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

Poznan, Poland with Kids

One of Poland’s oldest cities and the fifth largest in the country, Poznan, is a wonderful place to visit with kids. While visiting the city we were blessed with nice warm weather, which allowed us to do lots of outdoors activities including visiting the city’s war memorials, famous parks, zoo, and, one of our favorite activities, the local water park!

Read more

Tips for Driving In Italy if You’re Absolutely Unprepared

Italian Highways

We had not done any research on driving in Italy before we arrived.  This was, of course, a bad decision.

We made a few rookie mistakes at the beginning of our journey and if you are planning on driving in Italy here are some tips we learned that will hopefully help you avoid our mistakes.

Read more