Author Archives: misterselfish

Day 3 in N. Ireland: Dragonstone, Renly’s Camp, and a Trip to Dorne

04 Sunday Jan 2015

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This is the fourth of seven posts on the Selfish’s customized Game of Thrones tour. Check out the other posts here:

After an exciting day traversing the North Eastern side of Northern Ireland, Mrs. Selfish and I settled into our new base camp at Port Stewart. Located just west of Portrush and Giant’s Causeway, Port Stewart is a quaint, seaside town.

After a brief chat with our B&B owner, we learned we had just missed the Game of Thrones crew, who had been in the town a week earlier filming on the local beach!

Game of Thrones Day 3 017

Zounds! We were hot on the trail. (Also, not my pic)

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Day 2 in N. Ireland: The Iron Islands, King’s Road, and the Red Woman

03 Saturday Jan 2015

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This is the third of seven posts on the Selfish’s customized Game of Thrones tour. Check out the other posts here:

During Day 1 of our Game of Thrones Tour, Mrs. Selfish and I drove from Dublin to Belfast, which was a bit too fast if I’m honest.

Availability to Ireland was tight, so I ended up booking us on 2 Red-eyes to Dublin – TWO! I didn’t even think that was possible, but it is if you do one red-eye to Charlotte North Carolina, crash in a Hyatt Place for 6 hours, then jump on another red-eye to Dublin.

So yeah, kind of brutal. Fortunately, by Day 2 of our unofficial Game of Thrones tour, the jetlag was starting to wear off. Partially thanks to an excellent sleep at the Hilton Belfast, star hotel of Season 1 of “The Fall.”

the-fall-highres_8colThe Fall

Yes! A cameo show location WITHIN another show location tour. Wha??

Ok, ok. So no one watches The Fall. But you should – it is an excellent show about a cop (Gillian Anderson) hunting down a serial murderer in Belfast. Plus, said serial killer is played by the dude that’s slated to be Christian Grey in the upcoming 50 Shades of Grey adaptation (squeal!). But again, I digress…

Day 2 saw us jumping back in the car and tackling Northern Ireland’s North Eastern coast. Despite Northern Ireland’s notoriously shitty weather, it is absolutely gorgeous.

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2014 in Pictures

31 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by in Best Of, Tons of Pictures

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2014 was an amazing year. Thanks to miles & points we were fortunate to visit 10 different countries over 5 different trips for a total of 70 days spent outside the country. Most of it in business or first class, and most of it just for the cost of taxes or credit card signup fees. Definitely not something I would have thought was possible only a few years ago.

2014 international trips

Over 71,000 miles flown internationally. Good times.

So what does that look like? A little something like this.


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Baby Selfish’s 1st International Trip: Japan!

30 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by in Accommodations, Asia, Hilton, Hyatt, Japan, Kyoto, Tokyo

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Mrs. Selfish and I decided to take our Selfish Year journey as an end cap to our fading young-adult years. We had always enjoyed traveling as young professionals, and decided a year abroad together would be a great way to “get it out of our systems” prior to having a kid.

Boy were we wrong.

A year later and I’m more addicted to traveling than ever. In fact, after settling in San Francisco, we ended up spending over 3 of the next 15 months outside of the country.

So when we found out Mrs. Selfish was pregnant, I immediately did what any other miles & points enthusiast would do in my shoes and started planning Baby Selfish’s first international trip.

Yep, back to Japan!

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Bling Bling y’all! Upgraded at the Hyatt Regency Montreal

29 Monday Dec 2014

Posted by in Accommodations, Hyatt, North America

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This is post sixteen of sixteen of our summer trip to Greece. Check out our other posts in the series here:

Finding decent award flights from Europe to the States is a pain. Finding decent award flights from Europe to the States during the Summer is a nightmare. As America’s go-to playground during the Summer, everyone and their mum seems to head to Europe during the June – August timeframe.

Ideally, Mrs. Selfish and I would have flown Athens to Frankfurt to San Francisco, but 5 months out I couldn’t find any availability. Instead, I settled for the best known award trick – flying through Canada.

Since we had 14 hours overnight to kill in Montreal, I was pleased to find the Hyatt Regency Montreal, a category 3 Hyatt (now Category 2 in 2015). I also discovered an old childhood friend lived in the area, so we decided to meet up for dinner.

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Mrs. Selfish and I missed our ferry from Mykonos to Athens, but managed to catch the next one out.

Pro-tip: Mykonos has 2 ports, and which one you use is determined by the ferry company, NOT the ferry destination.

From there we stayed at the Athens Hilton one last time, before boarding a morning flight to London, where we grabbed some fish and chips, before jumping on an Air Canada flight bound for Montreal.

Like EVA airlines, Air Canada doesn’t really have much of a 1st class section in their fleet, but their Business Class was excellent and we arrived at 6pm.

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The Trashy Side of the Greek Islands

28 Sunday Dec 2014

Posted by in Europe, Greece, Mykonos, Rant, Santorini

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This is post fifteen of sixteen of our summer trip to Greece. Check out our other posts in the series here:

Visiting the Greek Islands was a dream for Mrs. Selfish and I, and they certainly are beautiful. This is not to say that the trip was perfect, however. Our trips frequently aren’t, and we tend to gloss over some of the crappier parts of traveling: food poisoning, scams, mediocre foods, gross hotels, etc.

I have often found, however, that our experiences are tinged by our expectations and for better or worse my expectations usually match the pictures I see online: a solitary monk visiting Angkor Wat in the morning omitting the tourist hordes just off camera, the perfectly framed cafe in Paris minus the next door McDonald’s, the Great Wall of China at sunset with the silhouetted screaming hawkers pushing their wares.

Stunning… so what’s the catch?

So here, in no particular order, are the many downsides of visiting Santorini and Mykonos. Hopefully they help you make your own informed decisions when traveling to these high profile hot spots.

The crappier side of Donkeys

Donkeys are everywhere in Santorini. Thanks to Oia’s narrow streets, it’s nearly impossible for a car to maneuver, so donkeys are used to haul trash and tourists around.

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There’s a Meat Town in Naxos!

24 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by in Europe, Food & Drinks, Greece, Naxos

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This is post twelve of sixteen of our summer trip to Greece. Check out our other posts in the series here:

Fresher is always better when it comes to food. We know this, but at home it’s hard to beat the allure of convenience that a super market promises.

Restaurants have been quick to pounce on the rising foodie trend, however, with phrases like “locally sourced” and from “farm to table.” It’s both annoying that we have to use these phrases and a sad state of affairs that most of our food is actually imported from farms over half a continent away.

This is not the case on islands, where the food is often incredibly fresh since the economics of the island often force them took cook only what they grow there. I first noticed this during our Selfish Year trip to Tasmania, which consistently had some of the tastiest, freshest eats I’ve ever had.

So when I found out that Naxos had a town the locals were describing as a “meat town,” Mrs. Selfish and I immediately jumped in our car and headed there for lunch… and then dinner… actually I kind of want some now.

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Looking for Santorini’s Best Eats

22 Monday Dec 2014

Posted by in Europe, Food & Drinks, Greece, Santorini

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This is post ten of sixteen of our summer trip to Greece. Check out our other posts in the series here:

Santorini is a major tourist trap – there’s no use mincing words here. Despite that, it is also one of those must-see-before-you-die locations.

Unfortunately, like most tourist traps Santorini (and in particular Oia) is filled with over-priced mediocre restaurants whose main selling point is the view. Fortunately thanks to some local recommendations and the power of the Internet we managed to score a few good meals.

Fresh Squid at Amoudi Fish Tavern

Located at the Western most part of Oia, the Amoudi Fish Tavern can be found right at sea level, which is always a good sign when one is looking for fresh seafood.

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Room with a View: Staying in Santorini

19 Friday Dec 2014

Posted by in Accommodations, Europe, Greece, Santorini

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This is post seven of sixteen of our summer trip to Greece. Check out our other posts in the series here:

After an activity-packed stay in Athens, Mrs. Selfish and I left the Hilton Athens and headed to the airport. Our destination, Santorini: one of the most beautiful islands in the Aegean Sea.

The flight was brief, and before I knew it we were in a van bound for Oia, the beautiful cliff side village filled with jaw dropping views that have become synonymous with Santorini.

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Athen’s Other Sites

18 Thursday Dec 2014

Posted by in Athens, Europe, Greece

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This is post six of sixteen of our summer trip to Greece. Check out our other posts in the series here:

While the Acropolis is arguably Athen’s main draw, there are plenty of other sites to see if you’re a ruins lover, many of which can be accessed for free with your Acropolis ticket.

Ascending up Mt Lycabettus

Athens Sites-2 002

Rising 200 meters above the rest of the area, Mt. Lycabettus is a great way to get panoramic views of Athens. You can get to the top of the mountain one of two ways – walking, or paying 7 euros to take the funicular up to the top.

Since it was a boiling 88 degrees, Mrs. Selfish and I decided to conserve our energy and take the furnicular.

Athens Sites-2 003Athens Sites-2 004Athens Sites-2 005

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Taking it Indoors: Athen’s Museums

17 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by in Athens, Europe, Greece

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This is post five of sixteen of our summer trip to Greece. Check out our other posts in the series here:

I have a mixed relationship with museums. I love walking through them, but scarcely read anything. This means that an average museum trip for Mrs. Selfish and I is usually less than 2 hours.

We’ve blazed through the Uffizi in Florence (where we almost missed the Birth of Venus), the Louvre in Paris, the British Museum in London, and the Museum of Natural History in NYC, to name a few. Undoubtedly we missed much.

So when it came to Athens, I was debating whether or not we should even head indoors. With 3 full days in Athens, however, it became clear that we were running out of things to do, so we decided to head to the National Archaeological Museum and the Byzantine Museum. Good thing too, as both proved to be well worth the trip.

The National Archaeological Museum

Athens Museums 002

Considered (by Wikipedia) to be one of the greatest museums in the world, the National Archaeological Museum has one of the largest collections of ancient artifacts I’ve ever seen.

I love me some Greek statues, so this was well worth the trip. It was also nice to actually see the statues in Greece, as opposed to other European museums where they were “on loan” or had been looted from Greece hundreds of years ago. Entrance to the museum was 7 euros per person. Continue reading →

Oompa! Eating Athens

16 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by in Athens, Europe, Food & Drinks, Greece

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This is post four of sixteen of our summer trip to Greece. Check out our other posts in the series here:

Having recently eaten our way through Taipei, Mrs. Selfish and I were finally getting tired of Asian food, a rare feat in the Selfish Household. Fortunately, we were now in Greece and I was hungering for some Greek food.

Pitas! Gyros! Lamb! Feta! Baklava! Actually, that’s about all the Greek food I knew going in.

Apparently our offerings of Greek food Stateside are very weak and consists almost entirely of gyros, which is like going to a sushi restaurant and declaring you know Japanese food. We just don’t get the breadth of Greek food in the good ol’ USA.

Fortunately, Athens has a wide variety of Greek food types, so we set out to expand our palettes.

Munching down at Manh Manh

Athens Eats 001

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Starting at the Top: The Acropolis

15 Monday Dec 2014

Posted by in Athens, Europe, Greece

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This is post three of sixteen of our summer trip to Greece. Check out our other posts in the series here:

For our first day in Athens Mrs. Selfish and I headed to the Acropolis. The largest tourist attraction in Athens (and possibly in Greece), the Acropolis is a collection of four ancient buildings that sit on top of a flat rock a few hundred feet above the rest of the city.

Constructed in the 5th century, BC, the Acropolis is most noted for the Parthenon, which dominates the skyline. Since Athens was conquered several times over the last 2000+ years, the Acropolis has been burned and reconstructed many, many times.

Since 1975, however, the Greeks have made a serious effort to restore the Acropolis, which was ravaged by pollution, war, and poor restoration. Most notably, the Venetians (the jerks of the Adriatic, as we would later learn in Dubrovnik) damaged it with artillery fire back in late 1600’s and it never fully recovered.

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Acropolis for Breakfast: Staying at the Hilton Athens

14 Sunday Dec 2014

Posted by in Accommodations, Athens, Europe, Greece, Hilton

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This is post two of sixteen of our summer trip to Greece. Check out our other posts in the series here:

After a busy night in Taipei, and a trip to the best shaved ice place ever, Ice Monster, Mrs. Selfish and I woke up at 4 in the morning and hopped in a cab to the Taipei airport.

A little groggy, we were awakened by our cab driver’s erratic style – namely using the gas and the brake pedals simultaneously. That takes talent.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Selfish’s was starting to experience morning sickness, so we were more than happy to exit the cab 30 minutes later to start the next leg of our journey: Taipei to Athens by way of Seoul and Frankfurt.

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Admittedly, I was pretty excited since we were going to get to try out Asiana first class from Seoul to Frankfurt, a 11+ hour flight.

While the seats were a little dated, the service and food was outstanding! I especially enjoyed eating bibimbap at 30,000 feet – though technically this was probably more like fried rice since the bowl was not a sizzling hotpot, so the rice couldn’t achieve the proper level of crispiness.

21+ hours of travel later, we arrived at our next stop: Athens.

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