Hello! My name is Kendrick. I'm a Canadian around the world adventure traveller.
I will teach you how to use points and miles to go on your own around the world adventure travel.
Want to know how much it cost to travel to Iran? During my entire time travelling to the beautiful country of Iran, I journaled all my spending from the tour guides, driver, food, flights, and other expenses. You can check out the full cost break down here:
In this article, I share my complete spending breakdown while travelling in Iran to see the city of Isfahan, Shiraz, and other sites.
Is Travelling to Iran in your bucket list travel destination? As of making this article, I am travelling for one year and decided I wanted Iran to be my 100th country because I have so many Iranian friends that I grew up with in Canada. While travelling in Iran, I got a chance to visit Isfahan (my favourite part of Iran), and Shiraz. The trip was mostly good until the end when I got stranded in the country after a last-minute flight cancellation. I wrote a full trip report here (almost 6000 words), if you'd like to see what travelling in Iran is like:
In this article, I share my adventures while travelling in Iran and my unfortunate time getting stranded when it was time to fly out.
Do you have any plans to travel to either Japan or Timor Leste? During my time in both countries, I kept track of my spending breakdown, and to no surprise, both travel destinations are quite expensive. Despite Japan's Yen being lower, it is still not a cheap travel destination. And Timor Leste is expensive if you want to do any water based excursions as it's one of the two places in the world where you can swim with a blue whale. Read the full trip spending breakdown here:
In this article, I share my spending breakdown travelling in Timor Leste and Tokyo, Japan in my quest to visit all countries.
Have you ever heard of a country called Timor Leste? Most people have not as it's quite a far-off and obscure travel destination. During my quest to visit every single country in the world, I got a chance to visit Timor Leste which is my country #99. During my time here, I got a chance to see Cristo Rei and attempted to go Whale Watching (a massive failure). I also learned about what scams happen in this country. Read the trip report here:
In this article, I share my experience travelling to Timor Leste which is my country #99 to visit all countries.
Do you have a short stopover in Japan? During my latest trip, I travelled to Japan for 2 nights and 3 days thanks to being allowed a stopover by Japan Airlines. It's the perfect time to get a taste of Tokyo just to see if it would be fun to visit this country. It's also my country #99. I'd like to report that I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed my time and can easily put Japan in my top 20 favourite countries of all time. Read my trip report here:
In this article, I share my first time experience travelling to Tokyo Japan and what I thought about the country.
Is the Atacama Desert in Chile in your travel bucket list? During my time in Chile, I got to visit the Atacama Desert. The journey started from Santiago when my girlfriend and I took a LATAM flight going to Calama. From there, it would be another journey by shared shuttle going to San Pedro de Atacama. The main sights to see would be Valle de la Luna and the Tatios Geyser. There's also an astronomy tour but we didn't get to do it because it was full moon when we arrived. It's safe to say we will go back one day. Read this article to see the full review of this trip:
In this article, I share my adventure travelling to the Atacama Desert in Chile which is the driest place on Earth.
Do you plan to travel to Chile one day and would like to know roughly how much it cost to travel there? During my most recent trip, I documented my spending in Chile during my 9 days of travel there. Chile is not a cheap travel destination so be warned. Flying to Easter Island, for example, would cost you an arm and a leg. There are loopholes of course, such as booking through the Chilean LATAM website using a VPN. That seems to lower the cost of the flight bookings to what the locals would pay. Read this article to get the full breakdown of how much it cost to travel to Chile:
In this article, I share my complete spending breakdown while travelling in Chile and also in Lima the capital of Peru.
Do you plan on travelling to Lima? During my latest trip, I had a two-night stopover in the capital city of Peru and decided to join a city tour. Check out this article on my experience exploring Lima:
In this article, I share my experience doing a Lima City Tour after doing a two night stopover in the capital city of Peru.
Is Bora Bora in your dream bucket list destination? Unfortunately, the biggest problem to going there is the cost. It's damn expensive, not going to lie. I actually saved up for 7 years to get enough points to stay one night for free at the Intercontinental Bora Bora Thalasso Spa resort. It was totally worth it and surprisingly, I was perfectly happy with just staying one night there. The rest of the time, I stayed in a hostel (lol) and an Airbnb. When I travelled there with my girlfriend, we only stayed for 4 days and 3 nights which was actual perfect. I felt satisfied with that duration. Price wise, everything is imported to Bora Bora that's why everything is so expensive. So if you plan on travelling there, just prepare for insane prices on goods. Read this article to get an idea how much it cost to travel to Bora Bora:
In this article, I share my travel expenses while travelling in Bora Bora for 4 days and 3 nights in French Polynesia.
Is travelling to the Maldives and Sri Lanka on your bucket list? Would you like to know how much it costs to travel to these places? During my recent trip to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, I recorded all my expenses including flights. In this article, you can get a rough idea of how much it costs to travel to both places. Read this blog post here:
In this article, I share my spending breakdown while travelling in the Maldives for 7 days and Sri Lanka for 4 days.
Would you like to know how much it costs to travel to Nepal? During my travel to Nepal to trek the Annapurna Circuit and sightsee Kathmandu and Pokhara, I recorded all my expenses. In this article, you can see how much it costs to travel to Nepal. Read this article here:
In this article, I share my spending breakdown while travelling in Nepal in May of 2022 to do the Annapurna Circuit Trek.
Is trekking and travelling to Nepal on your travel bucket list? For the longest time, going to Nepal to trek the Annapurna Circuit has been on my radar. I know many people want to do Everest base camp but for me, the Annapurna Circuit was more appealing. I decided to do the trek in May 2022 which is a month that many blogs and websites say to be a bad month to go to Nepal for trekking. Apparently, it's monsoon season and you'll be experiencing a lot of rain which makes trekking unpleasant. This is further from the truth as the weather was good for most of our trek in the Annapurna Circuit. It did start to rain more by the 4th week of May in Nepal but by that time, we have already completed our trek and were well on our way back home. I'd say trekking the Annapurna Circuit is really hard and it will truly test your will and determination. The high altitude makes things even more difficult and taking your time to acclimate is of utmost importance. Despite the challenge, I'd say that the Annapurna Circuit is one of the greatest adventures I have ever done in my life and I would recommend it to people who are interested in doing it to just go for it. Read this long article to see the entire journey from start to finish (Kathmandu to Pokhara to the Annapurna Circuit and back):
In this article, I share my experience with the Annapurna Circuit trek in May 2022 in Nepal which most people think is not a good month to go
Has your experience with Air Asia mostly been negative or positive? In the past, I've mostly had a positive experience with Air Asia. And it makes sense because I've only flown one-way flights with them. In my most recent trip, it was my first time doing a connecting flight with them and it was one of the biggest nightmare experiences I've ever had. Read this article for a full trip report with Air Asia:
In this article, I share my horrible experience dealing with Air Asia when they didn't issue my a boarding pass and lost my baggage.
Have you had issues with Aeroplan since Air Canada changed the program? During my most recent trip, I soon learned that a flight I redeemed didn't exist. There was no check-in counter which left Karen and I stranded in the Maldives. With no way out of the country, I had to call the Aeroplan Call Centre as soon as they opened. Unfortunately, my call with them did confirm that they allowed me to redeem a flight that was not boardable because it was a fueling stop. Read this article to get a full report of this latest problem with the new Air Canada Aeroplan program:
Being stranded in the Maldives doesn't sound so bad. In reality, it's really bad and it's thanks to Aeroplan selling me an unboardable flight
Is travelling to the Maldives to stay at an overwater bungalow on your bucket list? For the last 3-4 years, I've been saving up my Marriott Bonvoy points so I can redeem them to stay for "free" at an overwater bungalow in the Maldives (you still have to pay for the seaplane and food). Come 2021, Marriott opens a new resort there called Le Meridien Maldives, and the number of points needed to make a redemption is at a record low! Without hesitation, I redeemed most of my points to stay for 5 nights. This turned out to be an awesome decision as the trip to the Maldives was amazing! The villa was beautiful, the water was amazing, and the resort staff was very warm, genuine, and friendly. The Maldives is easily in my top 10 favourite countries now and I'd love to go back again one day. Read this article to see my full trip report of the Maldives:
In this article, I share my experience staying at the Le Meridien Maldives overwater bungalow resort in my quest to visit all countries.
Is travelling to Sri Lanka on your bucket list but afraid of the current fuel and economical crisis happening in that country right now? In late April 2022, I got a chance to travel to Sri Lanka and realized quickly that what the media portrays and what is reality are oftentimes not the same. We decided to hire a guide before coming to Sri Lanka and some things that surprised us included how fast he was able to get gas outside of Colombo. There was no lineup at the gas station and he literally just pulled up and filled up. It also felt very safe to travel there and the locals were friendly. From what I've heard from the locals, getting medicine is their biggest struggle than getting fuel. They've been able to cook food using firewood and they just rationed their cooking oils conservatively. During our trip, we visited the Sigiriya area to climb Lion Rock as well as check out the Dambulla cave, do an elephant safari, and visit a local village. Overall, we had a great time and it's a shame there are not as many tourists there right now. In my opinion, now is a good time to visit the country and I wouldn't let the media's fear-mongering stop you from visiting this awesome and beautiful country. Read my full trip report here:
In this article, you will learn what it's like to travel to Sri Lanka in 2022 during the infamous fuel crisis the country is facing.
Is Costa Rica one of the places you'd like to visit one day? During my first trip out of Canada since the pandemic started, I decided to choose Costa Rica as my last stop on my way back from after travelling to South America. Costa Rica makes it easier to fly back to Canada and I wanted my pathway back home to be as smooth as possible. And while the flight back was indeed smooth thanks to the ease of getting a PCR test and flying back home from San Jose Costa Rica, the country itself is just "okay" as far as a travel destination goes. Read my full short trip report of San Jose, Costa Rica here:
In this article, I share my experience travelling to Costa Rica on my last two days of my trip before flying back home to Canada.
Plan on travelling to Panama City one day? In this article, I share my experience travelling to Panama City and also going to visit the Gamboa Sloth Sanctuary. To be honest, I didn't really like Panama City that much. It was expensive and the touristy places had poor customer service. The Gamboa Sanctuary experience was interesting. Seeing the sloths was great, the rest of the sanctuary was just okay. The launching point for the sanctuary is the Gamboa resort which is an awful place with staff working there that clearly hates tourists. Read this article to see my full report of travelling there:
In this article, I share my experience travelling to Panama which is not my favourite travel destination after going there.
During my most recent trip, I got a chance to visit Asunción, Paraguay and it was an eye opening experience. First, our transit from Uruguay to Paraguay was a brutal one which I talked about in detail in this article. Second, we travelled to Paraguay during Christmas and all places to eat were closed and it was a real struggle to find ANY PLACE at all to grab a bite. Third, Paraguay is an underrated country and I definitely loved my time there despite the food issue and would love to go back one day to thoroughly explore it. Read this article here on my short trip in Paraguay:
In this article, I share my experience travelling in Asunción, Paraguay during Christmas Day only to find no food to eat.
Plan on taking the ferry to go from Buenos Aires to Uruguay? During my travel to Argentina back in December 2021, I got a chance to take the ferry from Buenos Aires to Colonia in Uruguay. This ferry ride had a lot of hassles prior to boarding and while onboard the ferry itself. Regardless, it's still the easiest way to cross over to Uruguay from Argentina even if the process can be painful. In this article, I talk about my experience taking the ferry as well as my short time exploring Uruguay. Read this article here:
In this article, you will learn what it's like to travel to Uruguay starting in Colonia going to the capital city of Montevideo.
Do you plan on travelling to Argentina someday? Back in December 2021, I got a chance to travel in Argentina for 11 days. During my time there, I explored Buenos Aires, hiked in Patagonia, and also checked out Bariloche. I did some things right and also some things wrong. In this latest article, I journaled my experience there including where I went to change my money in the blue market to nearly double the amount of Argentine Pesos I get when exchanging US dollars. Read this article here:
In this article, I share my 11 days of travel to Argentina during my latest trip to South America in my first trip since the pandemic started
Is travelling to Buenos Aires one of your bucket list dream destinations? During my recent trip to Argentina, one of my goals was to see the capybara invading one of the neighbourhoods in Buenos Aires in Argentina. After doing some research with the help of our hostel, we learned that it may be possible to see them if we go to the city of Tigre in Buenos Aires and find a way to go to the private residential area called Nordelta. Sadly to say, we didn't make it but the adventure trying to go there was an interesting one. Read this article to see how the adventure went:
In this article, I talk about my failed attempt to see Capybara's in Tigre Buenos Aires in Argentina. The locals call them carpincho
Is the Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina one of your bucket list of dream destinations? During my most recent trip to Argentina, I messed up the dates and thought I would have a full day to visit the Perito Moreno Glacier. After double-checking the flight date on my plane tickets, I realized that I was flying out of El Calafate the next day which means I won't have the chance to see the Perito Moreno Glacier. After panicking for a bit, I somehow found a taxi driver that would take us to see the glaciers before the park closed down. I'm so glad I found a way to see the glaciers because it is the best thing I ever saw during my most recent trip to Argentina. Read this article to see how the entire journey unfolded:
In this article, I will share my experience travelling to the Perito Moreno Glacier after all the buses stopped running.
Do you plan on travelling to Argentina one day to hike in Patagonia? On mid-December 2021, in the midst of the pandemic, I got a chance to travel to Argentina. My goal was to go to Patagonia and hike up Monte Fitz Roy. Besides the extra layer of hassle when travelling during the pandemic, it's quite doable and an interesting experience. There was a lot less foreign tourist in Argentina when I went. On top of that, you can exchange your USD in the blue market and get nearly double the official rate. In my opinion, this is the best way to travel in Argentina; otherwise, it would be expensive. To reach Patagonia, you would fly from the Buenos Aires Airport to a town called El Calafate. From there, you can take a 3-hour bus to a small village called El Chalten which is the starting point of the Monte Fitz Roy hike. You can also rent camping or hiking gears there if you wish. I personally rented trekking poles which helped immensely in this epic hike. Read this article to see the 3-steps you need to take from start to finish to hike in Patagonia in Argentina:
In this article, you will learn how to travel to Patagonia Argentina to hike Monte Fitz Roy located in the town of El Chalten.
Plan on travelling to Panama and Costa Rica one day? Beware! They are not cheap travel destinations. Both countries are heavily influenced by the USA and both openly accept US dollars. As a matter of fact, Panama mainly uses US dollars with the exception of coins which they interchange with their own currency. I spent 4 days in Panama and 3 days in Costa Rica and recorded all my expenses while travelling in both countries. Read this article to get an idea how much it cost to travel to the capital cities of both respective countries:
In this article, you will learn how much it cost when travelling in Panama and Costa Rica while short on time as a Canadian.
Do you plan on travelling to Argentina someday? During December 2021, I got a chance to travel to Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay right before Canada imposed their new lockdown measures. It's my first time travelling since the pandemic started and it was interesting to see how different travel has become. One of the things I've noticed is that travel is more expensive now because of the PCR testing requirements. I also travelled in Argentina during the peak travel season of December; though most tourists I met were locals and international travellers are fewer than before. In this article, I recorded my spending breakdown when I travelled to Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. If I can give one piece of advice to make travel much cheaper in Argentina, it's simply to make sure to bring a bunch of $100 USD bills to exchange in the blue market so you can nearly double your purchasing power. Read this article to see the detailed breakdown for 11 days of travel in Argentina:
In this article, you will learn how much it cost to travel while travelling in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay in South America.
Have you gotten an elite status with Best Western before? Of all the hotel elite status, Best Western is probably one of the easiest ones to get. With that being said, Platinum, Diamond, and Diamond Select status are very similar in benefits if not identical so perhaps it's not necessary to aim for the top tier Diamond Select status. In this latest article, I review the Best Western Diamond Select status and compare it with the Diamond and Platinum status. You'll learn the perks, benefits, and my own personal experience trying to use the perks. Read the article here:
In this article, you will learn how the Best Western Diamond Select status works and if it's worth getting for Canadians who loves travelling
Do you collect CIBC Aventura points? There's a current promotion right now with the CIBC Aventura Business Visa and I gave it a review to see if it's any good at all. The results were honestly mixed. The credit card does have some perks such as a first-year annual fee waived and a decent welcome bonus. However, outside of those perks, I'm not quite sure if this card is the best credit card to get in Canada. However, Aventura points are really good for really long domestic flights within Canada, even better than Aeroplan, so the points do have their uses. Check out the full review here:
In this article, you will learn more about the CIBC Aventura Business Visa as I review the credit card and give my opinion if it's a good..
Do you collect Alaska Miles in Canada or do you only collect Aeroplan points? In Canada, the three best programs to collect points for travel would be Aeroplan, British Airways Avios, and Alaska Miles. Earning Alaska Miles in Canada is possible through a credit card sign-up bonus with the MBNA Alaska Airlines credit cards. In this latest article, I do a review of the MBNA Alaska Airlines Platinum Plus Mastercard which is a credit card most people would qualify to get approved for. Check out this article here:
In this article, I review the MBNA Alaska Airlines Platinum Plus Mastercard in Canada to see who would benefit the most from this credit card
Have you ever thought of getting the TD Aeroplan Platinum Visa card? Most people would probably prefer to get the Infinite version of this credit card and I do agree that it's the superior credit card. However, not everyone has the income requirement to get the infinite version which makes the platinum version the perfect alternative. At the moment, this card has no annual fee for the first year and you can earn 20,000 Aeroplan points. That's a pretty solid deal in my opinion. I do a complete review of this credit card, check it out here to see if this travel credit card is the right one for you:
In this article, you will learn how the TD Aeroplan Platinum Visa works to see if you should apply for this credit card or not.
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