A little over a year ago, I went to Miraval Tucson Arizona for the first time (trip report here). It was before vaccinations, and my first time traveling since the pandemic started. A lot has happened in the last year, we have vaccinations now and even boosters. I was invited to go to Miraval again with a friend (second time for both of us) last week with the current BOGO deal that they run every year. We had an awesome time and it was a slightly different experience than before since I did different activities this time.
Category: travel
Photo Report: SFO Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse
I recently checked out the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse in JFK and loved it so much (MilesTalk also went not long after me and seems to have felt the same way!) that when I saw the SFO lounge was also available with Amex Platinum, I knew it would be worth going to the airport early before my flight. I did keep expectations low though, since I knew it was smaller and it had less stellar reviews while it was a Priority Pass lounge.
Photo Report: JFK Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse Lounge
On our long route back home from Necker Island (EIS-SJU-JFK-SFO), we had the opportunity to visit the Virgin Atlantic Lounge at JFK (operated by Plaza Premium) using the Amex Platinum card. Our flight was at 6 pm, so our plan was to lounge hop Bobby Van’s Steakhouse, Centurion Lounge, and Virgin Atlantic. After we picked up our to-go order at Bobby Van’s, it was 3 pm, so the Virgin lounge had just opened. We decided to go there first since it was further inside Terminal 4 than Centurion, which was right next to security. But the minute we stepped inside the lounge, we scrapped all plans to go to Centurion.
Sir Richard Branson’s Moskito Island now available for booking
Many of you know that I spent a week at Necker Island for the second time last week. I’m still working on the blog post for that, but I wanted to first share with everyone that Sir Richard Branson’s other island, Moskito Island, is now publicly available for booking at more than half the cash cost of Necker Island and a lower minimum-night requirement. It’s previously been used for Necker Island’s overflow guests, but is now publicly available for booking on its own as its own proper Virgin Limited Edition property.
Hyatt Centric Waikiki vs. Hyatt Regency Waikiki
I recently stayed at the Hyatt Centric Waikiki and Hyatt Regency Waikiki on another awesome trip to Oahu, my favorite island, and want to share my assessments, which may help you choose on your next trip if the pricing for both is similar, as it was for us. The purpose of our trip was primarily to requalify for Hyatt Globalist under their double elite night promotion, and we were fortunate to hang out with family and friends who were after the same goal. We stayed at Hyatt Centric for 4 nights and Hyatt Regency for 7 nights, both on the Healthcare Friends & Family rate (which does earn elite nights and points), and I applied my Amex Offers and Chase Offers to them.
Going from Taiwan to Singapore on the Air Travel Pass
Recently, on my way back from Taiwan to Japan, I stopped for a week in Singapore to see friends and co-workers, and no quarantine was required! I used the Air Travel Pass, a travel green lane to enter Singapore that is open to the following countries as long as you have been there for the last 14 days (subject to update, check https://safetravel.ica.gov.sg/atp/requirements-and-process for the latest requirements):
Trip Report/Suggestions: Ventana Big Sur and surrounding areas
Detailed review of Ventana Big Sur, pro tips for your stay, and suggestions for what to do around the area and along the beautiful Pacific coastline. Click the title to read more.
Trip Suggestions: Oahu, Hawaii
Last updated: 2/26/2023
There are only a handful of places in the world that I love so much that I’d want to visit at least once a year. Hawaii is one of them. I lived in Honolulu for 4 months in 2010 and fell in love with it to the point where it has become one of my favorite destinations in the world, and I’m lucky it’s only a 5 hour flight away.
Oahu has a lot of haters, but I think those people either don’t appreciate amazing food or haven’t been to the right places. I can’t deny that part of Oahu has a lot of tourists and traffic, but I love that Oahu has the best of both worlds (city + nature). Just head over to Kailua, Yokohama, or North Shore and it feels like one of the less-populated islands with the beautiful unspoiled nature and wondrous hikes (did you know Oahu has more hikes than any other island?). Then come back to Honolulu and its amazing food and fun things to do! For those of you who thought you hated Oahu, I hope you will give it another chance after checking out this post.
Trip Report: Miraval Arizona during COVID-19
e* here. I just returned from a brief stay at Miraval Arizona, where I went with my husband, a close friend, and fellow miles & points blogger Miles For Two. It’s been on my bucket list for a while as many in our miles & points community have been there in recent years. Thanks to the BOGO + credit card rebate promotion, we were able to book a trip to the recently reopened resort and get away from the polluted air that we’ve been dealing with in California for the past month or two. Since we haven’t been able to safely travel internationally for a long time, this was a great way to ease back into safely traveling with the new normal.
Prevent airplane mode on Android from turning off WiFi, Bluetooth
With the advent of Bluetooth earphones, and in-flight WiFi, I’ve had multiple experiences of having my music listening and WiFi connection interrupted by switching on airplane mode. Fortunately, there is a trick to keep airplane mode from turning off those services!
Here are the full instructions courtesy of Doug Lynch on XDA Developers, but I’ll summarize the steps.
The setting for which radios turn off in airplane mode is controlled by a global system setting, which can be modified using the Android Debug Bridge, or adb. To connect to the Android Debug Bridge, you must enable Developer Mode.