Year: 2016

Hilton Reykjavik Nordica Review – Stellar Upgrade Perks

As many readers here know, we are Hilton loyalists in our travel hacking endeavors (but are also one of the brand’s fiercest critics). We travel with Hilton for work and use our Hilton travel rewards credit card for just about everything in order to rack up as many points and weekend night certificates as possible.

This doesn’t allow us to travel the world for free as some travel hackers would have you believe, but it does give us a few free hotel nights anytime we travel- more often than not at a significant upgrade from what we’d otherwise pay for.

So, naturally, when it came time for us to book our one-night stay at a hotel in central Reykjavik, Iceland, on our recent vacation, we knew exactly where we would be staying without hesitation.

At 40,000 points, the Hilton Reykjavik Nordica is an incredible deal in its own right, but the perks of being a Hilton Gold member made this stay one of the best we’ve ever had with the chain in recent memory.

So for those who are Hilton loyalists like us with the status to match, this one is definitely for you.

Read more

When Can We Get a Real Spanish Tapas Bar in the USA?

We were spoiled when we went on a vacation in Spain for our honeymoon.

There is no easier way to say it than that. 

From the world-class cuisine, amazing Spanish tapas bars, free-flowing wine, all the way to the famous ham that we ate with every single meal, Spain satisfied our appetites with every bite. 

After returning home we tried to find a great restaurant that embodied all of the wonderful meals we had while in Spain.  In particular, was our quest to find a great tapas bar with the small plates of food that we had just about every day in the country. 

But as it turns out, tapas bars in the style we fell in love with are hard to come by, and our search has gone on unfulfilled for the last year.

Read more

Travel Instagram Strategies to Take Your Profile to the Next Level

For those who don’t know me, you should know that I am an engineer as well as a travel blogger- which at times is a very dangerous combination. When I try out something new to help my brand grow, I put together a test and log everything so I can get to the real reason for why something works. (We then write about it in our Blog Your Trip series to share it with you).

Over the past year I’ve been conducting many successful Instagram tests, and they’ve been picking up in popularity thanks to this social network’s continued rise in prominence.

As I’ve had some time to reflect on our most recent tests (find the one on Instagram hash-tags and the one on gaining targeted Instagram followers here), I need to tweak some of the recommendations I wrote about in those posts to form our game plan moving forward.

So, before reading any further, I highly recommend you read through both of those first. Finished? Good, let’s recap.

Read more

Churrascaria Palace Review – An Authentic Brazilian Spot in Rio

Despite being an infamously picky eater, there is one food type I never shy away from, and that is meat. I often spend my time daydreaming about that perfect steak, succulent pork, or flame grilled chicken.

When I am home in North America I love to frequent the Brazilian barbecue houses and load my plate, so naturally I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to eat at an authentic churrascaria while in Rio de Janeiro.

I set my sights (and my appetite) on Churrascaria Palace downtown in Copacabana. Founded in 1951 and still going strong, coupled with the high praise on review sites, I figured it was a good bet.

Read more