Every travel website, blogger and magazine is constantly telling you what "must have" travel apps you should be using. Some of them have value but a lot are very limited, such as ones to help you find a taxi in Tierra del Fuego. Driven by market need we are developing our own "must have" travel apps that we are confident will be useful for the majority of discerning … [Read more...]
Long layover at LAX? Enjoy it!
A long layover in LAX can be a great opportunity or a living hell. The first time we had a long layover was on the way home from Australia. Blonde had to sit, exhausted and jet-lagged, for over 5 hours waiting for her flight to Boston. She spent the vast majority of that time actively trying not to cry and vowed never to do another long layover at LAX. This year as … [Read more...]
Women’s packing tips for sea, snorkeling and land
Please note that the title of this is “Women’s Packing Tips". It is not “How to live out of a backpack for a year with one pair of whiffy jeans and a T-shirt” or “How to pack for Tahiti with only a bikini and a sarong if you’re a supermodel". This is for grown up women who want to pack the right things to have what they need when they travel on sea and/or land. We will even – … [Read more...]
Unhelpful travel advice we think you should ignore
Eat where the locals/ cab drivers eat We think this is some of the most unhelpful travel advice ever despite it's ubiquity. We mean, seriously? Do you eat where cab drivers and these mysterious "locals" eat in the city where you live? Well, probably yes and no. No, in terms of cab drivers. If you can afford to take cabs and not have to drive one and you can afford to … [Read more...]
Do you care about a resort’s character?
What's a resort's character and who are we to judge it? Neither is entirely clear to us but we'll take a crack at the first part of that question. Earlier this year we were in Abu Dhabi and then in the Maldives. When planning our trip we were thrilled to discover that between us we had enough Starwood points to stay at the St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort for … [Read more...]
Qatar Airways Business Class: Living The Life We (think) We Deserve!
The day we learned we were the very fortunate recipients of two business class tickets to any destination served by Qatar Airways was a very happy day. A happier day than when Blonde got married (admittedly an easy one to top. Changing the cat litter tops that day.). And way happier than when Brunette occasionally remembers she's still married. We'd always dreamt of going to … [Read more...]
How to prioritize and accomplish your bucket list
The American movie The Bucklet List came out in 2007 and featured Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as two terminally ill men (who seemed to be in shockingly good health) doing all the things they wanted to do before they died, or "kicked the bucket." The term was around long before then but it really took off in popularity after the movie's release. We don't actually use … [Read more...]
Two western women, four days, Abu Dhabi
Our 4 days as Western female tourists in Abu Dhabi were actually spread over 2 years. The first time we did what we rarely do - a group tour. We signed up with Gate 1 for a trip to Dubai. So it was with Gate 1 that we went to the Grand Mosque We did a write-up on it that you can read here. The mosque was one of the most beautiful buildings we have ever seen and it … [Read more...]
How to use TripAdvisor®
We are power-users (if there is such a thing) of TripAdvisor® and we are both rated as "Top Contributors". We meet people who claim all of the reviews are fake, who just look to see which hotel is #1 or who read the reviews and react negatively or positively to things that don't really have anything to do with them. But you read us, so you're superior to those people! Here … [Read more...]
Trip insurance: get the right coverage (Not exciting, but important)
We know this isn’t a sexy topic (although we’ll at least try to get some questionable taste comments in here) but if you are spending a fair bit on a trip, and you don’t have the budget left to fund unforeseen events, you’d be very smart to buy trip insurance for issues that could potentially cause you to incur major additional costs. Ever since we started buying trip … [Read more...]