We utilized our 4th of July vacation days this year to hit the pacific northwest, specifically Portland, Seattle, and the area in between. Based on google weather and all the people we talked to who lived in this area, July is absolutely the best month – weather wise – to visit. It did not disappoint. Our first stop was Seattle, where we stayed downtown in a Marriott Renaissance property. We used a free night certificate (more…)
We chose Hawaii for our honeymoon in mid-April (admittedly somewhat stereotypical choice of destination). It was a surprise for Elisa up until the week of wedding, at which point it made sense to tell her so she could pack accordingly (and since I filled a suitcase with hiking gear – more on that later). Since we only had about 9 days, we went to just two islands: Oahu for 4 days and Kauaii for 5. (more…)
We were trying to find ways to cash in some of Mayne’s marriott rewards points that he earned during all of his audit travel, and we found a Marriott Autograph collection hotel – the Grand Bohemian – in Asheville. It took a free night certificate (from Mayne’s platinum status anniversary) and some points and we had our long weekend booked! Elisa had never been and was excited to see what all the fuss about the (more…)
Chicago! Home of the cubs, harsh winters, deep dish pizza and expensive real estate shoulder to shoulder with some of the most dangerous ghettos in the nation. We came for a half marathon but cancelled due to my headaches. The weather was unseasonably cold as well, and there was freezing rain the morning of the race – so we didn’t feel like we missed much! As usual, we spent the majority of our time hiking around (more…)
I’m calling this entry Luang Prabang, and not Laos, as our only stop in Laos was the city of Luang Prabang. We were shooting for the highest per day visa and transport expense, so any other places in Laos were out of the question! (joking). Since we didn’t relish a day long bus ride for $50, we opted for a one hour flight on Lao Airlines for $150. The airport in Luang Prabang is a (more…)
Our first stop in Vietnam was Ho Chi Minh City, or HCMC for short. Don’t make a mistake of calling it Saigon! We used Marriott points for a free night at the Renaissance Riverside Hotel Siagon. The free breakfast (from my Marriott status) was amazing and was an international buffett of quality french, chinese, vietnamese and continental food. It was well worth the points. The city has some of the craziest traffic I have ever (more…)
There is no more iconic destination in SE Asia than Angkor Wat. Even though we’re not usually drawn to old ruins, we felt it was compulsory this time. This was our only sight in Cambodia, along with a stay in Phnom Penh to obtain Visas for Vietnam. We were in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh for two nights each. We contemplated a trip to the beaches but feared a long, bumpy bus ride and a (more…)
We didn’t know much about Kuala Lumpur upon visiting, but since we were flying through a number of times during our month in SE Asia (it’s an Air Asia hub), we decided that we should stop and stay a few days between flights. We were surprised to find out in short order just how metropolitan and western it was! There are sky scrapers like the Petronas Towers, huge malls, scads of business professionals running about, (more…)
We hopped an AirAsia flight from Bangkok to Bali (Bangkok we’ll be back!). After reading some discussion online about how crowded, tacky and expensive the main tourist areas around Denpasar and Kuta are, we opted for a more laid-back atmosphere at the Legong Keraton Beach Hotel about 25 min shuttle from all the action. Our hotel was simple, but clean. The views from the lawn of the pounding surf was fantastic, although the beaches in the area were (more…)
Our first stop in our SE Asia tour was Bangkok, one of the hubs of all travel in the area. Flights from the US seem mostly to arrive real late at night – which seems convenient for the city’s hotels – and ours was no exception at 11pm arrival. Following a nice snooze, we hit the ground running the next morning. Since this trip was sort of celebration of Mayne’s leaving the public accounting world (more…)