Year: 2020

How We Got a $17,900 Maldives Vacation for Just $6,500

When you close your eyes and think of the Maldives, odds are good you’re picturing overwater bungalows, crystal clear waters, white-sand beaches, and, if you’ve ever researched the destination, a big bill at the end.

We’re getting into a trend of going to remote island destinations with points as we’ve found we can get a pretty good trip value and minimizing our spending. The Maldives was (mostly) no different.

So, what did it cost us? Our total Maldives spending was 665,000 Hilton points, 170,000 United points, and just about $6,500. This got us 14 nights in the Maldives including two resorts, one local island, and one overnight in Male at the end before an early morning flight.

In this one, we want to break down that spending a bit more.

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Hilton Reviews – Recapping Our Hotel Stays With the Brand

We’re no strangers to staying in nice hotels when we travel, and more often than not when we need a really luxurious hotel stay we find ourselves checking out the Hilton hotel property chain as Angie amasses close to 1,000,000 points a year on the hotel chain for her day job travels (not to mention, that highly coveted Diamond status).

In this one, we wanted to compile a database of the Hilton reviews we’ve published over the years, and give a quick snapshot of each property we’ve stayed in to-date. Suffice it to say, we’ve stayed in a few gems (and a few misses, too). 

We will also be sharing status perks we received at each of the Hilton hotels as well as part of our gold and/or diamond status (depending on visit dates). Some of these may be as simple as a room upgrade or a free cocktail, others are a bit more unusual like spa access, free bikes or water sports, special breakfasts, and more. It is worth noting that perks often change and are only a reflection of the things we received during our visit.

Disclosure: We are not partners with Hilton in any capacity. We have paid for every hotel featured in this guide on points or weekend certificates received from credit cards (although we do pay for all of our meals and incidentals). We received Gold status through a credit card and later Diamond status through Angie’s work travels to more conventional properties- those hotels are not featured herein.

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Travel Souvenirs Collection – Shot Glasses from Around the World

Purchasing souvenirs is often an important aspect of all trips to many travelers. When a city or region gets too popular, however, a lot of the souvenirs sold are just.. well, crap.  So finding the best souvenir for yourself might be a difficult task.

When I travel, I tend to have a rather large budget just for souvenirs, much greater than most people I meet.  For my collection, I try and get three things from each country I go to: a display piece, a shot glass, and a t-shirt.

This article focuses on all of the shot glasses I have acquired from the 34 countries I have visited so far.  Out of these countries, only one is currently missing as I could not find a single shot glass in the tiny city state of Macao.

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Top 10 Food and Drinking Experiences Around the World

As lovers of great food, we go out of our way to find some of the best restaurants and dishes wherever we go. 

I know that this is a bit of a cliche thing to say, but I really mean it. Angie spends months researching foods and restaurants, plotting them out on maps, and will make us go hours out of our way simply to get the perfect bite of food.

This has led to some pretty incredible food experiences around the world, and in this one we wanted to share what we think are ten of the very best. While the following are our top 10 food experiences around the world, it is worth noting that the below are in no particular order. 

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