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Welcome to the second installment of my recap for my April trip to New Zealand! If you haven’t already, check out my previous post for part 1.  Auckland  → Bay of Islands → Auckland →Wellington → Queenstown →Milford Sound → Aoraki Mount Cook → Christchurch →Auckland →Hobbiton → Auckland Auckland After an easy bus ride back to Auckland, I stored my backpack in the super convenient locker at the bus station (less than $10 NZD), and went to do a bit of sightseeing.Read More →

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February is clearly the best month of the year (how could it be otherwise when it signals my entrance into the world?) and every year I try to make sure my birthday provides an occasion for everyone to recognize February’s awesomeness. This year’s flu season actually loosened its grip on me long enough to allow me to properly celebrate, so I headed off to Portland, Oregon. Originally, I didn’t plan to do much for my birthday, but then I remembered I now have the power of Southwest’s Companion Pass* at my disposal, and I couldn’t miss the chance to use it. Helloooo short getaway!Read More →

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Partly because I’m based in California, Las Vegas is one of my favorite places for a short getaway. It’s a unique place, in that for all its international reputation for partying and crazy times on the Las Vegas Strip, the rest of Vegas is more of an affordable town  (caveat – I live in one of the most expensive areas in the United States) with a relatively close-knit community. This overview focuses primarily on the Las Vegas Strip. I assume most everyone has an idea of what the Strip is – if not, this is why we have Google. Google away! People who vacation in Vegas seem to fallRead More →

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Back in 2016, I realized that the next year would feature an optimal set of travel circumstances. 2017 would be the year in which I’d have Gold status* with Starwood Hotels, Silver status with United Airlines, and a huge (to me, anyway) stockpile of points/miles in both loyalty programs. On noticing this, I set out to find the perfect new vacation spot that had a beach and a cool town to explore.** This perfect place needed to have a Starwood property, and had to be reachable by United (or one of United’s Star Alliance partners). As it turned out, Bali represented the convergence of a solidRead More →