Hi Reader, This week, we’re sharing our experience flying Qatar Airways Qsuites and how we used points to make this incredible business-class experience possible. Flying Qatar Airways Qsuites Our recent trip to Kazakhstan included several memorable flights, but the highlight was flying Qatar Airways Qsuites from Doha to Chicago. The nearly 15-hour flight gave us plenty of time to enjoy the experience. We watched movies, read, ate well, and slept intermittently. The seat converted into a fully...
12 days ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, When we planned our first trip to Kazakhstan, we expected beautiful mountains, interesting history, and a different travel experience. What we didn’t expect was one of our favorite surprises of the entire trip. Our Unexpected Favorite in Almaty Almaty Zoo wasn’t high on our original list. In fact, we hadn’t seen it mentioned often while researching things to do. But we decided to visit, and we’re so glad we did. The zoo was clean, well-maintained, and home to a large variety of...
19 days ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, Sometimes you don’t have to travel far to enjoy a great adventure. This summer, Gary and I attended two concerts, one in Charlotte and another close to home in Greensboro. Traveling to Charlotte for a Summer Concert We traveled to Charlotte for an outdoor concert featuring Foreigner and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Both bands put on a great show, and we were lucky to have temperatures in the 70s that evening. We did have a rain shower right at the end of Foreigner’s set, but we had checked the...
26 days ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, Our phones have become one of our most useful travel tools. The right apps help us monitor flights, organize reservations, navigate new places, and communicate when we don’t speak the local language. Here are five travel apps we use on almost every trip, plus three bonus apps worth downloading. Five Travel Apps We Use on Almost Every Trip 1. Flighty Flighty is my favorite app for monitoring flights. It’s often the first to notify me about schedule changes, delays, and...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Hi Reader, Planning an international trip with several flights, hotels, and countries can feel overwhelming. I’ve found that it’s much easier when I book everything in a specific order and keep the details organized from the beginning. How I Plan a Complicated International Trip I usually start planning an international trip with the flights. If we’re traveling for a cruise, conference, or another event with fixed dates, I first search for one-way flights toward our destination. I don’t...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, A hotel upgrade can make a memorable trip even better. We’ve stayed in London several times, and two of our favorite Hyatt stays came with upgrades that improved our rooms in very different ways. Two London Hyatt Upgrades We Appreciated As World of Hyatt Globalists, we’ve received upgrades at both the Great Scotland Yard Hotel and Hyatt Regency London Albert Embankment. Neither upgrade was guaranteed, which made each one a welcome surprise. Great Scotland Yard Hotel We booked our...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, You’ve probably figured out by now that Gary and I love animals. One of our favorite trips was gorilla trekking in Uganda last year. We trekked through Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, home to nearly half of the world’s remaining mountain gorillas. It was a bucket list experience we’ll never forget. There’s something incredible about hiking through the jungle and suddenly seeing a family of mountain gorillas in their natural habitat. No zoo or wildlife documentary can prepare you...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, One of my favorite parts of traveling is exploring at my own pace. Earlier this year, we sailed around Hawaii on Norwegian Cruise Line's Pride of America. Since we'd visited all of the islands before, we decided to skip most of the traditional shore excursions and rent our own transportation instead. It turned out to be one of the best decisions we made on the trip. During the cruise, we rented: A car in Maui A car in Kauai A street-legal buggy on the Big Island in Kona A car in...
2 months ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, I hope you're having a wonderful week. One of my favorite things about traveling is getting to experience wildlife in its natural habitat. Whether it's whales in Alaska, bears in the Smoky Mountains, or sea turtles in the Caribbean, those are the memories that stay with me long after the trip is over. This week I wanted to share one of our favorite snorkeling adventures from St. Thomas. Snorkeling With Sea Turtles in St. Thomas If you love the ocean, snorkeling with sea turtles...
2 months ago • 3 min read