Saturday, December 31, 2022

Thankful for 2022, Looking Forward to 2023

It's hard to believe that 2022 is almost over already, this year has certainly flown by. It has been a busy but fulfilling year, for both work and life. I'm starting to lose track of some of the things I've done and places I've traveled to this year, so it's time to reflect and recap on this past year before I begin my 40-hours journey from 2022 to 2023.

Travel
This year had been a pretty good year for travel as a lot of countries removed their travel restrictions (apart from that one big country which I'm thankful of). =P Revenge travel was real and we managed to check off a few bucket list destinations this year. I visited 10 countries (Denmark, Finland, Maldives, Malaysia, Switzerland, Greece, UK, French Polynesia, India, and Nepal), which included 4 new countries this year. Yes, this list sounds expensive, but thankfully, I was able to keep our travel costs fairly reasonable by using points and miles that we've been stockpiling over the past 2 years. Downside of these back-to-back travels, I have so many trip backlogs that are waiting to be updated.


Summary of my travels for 2022 (work+leisure):
Number of hotel nights - 91 nights (Marriott-72; Hilton-4; IHG-9; Others-6)
Number of hotels - 22 hotels (Marriott-10; Hilton-2; IHG-6; Others-4) 
Number of airlines - 19 airlines (United, Cityjet, Lufthansa, Eurowings, Finnair, Qatar, Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Thai Airways, Swiss Air, Delta, KLM, Aegean, British Airways, American Airlines, Air India, Airasia India, Malindo, ANA)


Work
Busy season earlier this year was hectic. My good senior was swapped out to another team so that was a bummer but oh well, that's how things go. =.= On a separate note, I am thankful that work allowed me to take a leave of absence to travel home for 6 weeks earlier this year to spend time with my family and help mom out with dad. 

The work highlight this year was definitely my 2-month short-term assignment in India to train and upskill our team members in Kolkata. It was my first time being back in the office after 2.5 years and it was great to finally meet the people whom I've worked with for the past 2 years. Very thankful for the warm hospitality I received during my stay in Kolkata.
 


Family
As mentioned above, I'm thankful to be able to take leave of absence at work to travel home for 6 weeks to spend time with my family in Malaysia. Besides, we were also able to invite our moms to join us on 2 of our trips this year, and made memories together. As for the US side of the family, we also took a family trip to the Gulf Shores in September.



Health
I'm thankful to be able to stay healthy, physically and mentally, and dodged 3 Covid outbreaks in the family this year *touching wood floor*. I am also thankful to stay healthy throughout my stay in India, especially since almost every other secondees got sick at some point during their stay. Hubby had a few procedures done this year, but fortunately, nothing serious. 


Finance
The stock market was ugly this year so obviously our numbers didn't look good. Nevertheless, we continue to save and invest as much as we could. We did however go a lil' overboard with revenge travel this year. The total out-of-pocket 'damages' for these trips: Finland ($1,055/pax); Maldives ($875/pax); Bora-Bora ($210/pax); Greece ($265/pax); Nepal ($950/pax). But memories are priceless. =)


Very thankful for a smooth 2022. Thank you 2022 for allowing us to travel and see the world again, and we certainly do not take for granted the opportunity and ability to travel freely. Look forward to exploring more of the world and making more memories in 2023. Happy New Year 2023!

Saturday, October 8, 2022

One Night in Vegas ✈ Overnight Layover

Bora Bora has been a bucket list destination that I never thought we'd be able to afford to travel to. This was a destination we planned to save for the future when we are older (and have less energy) and have more money. However, events over the past 3 years have been a good reminder to do the things we want while we can.

Since all flights departing from our city require an overnight layover, we intentionally chose to route through Las Vegas. It's been 16 years since my last visit to Las Vegas, and hubby hasn't been to Vegas before so this was a good opportunity to see Vegas for almost free. What better city to spend an overnight layover than Vegas, the city that never sleeps right? =)

 

Read on to find out what we did on our 9-hours overnight layover in Las Vegas. I've also dug out some old photos from my last visit to Las Vegas with the family in 2006. I wasn't blogging yet at that time so this is a good time to share some photos from that trip.

Our trip was only for a week so we packed fairly light and only needed 2 cabin-sized luggage + backpack for my laptop and camera stuffs. Eating in Bora Bora is expensive so we packed some 'camping' food. This is how we splurge and save at the same time...lol!

Aug 31 (Wed): Huntsville - Denver - Las Vegas

Thanks FIL for dropping us off at the airport for our 3.50pm flight to Denver. Now that most countries have dropped their Covid restrictions, traveling is much easier and all we needed to travel to Bora Bora was our Covid vaccine certificate. The best thing about departing from this small airport is that it's never crowded and takes less than 15min to check-in, go through security, and get to our boarding gate. 

Our long 45-hours journey to get to Bora Bora...4 flights on United + 1 flight on Air Tahiti. Huntsville - Denver - Las Vegas - San Francisco - Tahiti - Bora Bora. Our 4 flights on United costs 35,000 United miles + $11.20 per person. Not the best value but still much better than paying $700 one way out of pocket. We printed all our documents and put them in our itinerary 'booklet' just in case our phones don't work. 

Flight #1: 3 hours from Huntsville - Denver. Mask is  no longer required in the US so most people are not wearing masks anymore. Both of us and our neighbor to the left were the only people wearing masks.

Flight #2: 2 hours from Denver - Las Vegas. The flight was pretty full but we managed to secure a row of 3 to ourselves. Travel tip: If you're traveling with your partner, choose the aisle and window seat for each of you and pray that the middle seat remains empty. Worse case, one of you swap seat with the middle person so you can still sit together. =P

We landed at Las Vegas 30min ahead of schedule around 8.00pm. Las Vegas welcomed us with an excessive heat warning of 44°C (111°F)...felt like we walked into an oven. Fortunately, we were doing our sightseeing at night. Couldn't imagine walking around during the day under this heat.

It took about 15 min after getting off the plane to walk to the rideshare pickup area. From the baggage claim area, we took an elevator up to level two, cross a skybridge to the parking lot, and took another elevator down to Level 1. Upon reaching the pickup area, our driver pull into a numbered parking spot and alerted us where to find him. We timed our request perfectly and the driver pulled in just as we arrived at the pickup area. =) Everything went smoothly and we were on our Uber getting out of the airport by 8.35pm.

We decided to start our sightseeing at The Mirage and make our way down along the Strip through the night. Our ride from the airport to The Mirage took only 12 minutes and cost $23.72 due to higher demand at that time. However, I had a $20 voucher from work so the ride only cost us $3.72. Thanks Rubi for letting me know about this perk! =) 

We arrived at The Mirage around 8.50pm, just in time for the 9pm Mirage Volcano Show that runs every hour from 8pm - 11pm. We didn't realize we were waiting at the wrong spot until the show started so we only saw the show from the side. Oh well, it was already hot enough that day and we didn't need to be close to the fire to feel more heat...haha!

Throwback to 2006...so much have changed, so much have remained the same.

The Venetian was located right across the street from The Mirage.

Exterior of the Venetian is a replica of Venice. For those who've been to the Venice, you'll recognize Piazza San Marco, St Mark's Campanile, and Rialto Bridge here.

Interior of The Venetian hotel is grand and lavish.

This indoor canal, fake sky, and gondola ride at Grand Canal Shoppes are definitely the highlight of The Venetian resort. The gondoliers were signing as well.

Throwback to 2006...camera quality is soooo much better now.

Tried our luck at the slot cash deposit machines in The Venetian's casion...no luck...lol!

Our next stop was In-N-Out Burger at the Linq for late (10pm) dinner. We don't have In-N-Out in Alabama so this was a good opportunity to try it.

After filling our stomach and resting some (it was 12am Alabama time already), we walked through Caesars Palace casino and tried out luck again at the slot machines. Still no luck, so we 'paid' for the air-con and chair to sit...lol!

Throwback to 2006....couple photos for the 'sponsors' of our trip back then. <3

The quickest way to 'travel' from Venice to Paris is to visit Las Vegas...lol! Our next stop was 'Paris'...Eiffel Tower and  Arc de Triomphe. 

Throwback to 2006....the Eiffel Tower lights are so much fancier and nicer now.

The Bellagio was located right across 'Paris'. We arrived just in time to catch the 11.15pm fountain show. The Bellagio Fountain display is every 15 min from 8pm to midnight. The songs used in each show is different and the one we saw was Uptown Funk. 

Throwback to 2006...I was obviously not ready for photo at that time...haha!

Final stop for the night...Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Gardens. This place was still pretty crowded at 11.30pm. Our original plan was to keep walking until MGM but we were both feeling tired at this point (it was already 1.30am in Alabama) so we decided to call it a night and took an Uber back to the airport. 

We waited for our Uber at the Rideshare pick up area at the Bellagio. There is designated rideshare pickup and drop-off area in every hotel in Las Vegas so you can't simply hop on/off an Uber on the street. The ride back to the airport took 11 min and cost $14.11.

We made it back to the airport at 12am and was glad the security checkpoint was still open. We found a quiet spot near our boarding gate to get some rest for the night. Unfortunately, all the chairs had arm rests so we couldn't lay down. There is free wifi in the airport so I spent most of the night browsing the internet.

That's it for our quick 3-hour tour of Las Vegas. Next stop...Bora Bora!

Sunday, October 2, 2022

Gulf Shores Family Vacation

MIL had planned for a family trip to Colorado back in 2020, but obviously that trip was cancelled. Then in 2021, SIL and BIL had a baby so we didn't go on any trips together. To make up for the family trip we missed in 2020, and considering the toddler in tow, MIL booked a week-long vacation for us to travel to Gulf Shores together this year. 

P.S. Jumping the queue to blog about this trip first before Bora Bora as there are too many photos and videos from Bora Bora and it's gonna take longer to sort through those.

 

Sept 9 - 17 (Fri - Sat): Family Vacation at the Beach Club, Gulf Shores Alabama
This trip was right after our Bora Bora trip. We returned from Bora Bora on Wednesday night, I worked on Thursday, then drove 6-hours to Gulf Shores with MIL on Friday. Amazing race style...lol!!

Hubby had to go to work on Friday so MIL and I started our drive earlier at 8am, and hubby joined us later that evening. I had a few packages to pick up from my office so we took a detour to Birmingham along the way. It has been almost 3 years since I last went to the office but everything remained almost the same, just much emptier. After picking up my packages (thanks MIL for helping to carry the boxes), and a quick toilet break, we continue our drive down south. We made a stop at the Publix at Gulf Shores around 3.30pm to shop for some a lot of groceries and finally arrived the condo at 4.20pm. We had so much stuffs it took us 2 trip with the trolley to move all our things up...lol!

    Our 3 bed 2 bath beachfront condo for the week at the Beach Club. The place was pretty nice and well-equipped. There was also a balcony overlooking the pool and beach. 

Surrounding of the Beach Club after sunset.

Hubby arrived about 2 hours after us, and SIL's family arrived the next afternoon. Even though hubby stayed only for the weekend (as he had to return to work), we managed to meet up with 2 relatives who lived close by over the weekend. It was great to catch-up with Aunt Cathy and Luke, as it's been awhile since we last met them. 

I don't really need more tan as I'm already 'Khai the Thai' after Bora Bora, as you can see from my tan line, but I could use some sun to even out my tan line...lol!

This was Cooper's first time at the beach, first time stepping on sand, and first time dipping his toe in the sea. He did great and really enjoyed himself. =)

4 of us 'big kids' went to The Track and had fun playing go-kart, mini golf, and arcade games.

As mentioned earlier, hubby had to return to work so he left on Monday. I'm able to work remotely so I stayed on for the week, and enjoyed working with a view. 

This was a chillaxing vacation so we didn't have much planned for the week, just a lot of family time, especially for Nonna and Cooper. =)

MIL also prepared yummy dinners for us in the condo. Thanks mom!!

We went to Lulu's for seafood dinner the day before SIL's family went home.

One last outing at the beach before the crew went home. 

Sunset was stunning that evening so I turned our beach outing into a photoshoot session.

Cooper!

Family & couple shots

MIL + Me + Sunset <3

Nonna + Cooper

Time to head home after a chillaxing vacation with the family. Big thank you to MIL for organizing this family trip! <3 

Even though this wasn't an 'action-packed' vacation (MIL has had plenty of those every time she traveled with us), it was a well-paced vacation which allowed us to spend quality time with the family, hangout with the nephew, make memories, and capture precious moments with our loved ones. <3