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flashpackers in nz: hotel splurging on the north island
With less than one month left of our RTW, I can safely say that we’ve learned a lot about ourselves on this trip. I’ll probably share more once we’ve had more time to reflect, but one of the earliest and biggest realizations? We are not really budget travelers. We all knew this in advance. We set a budget for our RTW, but with an average of $200/day, it is significantly higher than actual money-saving pros in the travel world. As always, we knew our usual high-low mix would be coming into play. On the North Island of New Zealand, we had…
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vines & velos & views over napier
When in New Zealand, there is no question: you have to include a few wine regions in your itinerary. It’s, like, Kiwi Law. Which is why, when we were assessing our itinerary, Napier in Hawke’s Bay was an easy addition. From the moment we touched down in Auckland to our departure flight from Christchurch, everyone asked us two things. What was 1.) our biggest adventure thrill and 2.) our favorite glass of wine? Luckily, we had already confirmed that vineyard tours and wine tastings would be a big part of our RTW, so we did some recon regarding which areas…
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foodie break: @FSSingapore
When you only have 48 hours in a city, it can be overwhelming. As soon as we arrived in Singapore, we were faced with many important questions. Mainly: where do we go, what do we do, and most importantly, what-oh-WHAT do we eat?? Because we successfully stuffed ourselves silly with dumplings in Chinatown on day one, by day two, we were ready to class things up a bit. Four Seasons Singapore to the rescue. To be honest, I wasn’t exactly sure of what to expect of Singapore in general. The hubs’s school has a campus in the city which makes…
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road warriors: driving new zealand’s north island
Pre-RTW, my head exploded about a hundred different times trying to figure out our New Zealand itinerary. With only two weeks on each island, it felt like we were going to be cramming in far more than would be possible in just 30 days. After lots of hemming and excessive hawing, we decided to throw in the towel and rent a car on New Zealand’s North Island. We did a lot of research, because renting a car can be pretty rough on your budget. Luckily, Go Rentals to the rescue. We were jonesing for a grand roadtrip adventure, and our two…
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traveling to turkey: making a judgment call
As we’re all aware, sometimes, travels just don’t go as planned. This is no new challenge for us, and we’ve gotten pretty good at rolling with the punches. On Sunday, the hubs and I were due to board a flight from Bangkok to Istanbul for one week in Turkey. From touring Hagia Sophia to riding in a hot air balloon over Cappadocia, it was going to be the perfect way to kick off our time in Europe. I’ve long dreamed of going to Turkey. Out of all of our plans, it was one of the places I was most looking…
