Destination Trip Reports

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Destination Trip Reports North America US, Canada, Mexico

July 2013: Independence Day Weekend Florida Trip – Day 1

We arrived at the Fort Lauderdale airport just before 9 AM after an American Airlines non-stop red-eye flight from Los Angeles. I had 2 AVIS Free-rental-day paper certificates and only after arrival at the airport did I realize that I had left them at home. Bummer !! I knew that the rental rates were pretty expensive here, but remembered seeing better rates at carrentalsavers.com compared to Kayak/Southwest/Hotwire and all the individual car rental sites. So using the phone, I booked a 2 day rental with Budget through that website. After arrival at the Budget Fastbreak counter, we got a complimentary upgrade …

Destination Trip Reports North America US, Canada, Mexico

July 2013: Independence Day Weekend Florida Trip – Introduction

When life gives you lemons, make some hard lemonade !! We had originally planned on a trip to the Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands for the July 4th weekend this year. I was planning on staying at the Comfort Suites, Seven Mile Beach using Choice Privileges Points. Since the booking window for award stay in Caribbean properties for US residents opens 90 days out, by the time the booking window opened, the award flight availability using British Airways Avios points (MIA – GCM route operated by American Airlines) had completely vanished. That meant that we were going to spend our weekend …

Destination Trip Reports North America US, Canada, Mexico

June 2013 – San Diego Zoo Safari Park Trip Report

Last month we went on a day trip to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.  We had never been to this safari park but had heard good reviews about it. There was an Amazon-Local deal where the regular entry tickets of 44$ were on sale for 20$. Obviously Karen jumped on the deal right away and got 3 tickets for us and her sister Danny. The park is near Escondido, which is around 30 miles from San Diego. The park opens at 9 AM and closes at 5 PM – 7 PM depending on the time of the year. After entering the …

Destination Trip Reports North America US, Canada, Mexico

May 2013: Portland Trip Report

During the Memorial Day weekend, we went on a quick getaway trip to Portland. We wanted to do some hiking, seeing waterfalls, simple outdoors stuff. We flew on Southwest from Ontario to Oakland and then to Portland. For the first time, I checked in online exactly 24 hours early and we were able to get letter A boarding number. I was excited to get exit row seating without paying for Early Bird check-in. Day 1: We reached PDX around 10:30 AM and after getting our rental car from Budget, we were on our way. First up on our list of …

Asia Destination Trip Reports

2012 – Maldives Trip – Recap

Recap of itinerary for the entire trip. Flights (all Business Class): Los Angeles – Incheon : United Airlines (for me) / Los Angeles – Incheon: Asiana Airlines (for Karen) Incheon – Bangkok : Thai Airways Bangkok – Kolkata : Thai Airways Kolkata – Singapore : Singapore Airlines Singapore – Male : Singapore Airlines Male – Singapore : Singapore Airlines Singapore – Incheon : Singapore Airlines Incheon – Los Angeles : Asiana Airlines (for Karen) / Incheon – San Francisco: Asiana Airlines (for me) Hotels: Aloft Bangkok – 1 Night Fuana Inn, Maldives – 1 Night Holiday Inn Kandooma, Maldives – 3 Nights Sightseeing: Bangkok …

Asia Destination Trip Reports

January 2013: Maldives Trip Report – Day 4

Since this was the last day of our stay at the resort, we wanted to make the most of it. Because our flight left at around 11 PM, the front desk notified us that we had complimentary late checkout till 2 PM and after that we could leave our luggage at the reception and leave on the last outbound speedboat at 8 PM. We went to the beach early to spend at least 3-4 hours swimming. Pretty soon it was lunchtime. We went back to our room and took a shower and then headed to the Bokkuraa Club. After lunch, …

Asia Destination Trip Reports

January 2013: Maldives Trip Report – Day 3

On Day 3, we woke up early and had a quick breakfast. Karen had signed up for a complimentary snorkeling trip at the house reef . The trip starts at 9:30 AM and snorkeling gear rent is free for the trip. There were about 8 people on the boat plus the 3 man crew and 1 instructor.  It takes only about 10 minutes to get to the house reef which is somewhere between the Kandooma resort and the Cocoa resort. The snorkeling trip lasted about 2 hours and then we were back on the island. We decided to walk some …

Asia Destination Trip Reports

January 2013: Maldives Trip Report – Day 2

We woke up early and Karen decided to make some freshly brewed coffee using the french press in the room. The resort is pretty expensive when it comes to food. We brought some breakfast snacks like cake, dry indian sweets, chips, crackers for breakfast supplies for the 4 days we were here. We only ate at the restaurants for lunch and dinner.   After breakfast we decided to walk some more around the island. After walking and taking lots of pictures for about 2 hours we decided to go to the poolside. Karen had signed up for a complimentary basic …

Asia Destination Trip Reports

January 2013: Maldives Trip Report – Day 1

We arrived at the resort by speedboat from Male around noon. After an expedited check-in we were shown our sea-view beach house. After freshening up we decided to do a quick tour around the island. You can walk around the entire island in about 20 minutes. Since we are after all in the tropics, pretty soon we were dying to get into the water to cool off. The water is warm and clear with almost no waves in the swimming areas. After spending about an hour or two (who counts time during vacation? :)) we decided to move to the pool. After …

Asia Destination Trip Reports

January 2013: Singapore Transit Trip + Flashback from 2007 Singapore Transit Trip

On our way to Maldives we had a long connection in Singapore. Since we had already taken advantage of the free guided tour of Singapore arranged by Changi airport in 2007, we decided to venture out on our own. This time we wanted to see the Skypark at the somewhat recently opened Marina Bay Sands Hotel, billed as the most expensive standalone casino property of the world. We found out that one of the best ways to get to the MBS is to take the East – West line (in green) from Changi Airport and then switch to Circle line …

Asia Destination Trip Reports

December 2012: 24 Hours in Bangkok

I was actually only in Bangkok for 22 hours but who’s counting? 🙂 I arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport at around 1 am in the morning. First thing was a short trip to the currency exchange counter at the airport. I have read that you get a better exchange rate at the city counters or withdrawing cash from ATM’s but I was in no mood to maximize the currency rate. However, one thing I would definitely advise everyone is to avoid currency exchange counters at US airports. The USD-THB exchange rate at LAX was about 15% higher than what was offered …

Destination Trip Reports North America US, Canada, Mexico

October 2012: Weekend Trip to Ventura and Del Mar, California

Me and Karen took a weekend trip to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary last weekend. Wow!! It’s been 5 years already? How time flies…. We had originally planned a 4 day weekend getaway to Fort Lauderdale, Florida but after seeing the thunderstorm ravaged 14 day weather forecast, we decided to cancel our airline and hotel bookings and attempt a local getaway instead. Thank goodness I had booked the flights on Southwest which has a zero penalty cancellation policy!! The AAA rate at the Marriott is a refundable rate so no problem there either. We wanted to stay two nights at …

Destination Trip Reports North America US, Canada, Mexico

September 2012 – Seattle Trip Report

Me and Karen decided to go for a quick Seattle trip over the Labor day weekend. I have always wanted to see the Space Needle up close and since we live on the west coast, the flight was going to be nice and short. The idea was to fit in a trip without having to take any extra days off from work. Flights: I had booked my ticket about 2 months out on Southwest and added Karen’s ticket for just $5 with my Southwest Companion pass. I did not pay for early bird check-in and got C group boarding. The …

Destination Trip Reports North America US, Canada, Mexico

May 2012 – San Francisco – Lake Tahoe – Solvang Trip Report

Me and Karen along with my parents went on a long weekend trip up north to San Francisco and Lake Tahoe over Memorial Day weekend (Road trip!). Day 1: We took a 6 hour drive from my home in southern California to San Francisco. Since we were planning on driving down PCH on our way back, we took the 5 freeway for faster timing on our way north. We saw lots of vineyards on both sides of the freeway along with some other trees and plants while passing through Central California. There are lots of opportunities to stop at various …

Caribbean Cruises Destination Trip Reports North America

May 2012 – 5 Day Caribbean Cruise

When looking for something exciting yet relaxing to do for my parents visit to the U.S., me and Karen decided on a 5 day cruise out of Miami. My parents had never been on a cruise before so I wanted an itinerary that included places I’d travelled before. We decided to stick with the last cruise Karen and I had taken in the Bahamas, so that there were no surprises when we showed up with our first-time cruisers. Itinerary: Flight: LAX – MIA: US Airways Hotel (1 night): Courtyard Miami Beach Oceanfront, Collins Avenue Cruise: Carnival Destiny Day 1: Depart …

Cruises Destination Trip Reports US, Canada, Mexico

September 2010 – 7 Day Mexican Riviera Cruise

We went on a 7 day Mexican Riviera cruise with Carnival. One big advantage of this cruise is that because it is from Long Beach, people like us who live in the west coast (specifically California) don’t have to pay money on airfare and hotel. Just drive down to the Long Beach Cruise ship terminal, park your car, and off you go. The itinerary of the cruise trip was: Day 1: Depart Long Beach Day 2: Day at sea Day 3: Day at sea Day 4: Puerto Vallarta, Mexico Day 5: Mazatlan, Mexico Day 6: Cabo San Lucas, Mexico Day …

Caribbean Cruises Destination Trip Reports North America

July 2009 – 5 Day Caribbean Cruise

After our 1st cruise ever (3 day Mexico Cruise) I was hooked. We decided to try a different itinerary, a Caribbean cruise this time. We had never been to Caribbean before and those beautiful, white, sandy beaches tempted us to book a 5 day Caribbean cruise leaving Miami. Itinerary: Flight: LAX – MIA: Continental Airlines Hotel (1 night): Circa 39, Miami Beach Cruise: Carnival Destiny Day 1: Depart Miami Day 2: Day at sea Day 3: Grand Turk Island, Turks and Caicos Islands Day 4: Half Moon Cay ( Private Island) Day 5: Nassau, Bahamas Day 6: Arrive Miami Flight: MIA – LAX: …