Category Archives: Trip Reports

a close up of a tree

Visit the Amazing (93 Years Young) Guatemala City Zoo for $5

Posted on by . 5 Replies

Good afternoon everyone.  Earlier today, I wrote about our stay at the Courtyard Marriott Guatemala City and a nearby restaurant I loved.  During our short stay in Guatemala City, we also walked to the 93 years young Guatemala City Zoo, which was a ~25 minute walk from our hotel.  If you are not up for an adventurous walk across and along bustling city streets, you could take a 10-15 minute taxi ride to the zoo.  Admission to the zoo is incredibly cheap and adults are 32 Guatemalan Quetzals (~$4.36) and kids under 12 years old are 15 Guatemalan Quetzals (~$2.04).  As of January 23, 2018, $1.00 = 7.33 Guatemalan Quetzals.  The zoo is closed on Mondays, but we went on Tuesday and there were no crowds.  There were probably more animals than people in the zoo when we arrived.  The zoo is pretty big and is divided into different regions.  The main entrance is through the Africa region.

a group of people walking around a stone structure

Continue reading →

a black text with black dots

Hotel Review: Courtyard Marriott Guatemala City & Amazing Guatemalan Restaurant Nearby (Casa Chapina)

Posted on by . 2 Replies

After leaving the cable cars of La Paz and the salt flats of Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, our next stop was Guatemala City, the capital of Guatemala.  We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott Guatemala City. The hotel is a category 2 Marriott hotel (10,000 Marriott Points / night) and is a ~15 minute drive (depending on traffic) from the Guatemala City International Airport (GUA).  There is also a complimentary airport shuttle that arrives every hour.  The hotel is in a great part of the city and has many restaurants nearby and lots to see within a short distance, including an amazing zoo that we walked to from our hotel (blog post coming later today). I will also share a very good Guatemalan restaurant that was a 2 minute walk away from the hotel.

The airport shuttle was waiting for us when we exited the airport. After a short drive, we arrived at our hotel and then we took the first elevator up to the lobby. The lobby is big, beautiful and well decorated. We checked in quickly and took the second elevator up to our room.  I wasn’t planning on writing a hotel review for this hotel, so I didn’t take that many pictures of the hotel, so some of the below photos are from the Marriott website.

a reception desks in a lobby

Hotel check in desk with beautiful artwork on the back wall and ceiling. Image source: http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/guacy-courtyard-guatemala-city/

Continue reading →

a white text over a body of water

​Salar de Uyuni: Bolivia’s Magical, Mirror-like Salt Flat Oasis (2018 Dakar Rally & Crazy Photos)

Posted on by . 4 Replies

Good afternoon everyone, I hope you enjoyed reading about the cable cars (Mi Teleférico) in La Paz, Bolivia. Luckily, the Salar de Uyuni salt flats are way more amazing than the cable cars. I have several photos at the bottom of this post that will have you scratching your head, saying, “How did they do that?!” In this post, I will share the details and cost of our guided tour, show what was provided by the tour and share some of my favorite photos from the salt flats. Let’s go!

We took off from La Paz International Airport (LPB) on a cold, cloudy morning with snow covered mountain peaks in the distance.

Continue reading →

a close up of a structure

Riding the Cable Cars (Mi Teleférico) Around La Paz, Bolivia for Under $3

Posted on by . 3 Replies

Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend. On Saturday, I flew back home from Liberia, Costa Rica after a short, but relaxing stay at the Andaz Papagayo Resort (3 blog posts coming regarding the room, the resort and the food).  I am also working on a few blog posts about cable cars in La Paz (pss, it is this post), the salt flats at Salar de Uyuni, the Courtyard Marriott Guatemala City, the Guatemala City Zoo, the Sheraton Presidente San Salvador, my volcano and papusas tour in San Salvador, sleeping in the Managua (MGA) airport because I was not allowed to enter Nicaragua without a Yellow Fever Vaccine (YFV), my short 14 seater Lacsa flight from San Jose (SJO) to Liberia (LIR), and a PSA on why you should check your existing flights a few days before departure. Phew, that’s a lot of blogging to do over the next few days, but I hope you will enjoy those posts.

With all that said, let’s start off with a short post from the start of my South / Central America week-long adventure. My friend, Jim, and I flew into La Paz, Bolivia as our jumping off point down to the salt flats at Salar de Uyuni. We stayed in La Paz for 1 night and wandered around the city during the day. The coolest way to see the city is on their aerial cable car urban transit system called Mi Teleférico (My Cable Car). The cable cars quickly (and cheaply) take you from the mountain peaks to the valley floor with several stops along the way. Each ride is 3 Bolivianos (~$0.43) per person and transfers are not allowed.  As of January 21, 2018, $1.00 = 6.9 Bolivianos.

Continue reading →

a hammock on a beach

Grant’s 2017 Year in Miles & Points: How’d it Go?

Posted on by . 3 Replies

I thought it would be fun to kick off the new year by interviewing Grant about his past year of travel, miles, and points. Read along as Grant answers the questions I put to him and see how you’d answer these questions about your own year.

1. What was the deal or miles/points opportunity that you wish you had gotten in on (if there was one)?

I was really excited about the British Airways promotion to earn 82,286 British Airways Avios for signing up for Match.com and spending $548.57 (0.67 CPM). I signed up just for the miles and thought since I’m paying for the service, I would try it out and see if I met anyone. Long story short, British Airways never gave me the Avios and Match.com refunded my whole payment, but it was totally worth it because I met my girlfriend on Match.com and we’ve been together for the last 9 months. If you want to read more about the details, check out this post.

Shelli: Did anyone get in on this?

Grant: I don’t think any bloggers or readers got their British Airways Avios ☹

Continue reading →