Category Archives: Trip Reports

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OC Travel Hackers Meetup Saturday, May 12 @ 12pm at In-N-Out (Tustin District)

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  I will be flying down to Orange County this weekend for Mother’s Day, so I decided to do a travel hackers meetup on Saturday afternoon.  If you are free this Saturday, I would love to meet you and talk travel, miles, points, MS, and blogging.

  • Where: 2895 Park Ave, Tustin, CA 92782 (Google Maps)
  • When: Saturday, May 12 @ 12-2PM

In-N-Out Tustin District Map

There is no need to RSVP to the OC travel hackers meetup, just show up at 12pm and be ready to talk talk travel.  I hope to see some of you there.  Have a great day everyone.

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Music to My Ears, But Not in a Hotel Lobby

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I spend quite a bit of time in hotel lobbies. Yes, sometimes in them and sometimes just walking through them. This past week I saw something strange in a hotel lobby and I can’t decide how I feel about it. I’m curious what you think. I was staying at a Hyatt Place, which I’d describe as a nicer than average Hyatt Place. In the evening from my room I could hear cello music. It was between 8 and 9 PM. Then the next night I was in the rear lobby area eating a dinner salad and I heard cello music. As I walked past the front desk, there in the main entry way where there are a few seats and a table, was the cello player. He had some kind of recorded music apparatus playing a classical music song and he was practicing his cello part. This just struck me as so odd.

a person playing a cello

Image source: http://www.crystalgraphics.com/powerpictures/images.photos.asp?ss=cello

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a close up of stamps

One Way Flights Can Be Priced Wildly Differently, Depending on the Direction

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There is always something to learn in this miles and points game! Always. Recently I discovered something when booking an award ticket that you may already know. But if you don’t, maybe you’ll learn something new from my sharing what I discovered.

I was booking a trip to Asia but only had enough miles to book an award for either the outbound or the inbound. In deciding which direction to use miles and which direction to pay cash, I started looking at cash prices. I looked at Japan Airlines website for their prices. I searched starting from the states and saw the oneway ticket priced around $650 for an economy seat. I assumed that this was half of the roundtrip cost. This led me to assume the fare from Japan to the States, should I opt to use the inbound as my cash outlay, would be the same $650. Wow, was I wrong!

a globe with arrows around it

Image source: https://lccaroundtheworld.blogspot.com/2008/11/how-to-fly-around-world-for-1-200-euros.html

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a heart made of coffee beans

Shelli’s World Coffee Tour – Vietnamese Coffee in Vietnam

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I guess it’s time for a true confession. I’m a coffee snob. And when I travel, I have a passion for supporting local roasters and coffee houses. Let’s just say I’ve BEAN Around the World and I’m feeling like now is the time to start sharing the love… and caffeine, one city at a time. Recently, I had a wonderful holiday in Saigon, Vietnam. And though it was hard to tear myself away from the incredible coconut meat and coconut water, I did explore the coffee houses, and I’m glad I did. I drank plenty of coffee, talked with baristas, and I’ve got lots to share with you. Let’s open the TWG cafe society doors and talk coffee, Vietnamese style.

When I travel, I only review and like to support coffee houses that roast their own beans or use locally roasted beans. But before I talk about the one-off coffee house scene in Saigon, I have a very special post for you today. I have Vietnamese friends living in Saigon, and as it turns out, one of them, Huy, had a coffee shop. He and a friend owned and ran it for a few years before moving on to careers in tech. He’s an amazing resource of all things coffee in Vietnam. Huy and his wife Nguyen came to where I was staying and made us Vietnamese coffee! He brought his own equipment and coffee, and it was a ton of highly caffeinated fun. I want to share with you what he taught me because I’ve never been successful when making Vietnamese coffee at home. It’s complicated and requires patience. If you’ve ever tried or want to try making it, here’s the full scoop from a master!

a man and woman holding a drink

Huy and his wife, Nguyen.

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a lake with trees in the background

Three Weeks in New Zealand – Without A Car!

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Buenos dias everyone! Back in November, I was able to snag two economy tickets from San Francisco to Auckland, New Zealand for a jaw-dropping $395 per person roundtrip, nonstop on Air New Zealand. (My understanding is tickets twice that price would still be a good deal – right now, the lowest price I see for these flights through the end of 2018 is $1,150). I used Citi Thank You Points from my Citi Prestige Credit Card to book these tickets at a value of 1.25 cents per point (so a little over 63,000 points total).

At first, I avoided making any further plans because I thought the tickets might get canceled – but after a couple of months, I was pretty confident that they would stick. I eventually booked tickets from Mexico City to San Francisco (using American Express Membership Rewards points with the 35% AMEX Platinum Card rebate), and a few days before our trip, I finally started sketching out our plan.

A map of Tonei's route in New Zealand, as described in the article

Map created on Travellerspoint.com

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