Tag: hyatt

Our Family Trip to Kauai – 3 day itinerary

Trip Motivation We have family who live on Oahu and love to mix our family-focused trips with some fun just-us family adventure and resort time. It had been several years (decades!) since I’d visited Kauai and the Hyatt there was often mentioned on travel groups that I follow as a fave. For more on other island highlights, see here and here Kauai: The Garden Isle Kauai is nicknamed the “Garden Island” for a reason and is so green and gorgeous. Many movies are filmed here and it is gorgeous. The contrast of the mountain to the sea is very dramatic and the island as a whole has a weird mix of rural life of locals and extravagant resorts. It gets the most rain of all the islands and is a spectacular place to visit. Many people often combine Kauai with Oahu. I think 3 days is the perfect amount of time to spend here. Flying: HNL to LIH For the short inter-island flight from Oahu to Kauai, we flew Southwest. The cost per person RT was $120. We used travel funds from past trips and American Express benefits to reduce our total cost to $70 total for all 4 of us. The American Express Business Platinum (and a few others) come with a flight benefit. Typically, this is meant for flight extras and not actual flight costs, there is a small loophole where flights less than $100 can trigger the credit. Alternate options for this flight would be using Southwest points. You can earn these from Southwest Credit Cards or by transferring Chase points using the Chase portal. Chase Sapphire Preferred Apply Here Chase Sapphire Reserve Apply Here Chase Southwest Apply Here Hotel Stay We stayed at the Grand Hyatt Kauai for 3 nights. This hotel is on the south side of the island about 40 minutes from the airport. We rented a car and used points to get free parking at the resort. In Kauai, the north and south side generally have the fancy resort hotels with Lihue by the airport having cheaper basic options. This hotel is not cheap. Prices were going for $850 a night when we stayed. But we didn’t pay that, we used points and free night awards! Hyatt points cost 30k/night. You can earn Hyatt points from Hyatt stays, the Hyatt credit card and chase points which can be transferred to Hyatt. Learn more about points here. Chase Sapphire Preferred Apply Here Chase Sapphire Reserve Apply Here Chase Hyatt Apply Here Getting Around Lihue I highly recommend a car for this trip unless you really want to take a taxi to a resort/condo and live at the resort/beach. We always use costco travel for our car rentals (with our chase sapphire reserve for extra insurance) There’s a lot to see on the island. On this trip, we decided to save the North shore for a future visit and mixed some exploring of waterfalls, hikes, and viewpoints, and a good amount of hotel Day 1- Arrival, Wailua Falls, and Kuilau Ridge Hike We spent the first half of the day loosely following the path for the East side of the island set out in this shaka guide itinerary. After getting our car, we drove to Wailua falls for a gorgeous viewpoint. Absolutely beautiful. We then drove to Konohiki seafood for some plate lunches and ate by the beach at Lydgate park. Ben went for a run (crazy!) while the kids played at an epic playground nearby. So fun! In the afternoon, we continued a drive a little farther north towards Kuilau ridge hike, a 3.6-mile out-and-back trail near Kapaʻa, Kaua’i. This trail was very muddy but pretty easy overall and the views were gorgeous. (When I say muddy, I mean muddy. Definitely recommend kids be at least 6 or so and wear real shoes!) Hotel Check-in We checked in after a full day around 4pm. As globalist members, we had access to the club lounge which had included breakfast, daytime snacks, evening hors d’oeuvres, and evening desserts. This is a perk that is offered to those who book rooms with club access or those with globalist status. We did breakfast here daily (fruit, pastries, eggs, etc), snacks (cookies, granola bars), and even managed to put together some dinner from the evening menus. (kalua pork nachos, teriyaki sticks, noodles, mac and cheese). Plus desserts and drinks at other times in the day. We would stop by multiple times to grab some drinks and snacks to take to the pool. This is definitely a huge benefit. If you’re paying for an upgrade, you’d have to calculate if it was worth it but note that food at the resort is very pricey. Even in soft drinks alone, we probably saved $50! For dinner on our first night, we drove 10 minutes to the town of Koloa and ate some pizzas at Kauai Island Brewing. They have a nice patio space and it was definitely a lot cheaper than eating on-site Day 2: All-Day at the Resort and Poipu Beach In the morning, the hotel fitness center had a group walk and we walked to nearby Poipu beach and back. We decided we wanted to go back in the afternoon to hang out with the turtles and swim. We stopped by the lounge for breakfast and then spent some time at the pools! Prior to our stay, I emailed the general manager ahead of time and told them it was my birthday and they gifted us blow-up tubes and wine!! Winning! The hotel pools were amazing! A lazy river, slide, and 4 gorgeous pools! We packed goggles and dive sticks and had a blast. My favorite kind of vacations involve pina coladas and sitter-vising. Virgin with cherries for the littles. We make a point to save time for pool and hotel time when we get pricier resort stays. No point in paying big bucks if you leave all day. The kids enjoyed the included activities at the hotel. The

Two Days in Munich, Germany with Kids

Background For Winter Break 2023-2024, our family visited Germany and Austria! This has been at the top of our family wish list for a few years. Planning this big multi-city trip was so fun. We saw Christmas markets, snowy villages, ice-skated in 3 cities, and loved loved loved train rides with gorgeous scenery. European travel is quickly becoming one of my favorite things with family-friendly towns, easy navigating with trains and so much history and beauty. Traveling internationally with kids can be daunting but with a little preparation and research and tips from other travelers, we had a successful trip! This post covers our 2 days in Munich. Read all of our European Christmas Market posts at the following links: Our 2023 Germany and Austria Trip: Flights and Logistics (this post) 2 days in Munich, Germany with Kids Day Trips from Munich with Kids: Nuremberg & Neuschwanstein Castle 3 days in Salzburg, Austria with Kids 3 days in Innsbruck, Austria with Kids Arrival in Munich Munich International airport has great options for flights from the US. See this post here for more details on how we used points and miles from credit cards for our flight. At the time of our visit, the luggage was sooooo slow to arrive at the carousel. More reason to be team carry-on. Our usual routine is to take an uber from the airport to our hotel on the first day and get the hang of public transport and other options throughout the trip. A great option in Munich is the Lufthansa Express Bus. It takes you to the central train station where you would need to then transfer to your final destination. For a family ticket of 28 euro, you can get into the city (compared to $50-$80 for ubers/taxis) Transportation in Munich We love train-travel in Europe. We used the MVGO app and bought daily unlimited family passes. It was super easy to buy tickets for our day trips and train to Salzburg, Austria at the end of our stay. We used this website for tips and recommendations. We also just used google maps frequently which was synced to the schedules. One top tip for international travel is to download the city map to google so that it doesn’t continue to use data every time you load. Hotel In Munich, we stayed at the Andaz Munich. The hotel is located in the Schwabing district. Views were absolutely gorgeous and the hotel was fantastic with a lovely spa/pool area, great breakfast and bar and super kind staff. We were able to get upgraded to a suite which let the kids be on a pull-out and us be in a separate room. Plus 2 bathrooms! The hotel was a short walk and quick 15 minute bus/train combo to the city. We thought about trying to stay closer but wanted our free breakfast <3. A block away, there was a really cute playground! Our 2 day itinerary in Munich: Day 1: Arrival, Christmas Markets, Hoffbraus After our afternoon arrival, we checked into the hotel (yay for free welcome drinks) and then headed out to Old Town and the main city area. The Marienplatz area was easy to get to and full and bustling with Christmas cheer. The New Town Hall (Neue Rathaus) building is a beautiful landmark and a great backdrop to our first day of adventures. One of the main reasons we visited Germany and Austria was for the Christmas markets and this area had a giant one with hundreds of little kiosks. Marienplatz Christkindlmarkt: No trip to Munich’s Christmas markets is complete without a visit to the Marienplatz Christkindlmarkt. This iconic market, nestled in the heart of the city’s main square, is the oldest and largest in Munich. With over 100 stalls selling traditional Bavarian crafts, ornaments, and delicious treats, it’s a sensory overload in the best possible way. Be sure to soak up the festive atmosphere, with the twinkling lights and the sound of Christmas carols filling the air and try a mug of steaming Glühwein (mulled wine). At the market, you pay a pfand (deposit) of 3-4 euro and pay 4-5 euro for the actual drink. The deposit is the cost for that adorable mug. If you don’t return it, then you forfeit the deposit. However, if you return it, you get the deposit back. This is environmentally friendly and a nice way to use lots of cute little mugs. They had kid non-alcoholic punch but the kids were not huge fans. We also stopped by a cute cheese shop and sampled some fun snacks. So great! Hofbraeuhas: For dinner, we walked a few blocks to Hofbraeuhas. This is one of the most famous breweries in the world. If you’ve ever been to a US german-themed beer hall, it is probably modeled in part on this brewery. It was founded in the 1500s and lived up to its hype. It is so touristy but that’s part of the joy. There was live tuba music, large liters of beer, pretzels and schnitzels and large tables full of tourists from all over. We chatted with another family who adventured from Australia and were on a full monthly adventure. I wish! Day 2: Munich: Glockenspiel, Residence Palace, Viktualienmarkt, City Walking, Ice Skating, More Christmas Markets Glockenspiel Glockenspiel: This was our main full day in Munich so we had to make it count! After a late start and hotel breakfast (Yay for nutella croissants!), we headed to see the glockenspiel at 11a. Back at the Marienplatz main square, the large clock tower has a show at 11a, 12p and sometimes at 5p. The short 15 minute show has characters dance around and recounts a royal wedding, jousting tournament and ritualistic dance. It was a little rainy and it didn’t hold our kid’s attention span the whole time but it was fun (Get a cookie snack as a distraction/peace offering) Munich Residence Munich Residence: After watching the show, we walked 10 minutes to the Munich residence.

Our Family Trip to Seoul, South Korea!: Flights, Logistics, and Hotel Info

Trip motivation In July 2023, our family visited Seoul, South Korea! This has been at the top of our family wish list for a few years. In the last few years, k-drama watching for Jenn has made it jump higher on the list. We visited in late July and combined this trip with a Hawaii visit and 5 days in Japan. We visited Asia previously (Tokyo 2017) but this was the first time the family visited Korea. Traveling internationally with kids can be daunting but with a little preparation and research and tips from other travelers, we had a successful trip! This post covers our flights, hotel, itinerary, planning process, and international logistics such as using the subway, getting a phone card, and finding budget restaurants. Read all of our 2023 Korea/Japan posts at the following links: Seoul, South Korea: Flights, Logistics, and Hotel Info Seoul Day 1: Myeongdong, Namsangol Hanok, Seoul Tower Seoul Day 2: Hanbok rental, Gyeongbokgung Palace, Gwanham square, Hongdae Seoul Day 3: Gangnam Area, COEX Aquarium, Myeongdong Night Market Kyoto, Japan: Flights, Logistics, and Hotel Info Kyoto Day 1: Higashiyama Temples: Maruyama Park, Yasaka Shrine, Kiyozdemeru Osaka: Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan and Osaka Dotonbori Kyoto Day 2: Arashiyama River Cruise, Monkey Park, Bamboo Gardens, Kyoto Day 3:Aeon Mall, Nishiki Market, Pokemon Center,Gion Matsuri Gallery Kyoto Day 4: East Kyoto Temples: Philosophers Path, Nanzeji Temple Planning our Itinerary I love planning trips, especially through well-traveled places where there’s a ton of information to read through and make plans for. Many online blogs were really helpful! One tip for traveling with kids is take a 3-day best of guide and cut out half of it to make it actually realistic. When taking trips with kids, a key to enjoying the trip is really spending time on the planning process. That’s not to say that every minute is planned but we don’t want to waste time looking up times or directions and not having a plan. We also made sure to add some sights that we as a family were interested in and asked for advice from friends who had made a similar trip. We spent 4 nights in Seoul and had 3 full days of exploring. Several months before, I sketched out our plan in excel and on google maps with a balance of activities, rest time, food, rest, and fun. We made sure to research how far areas were and tried to schedule several anchor points with a few optional activities so we didn’t overstuff our schedule. Overview Day 0: Arrival evening, settle into hotel Seoul Day 1: Myeongdong, Namsangol Hanok, Seoul Tower Seoul Day 2: Hanbok rental, Gyeongbokgung Palace, Gwanham square, Hongdae Seoul Day 3: Gangnam Area, COEX Aquarium, Myeongdong Night Market Day 4: Fly out to our next destination, Japan! Other reconmmend spots we’ll save for next time Gwangjang market Additional palaces Han River Boat cruise Cafe hopping in Bukchon, Insadong, and Ikseodong neighborhoods DMZ tour Art, Science, and Children museums Day trip to Nami Island Amusement parks Everland, Lotte World Other parts of Korea: Busan, Jeju Flying to Seoul Prior to this portion of our trip, we spent some time in Hawaii visiting family. We were able book cash flights to Seoul Non-stop on Hawaiian Airlines. Our flights were 10 hours and the one-way flights were $650 each. We use miles for a lot of trips and we did use miles for our Japan to Nashville portion. Its not all or nothing. We were able to save money in other ways on this trip and decided to pay cash for this portion. We used the Chase Sapphire Reserve to get more points for our next trip! See more detailed tips on using points and miles here. Long flight tips: Sleeping on planes West to East: Plan to sleep! For the overnight red-eye flight, we emphasized that after dinner service, everyone was going to try and get some sleep. I gave each kid a dose of melatonin and they passed out pretty immediately. We packed these cheap pillows from Amazon (They came with eye masks!). On arrival, get outside and try to limit naps so you can readjust. For more on our favorite activities and tips for flying, see our post here. Headphones Melatonin Airplane pillows Activities for long flights East to West On the long flight, the kids were happy playing with the personal screen and alternating between coloring, reading, tv, games, and snacks. Ellie has been loving the Magic Treehouse books and when they were little, they used to love activities in the Magic Ink and small play pack coloring books (Amazon links). We have one Nintendo Switch that the kids love. For more on our favorite activities and tips for flying, see our post here. Grand Hyatt Seoul- Itaewon We had a wonderful stay at the Grand Hyatt Seoul. We booked a basic room using cash ($250/night) and used a suite upgrade award (from status) to get a suite with a separate living space for the kids. We used our Hyatt credit card to get points for future Hyatt stays. You can also use points from this stay. You can earn Hyatt points from Hyatt stays, the Hyatt credit card and Chase points which can be transferred to Hyatt. Learn more about points here. Chase Sapphire Preferred Apply Here Chase Sapphire Reserve Apply Here Chase Hyatt Apply Here We love having suites on hotel stays. Some space to spread out is lovely. We even set up the kids TV with the nintendo switch! For more on sleeping on vacations, see this post here. In addition to having the suite upgrade, our Hyatt globalist status gave us some cool perks. The hotel was gorgeous with a beautiful pool. There was a kids area (not drop-off) and spa that we didn’t take advantage of on this trip. Everyone was so kind and we were received a welcome gift of wine, and pastries along with a hand-written note. The hotel was grand (haha

Family Beach Weekend: Our Free Stay at Hyatt Place Panama City Beach 2023

Trip Motivation In May 2023, Our family wanted to enjoy a relaxing beach vacay in Panama City Beach for 2 nights (Memorial Day weekend). We had a wonderful time enjoying the beach and pool at this new-ish hotel and would definitely come back again! Driving: Nashville to Panama City Beach: 8 hrs The closest beaches to Nashville are on the Gulf of Mexico, specifically the coasts of Florida and Alabama. You can make it here in 7 hours! Just close enough for a weekend trip and perfect for a 3-day weekend. Check out and this post for tips for road trips with kids. There are numerous options along the coast for every type of beach vacation. We have family in Pensacola and have made family trips over 10 times with kids as young as 1 month old. A few years ago, we took a minivan full of friends to a wedding in Grayton Beach on 30A. Nearby, we also visited Orange Beachin AL. From Nashville, you’ll take I-65 down through TN and AL towards Montgomery and then, depending on which area of the gulf you’re heading towards, you’ll cut down on smaller highways to get to the beach. See this post here for a few of our favorite stops on this well-traveled path that make the long drive with kids more fun. Hyatt Place Panama City Beach We spent 2 nights at the Hyatt Place Panama City Beach. The hotel is about 20 minutes from the airport and right across the street from the beach. We paid $0 out of pocket thanks to our credit card perks! Hyatt Place is a lower brand but the hotel is great for families as it has space with a pull-out couch and free breakfast. When sleeping with kids, extra space to spread is always a great perk. Chase Sapphire Preferred Apply Here Chase Sapphire Reserve Apply Here Chase Hyatt Apply Here You can earn Hyatt points from Hyatt stays, the Hyatt credit card and Chase points, which can be transferred to Hyatt. Learn more about points here. Between the beach and hotel activities, we filled our days full. Read on to learn more about what to do in this cute city. Beach Time The water temp was still a little chilly but that doesn’t stop our kiddos! They loved the sand, and adventuring out for sand dollars and shells. We spent several hours playing and relaxing on the beach. It was very convenient to the hotel where there were showers and bathrooms nearby. Pool Time Our hotel had a fantastic heated pool. This is one of the reasons we planned this trip! Although it was advertised as a lazy river, it was really a fantastic pool with a small area with currents. lol. There was a zero entry area and a lot of space to spread out. We packed goggles and dive sticks and had a blast. My favorite kind of vacations involve pina coladas and sitter-vising. Virgin with cherries for the littles. Other Activities We took a break from the beach on one of the days and went to Wongo Adventure to play a round of mini-golf. This was in walking distance from the hotel! There were also go-karts, carnival games, small rides, and lots of fun things! Eat, Eat, Eat! Hotel breakfast: Our kiddos are becoming spoiled from hotel breakfast! This hotel had a free breakfast buffet for all guests and it was a step above typical hotel food. Loved the waffles and breakfast burittos! Lunches and Dinners: We weren’t too impressed by the hotel offerings for lunch and dinner. We enjoyed the poolside drinks but the food could use some work. Along the main street, there are tons of choices for yummy seafood and other delicious options. Our favorite spot was Shuckums right next to the hotel. Crab legs and fried shrimp! Yum! We also drove to a nearby strip mall and had some fantastic burgers at Craft Bar. Other Panama City Recommendations Gulf World Marine Park Shipwreck Waterpark Shell Island Boat Tour Pier Park Final Thoughts This was a quick trip but so much fun!