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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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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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ONLY FOUR MORE DAYS (!!!) until my round-the-world summer vacation with my friend Rosio! We’re heading to 8 countries in two weeks (gotta maximize that annual leave), and booked our flights and accommodations using a mix of loyalty points and money. We ended up with a nearly $37,000 trip for 2 that was booked with about 600,000 points and roughly $2,000. I’m so excited, and I want to share bit about the plan and how we booked it.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 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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Last year on Cyber Monday, I stumbled on an unbelievable flight deal through United Airlines for Air New Zealand and bought a nonstop round-trip ticket to Auckland, New Zealand for $395. For context, a flight like this typically costs between $1100 and $1600, so $395 seemed extremely unlikely. Me being me, I bought it anyway, and then waited a to see if it would be cancelled (this is an actual thing that airlines are bizarrely allowed to do in the case of what’s called a “mistake fare”). A month or two later, my ticket was still sitting untouched in my United account, so I startedRead More →