Christmas at home

I never told you before where I'm from. Originally I'm from Hungary but since January 2009 I have been living in the US, close to San Francisco with my small family. I came here with my husband and my 4 month old baby and after 3 years we had our second daughter. So small family means 4 people without grandparents, uncles and cousins.

Hawaii Islands (Maui)

In my last post I was writing about our trip to the Big Island of Hawaii. After that awesome experience the next year in August (in 2010) we decided to go to an other Hawaiian Island, Maui.

Hawaii islands (the Big Island)

Hawaii consist of eight islands; Ni'ihau, Kaua'i, O'ahu, Moloka'i, Lana'i, Kaho'olawe, Maui and the island of Hawai'i.

Why am I writing about Hawaii? Well, after traveling to The Big Island, I just fell in love to this place. The climate is very nice, typical for the tropics. During the wintertime it is wetter with lower 80s Fahrenheit: in the summer it is more drier with upper 80s during the day. So you don't have to worry about which season do go there. :) Anytime is GOOD.

San Diego

Six months ago we visited this very kid-friendly city. We stayed in a Hilton Hotel 10 minutes drive from the  downtown. We rented a car because we wanted to visit some very nice places such as Lego Land. For this we needed a car, because it was not directly in town.

Hong Kong

After a 5 hour flight we arrived in Hong Kong. It is an amazing, modern, pulsating city. We really enjoyed these   5 days. The Hotel Conrad, where we stayed, was luxurious and elegant. We use our Hilton points to pay for the room. Because we are on the Hilton Gold status, we could stay in a room with a better view and we had free internet and breakfast. We were on the 57th floor. Can you imagine how the view to the harbor was from there? 

Bali

Bali is one of the 18 100 islands in Indonesia. It is a very nice, interesting place. I think I was too excited before we arrived on the island. I thought this would be the most beautiful place, I'd ever seen. That's why I was a little bit  disappointed after a few days. But anyway it was a good and pleasurable holiday, just not what I was expecting.

Flying in business class from SFO to HKG

My experience before

I was flying twice in business class before. We went from San Francisco to San Diego and from San Francisco to Chicago. Both flights were with United Airlines. To compare to this big flight with Cathay Pacific, from San Francisco (SFO) to Hong Kong (HKG) it was totally different.

Preparations for a big trip to Bali and Hong Kong

 

One of my dreams will come true. BALI is such an exotic place. To go there seemed to be an impossible dream. Why? Because it was always too far away from me. It is far from Europe, where I lived before and it is very far from the US, where I am living right now with my family. And also the airplane tickets are very expensive. BUT... we are going there and we didn't even spent too much for the plane tickets, even though we are traveling business class. Which is unbelievable! A ticket for business class costs now more than 6000 USD which is pretty expensive. Are you curious how much we paid for three tickets to travel from San Francisco to Bali and back? (Our second daughter is under 2 years old, so she is traveling for free.) We paid just 1500 USD!!! How did we do this? It is not a secret. We applied for plenty of credit cards. Everybody can apply  for credit cards, you just need to have a good credit history.

Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks

How was our weekend at Sequoia &Kings Canyon National Parks with two under 4 year old kid?
It would have been great if everyone were healthy!

Camping

Staying in nature it is a totally different from being in a city and staying in a hotel. If you are going to a national park (such as Yosemite, Sequoia or Lassen) you have to be very well prepared, the forgotten things could ruin a night or cause some difficulties during the day.What are the most important things to bring with you?

Half Marathon in San Francisco

The hotels in San Francisco are very expensive. How could you stay in the Grand Hyatt Hotel in the city? We used 18,000 Hyatt points to get there and it was totally worth it.

Airline Mileage Programs

What They Are

All airlines have a mileage (loyalty) programs which are designed to reward continued flying with the airline. Each mile flown on the airline accrues one mile in the program. The collected miles can later be redeemed for  essentially free tickets. We're saying essentially free since taxes and fees have to be paid on these tickets and in some programs this make many redemptions practically pointless. If used correctly though, these miles can allow you and your family to travel farther and in higher comfort than you would have thought possible. Think flying in business class from the US to Asia for 200$ by flying over the Pacific Ocean oneway and over the Atlantic on the return stopping over in Europe.

New York

How could we stay very cheaply in a nice hotel. Le Parker Meridien Hotel near Central Park? We used our Starwood points.

Chicago

We decided to go to Chicago for the 4th of July holiday.