First off I'm back. It's been almost a week since I have been back and I had the most fantastic time traveling and enjoying my delayed yet well-deserved honeymoon. It's never too late to go on an adventure especially if you don't create debt while doing so! Yassss! (that's what the folks are saying these days right?)
Since this vacation low-key had 3 legs, I will split up the vacation posts into 3 parts. First off, we saved for this trip bit by bit mostly through rewards program from the Citi Bank card. We charged everything on that card. As much as possible. DO NOT SLEEP on CASH BACK cards. It will change your life! We charged groceries, gas, car maintenance and repairs, donations, etc. All of which we were a part of our budget so we were able to pay off these purchases, which resulted in cash back after paying off all the charges in full and collecting the cash back. We then transferred the cash back into our VACA share account. We will most likely discuss the financial piece in another series of post, but wanted to give you a general idea.
So our honeymoon began. I had made an itinerary before hand, which was super clutch! I included all the confirmations information, time of flights, confirmations codes of flights and train and so many other stuff because I was not sure how my phone would work in another country and how often I would have WiFi.
All went well once we were finally able to access the AirBnB - the confirmation information had not been sent prior to us leaving, so we had to run around the city to get WiFi so I could access it on my phone...really his phone because mine was dead. Thank goodness for Excel share docs and a shared email address. So while we got WiFi, we ate our first meal. These were the best falafels EVER in life by the way.
While this was supposedly my dream vaca, it was my dream vaca on a budget. We booked one AirBnB stay and don't judge me - I packed a box of pasta so we could make dinner that first night. Listen, find ways to cut costs if you can when traveling because traveling is expensive and the way my bank account is set up, we need to be on a budget as we have other responsibilities for our money. We needed matches to prepare our meal for the next day and the hunt began. Matches were less than $.25. It did not make sense to purchase items we did not need just to get matches. I prayed and prayed to find some change on the ground, lol. And I found plenty in a vending machine. Someone had purchased something and left their change in there. I found approx $8. Yes, God!
After being flustered that first night, we figured out most of the logistics as far as currency goes and nope, US currency was not accepted ANYWHERE!!!!! What a blow! But we used our credit card to have no transaction fees. Hallelu! Fees creep up. We knew before hand that our go-to Citi card had transaction fees of 3% for each transaction, so we rarely used that card. Bye-bye cash back. It just was not worth it to spend more of our hard-earned saved vacation money.
Things I would have done differently on this leg:
1. Verify AirBnB information and get it prior to traveling.
2. Exchange some currency before hand in order to avoid being met with minimum purchase requirements. (Maybe $100)
3. Because I'm semi OCD - packed my clothing in order based on days rather than just by outfits
* Pics throughout posts were taken during the 1st leg of the trip. A couple from one of the world's best Natural History Museums and a couple while walking through the city.
As usual, MuAh & CiAo for now. :-)
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