I can write a whole series about the episodes of our airport dramas. Ever since we started traveling 7 years ago, we’ve been delayed, had our flights canceled, our luggage lost, interrogated, searched and that’s just the run of the mill stuff. One time we couldn’t get out of Thailand because of civil unrest when protesters took over the whole airport.
We were in Hong Kong as protests broke out across the city. It started in Central and grew in size, overtaking some of the major areas of the city. The people of Hong Kong were protesting the Chinese government for the right to elect their own chief executive in 2017. The movement gained momentum and support over social media as it got prominent coverage in the world press.
Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA
The Grand Canyon is awe-inspiring in its vastness and has long been considered one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. On a clear day you can see sweeping views that stretch out for hundreds of miles in all directions.
The Grand Canyon has always been on my bucket list, so when we were in Vegas for a week in February, we decided to rent a car and drive to Arizona. What I didn’t know was that Arizona can get quite cold in the middle of winter. For some reason, I thought it would always be hot there. Shows how much I know.
Along the road, snow accumulated as we drove further up in elevation. We were not prepared and were not dressed properly for the colder temperatures. So in the end, we drove for 4 hours, ran out of the car for a quick look at the canyon and hurried back inside, away from the biting wind at the rim. We will have to return another time for a hike down to the bottom of the canyon.
Every Monday of each week, I’ll share a photo with you from my adventures around the world and at home. Most of my photos have little or no post processing. If you would like to see more, please click the ‘Follow’ button.
View of Hong Kong harbor from Victoria peak
Hong Kong is a world class city. Getting to and around Hong Kong is easy and effortless – from the customs and immigration process to figuring out public transportation. We got off our flight and were at our hotel within an hour. We took the airport express, which takes about 24 minutes from the airport to Kowloon station, and costs about 70 HKD (~$10USD).
When we were there, it was September and the weather was still unbearably hot. Every time we walked outside, we would turn into a puddle of sweat within a few minutes. It made walking around difficult, but we persevered. In no particular order, here are some of our favorite touristy places to visit in Hong Kong, most of which are free to do:
Kauai, Hawaii, USA
I took this picture of a plumeria flower on my trip to Hawaii a few years ago. This is one of the most common flowers on the island, they bloom everywhere and are typically used to make leis. For me, this flower brings back a lot of memories. Growing up in tropical Viet Nam, I was quite familiar with the fragrant smell of the plumeria, and they say smells strongly associate with memories. When I get a whiff of this sweet smelling flower, it brings back memories of my childhood at my grandmother’s house and makes me feel quite nostalgic.
Every Monday of each week, I’ll share a photo with you from my adventures around the world and at home. Most of my photos have little or no post processing. If you would like to see more, please click the ‘Follow’ button.
[via tourists360.com]
Steamed fish in soya sauce
This post was a long time coming. It’s hard to believe that we were in Hong Kong three months ago! Yes, that means I am very very behind on my posts. Anyways, now that winter is here, it’s the best time to catch up. Here is a short recap of our trip: We found a cheap ticket to Hong Kong and decided last minute that we wanted to spend our anniversary in Asia, so off we went. We were there for 4 days, but we managed to fit in quite a bit of food, but now that I think of it, that’s the norm when we travel. This post will be the highlights of all the food we ate while in Hong Kong. Continue reading
Vatican City
We’re back! Happy New Year everyone. The first post of 2015 is a photo taken from our first trip together back in 2007 to Italy. Memories!
We made the pilgrimage to the Vatican and scaled the 551 steps of winding narrow stairs to get to the top of St Peter’s basilica. This is the sweeping panoramic view from the top of the dome overlooking the square and the rest of Rome in the distance. We fell in love with the ancient city and it helped ignite our love of traveling.
Every Monday of each week, I’ll share a photo with you from my adventures around the world and at home. Most of my photos have little or no post processing. If you would like to see more, please click the ‘Follow’ button.
It’s that time of year again. The end of December is when everyone looks back over their year and makes lists. So far be it for us to not follow the trend.
2014 was one hell of a year for us. In addition to starting this blog, we still found some time to travel around the world while working full time. We were on the road almost once a month in 11 separate trips. We finally got to cross off Australia and Peru from our bucket list, which were over 2 years in planning. We’ve even literally flown around the world – flying only eastward to Australia through Abu Dhabi and then eastward home through Los Angeles. We also visited our 6th continent – only one more to go! The more we see on our travels, the more we wanted to see.
Some of the more impressive stats include: over 91,000 miles flown, on 42 individual flight segments. 7 countries, 5 continents. We spent over 26 hours flying in first class, 70 hours in business, and countless hours in coach. 12 of those flights were over 8 hours long, and 5 of those 12 were more than 12 hours – thats a lot of long-haul flying. Even with all that however, we fell short of of the re-qualification threshold for American Airlines Executive Platinum status – 100k miles. It looks like next year we’ll have to settle for being just Platinum. This means no more unlimited domestic upgrades, and no 8 SWUs for international flights, but we still get lounge access and priority seating/boarding, etc. We also have a stash of points built up this year we’ll work on using up in 2015.
Our trips in 2014 included:
This past year we specifically planned more travel than normal in order to maximize the benefits of our status. This resulted in a lot of busy weekends and running around packing, unpacking, and repacking. In fact, it felt like we spent most of 2014 living out of our suitcase. All this travel definitely took its toll on our bodies. Between the long-haul flights, meals in airport lounges, time changes, jet lag, busy weekends, and packed schedules to fit as much in as possible on our trips we both feel a bit worn down. Even though we loved every minute of of our whirlwind year, we’re also looking forward to some R&R time at home this winter. For 2015, we have a lot of ideas of where we want to go, but nothing concrete planned. We are excited to start planning our next adventure around the world (any suggestions?). It’ll be hard to top 2014, but we can’t wait to see what 2015 brings. We wish everyone a safe and happy new year!
Xmas collage of the photos from our trips around the world this year
It’s almost the end of December. Yikes, where did the time go? I feel like Christmas kinda crept up on me this year. It must be because we were in Australia for 3 weeks and it was boiling hot there most of the time. Even with the Christmas music blasting and Santas everywhere, it’s not the same. My brain just can not comprehend that we are only weeks away from the holiday season when I am wearing shorts and sandals. Either way, it doesn’t matter because I am back in Canada now and it’s nice and cold outside. All is well with the world again and I can dive head first into this festive season.
life after 9to5 