Category Archives: Trip Reports

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Which Vietnam Tourist Visa Option is the Easiest / Quickest Choice?

When you travel as much as most of us do, there will be a time when visa requirements for visiting a country get confusing… and expensive. For instance, I have family I visit in Chile, so before the visa requirements for U.S. citizens were changed, I was paying a hefty visa fee each time I went to Chile. My cousins are worth it – thanks cousins for reading TWG :)

Checking each country’s visa requirements, even when you think you know what they are, should be on everyone’s pre-trip travel checklist. For a trip to Vietnam, I checked about visa requirements for U.S. citizens in two places. The Wikipedia page shows that Vietnam does require a visa and it mentions an eVisa. But there is no link that tells me more about what that is.

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Andaz Papagayo Resort Part 2: The Room was Great

Good morning everyone, I hope you enjoyed Part 1 of my Andaz Papagayo Resort review where I shared photos of the beautiful resort.  After checking into the resort, we walked to our room which was only a 5 minute walk away.  If your room is farther away, you can take the complimentary golf cart shuttle to your room.  The exterior of the room had a large, thick wooden door with a key car reader above the handle.  Let’s check out the inside of the room…

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Andaz Papagayo Resort Part 1: The Resort is Beautiful

Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a great Super Bowl weekend.  The Andaz Papagayo Resort in Liberia, Costa Rica was the last stop on my Central / South America adventure.  After taking my incredible 14 seat Cessna flight from San Jose, Costa Rica (SJO) to Liberia, Costa Rica (LIR), I was picked up by the Liberia Airport Shuttle company (contact Gabriela) and driven to the Andaz Papagayo Resort ($49 US for one way).  After a ~45 minute drive from the airport, we arrived at the beautiful resort.  In part 2, I will show you my room and in part 3, I will show you the food.  Stay tuned for those posts.

We stayed 2 nights in mid January and had a great time.  The resort was probably 25% full.   Our stay cost 30,000 Hyatt points total (15,000 / night).  If you have a Hyatt free night certificate from the Chase Hyatt Credit Card, you can use your free night here.

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Reminder: OC Travel Hackers Meetup Saturday, February 3 @ 12pm at In-N-Out (Tustin District)

Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday.  I just wanted to remind those of you in Orange County about my travel hackers meetup tomorrow afternoon.  If you are free tomorrow, I would love to meet you and talk travel, miles and points, MS, and politics blogging.

  • Where: 2895 Park Ave, Tustin, CA 92782 (Google Maps)
  • When: Saturday, February 3 @ 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.

P.S. I will be unveiling my new Travel with Grant shirt :)

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Good News! Google Project Fi DOES Work in Belize

As a frequent traveler, Google Project Fi (thanks for signing up via my link! We’ll both get $20) is my absolute favorite. I love being able to connect to cellular data networks when I’m traveling in over 135 countries! Before I traveled to Belize, I checked whether or not I would have coverage and was disappointed to find out that I would not have service in Belize.

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