My First Couchsurfing Experience

My sister and I planned a last-minute trip to London and Paris in August that almost ended up being cancelled with a very close call of not getting our UK visas in time. Fortunately, everything worked out and we had a trip of our lives.

Ever since I heard about couchsurfing, I had been itching to try it. The idea of couchsurfing is that travelers request accommodation from hosts and sleep in their couch or guest bed, or whatever they offer you, for an agreed upon time frame. You get the experience of interacting with local(s) that you wouldn’t otherwise get if you stayed in a hotel. I’ve also casually mentioned this to my friends and acquaintances, most of them weren’t particularly fond of the idea because of potential risks that may involve. But just like most things in life, people fear what they don’t know. I tend to look at fear as the seasoning to my plain-tasting food (you know how terrible I am at cooking.) and it usually gives me the motivation to do it. As Will Smith said: “fear is imaginary, danger is real.”

We went for it. We contacted a couple dozen Couchsurfing hosts in both London and Paris. Being new to this and with no references, we honestly didn’t expect much of it, but we were lucky enough to get one yes from a young gentleman from London. We messaged back and forth and agreed to stay at his apartment for 3 nights. He lived a short train ride from Central London, which was relatively easy to get to. Since we didn’t have cell phone service in the UK, we got wifi from McDonald’s near his apartment and let him know we arrived. He met us there shortly after and had a nice chat there before heading out to buy grocery to make dinner together. Everything was in close proximity and convenient around here. He brought us to this local supermarket that sold most things with its own in-house brand so everything was cheaper. We bought a huge bag of grocery for about 10 pounds.

He had what Americans call a studio apartment, but it was considered a one-bedroom in London due to some property law or something. He offer my sister and I a double-sized mattress, which was big enough for the both of us. He slept across from us in the room in his single mattress. It wasn’t as bad as it sounded and we were able to get some sleep. We were a tad jet lagged the day we arrived and he needed to go to bed early that night so it worked out for all of us.

My sister and I hanging out in the host’s kitchen.

The next day there was a Tube strike that suspended all the Tube services. Without the Tube, we thought we couldn’t get into the city but our host found alternative bus routes for us to get out and explore. This was one of the many great benefits of knowing a local who knew the city well.

We had a really great first couchsurfing experience. We took our host out for a meal and were proactive in keeping his apartment clean, even washing his dishes. We also brought a souvenir from Boston as a way to thank him for being so incredible.

This experience has made me very thankful for the sharing economy and the people who generously participate in it.

DIY Passport Photo

I used to cringe every time I saw a CVS photo specialist take a passport photo in direct flash and white projector screen; police stations take better mugshots.

I decided to take my sister’s passport photo for her Japanese transit visa. I looked up the passport photo requirements on the Japanese embassy website. She needed a 2x2in photo attached to her visa application so here’s what I did:

DIY passport photo lighting diagram

The setup was simple. One flash on high power to overexpose the backdrop; one flash for soft light bounced off the ceiling while the subject held a reflector to fill in the shadow.

However, if you don’t have flashes, you can use a light tube fixture to achieve similar result.

DIY passport photo lighting diagram (for non-photographers)

 

Once I took the photo, I adjusted the exposure and contrast in Photoshop, uploaded it to this passport template website, it spit out a ready-to-print 4x6in file that I could print on regular photo paper.

DIY passport photo 4×6 template

And the last step was to cut out the 2x2in squares.

DIY passport photo

The whole setup took me about 30 minutes. I could be more picky and fix her collar but I was rushing and I didn’t think it would be a problem for the purpose of obtaining her transit visa.

Photo Report + Travel Tips: Cancun

It’s only February and I’m so happy to say I fulfilled one of my New Year resolutions – travel outside the U.S. My boyfriend and I went to Cancun for 4 days, thanks to Expedia’s mistake promo, and we had an amazing time away from the snow and soaking up the sun – we’re now roasted but it’s worth it =p

Here are a few tips that I learned along the way for anyone who’s planning on traveling to Cancun:

• Once you step outside the airport, you’ll be bombarded by tour guides trying to sell you bus and tour tickets. Pat and I took a shuttle (to Downtown) that costed $17/person. But if we took a taxi, it would have only costed 250 pesos, or about $20 for both of us.
• Bring a credit card (preferably one with chip and pin and no foreign transaction fees) with you. The currency exchange rate is 1 USD = 15 Pesos. If you use USD cash, you only get about 13 pesos per dollar in store.
• Bring lots of $1 bills for the bus. We stayed in a hotel in downtown and took the bus (R1 and R2) to the hotel zone. Each ride was $1 or 13 pesos per person. We ran out of dollar bills and paid with $10 and $20 bills, we ended up getting charged way more – probably because the bus driver wasn’t good at math or I didn’t do the calculations beforehand.
• If you’re doing any tour, they usually pick you up from your hotel. Cancun time is one hour behind Eastern Standard Time. Make sure you change your clock. We forgot and missed the pick up so we ended up losing the deposit.
• Speaking of tours, the prices are likely negotiable, especially during off seasons. We weren’t originally planning on doing any tour but we got chatted up by a tour guide and he offered us a tour with an advertised price of $109 USD for $50 USD.
• Pat and I have heard horror stories about stuff gone missing in hotel rooms. Unless you’re staying in a super high end hotel, the safes are not that safe. We brought tape and a few ziploc bags, put our passports inside and taped one to the bottom of a shelf and hid the other one under the sink.

The day before we flew back, we were on our way back to our hotel and walked pass a souvenir store. The owner approached me and asked to trade my t-shirt (with the sparkly red-lipped gorilla, it was one of my favorite shirts I owned) for any shirt in his store. I agreed. And from now on, t-shirts are going to be my travel souvenir.

Sipping margaritas on the beach. This might have been his 4th.

Along this river had alligator warning signs but the water was so clear. What’s worse than getting eaten by an alligator? Apparently, not jumping in the water.

This was a Mayan ruin by Playa Delfines (Dolphins Beach) in Mirador. It was a less popular ruin and the admission was only $4.

If you have other tips for traveling to Cancun, please share them in the comment so other people can benefit. I hope this post is entertaining and informative.

What To Do During a 12-Hour Layover in Seattle?

On my way back from China, I had a 12-hour layover in Seattle, from 8am to 8pm. I knew I didn’t want to sit in the airport for so many hours, but I hadn’t done any research on what to do or what to see in Seattle, I thought I would just be spontaneous. Arriving in Seattle, not having a clue where to begin, I asked my friends on Facebook for suggestions. I ended up stopping by the Public Market Place, which had selection of vendors ranging from arts and crafts, produce, and a lot of other souvenirs. I also felt like a tourist and visited the Space Needle and Seattle Center. I made my last stop at Chinatown. I just had to see it because the only two Chinatowns I had been to were in Boston and NYC. Seattle Chinatown wasn’t that different, but the waitress at the restaurant I stopped by for lunch was really nice and offered me a free appetizer.

Selfie in front of the Public Market Place in Seattle

Exotic seafood

Seattle farmers market

Space Needle

Seattle Chinatown gate

 

How I Booked Flights to China on Miles and Points

Guang Zhou, China (see more photos here)

Back in November (2013), I signed up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card with 40,000 bonus points. My goal was to earn enough points for a round-trip ticket to China. At the time, United costed 60,000 miles. A devaluation hit in February 2014, costing 70,000 miles for the trip. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough miles to book my ticket before the devaluation.

United 35,000 miles one way from the U.S. to China

Once I had 70,000 points in my Chase Ultimate Rewards account, I transferred them to my United Mileage Plus account. The points were supposed to transfer instantly but I didn’t see them after refreshing my browser multiple times. I had a mini heart attack. I later found out I had to log out and then log back in to my United Mileage Plus account to see my miles updated.

Total cost for my sister’s ticket: 70,000 United miles + $80 taxes and fees.

Then I proceeded to book my ticket using my Barclay Arrival miles.

Barclay Arrival miles redeemed for travel credit

Since I was paying my ticket with “cash”, I had been watching the airfares for a couple weeks, which were all above $1,000. Then one day, it dropped to $991, thinking it was a good deal, I went ahead and booked it. About a month later, it dropped a couple hundred dollars more – nooo!! But whatever, I’ve since learned to stop watching for airfares after I made my booking.

Barclay Arrival miles can be redeemed within 120 days after the booking. Although I didn’t have enough miles to redeem the whole $991, I waited until almost the end of the 120 days so I could rack up more miles. I was able to redeem $700 against it. So my out of pocket cost was $291.

TL;DR I paid a total of $371 for two tickets from Boston to China that would have costed $2,000.

Hainan Airlines Business Class

Hainan Airlines business class

I made it to my ticket counter 15 minutes before my departure time on my return flight from China on Hainan Airlines and got free upgrade to business class. Woot woot!

Photo Report: China for 2 Weeks

Since I moved to the states over 10 years ago, I’ve wondered how things have changed over the course of a decade. I decided to pull the plug and pay my family a visit. I booked my sister and I tickets to Guang Zhou, China (3 hours flight south of Beijing,) for 2 weeks during her Christmas break.

We thoroughly loved the food and sight-seeing. We made a lot of great memories with my dad and cousins. Though my biggest pet peeve was the slow Internet. We took advantage of the public wifi from a store next to where we stayed. It didn’t come as a surprise that all of the social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) were blocked by the great firewall of China. Not only that, none of the Google services were accessible. That meant that I was not able to check my wedding photography work email. The way I got around it was to use TeamViewer to remotely control my laptop in Boston. Alternatively, I could use VPNs but I didn’t know what they were until I was already in China.

Canton Tower overlooking Guang Zhou

We visited a temple near our house.

Inside the temple

We quickly left the temple before anyone kicked us out for taking pictures.

Beijing Lu shopping district

Could this be winter? The flowers were blooming.

Cousins reunited

Rawr!

Cancun on a Budget: Flight + 3-Night Hotel for $100

As you know, I live in Boston. Currently, we have 2-3 feet of snow, a parking ban, and public transportation is suspended. I have been dying to go somewhere warm to escape mother nature’s binge-snowing. Since I made my list of 2015 resolutions, what better way to get away from the cold and fulfill my resolution!

Earlier this week, Expedia rolled out a new promotion – get $100 off a 3-night hotel stay, $150 off a 4-night stay, and $200 off a 5-night stay. Now Dead! I decided to try my luck.

Update: code still works if you call in to book, YMMV.

I searched for a few cities (LA, Miami, Myrtle Beach, etc.) Since the promo code works best for cheap hotels, I found one in downtown Cancun for $33/night + taxes and fees.

Expedia $100 off 3-night hotel stay, no minimum

Total cost of a 3-night hotel stay: $18.75

 

Then I searched for airfares on Southwest since I knew they began flying to Cancun (and a few other international destinations) since they merged with AirTran. Lo and behold, flights from Boston to Cancun cost less than 5,000 Rapid Rewards points each way.

Total cost of two round-trip tickets from Boston to Cancun:

19,880 Rapid Rewards Points + $163.9

I’m stoked because my boyfriend and I have been saving for a vacation and he’s getting a promotion in April so this is the best time to travel.

Though my only concern is if the Expedia promotion was rolled out by mistake. Fingers cross it wasn’t, but if it was, we’ll see if they’ll honor my booking.