure that you won’t fall short of passionate occasions.

Along with the usual accoutrements of Valentine’s Day - flowers, chocolates and candlelit dinners - the leap year offers women the chance to take marriage proposals into their own hands. Statistics show that some nine per cent of proposals are initiated by women, while a very encouraging 80 per cent of men would utter the words you long to hear should they be asked.

Nonetheless, proposals tend to be anxiety-provoking no matter who’s doing the asking, so to ease into the moment, why not whisk yourself and your partner on a romantic trip? According to Cheapflights.co.uk, the top two picks for lover’s getaways include Paris and Barcelona.

Paris: the starlit city known as ‘the city of lights’ is practically the birthplace for romance. A moonlit walk or a dinner cruise along the Seine, a candlelit dinner at the Eiffel Tower’s Le Jules Verne overlooking glorious city views, or a handheld stroll through the accordion playing streets of Montmartre are all activities with which to enchant your partner in this French capital. For flights to Paris, check out our great offers at: Cheapflights.co.uk/paris.html.

If your palate is more inclined towards tapas than frog’s legs, try Barcelona, Europe’s best loved city. Having carved out its urban niche through the visions of artists like Roy Lichtenstein and James Turrell, it has succeeded in cultivating a metropolis of jaw dropping beauty. Such Gothic splendour effortlessly inspires a kind of medieval romance with the modern quirks of cable car rides up to Montijuic, or the funicular up to Tibidabo.

La Ramblas, hailed as the most famous street in Europe, offers a wealth of shops, restaurants, squares, and even Gaudi’s Guell Palace. And if you need a break from the city simply head to the sandy beaches of Tossa de Mar to enjoy some of the best seafood this world has to offer. To find great offers to Barcelona, check out: Cheapflights.co.uk/Barcelona.html.

For a less conventional take on romance, head to the rolling hills of Tuscany and cycle your way around the Chianti region. Wine, exercise and captivating views can make for a very powerful lovers’ cocktail. And if you’re willing to go further afield head to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to take a walk through alpine woods and experience the real life fable of an ‘enchanted forest’. To arrange a unique getaway, have a look at: Cheapflights.co.uk/Santa-Fe.html for Santa Fe and Cheapflights.co.uk/Pisa.html to get to Chianti in Italy.

Cheapflights’ general manager, Francesca Ecsery says, “Paris and Barcelona are fantastic places to visit and have been chosen as the most popular luurrve destinations among Cheapflights’ users. I personally prefer a more exotic or adventurous kind of experience. I was once swept away on a hiking trip up Kilimanjaro and found it to be a very unique, romantic experience.”

But if travel isn’t enough to ease your nerves before a proposal, follow a celebrity example. Sigmund Freud overcame his nerves by asking his wife in writing. John F. Kennedy announced his intentions to Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy by telegram while she was covering the coronation of our very own Queen Elizabeth II. If you’d prefer something a little more British, just follow a royal example: King George VI succeeded by practicing, he proposed to the beloved Queen Mother five times before she accepted.

Cheapflights is there for you at every step of your romantic journey. So, if you’re planning a romantic break, check out more tips at: Cheapflights.co.uk/romanticescape.html. Or, if you’ve already popped the question and you’re ready for the wedding, take a look at their travel tips on Getting Married Abroad at: Cheapflights.co.uk/marriage.html and honeymoons abroad at Cheapflights.co.uk/honeymoons.html.