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This summer, my friend Rosio and I traveled around the world in two weeks, stopping in eight destinations, and in each place we tried to see and do as much as possible. There’s no way I could share everything we did in those two weeks, but here are a lot of the highlights! Even the highlights turned out to be crazy long, so I’ve split the post and this is part two of the activities recap, covering Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Maldives, and Sri Lanka, and Hong Kong. The first half of the trip is located here.Read More →

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This summer, my friend Rosio and I traveled around the world in two weeks, stopping in eight destinations, and in each place we tried to see and do as much as possible. There’s no way I could share everything we did in those two weeks, but here are a lot of the highlights! Even the highlights turned out to be crazy long, so I’ve split the post and this is part one of the activities recap, covering Minneapolis, Iceland, London, and Mainz.Read More →

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Choosing hotels was probably one of the harder tasks on our trip around the world. We wanted the bulk of the cost to be covered by hotel points, but we obviously weren’t working with unlimited amounts of points – especially with the one realistic Maldives option being 20,000 Starwood points per night – so we had to be as strategic as possible. Except for a bed & breakfast booked through Airbnb in Colombo, all the lodging was in fancy-ish hotels via loyalty program points or certificates. Read More →

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Two weeks around the world, now I’ve been back for two months, life is as busy as ever, and it still feels hard to believe that we actually pulled off such an epic trip. Our round the world tour involved 10 flights, 2 trains, a few metros, 4 boats, and an assortment of taxis, Ubers, buses, and shuttles – even a few tuk-tuks. This post will highlight the more memorable of these travel modes, as well as some of the airport lounge experiences we were able to access. Read More →

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Welcome to the fourth and last installment of my recap for my April trip to New Zealand! If you haven’t already, check out my previous post for part 3.  Auckland  → Bay of Islands → Auckland →Wellington→ Queenstown →Milford Sound → Aoraki Mount Cook → Christchurch →Auckland →Hobbiton → Auckland Aoraki/Mount Cook The bus ride to Aoraki Mount Cook was just under 5 hours, booked as part of my Intercity pass and turned out to be part of a GreatSights New Zealand tour. As far as I could tell, this meant a cushier bus and frequent stops to take photos of the (as always) beautiful scenery. In particular, Lake Pukaki nearRead More →

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Welcome to the third installment of my recap for my April trip to New Zealand! If you haven’t already, check out my previous post for part 2.  Auckland  → Bay of Islands → Auckland →Wellington → Queenstown →Milford Sound → Aoraki Mount Cook → Christchurch →Auckland →Hobbiton → Auckland On New Zealand’s South Island, I stepped off the plane in Queenstown and was immediately struck by how breathtaking the view was. I flew on one of those tiny planes that allow you to deplane from the back into open air, and the mountains in the distance were just gorgeous. My time in Queenstown and the surrounding areas wasRead More →