Category Archives: Trip Reports

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Coco’s Private Beijing Tour – Visit Mutianyu Great Wall of China, Tiananmen Square & Temple of Heaven

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope you are enjoying my 10 Day Asia Trip so far.  After my relaxing 1 night stay and filling breakfast at the Hilton Beijing Capital Airport, I set off to see as much of Beijing as I could before my evening flight to Yangon, Myanmar.  Luckily, I had arranged a private tour of Beijing with Coco’s Beijing Tours.  Why did I go with Coco’s Beijing Tours?  Because Greg the Frequent Miler used them on a recent trip to Beijing.  If this tour was good enough for Greg, it was good enough for me.  I reached out to Coco, stated that I only had 1 day in Beijing and wanted to see the major sites.

a screenshot of a tour guide

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Hotel Review: Hilton Beijing Capital Airport (Beautiful Hotel Close to PEK)

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Good morning everyone.  As part of my 10 Day Asia Trip, I spent my first night at the Hilton Beijing Capital Airport.  This hotel is 5 minutes away from Beijing Capital Airport (PEK) and I took the complimentary airport shuttle to the hotel.  Before I arrived in Beijing, the front desk sent me a helpful email with directions on where to meet the airport shuttle.  When I originally booked this hotel a few months ago, I believe the price was roughly $190 USD, but I opted to use 40,000 Hilton Honors Points instead.  A few days before my trip, I checked the hotel prices and the price was down to around $120 USD or 36,000 Hilton Honors Points.  I ended up cancelling my points reservation and rebooking the paid rate.  Between paying with my American Express Hilton Aspire Credit Card, my Hilton Diamond Elite Status, and various Hilton promos, I ended up earning 9,450 Hilton Honors Points, which is worth $47.25 to me (I value Hilton Honors Points at 0.5 cents per point).

I’ve stayed at a handful of airport hotels, but this hotel was different… it was really nice!  The check in area was beautiful, my room was great, the lounge was refreshing, and the breakfast spread had many options.

a building with a large entrance

Image source: https://www.hilton.com.cn/file/images/20170908/20170908114846521EcmVbcJ.jpg

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10 Day Asia Trip Report Summary (China, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan & Nepal)

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Good morning everyone, I hope your week is going well.  By the time you read this post, I will be flying Cathay Pacific business class back to San Francisco.  At the beginning of the trip, I flew Air China business class from San Francisco to Beijing.  For the last 10 days, I have been hopping around Asia and I visited these cities:

  • Beijing, China (1 night)
  • Yangon, Myanmar (3 nights)
  • Dhaka, Bangladesh (1 night)
  • Paro & Thimphu, Bhutan (2 nights)
  • Kathmandu, Nepal (2 nights)
a map of the world with numbers and a red line

Great Circle Mapper: http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=PEK-RGN-DAC-PBH-KTM

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Google Fi Introduces New Unlimited Plan

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For those of you who haven’t already switched to my favorite phone service of all time, now might be your perfect chance. Google Fi (formerly Project Fi) is Google’s flagship mobile service that offers coverage in 200+ countries and territories, flat data rates, no contracts, and unlimited domestic calls and texts within the US.

Over the past several years, Google Fi has evolved from its beginnings with the Nexus and Pixel phones to present day, where members have the opportunity to bring their own phone to Fi. Most Android and iPhone models work with the Google Fi SIM card, so users aren’t required to buy a Pixel anymore. (I still would suggest buying a Pixel if you don’t have one, but that’s another story.)

Recently, Google Fi put a $60 cap on the cost of data for each cycle. Before then, data cost a flat $10 per gig but there wasn’t any relevant volume discount, so free data after 6GB was certainly a welcome change. Now, however, Google is upping their game with new unlimited plans that especially benefit families and groups.

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Hotel Review: Kimpton Sir Francis Drake Hotel near San Francisco’s Union Square (55K IHG Points)

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Good morning everyone.  Last Saturday, Laura and I did a mini San Francisco honeymoon.  We stayed at the InterContinental Mark Hopkins a few months ago, so we wanted to check out the Kimpton Sir Francis Drake hotel near San Francisco’s Union Square.  As part of IHG’s current Accelerate Promo, I needed to book a Points and Cash reservation to complete part of the promo.  The Kimpton Sir Francis Drake is normally 55,000 IHG Points, but I did a booking for 50,000 IHG Points + $28 cash.  Here is what the hotel lobby looked like when we arrived (with a few more guests and people working):

a room with a bar and chairs

Image source: https://www.booking.com/hotel/us/sir-francis-drake.html

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