Trip Report: Touring the Original Star Wars Sets in Tunisia

Djerba is a place of contrasts, where as you find tourist hotels filled with Europeans sun bathing on the beach, to conservative old town, where you’ll find most women are covered and minarets dotting the skyline.

Before heading to Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, I already had spent one night an appropriately named one star hotel, where hot water was scarce and the room was quite dirty. On the plus side, there was running air conditioning and the courtyard was beautiful.

Review: Hello Kitty Airport Lounge

As I headed to the departure gate, I passed by different themed waiting lounges that lie atop each departure gate. The most notable was the Hello Kitty waiting lounge, located adjacent to my gate.

To say it’s a sensory overload would be an understatement. The entire waiting area is covered in pink and even the floor was retiled with white and pink squares.

Trip Report: Cebu Pacific Economy Class

Cebu Pacific domestically does have a bit of bad rap, and when things go wrong, things can get ugly quite quickly. However, facing a long connection in Singapore, I decided to try Cebu Pacific’s international product.

Thankfully, Cebu Pacific uses the shares the same international gates as other foreign carriers flying out of terminal 3, which meant the seating area around the gate was plentiful and not crowded.

Trip Report: Singapore Airlines Suites Class – Tokyo To Singapore

After being informed that my flight to Singapore was in the final stages of boarding, I quickly headed down from the ANA lounge and boarded onto the awaiting A380.

Oddly enough, the suites cabin was covered with maroon lighting. I quickly settled in and was greeted by a flight attendant, presented with another set of Ferragamo amenity kit & comfy Singapore pajamas, and was poured a glass of delightful 2004 Krug Champagne. We soon took off from Narita and I was served a delicious Satay starter.

Trip Report: ANA Suites Lounge – Narita Airport

I headed to the lounge at Satellite 4, which was located directly above the departure gate for my flight. As I walked in, two lounge agents stood up and bowed before scanning my boarding pass and directing me to the first class lounge.

Another lounge agent greeted me as I walked into the lounge area. She then escorted me to my seat and brought over a glass of champagne, along with a hot towel.

Trip Report: Eva Business Class – Infinity & Star

Of all the lounges I’ve been to, perhaps there is no lounge that is quite uniquely designed like the Eva Air Infinity Lounge.

Lining the ceiling are twinkling lights designed to look like stars and the centerpiece is a tree shape like pillar with continuously changing neon nights.

Trip Report: Park Hyatt Tokyo – Club On The Park & Breakfast

One place I was really keen on checking out was the Club Spa, located on the 47^th floor. Access is severely limited, with hotel guests having to shell out an extra 4000 yen per person. However, since I was a Globalist, this charge was waived. This is no ordinary spa, in fact a short scene in Lost In Translation was shot here.

Be aware that Japanese spas are fully nude, so if you’re not comfortable with this unique aspect of Japanese culture, you may want to give the spa a skip.

Trip Report: Staying At The $1000 Park Hyatt Tokyo & New York Bar

Sitting on top of Shinjuku Park Tower, the Park Hyatt Tokyo was the first western luxury hotel to open in Japan in 1994.  Since then numerous celebrities have called the Park Hyatt home. Director Sofia Coppola loved the hotel so much that she made it a centerpiece in her award winning film Lost in Translation.

Rooms at the Park Hyatt Tokyo don’t run cheap, with rates during the peak Cherry Blossom season starting at a staggering $1000 a night. Instead I used 30,000 Hyatt Points to book a one night stay for my dad and me at this iconic hotel, with no additional cash payment required.

Trip Report: Watching The Great American Eclipse With Family In Nebraska

It’s been 530 days since my first brush with totality and finally the day of the Great American Eclipse was here.

Morning dawned and I eagerly pulled back the motel drapes to check on the weather. I was worried a bit earlier as various news agencies predicted a high chance of moderate cloud cover. Thankfully, there was nary a cloud to be in sight and instead I was greeted by a bright blue sky.

Watching the Great American Eclipse with Family in Nebraska

It’s been 530 days since my first brush with totality and finally the day of the Great American Eclipse was here.

See Also: My First Solar Eclipse in Palu, Indonesia

Morning dawned and I eagerly pulled back the motel drapes to check on the weather. I was worried a bit earlier as various news agencies predicted a high chance of moderate cloud cover. Thankfully, there was nary a cloud to be in sight and instead I was greeted by a bright blue sky.

To say accommodation prices were not cheap would have been an understatement. In this small rural town, hotel prices were astronomical, with the average price of a hotel room on the eve of the eclipse going for over $1000.

Thankfully, through the use of points, I managed to book a room at the Days Inn Scottsdale for a mere 3000 Wyndham points and $67.

The retail cost would have been $1650 after taxes, which meant I was getting a value of 55 cents per point, a new personal record!

Since Scottsbluff was already in the path of totality, this meant we could avoid the traffic snarls engulfing the interstates, and enjoy some freshly made waffles before heading out.

The plan was to drive up north on state highway 71 until we could find a place to safely pull over and watch the eclipse.

Contrary to popular opinion, Nebraska is not just a state with rolling farmlands filled with corn, with the western part of Nebraska filled with numerous bluffs made of limestone.

After passing a few promising, but crowded locations, I spotted a perfect bluff adjacent to the highway, where a few eclipse spotters were already situated.

After a rather steep climb, we made it up the small bluff and I knew instantly this would be the perfect place to watch the eclipse.

Around an hour before totality, the moon began covering the sun and everyone took out their eclipse glasses to enjoy the spectacle.

Unfortunately, the solar filter I bought for my camera seemed to have washed out my pictures, but here are a couple photos from last year’s solar eclipse.

Around 15 minutes before totality, the temperature began to rapidly dip, and a sense of eeriness began to set in. The crickets began to sing and it was noticeably dimmer.

In the distance, the eclipse shadow raced towards us over twice the speed of sound, and the valley below began to significantly darken.

All of a sudden, the sky went completely dark as the moon completed covered the sun and for the first time you could see the sun’s corona wisping on all sides.

Nearby the covered sun were Mercury and Venus, both small but unmistakable in an otherwise barren open sky.

The crowd was oohing and aahing, and quite a few eclipse watchers went a bit crazy during the brief two minutes of totality.

One thing that surprised me was the many phases of totality as the shadow raced across. This meant the horizon was constantly getting lighter or darker, with the sky becoming a chameleon displaying various shades.

Soon the sky began to get brighter as the moon slowly pulled away from the sun and the famous diamond ring effect signaled the end of totality.

Diamond Ring in Palu, Indonesia

The crowd burst into applause and both my dad and brother looked completely shell shocked on what they just first experienced.

The skies were clear, the panoramic view was breathtaking, and being able to watch a total solar eclipse with my family made it even more special.

Next Stop: Chile in 2019!