20 Wednesday Mar 2013
Posted in Accommodations, Asia, Thailand, Travel Hacking
Tags
Conrad, Conrad Koh Samui, Hilton, Infinity Pool, Koh Samui, Mr. Samui Samui, Selfish Years, Thailand, Travel Hacking
After a week of roughing it at the Sanctuary, Mrs. Selfish and I packed our bags and left Koh Phangan, heading for its sister island, Koh Samui. While planning the Thailand portion of our trip, I scheduled us for 4 nights at the Conrad Koh Samui.
Why?
Three words: Private infinity pool.
18 Monday Mar 2013
Posted in Accommodations, Asia, Food & Drinks, Thailand
Tags
Asia, Food & Drinks, Koh Pha Ngan, Koh Phangan, Selfish Years, Thailand, The Sanctuary, Vegetarian
During our week-long stay at the Sanctuary, Mr. Selfish and I ate many meals at the Sanctuary’s restaurant. The Sanctuary specializes in vegetarian fare and even offers detox packages as an extra option for a yoga holiday. Mr. Selfish and I did not opt to detox but we did enjoy the vegetarian food very much.
The Sanctuary’s restaurant is set right next to the beach. There were even hammocks on which you could lie and doze.
16 Saturday Mar 2013
Posted in Accommodations, Asia, Thailand
Tags
Asia, Haad Rin Town, Koh Pha Ngan, Koh Phangan, Koh Samui, Selfish Years, Thailand, The Sanctuary
Yesterday, I posted about how great the yoga holiday at the Sanctuary was. However, I had quite a bit of trepidation about actually getting to the Sanctuary.
Our flight to Koh Samui landed rather late in the evening, and February is known for rough waves at Koh Phangan, which is the island where the Sanctuary is based. I wasn’t sure that we were going to find affordable transportation to the Sanctuary. I also found the directions on the Sanctuary’s website to be missing critical information, such as pricing and photos.
So, I’ve decided to break it down here in this post. Here’s a map of where we needed to go:
First, we landed at the Koh Samui airport. Second, we had to take a car taxi from the airport to Big Buddha Pier (red dot). Third, we had to take the ferry from Big Buddha Pier to Haad Rin on Koh Phangan (green dot). Fourth, we had to take either a car taxi or a longboat taxi from Haad Rin to the Sanctuary (home symbol). Due to the multiple modes of transportation we needed to take, I was sure that we would be scammed along the way.
15 Friday Mar 2013
Posted in Accommodations, Asia, Thailand
Right after our honeymoon in 2009, Mr. Selfish and I decided to take up yoga. It was quite difficult at first, but of course, it gets easier the more you practice. During the month of June 2012, which is when I was studying for the California bar, I did yoga almost every day. It kept me sane.
I decided that I wanted to do a yoga retreat during our selfish year. I soon discovered that yoga retreats are a little hard core with early morning chanting, fasting, etc. Instead, I decided that we would take a week long yoga holiday at the Sanctuary at Koh Pha Ngan. The yoga holiday at the Sanctuary seemed a bit more chill and relaxing.
For both Mr. Selfish and I, the yoga holiday at the Sanctuary includes:
This was my splurge so I opted for the executive yoga holiday package since the accommodation included air conditioning. The total cost for 2 people was 47,410 baht (~$1,598.88 USD).
Our accommodation was certainly nice. We could’ve fit probably three extra people into our Ocean View Round House. We had a cozy outdoor patio area with a dining room table, a couch, a hammock, and even a kitchen.
26 Tuesday Feb 2013
Posted in Accommodations, Asia, Travel Hacking, Vietnam
Tags
Asia, Chase Priority Club Credit Card, Danang, Flashpacking, Intercontinental, Intercontinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort, Priority Club, Selfish Years, Travel Hacking, Vietnam
When Mrs. Selfish and I were looking at Vietnam, we decided to visit the places we skipped during our honeymoon: Nha Trang, Dalat, and Hoi An. Danang was more of an afterthought, the closest airport to the beautiful UNESCO heritage town, Hoi An, more than anything else.
After booking 5 nights in Hoi An, I started looking for a decent hotel to crash for 2 days in Danang. I settled on the Intercontinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort, the place “Where Myth meets Luxury,” according to their website. Given how ridiculous their tagline was, how luxurious could it be possibly be?
The answer was, without a doubt, the most luxurious place Mrs. Selfish and I have ever stayed or will ever stay.
09 Saturday Feb 2013
Posted in Accommodations, Asia, Philippines
Tags
Asia, Big Lagoon, El Nido, El Nido Resorts, Lagen Island, Miniloc Island, Palawan, Philippines, Small Lagoon
Editor’s Note: This is the final post in a three part series on El Nido. Check out our other posts:
During our third day at El Nido, we decided to visit Miniloc Island, which is another island belonging to El Nido Resorts. We were originally slated to stay on Miniloc Island but we were upgraded to Lagen Island. Both islands are beautiful.
At Miniloc, we watched the jack fish feeding. Dek particularly enjoyed it. We also relaxed on the hammocks, and Mike and Dek played some b-ball.
07 Thursday Feb 2013
Posted in Accommodations, Asia, Philippines
Tags
Editor’s Note: This is the second post in a three part series on El Nido. Check out our other posts:
Mr. Selfish and I enjoyed the many activities at El Nido Resorts. During our first evening, we went on a sunset cruise. It was a bumpy ride on the boat, but Dek had a good time. Although it was a little cloudy that day, we still enjoyed the cruise.
06 Wednesday Feb 2013
Posted in Accommodations, Asia, Philippines
Tags
Editor’s Note: This is the first post in a three part series on El Nido. Check out our other posts:
While Mr. Selfish and I did a “Homeland Honeymoon,” in which we visited Halong Bay north of Hanoi, our friends went to El Nido Resorts on Palawan Island. Both places have beautiful limestone cliffs and emerald waters. During our trip to the Philippines, we decided to see how El Nido compared to Halong Bay.
We opted to stay on Lagen Island at El Nido Resorts, which is an all-inclusive luxury resort. Although the price was a bit steep, all of our food and activities were covered for the duration of our stay. El Nido Resorts is my favorite hotel of all time. It was absolutely stunning in every way.
28 Monday Jan 2013
Posted in Accommodations, Asia, Bali
Tags
Mr. Selfish and I spent five glorious nights in Bali, Indonesia. We immediately decided that our trip to Bali was too short and that we needed to return later. Not only did Bali seem very untouched by Western culture but the people were the friendliest and nicest we’ve encountered. Plus, the food was amazing, and the prices couldn’t be beat.
We spent three nights in Sanur at the Hyatt Bali. The Hyatt has multiple pools and access to the beach. It was lovely – especially during sunset.
12 Saturday Jan 2013
Posted in Accommodations, Africa, Morocco
Tags
At the taxi queue at the Marrakech airport, Mr. Selfish and I attempted to negotiate the fare into town to no avail. None of the cabbies would bargain with us, and all gave us the same price. We had to relent and pay the fare that the cabbie wanted.
When the cabbie dropped us off in the medina, he merely pointed in the general direction of our riad and told us to get out of the car since he couldn’t drive down the alleyway. We had no choice but to start walking in the direction that the cabbie pointed. An eight year-old child immediately started following us around and telling us that we were going in the wrong direction. He kept saying, “Zig zag. Wrong way.” The data plan on our phone didn’t work so we couldn’t map out our riad. We were hauling around our luggage, and the sun was starting to set. We eventually broke down and paid the kid to take us to our riad.
30 Sunday Sep 2012
Posted in Accommodations, Europe, Food & Drinks, France, Paris
Mr. Selfish and I arrived in the City of Lights last night. We are staying here for a glorious six weeks. Although our apartment in Montmarte is quite small, we have two balconies and one of them has a wonderful view of the Sacre Coeur. We moved in as the sun was setting…
15 Saturday Sep 2012
Posted in Accommodations, Europe
Tags
Edinburgh, Europe, Lake District, Munich, Paris, Park Hyatt Zurich, Travel Hacking, Vienna, Zurich
Today we’re saying goodbye to our cozy London studio flat, and are hopping on a train to Scotland to start our trip from London to Paris by way of Eastern Europe. While two weeks would normally be a decent amount of time, we’re passing through 5 separate locations and covering over 2,100 miles, so I expect it will be a little frantic.
Along the way we’re hitting up:
Home to kilts, haggus, scones, and a host of tough man stereotypes! Mrs. Selfish and I plan on hitting up castles, pubs, Arthur’s Seat, and the Royal Mile. For our three nights in Edinburgh, we’re staying at the Hilton Grovesnor hotel. It’s slightly pricier than I’d like (about $120 a night), but with Mrs. Selfish’s gold status we should be getting wifi and free breakfast every morning – so not too shabby!
29 Wednesday Aug 2012
Posted in Accommodations, Europe, Ireland, United Kingdom
Tags
This is a continuation of our post from yesterday concerning our review of the hotels in Ireland. Today, we conclude our hotel review with the 3 hotels in Cork, Waterford, and Dublin.
Ireland Trip Report
4. Hayfield Manor in Cork – In Lonely Planet, the review of this hotel stated, “Roll out the red carpet because you’ve arrived!” Needless to say, I had high expectations for this hotel that were dashed by incompetent staff.
The Hayfield Manor was the splurge hotel of our trip. Mr. Selfish and I had always wanted to stay in a “manor” and had high expectations – expectations that matched the price, at $207 (and no breakfast, to boot).
This was apparently the lower-end for rooms at the Hayfield Manor, but the girl at the front desk made a mistake and showed us the wrong room. We were showed a beautiful room with a very large bathroom. Instead, our room was a much smaller room that was only just adequate compared to that other room. While in the larger room, I noted that it had conditioner and that our room only had shampoo!
On the plus side, we did have wifi in our room.
I blame Lonely Planet and the incompetent front desk girl. My conclusion is that Hayfield was overpriced for the room, which did not include breakfast, and was far from city center. Plus, even though Cork is the second largest city in Ireland, there wasn’t really much to do there. I would not recommend Hayfield or Cork as stops in Ireland.
28 Tuesday Aug 2012
Posted in Accommodations, Europe, Ireland, United Kingdom
Tags
Mr. Selfish and I once again decided to cram everything we possibly could into our Ireland trip. We therefore stayed in 6 hotels over the span of 7 nights. This post is part 1 of our hotel review, which includes the 3 hotels in Trim, Galway, and Dingle.
Ireland Trip Report
1. Castle Arch Hotel in Trim – We stayed in a simple but clean room that cost $87.19. This rate included breakfast, of which I neglected to take photos since I was so jetlagged. Suffice to say, it was the first time I had the black and white pudding, and they were delicious!
This hotel was definitely price-efficient, and its location in Trim was perfect since it was only about 45 minutes outside of Dublin. However, the room did not include wifi, so we had to sit in the lobby and use the wifi in order to plan the next day.
We probably wouldn’t go back to Trim since there isn’t much to see except for the castle, but I would recommend it to those touring the southern half of Ireland by car and wanting a quick overnight stop.
15 Wednesday Aug 2012
Posted in Accommodations, Europe, Living Abroad, London, United Kingdom
Tags
Mr. Selfish and I arrived in London! It was a rainy and miserable day, but after all of the sunshine we had in Ireland, I can’t complain. Here’s our new flat:
It’s a quaint studio. I love it already.
Our first order of business was to buy groceries and make dinner. I was definitely sick of eating out. There is only so much Irish/English food a girl can take.
Our first cooked meal on the trip is chicken with tomatoes, onions, zucchini, and mushrooms on pasta. Mmmmm…there’s nothing like a delicious home-cooked meal.
I’ll post more about Ireland later. Tomorrow, we’re celebrating my 33rd birthday!
The Selfish Years 