Planning

I recently got the opportunity to acquire a handy travel accessory that I would not have purchased under normal circumstances- compression packing cubes. These packing cubes were advertised to increase packing efficiency and available space in your luggage, and naturally I was a bit suspect.

The product always seemed like a bit of a wash to me, as it sounds somewhat unreasonable that a zippered packing cube best organizes my luggage and saves space. And prior to receiving them, they were not something that I would ever want to spend $20 per set for.

But after receiving them I have to say, I was impressed. Now I never leave home without them.

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Hooray!  We’ve sold all our furniture, moved out of our apartment, and have begun packing our final few items for our upcoming long-term trip in our travel bags. As this is Living the Dream’s second long-term adventure, we have the opportunity to revisit our long-term travel packing list.

For this go around, we’re trying to include the theme “multi-purpose” in as many ways as possible.  But what does that really mean? Let’s find out!

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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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