NSP

Twelve Years Later – Part 3: A Return to Koh Samui, Hyatt Regency Suite & Day 1

May 14, 2025

Previous Trip Notes:
Twelve Years Later – Part 2: A Return to Koh Samui, The Trip There & Night 1
Twelve Years Later – Part 1: A Return to Koh Samui, The Setup

It was an early-morning wake-up, but due to the jet-lag was not difficult. The alarm was set for 4:30am, but I naturally woke up at 4:15am. We had two rooms, so my daughter rolled over around 4:25am, and we both got up and started to get ready.

We walked to the room next to us around 4:45am to pick up NSPwife and NSPpeanutToo, and headed to check-out. We used the self-check-out computer in the lobby, and rolled into Changi Terminal 1 around 4:55am. The train from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3 starts at 5am, and we caught either the first or second train offered that morning, arriving in Terminal 3 around 5:05am (that’s how convenient The Crowne Plaza is!). There was conflicting information about what time we needed to check-in for our Scoot Airlines flight, and I thought it was possible they would cut us off at 5:30am (90 minutes pre-flight). We managed to get to the right place for my Document Check (only I was required to do this which meant I couldn’t complete web check-in??), which luckily had no line. We then self-tagged our bags and got them loaded up somewhere between 89 minutes and 90 minutes pre-flight.

We then made our way quickly through immigration and security, and headed to the SATS Premier Lounge, courtesy of our Priority Pass cards. The food offering was decent, and it wasn’t crowded at all:

Priority Pass SATS Premier Lounge – Changi Airport

Priority Pass SATS Premier Lounge – Lounge Area

We then made our way to the gate. Scoot Airlines is a low-cost-carrier subsidiary of Singapore Airlines. We did pay in advance for checked bags and seat assignments, so we knew we would be sitting together. The plane was an 2×2 Embraer, and we sat directly across from one another:

Koh Samui Airport, Tarmac

It was a short 90ish-minute flight, and with the hour time-difference landed at about 7:45am. We took the short transit from the tarmac to the baggage claim, and waited for our bags. And waited. And waited. Ultimately securing 3 of our items, but not car-seat or sandals that were in the car-seat bag. We were told that it didn’t make the plane, but should be coming in on the 11am flight. No problem, easy enough. We have a car-seat-like travel harness for NSPpeanutToo if we ever needed it.

I had arranged transportation through someone who had great reviews on the Koh Samui Holiday Tips Facebook page. It was about $10 from the airport to the hotel (~8-minute drive). The transportation did not disappoint the kiddos, as it was a blingy pink sprinter van (named by NSPpeanuts as “The Barbie Van”):

The Barbie Van

The Barbie Van

We pulled into the Hyatt Regency, which had a very chic open lobby, and were quickly greeted by bellmen and the front desk agents to check-in.

Hyatt Regency Koh Samui – Lobby

Our room wasn’t ready yet, understandable given it wasn’t even 9am. So we grabbed swimsuits and essentials, checked our bags at the bell desk, and headed to the Regency Lounge where we could get breakfast, snacks, and drinks until the room was ready. NSPwife and NSPpeanuts headed to the pool, while I stayed with some of our bags and electronics at the lounge. Around noon, we had still not heard from the front desk, but checking the app showed our room had been assigned and was ready. So I walked up to the front desk, and sure enough, got our keys.

We all headed to the room, a Regency Suite that we secured with a Suite Upgrade Award. Unfortunately the room did not live up to the expectations. There were a number of complaints:

While there were sliding “doors” separating the bedroom from the living room, they weren’t actual doors. They were completely open. Want to watch TV in the living room? You were essentially watching it in the bedroom. And vice versa. I’d consider this more of a larger standard room than even a junior suite.
They went “minimalist style” for the casegoods in the room. A couple drawers in the closet for clothes. But certainly not large enough for 2 people, let alone 4. No desk. Really disappointing for a suite.
Oddities such as a floor-to-ceiling window in the bathroom, that you would have to close entirely if you didn’t want to shower or bathe in front of the entire resort. Also, in order to open or close the window shade, you had to step into the bathtub to get to the chain. Just overall poor design.

Hyatt Regency Koh Samui – Regency Suite Bedroom

Hyatt Regency Koh Samui – Regency Suite Rollaway

Hyatt Regency Koh Samui – Regency Suite “Living Room”

Hyatt Regency Koh Samui – Regency Suite Balcony View

Hyatt Regency Koh Samui – Regency Suite Balcony

Hyatt Regency Koh Samui – Regency Suite “Separators”

Hyatt Regency Koh Samui – Regency Suite Closet

Hyatt Regency Koh Samui – Regency Suite Bathroom

Hyatt Regency Koh Samui – Regency Suite Bathroom

Hyatt Regency Koh Samui – Regency Suite Tub

Despite not being a true suite, we weren’t there for the room. We tried to get settled as much as possible, and then headed to SESUN Grill & Beach Bar for lunch. One nice thing about being in the “suite” was that every suite gets to partake in the Family Plan, which allows a kid to eat free for every entree that is ordered. Lunch was good, and we decided to go check out Chaweng Beach. We took our laundry, as wash and fold service in Thailand is amazingly cheap, and dropped it off at a small shop. We then walked along Chaweng Beach Road for about 20 minutes, eyeing restaurants, shops, massage parlors, and ultimately stopped at a bespoke tailor to start my week-long fitting of custom suits.

After a stop for pre-dinner snacks and drinks, we found a nice dinner spot. Of course, a final stop for the day was needed at the mini-mart, where we grabbed waters, snacks, and drinks for the room, and headed back to the hotel. Grab Taxi (the Southeast Asia Uber equivalent) was amazingly easy to use, and throughout the entire week we rarely waited more than two minutes, so we grabbed a Grab and made it back to the hotel where we crashed early, and were ready for a good night sleep to replenish the energy meters.

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Credit Cards / Luxury Hotel / Miles & Points / Travel

Twelve Years Later – Part 2: A Return to Koh Samui, The Trip There & Night 1

May 13, 2025

Previous Trip Notes:
Twelve Years Later – Part 1: A Return to Koh Samui, The Setup

The trip started out on a 7:59pm positioning flight from Minneapolis to Newark. We arrived at MSP airport plenty early to spend some time in the Delta Lounge, courtesy of NSPwife’s AMEX Platinum (and my Authorized User card). I had also somehow amassed eight guest passes, which is why we opted for the Delta Lounge vs. the Escape Lounge, which we normally frequent when we are with NSPpeanuts.

Delta Sky Club Guest Passes

The food was pretty good, and NSPwife and I decided to indulge in some premium bubbles, for a mere 2,400 Skymiles:

Delta Skymiles Bubbly Redemption (1.5 cents per point)

We made our way to the flight, where I was particularly excited to watch Michigan play in the Sweet 16 while having an inflight adult beverage. Of course, this flight was on a 717, with terribly slow WiFi, and a somewhat inattentive crew that did not offer beverage service. Unfortunately, takeoff was at first delayed due to traffic and Newark, and later due to passing thunderstorms in MSP. While this did allow me to watch some of the game with my own hotspot at high speeds, it also meant we were going to arrive way past the scheduled time. Ultimately we landed just before 1am, grabbed our luggage, and then headed to the Airtrain to pickup the Renaissance Hotel shuttle. Thus began our next adventure, traversing the horrific Newark Airport, with a full load of luggage. After a nearly 20 minute walk, we simply called an Uber from where we were at for the mile drive, jumped in, had the driver miss the exit, and finally arrived at the hotel around 1:30am.

Our wake-up call seemingly came fast, 7am for me, and we got ready, making sure all the things we would need for a 1,120-minute flight were in the right bags. We made our way down to the lobby at 7:59am, perfectly timing the 8am shuttle, and arrived at the Singapore Airlines check-in by 8:10am. It was an easy check-in, and we made our way to the British Airways Galleries Lounge, which Singapore Airlines partners with for this flight.

The lounge was pretty nice with some runway views, and we had a decent breakfast and some celebratory cocktails.

British Airways Galleries Lounge Breakfast – EWR

British Airways Galleries Lounge Coffee Bar – EWR

View of Our Bird: British Airways Galleries Lounge – EWR

British Airways Galleries Toast – EWR

It was then time to embark…on quite a long flight.

We boarded the scheduled 18-hour-forty-minute flight thinking this couldn’t feel THAT much longer than the flights we’ve taken from Chicago to Japan (12ish hours) or Chicago to Hong Kong (16ish hours). Business class, sleep, movies downloaded, we were set! We also pre-ordered all of our meals: adults opted for filets, scallops, and curries, and the kids ordered specialized children menus of chicken tenders, mashed potatoes, and vegetables.

The flight was on an Airbus 350, consisting of Business Class seats and Premium Economy seats. The service was fantastic. The flight attendants were polite, professional, and very attentive. But the seat itself was not terribly comfortable, regardless of it being a seat or a bed. There was a foot cubby for you to place your feet, which was challenging at times to find a comfortable laydown position. And there was limited storage for a nearly 20-hour flight!

So despite eating multiple meals, and binge-watching shows, and even the fact that there was complimentary wifi, it was not enough to keep the family entertained. And the kids began a quasi-hunger-strike: they “did not like” the options. Not a huge deal….we thought. We had brought plenty of snacks. But the tiredness and travel put NSPpeanuts in a mood, where they just didn’t want to eat. We’ll come back to this, let’s talk about the flight:

The food was plentiful. The pre-ordered meals made it certain we would get our desired dishes, and there were plenty of snacks. Flight attendants were fantastic to get you whatever you needed. Typically amenities kits are on-demand only; however, we received ours without having to ask.

EWR > SIN: Bubbles

EWR > SIN: Amenity Kit

EWR > SIN: Filet

EWR > SIN: NSPpeanut Meal

EWR > SIN: Sleeping NSPpeanutToo

EWR > SIN: Menu

EWR > SIN: Menu

EWR > SIN: Menu

EWR > SIN: Menu

EWR > SIN: Menu

EWR > SIN: Menu

EWR > SIN: Menu

EWR > SIN: Menu

EWR > SIN: Menu

EWR > SIN: Menu

EWR > SIN: Menu

EWR > SIN: Menu

I can’t quite touch on why the flight seemed longer than it should have. Maybe it was the lack of a comfortable seat. Or maybe the time, which was a full “day” flight, where it was hard to try and adjust to the new time zone forcing sleep during normal waking hours.

Or maybe it was the kids not eating, and while seemingly not a huge deal, it became so when the empty stomach of NSPpeanut didn’t fare well with the turbulence. Coupled with the fact that Singapore Changi Airport asked our flight to hold and land about 20-minutes late due to airport traffic (yes, I was worried about fuel!), NSPpeanut started to not feel well. And rainbow goldfish were…well…undigested and sent into the atmosphere. A quick rush from me and NSPwife to work on clean-up and repair duty, NSPpeanutToo saw this and didn’t want to be left out. So she asked for some pepto. And upon landing (maybe 3 minutes before touchdown), I see a little shadow appear next to my pod, where I rapidly swept her into my seat, put her in my seatbelt with me, and opened another sickness bag, which was used to great effect.

What a way to end a flight! Little did I know, this would be prep for what was to come later in the week. However, we made it to Singapore, albeit nearly an hour late. It was 6pm, and we had booked the Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel with our IHG Credit Card certificates. It was a daunting 90-second walk from the baggage claim to check-in. We made it to our two rooms, unpacked, changed into swimsuits, and promptly headed to the pool:

Crowne Plaza Changi – Pool

Crowne Plaza Changi – Pool

Crowne Plaza Changi – Pool

Crowne Plaza Changi – Pool

After a brief swim, we showered and headed out to the People’s Park Food Centre, where NSPpeanut wanted to try some dumplings. We had dumplings, pork buns, and some Tiger beers, and then headed a short distance to the Riverwalk for some Chili Crab. We opted for JUMBO Seafood, sat outside on the busy and festive Riverwalk, and had a fantastic first vacation dinner:

Chili Crab!!

Chili Crab!!

Riverwalk, Singapore

We spent a few minutes walking around the Riverwalk, and then got a taxi back to the Crowne Plaza. Luckily there were taxis all over the place, however, many would only take you if you paid in cash. Luckily I had pulled some money out of an ATM before heading out for the evening. We returned around 11pm, meaning the 5am wake-up call was just around the corner.

The Crowne Plaza was nice, but most importantly, was convenient – highly recommended. The travel day was, mostly, a success, and the next day would truly begin a week of relaxation (we thought!).

Crowne Plaza Standard Room Bathroom – Changi Airport

Crowne Plaza Standard Room – Changi Airport

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Twelve Years Later – Part 1: A Return to Koh Samui, The Setup

May 11, 2025

It’s been fun looking back, reading my second trip report ever, written in December of 2013. That trip was my first time flying in international first class. Cathay Pacific from ORD to HKG was a mere 62,500 miles. One might say: How things have changed. Then again, we are about to embark on a trip around the world, adding the longest flight on Earth to our portfolio, and flying as a family of four in business class on both the A380 and 747 on the way home. All of this for mere pennies on the dollar, thanks to miles and points. So while, yes, getting to Southeast Asia has been a challenging affair, this seems to support, in Bon Jovi’s words: “the more things change the more they stay the same.” Let’s get into the details.

As always, we like to focus on pretty large trips for Spring Break. We’ve done everything from Cancun to Fiji. Choosing a destination is also fun, and sometimes flight and hotel availability dictate what is possible. There were two items that led us to choose Koh Samui. First, the Hyatt Regency opened there a few years ago and allowed 4 people to a room. Thailand has a 3-person fire code capacity, and many hotels can be difficult to book for a family of four. With ample availability during the dates we were looking to book, as well as an available standard suite that we could use a suite upgrade for, this seemed like a good use of points. Second, when The White Lotus announced they were filming in Koh Samui, we decided it might be time to revisit the island, especially if the show led to significantly increased tourism (if that’s even possible at this point). So we booked the hotel in the summer of 2024, and started to look at flights.

There was inventory for 4 in business class on Turkish Airlines, in both directions, when we started looking. The downside was that the layovers would require an overnight, but the arrival and departure times wouldn’t allow for a tour of Istanbul, a place NSPwife and I have never been, but would love to see. So we decided not to book, given this was the long way to Southeast Asia, and maybe a better connecting flight would allow for a day and night in Istanbul. That did not turn out to be a great decision. The Turkish inventory was gobbled up within 48 hours, and we were stuck without any good options. No problem, I thought. If there was inventory when I first searched, it’s bound to come back. And certainly a MSP > West Coast > SE Asia route would open up.

How wrong I was. I used Seats.aero and setup alerts for just about every North American airport to HKG, BKK, SIN, HKT, and KUL. I waited. And waited. And waited. Nothing. I began checking the usual suspects weekly (Alaskan, AA, Aeroplan, United, and Air France). Nothing. Then in November I got an alert that four tickets opened up with perfect times to get from MSP to BKK. Here was the unicorn! I logged in, got to the cart, and made a rookie mistake. I thought about it. I double checked everything. And 5-10 minutes later when I clicked checkout, someone else had grabbed the seats. What was I thinking?? Well, again, my thought was seats would continue to pop up. Again, a false hope. The rest of 2024 slipped by without a single option opening up. As January was coming to a close, we decided to open up our search criteria and started to look at options for the Seychelles, Caribbean, and Hawaii. Still, no specific luck with those destinations either.

Then in the middle of February, a flight opened up from Singapore to Chicago. Unfortunately it was by way of Frankfurt, Germany. So the “long way,” but had an intriguing setup: Flying in Singapore Business Class on an A380, and flying on Lufthansa Business Class on the upper deck of a 747. Sold. Plus, the overnight in Frankfurt might allow for a little bit more of a transition back to Central Time.

Then, amazingly, 24 hours later, a flight from Newark, New Jersey direct to Singapore opened up. THE LONGEST FLIGHT IN THE WORLD! Done and booked. So the long flights were set, and now the positioning flights were needed: Minneapolis to Newark, Singapore to Koh Samui, Koh Samui to Singapore, and Chicago to Minneapolis.

Minneapolis to Newark was pretty straight-forward, and we opted for a direct flight with Delta.

Koh Samui Airport is owned by Bangkok Airways and is really a monopoly in terms of flights. Thai Airways flies twice a day, and Scoot Airlines (owned by Singapore Airlines) also services the airport. So Bangkok Airways and Scoot were the only two options. And pricing reflected this! Our goal was simple though: Spend as much time as possible in Koh Samui, so flight times and not fares was what drove our booking decision.

Lastly, the flight from Chicago to Minneapolis was proving to be difficult, with three options: Have a 7-hour layover and spend 6,000 miles per person, have a 4-hour layover and spend 15,000 miles per person, or have a 2-hour layover and spend 50,000 miles per person. After a 39-hour “travel day,” the 7-hour layover was simply not an option. But spending 50,000 miles on an hour flight in economy vs. 87,500 to fly in Business Class from SE Asia to Chicago just seemed ludicrous. So we booked two different flights: We booked the United flight for 15,000 miles, and also booked the 6,000 mile flight on American, as my Executive Platinum status allows for confirmed same-day changes. And if there were still seats on the perfectly timed flight before we took off from Frankfurt, we would just try to make the same-day change and then cancel the United flight. Unfortunately, available space on American did not open up, so we were stuck with the the United Flight.

Per Person Airline Costs

Positioning Flight #1: MSP > ORD. 14,400 miles + $5.60
International Flight #1: EWR > SIN. 87,500 miles + $174.06
Positioning Flight #2: SIN > USM. 18,750 miles + $67.11
Positioning Flight #3: USM > SIN. 18,750 miles + $126.40
International Flight #2: SIN > FRA > ORD. 87,500 miles + $56.20
Positioning Flight #4: ORD > MSP. 15,000 miles + $5.60

Hotel Costs

EWR Hotel: Renaissance: 1 Hotel Certificate (effectively $120)
Singapore Changi Crowne Plaza: 2 Hotel Certificates (effectively $198)
Hyatt Regency Koh Samui: 135,000 points
Frankfurt Hotel: Hyatt Place – 2 Rooms, 1 Hotel Certificate + 5,000 points

A couple of additional items: We used our Ritz Carlton card $300 travel credit on the Scoot flights, and the Chase IHG credit card that gives me and NSPwife a free night each year has a $99 annual fee. So I’ve added $198 to account for the annual fees, but did not take out the $300 Ritz credit. Lastly, the American Express Bonvoy card, with its $120 annual fee, comes with an annual 35,000 point-certificate. The Renaissance Newark Airport hotel was 29,000 points, or $200, so a pretty good redemption for the certificate.

TOTAL Miles, Points, and Cash for 4: $2,057 + 1,102,600 Miles & Points

How would you value these trips? Well, let’s look at how much the long-haul flights and hotels would cost if paying in cash:

Flight Costs

Cash Price: Biz SIN > FRA (A380)

Cash Price: Biz FRA to ORD (747 Upper Deck)

Cash Price: Biz EWR > SIN (Longest Flight in the World)

Long-Haul Flight Costs totaled: ~$14,000 each.

Hotel Costs

Hotel Cash Price – Koh Samui

6-Night Stay in a Hyatt Regency Suite: ~$3,300

Ignoring the short-hop flights and shoulder hotel rooms, the core of the travel would have totaled nearly $60,000 without miles and points. Not a bad redemption!

One additional note. For this trip, I tried an app called Wanderlog to organize our itinerary, and I can’t recommend it enough. It was super easy to forward all emails from Airlines and Hotels so all confirmation numbers were in one handy place. When traveling to different time zones and taking flights that cross over different days, it was a great help to ensure my planning was accurate. It can also store places and activities that you find in the planning phases. I’ve tried these types of apps in the past, and never really found one that was user-friendly, or more valuable than just a nicely organized Google Calendar or even just checking email. But this checked all the boxes!

Now it is time to start the journey…

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Credit Cards / Luxury Airline Travel / Luxury Hotel / Miles & Points / Travel

About Time, A Long-Distance Trip Begins – Part 6: The Close

April 12, 2025

Author’s Note: This trip report is being published almost a year after the trip.

Previous Trip Notes:
About Time, A Long-Distance Trip Begins – Part 5: Things to Do at Nanuku
About Time, A Long-Distance Trip Begins – Part 4: Food at Nanuku
About Time, A Long-Distance Trip Begins – Part 3: Nanuku Arrival
About Time, A Long-Distance Trip Begins – Part 2: The 29.5-Hour Trip To Nanuku
About Time, A Long-Distance Trip Begins – Part 1: The Setup

We woke up early on our last day, taking a stroll along the beach – the girls still in their pajamas.

Ocean Playing in Pajamas

A quick splash in our plunge pool, and it was on our way to the final breakfast. Just like on day one, a couple of us opted for the souffle pancakes, and went back to the room to finish our packing. The flight was a late one departing at 9:40pm, so we had a couple of options: First, check out of our room, but hang out at the resort all day. It would have been great to have another day to swim, snorkel, and relax. However, the two downsides were that we would be heading to the airport full of sunscreen and sweat, and then immediately after a 2.5-hour drive to the airport, we would be sitting for another 11-hour flight to LAX (not to mention the flight from LAX > MSP). The second option, which we opted to take, was to check-out at 11am, and take a shuttle to the Crowne Plaza in Nadi (courtesy of our IHG annual certificate that comes with the Chase card – and a $99 annual fee), hang out and swim for the afternoon in Nadi, and then shower and head to the airport. The Crowne Plaza, while nice, was under construction, so didn’t get access to the entire campus or pool, but we still had a really nice time:

Crowne Plaza Nadi, Fiji

Crowne Plaza Nadi, Fiji

Crowne Plaza Nadi, Fiji

Crowne Plaza Nadi, Fiji

We used Xplore Fiji for our hotel transfer, and then again from the Crowne Plaza to the airport.

After a painfully long wait through customs, the airport had a decent Priority Pass Lounge, which we hung out in for about an hour.

We then went to our gate, grabbed NSPpeanuts some Burger King French Fries, and boarded the flight.

Boarding Fiji Airways: NAN > LAX

We were a bit tired given the departure time:

NSPpeanutToo Out

While we slept an immense amount of time on the outbound flight, the return flight was a bit more difficult, and we only managed a few hours of sleep.

Upon arrival in LAX< we made our way back to In-N-Out, walked to the Hyatt to pickup the car seat, and extra luggage, and then jumped on the shuttle to get back to LAX. It was an easy flight home, and we had managed to survive the longest economy flights the family has yet to take. Would I do it again? Absolutely. Would it be my preferred method of travel? Absolutely not. :)

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Luxury Hotel / Miles & Points / Travel

About Time, A Long-Distance Trip Begins – Part 5: Things to Do at Nanuku

April 8, 2025

Author’s Note: This trip report is being published almost a year after the trip.

Previous Trip Notes:
About Time, A Long-Distance Trip Begins – Part 4: Food at Nanuku
About Time, A Long-Distance Trip Begins – Part 3: Nanuku Arrival
About Time, A Long-Distance Trip Begins – Part 2: The 29.5-Hour Trip To Nanuku
About Time, A Long-Distance Trip Begins – Part 1: The Setup

The main area of the resort was home base for the restaurant, bar, pool, hot tub, and beach activities. If you weren’t hanging out in/at your room, you were either on an excursion or at the main resort area. It was host to a nice pool:

Main Pool

Main Pool

Main Pool

A bar and lounge area:

Bar

Bar & Lounge

Bar & Lounge

The restaurant had two outside seating areas and two inside seating areas:

Outside Restaurant Seating

There were chairs by the pool overlooking the ocean:

Seating Area Near Pool

This area also hosted the ocean activities hut, including the MiniCat, which the Best Friends took NSPpeanuts on a few times:

The MiniCat

There was also a nice hot tub (and rules sign):

Hot Tub Rules

There were boundless activities to do at the resort, or through excursions. The excursions offered included:

1/2 Day or Full Day Nanuku Island Escape – Private Island Experience
Private Nanuku Island Overnight Camping
Sunset Cruise
Island Hopping Adventure
Sand Bank Escapte
Jet Skis
Game Fishing
White Water Rafting
Crabbing
River Tubing
Waterfall Hike or Waterfall Boat Tour
Ziplining
Skydiving
Challenge Course
Food Safari
Fire Walking
Kava Ceremony
Local Village Experience
In-Residence Campouts
River Safari
Adventure (Water) Park
Hot Glass Class
Sand Dunes
Golf
Bird Watching
Medicine Man Tour

There are multiple dining experiences offered as well, such as: in-residence, tree-top, private chef, cliffside, and moonlit cinema.

You can also participate in a number of free activities:

Snorkeling
Kayaking
The MiniCat can be rented, but they often offer to take you sailing for free
Bike Riding
Paddleboarding

While there were a number of excursions we were initially interested in, the relaxation after the long trip won out. If NSPpeanutToo was just a couple years older, we would have done the all day water tubing adventure, but a couple families who went on our day #1 came back and said it would be great…if the kids were 7+, but any younger would have been a bit treacherous.

The activities we did do throughout the week were all great. We often snorkeled around the reef right off the beach. And most times a Nanuku Team Member would just jump in and show us around. Even more impactful, they would bring a paddleboard that the kids could sit on to catch a breath, or in many cases, if they got scared, they could just jump on an pop their head in to look around. NSPwife and NSPpeanut saw a lion fish on one of their swims. We also opted for a 2-hour excursion where we went on a speedboat to a larger reef where we saw many fish and a couple of sharks. In addition, our guide spotted some large conch shells, which they dove (pretty deep!!) for to bring back, now mementos that NSPpeanuts keep in their rooms.

Kayaking the mangroves was fun and interesting to see parts of the Nanuku Community outside of the resort.

They also offered different experiences each night before dinner. One night was a Fire Walking ceremony:

Fire Walking Ceremony

Another night was a Kava Experience (highly recommended!).

The kids enjoyed the traditional warrior dance, particularly when they were invited to be a part of it!

From a kids perspective, the resort was their oyster. And their buddies the pearl. They could call up their buddies any time, 8am-8pm, and ask to be taken to the kids club to play games, or go swimming in the pools, or going swimming in the ocean, or be taken out on a boat. They learned how to play coconut bowling, as well as how to play other games:

Coconut Bowling

Kids Club Bonfire S’Mores

This allowed ample downtime and relaxation time for the parents. A rare commodity when on vacation.

We also took a bike ride outside of the resort, passing the private Nanuku airstrip and helipad (if you wanted to opt a quicker mode of transportation from Nadi vs. the 2.5-hour shuttle ride.

Nanuku Helipad

Nanuku Airstrip

Overall, there was never a shortage of things to do. Or things not to do. Hanging out by the main pool, or smoking a cigar at our private pool, or walking along the beach looking for shells, made for an amazing week.

Lastly, I’ll share a number of photos of the ocean. It should be noted that the water is not the amazingly picturesque blue waters of various islands that can be viewed across Instagram. But the beach and water was still nice, quiet, with reefs easily within swimming distance for snorkeling, and thoroughly enjoyed by the entire family.

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Luxury Hotel / Travel

About Time, A Long-Distance Trip Begins – Part 4: Food at Nanuku

March 13, 2025

Author’s Note: This trip report is being published almost a year after the trip.

Previous Trip Notes:
About Time, A Long-Distance Trip Begins – Part 3: Nanuku Arrival
About Time, A Long-Distance Trip Begins – Part 2: The 29.5-Hour Trip To Nanuku
About Time, A Long-Distance Trip Begins – Part 1: The Setup

There will be little commentary for this post, but rather lots of photos of the food offerings, including select menus. I think it’s important to set a baseline. This is a rather secluded resort on a secluded island. Furthermore, the hospitality industry in places like this was still reeling in 2024 from 40% of hospitality workers (including culinary) not returning to the industry after covid. If your desired travel locations include Michelin star restaurants, this isn’t your place. But the food was cooked well, plentiful, and reasonably priced. We wound up opting for the full board (not inclusive of alcohol). The price was F$260 per adult, equivalent to about $110 per person. This then also included full board for our kids for free. Full board meant breakfast, lunch, and dinner, ordering whatever you wanted. This included every course at dinner, and however many items you wanted for breakfast. In addition, we sometimes ordered snacks throughout the day and were not charged for those. Overall, we felt this was well worth it, and was happy with the food selections.

Breakfast included a small buffet of items that rotated every other day (types of pastries, fruits, etc…). And the a la carte menu stayed the same:

Breakfast Menu

The lunch menu also stayed the same throughout the week:

Lunch Menu

Easter Sunday had a special Easter menu:

Easter Sunday Menu

In addition to a very diverse dinner menu, there were a number of different drinks to try, including rum tastings and coconuts. There was also a daily mocktail menu, often paying homage to one of the kids at the resort:

Sloane Specialty Mocktail

Alexandra Specialty Mocktail

Home Away from Home

Kava Voda

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Food / Luxury Hotel / Travel

About Time, A Long-Distance Trip Begins – Part 3: Nanuku Arrival

March 11, 2025

Author’s Note: This trip report is being published almost a year after the trip.

Previous Trip Notes:
About Time, A Long-Distance Trip Begins – Part 2: The 29.5-Hour Trip To Nanuku
About Time, A Long-Distance Trip Begins – Part 1: The Setup

As we arrived at check-in, we were greeted by many on the staff. They were friendly and offered a traditional welcome. Our daughters were also introduced to their “buddies,” quickly our girls would refer to them as their “best friends.” The buddies gave each girl a necklace with their name on it, and it created an instant connection between them.

Prior to arriving, I had emailed the General Manager of the resort to see if the staff or Tribe would appreciate anything from the mainland that might be hard to get there. He politely declined, but we exchanged some emails based on our similar backgrounds. We had booked this SLH property with 25,000 Hyatt points per night. An upgrade was possible due our Hyatt status, but did not occur often. The base villa we booked was the upstairs of a 2-story villa. The base room looked great, and would have been perfectly adequate for us. I had hoped that we might get upgraded to the next-level-up, which was the lower level of the 2-story villa. The lower level also included a private plunge pool, and our girls love having that option. I was elated when we were told we had been upgraded. The elation turned to shock when the check-in agent finished their sentence: “…to a residence.” I hadn’t even looked at what residences were like, but some reviews had mentioned some pretty amazing things. That anticipation would have to wait though, as the buddies had also given our girls Easter headbands and baskets, and told them the Easter Bunny had left eggs around the grounds.

Easter Egg Hunt

After our girls got their eggs, we were taken by a buggy to our residence. Our “house mama” was waiting for us to give us a tour. There was a main room with a couple sitting couches, and an adjacent large kitchen with a kitchen table for 10. A popcorn machine was sitting on the counter with plenty of popcorn kernels, and a French press with coffee as well. Oh, and a welcome amenity including Champagne, juices, fruits, and chocolates:

Welcome Amenity

A downstairs bathroom was next to the kitchen and second main door. This was easily 1,000 sq feet of space, but were then taken upstairs to the master bedroom and bathroom. This offered a king size bed, TV, large closet area, large bath, and large shower area. Easily another 750 sq feet. Outside was a long balcony with chairs that overlooked the ocean. We went back downstairs and were shown an outside patio behind the kitchen. We then were taken to the side of the house, where there was a covered patio next to a large private plunge pool (with a special welcome message in it):

The entire area was fenced in, minus the view to the beach, giving a lot of privacy. There was another small building though, and we were taken into the “movie room.” This room was a private room outside of the main villa that housed a large projector screen, surround sound, and couches to enjoy movie nights in. It also came with a catalog of movies. Sadly, the wifi from the house wasn’t quite strong enough to be able to stream movies from your own devices, but that didn’t stop us from watching some movies from the catalog. Overall, definitely a top 3 “room upgrade.”

Family Room (with 2 beds setup for the kids)

Kitchen

Kitchen Table

Kitchen Bar

Master Bedroom

Master Bathroom

Master Bedroom Closet

Master Bathroom Tub

Master Bathroom Shower

Upstairs Balcony

Downstairs Back Patio

Downstairs Back Patio

Private Plunge Pool

View from the Pool

Movie Room

Movie Room

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Luxury Hotel / Miles & Points / Travel

About Time, A Long-Distance Trip Begins – Part 2: The 29.5-Hour Trip To Nanuku

March 9, 2025

Author’s Note: This trip report is being published almost a year after the trip.

Previous Trip Notes:
About Time, A Long-Distance Trip Begins – Part 1: The 29.5-Hour Trip To Nanuku

It was not an uncomfortable wake-up. We had an 8:58am flight from MSP to LAX. Sadly, there is no way to bring the NSPpeanuts into the Delta Lounge without paying the $50 per guest (for a child!!!) fee, so we opted to go to the Escape Lounge, which NSPwife’s AMEX Platinum gets us all access to through Priority Pass. We enjoyed some light food, and of course celebratory Mimosas.

Kick-Off Drinks in the Escape Lounge

We had an easy flight, and landed in Los Angeles around 11:15am. Our gate was immediately next to a Delta Lounge, so I flew in to grab a couple coffees. We made our way to the baggage claim and headed outside to pickup the National Rental Car shuttle bus. This would be a learning for us…as we waited nearly 20 minutes for the shuttle, and then due to terminal construction, took nearly 45 minutes for what should have been a 10-minute ride. Our Executive status with National allows us to pick any car, so we grabbed the largest SUV we could find, and loaded up. After a short 10-minute ride to the Hyatt Regency LAX, we checked-in, threw our luggage in the room, and then jumped back in the car.

We wanted to show the girls the Pacific Ocean, so opted to head to the Santa Monica Pier; however, we of course stopped for lunch at In-and-Out Burger. NSPpeanut became immediately obsessed with the burgers and is now likely a life-long fan.

First Taste of In-N-Out Burger

After lunch, we made the easy ride to the pier. We parked right next to the pier and enjoyed arcade games and ice cream.

Santa Monica Pier

Santa Monica Pier

We made our way back to the Hyatt, where we arranged outfits for the late-night plane ride, consolidated some luggage, and took NSPpeanutToo’s car seat to be held for the week at the bell desk. We then made our way down to the hotel restaurant for dinner. Conveniently, Hyatt Globalists receive unlimited free drinks between 5pm-7pm. We took full advantage, and then headed up to the room to watch Michigan Hockey ultimately beat North Dakota State in the Regional Finals of the NCAA Tournament. By this time, it was really late for us given the time zone difference, and a bit of delirium was creeping in:

It was then time to jump on the short hotel-airport-shuttle. One pain point booking Fiji Airways with Cathay Pacific was that the seat assignments would never hold, and Fiji Airways would not help. Not ideal when traveling with kids. On an 11-hour flight. In economy. This forced us to arrive at LAX a few minutes before the check-in opened (3 hours in advance) in order to try and secure seats together. You know, with our 4-year old and 8-year old kids. Luckily, we were able to secure 3 together, with my seat directly across the aisle. Disaster averted.

On a side-note, we had a harsh learning when trying to secure open Business Class seats in the months leading up to the flight. Typically, if a seat is available on points, you can simply upgrade your seat. And in fact, you can do that with Cathay; however, what you cannot do is upgrade only select seats in your reservation. I had, mistakenly, booked the flights under 2 reservations: 4 seats going out, and 4 seats coming back. About 5 months before our flight, 3 business class seats opened up on points. BUT, Cathay could not upgrade only 3 seats, it was an all-or-nothing option. They wouldn’t (or couldn’t) split a PNR to create 2 reservations for us. Fiji wouldn’t help in any way. After over two dozen calls over multiple days, the seats got gobbled up. Sigh. Economy it would be.

Sadly, the security lines were painfully long, and the walk through the terminal even longer. Not ideal when schlepping with 2 children at 10pm west coast time (not to mention 12am where we live). We finally arrived at the heart of the Tom Bradley International Terminal. NSPwife had Oneworld Emerald Status courtesy of her American Airlines Platinum Pro status. Fiji Airlines was a partial member of Oneworld, but that status would only be enough to get 2 of us into the lounge. Graciously, maybe due to the fact that our two children were effectively comatose, they let all four of us in. There were some amazing Pho and Asian dishes (Cathay Pacific is one of the airlines this lounge services), and we filled up given a daunting 11-hour flight (in economy!) was ahead of us. NSPwife and I each had a single glass of wine before we headed to the plane.

The flight itself was uneventful. Luckily no one was sitting next to me. And we all managed to get about 7 hours of sleep, far more than what I thought we would get. The food was what is expected.

Economy Breakfast

Enough to sustain, but nothing to celebrate. The service was good. And we arrived in a downpour, tired but ready to get to our destination…only a 2.5 hour drive away.

Back on Ground

We booked our transportation through Xplore Fiji. The driver was waiting for us when we arrived at the baggage claim. We would definitely recommend the service. Despite being Easter Sunday, we stopped at a place about 20 minutes from the airport for coffee and breakfast pastries. The coffee didn’t stand a chance against the jetlag, and after another 15 minutes fell asleep until about 15 minutes from Nanuku.

Pulling into the resort was a great feeling. A flight from Minnesota to California. A long layover and some sightseeing. A long flight in economy. And a long drive to the resort. 29.5 hours. But we had made it.

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Food / Luxury Hotel / Miles & Points / Travel

About Time, A Long-Distance Trip Begins – Part 1: The Setup

January 20, 2025

Author’s Note: This trip report is being published almost a year after the trip.

While the pins in our map are starting to add up, there are still quite a few places on our “up next” list:

Scandinavia
Dominican Republic
Much of Africa
Israel/Jordan/Egypt
Portugal
Brazil & Columbia

Some of these aren’t currently a reality due to Geo-political reasons. Others would be better to do when the kids are older (hiking Kili & going on a safari, for example). And after a winter in Minnesota, the spring break travel requires a place with warmth.

Our go-to hotels to search for is typically within Hyatt footprint. With the kids, the ability to confirm a Suite Upgrade for a week is fairly important. While Hyatt ended it’s relationship with SLH in the later part of 2024, when booking this trip in 2023, there was no indication of the coming split. After having a couple amazing trips to Calala Island, we focused on other SLH properties. One in particular caught our eye: Nanuku Resort in Fiji. The accommodations looked great. It checked the warm weather box. We hadn’t been there before. And, amazingly, one of the highlights of the resort is a complimentary dedicated “Buddy” (i.e babysitter) for each kid aged 8 and below. As NSPpeanut is 8 and NSPpeanutToo is 4, could this mean that NSPwife and I might have the chance at a truly relaxing vacation?

Rooms were 25,000 Hyatt points per night. A pretty easy feat…NSPwife and I each signed up for Chase Ink cards in 2023, netting 240,000 Chase points (2 x 100K sign-up bonuses + 40K referral bonus). That meant 7 nights at Nanuku totaled only 175,000 points…leaving a good balance for other trips. One question was how to get to Fiji. Interestingly, only one airline flies to Fiji from North America: Fiji Airways. As a quasi-member of Oneworld, you can book that trip via Oneworld partners, or Alaska Airlines. Unfortunately our Alaska balance wasn’t enough to secure 4 round-trips…and we have been working towards a bank of AK miles to get to South America in style. Instead, we transferred Citi ThankYou points to Cathay Pacific, and booked 4 economy (ahhh!!!) tickets for a total of 320,000 points. The hope was that Business Class seats would occasionally pop up, and we could secure them over the 9 months between our booking and our flight departing. Taxes and fees were charged differently for kids than adults, and the total came out to $200.32.

We also had to deal with positioning flights from MSP to LAX and back. Sadly, it cost almost as many Skypesos to fly the 3 hours than it did the 11 hours to Fiji (stupid MSP Delta Cabal)!

MSP > LAX: 16,100 Delta Miles + $5.60 per person
LAX > MSP: 26,700 Delta Miles + $5.60 per person

For those keeping score, the total redemption cost:

175,000 Ultimate Rewards
320,000 Citi Thank You points
171,200 Delta Skymiles
$245.12 Cash

Cash rates for the hotel averaged just under $500/night, and the flight round-trip was about $1,100 for the same fare-class. The positioning flights were well over $600 per flight. For the trip, that equates to $3,500 for the hotel and $6,800 for flights, totaling $10,300.

There were a couple other housekeeping items we had to take care of. The first was the shoulder-nights we booked hotel rooms for, just for convenience. We had a 12-hour layover in Los Angeles on the way to Fiji, so we booked the Hyatt Regency LAX with a free category 1-4 certificate. It not only provided a great hotel shuttle, but was also a $9 Uber fare from National Rental Car, where we rented a car for the day to show the girls some parts of L.A.. We also decided to book a room at a hotel near the airport on our final day in Fiji. That would allow us to check-out from Nanuku, take the 2.5-hour drive, and then swim and relax all day, and take a shower right before the 9:40pm flight departed. We opted for the Crowne Plaza hotel due to having a free night from the IGH credit card expiring two weeks later. That’s effectively a $99 night (the annual fee for the Chase card). We opted to use a 3rd party for airport transportation. The trip from Nadi Airport to Nanuku was roughly a 2.5 hour drive. We used Xplore Fiji, which was great.

The scene was set. And we were ready to embark on the 29.5-hour journey to get to our final destination.

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Credit Cards / Luxury Hotel / Miles & Points / Travel

A Private Island on Points – Part 4: Calala Island (The Experiences)

June 18, 2023

A Private Island on Points – Part 4: Calala Island (The Experiences)
A Private Island on Points – Part 3: Calala Island (The Food)
A Private Island on Points – Part 2: Calala Island (The Island)
A Private Island on Points – Part 1: Calala Island (The Setup)

When you stay at Calala Island, the “experiences” continue to come at you. This includes not only the activities at the resort itself, but really includes all facets of the journey. It started for us in the airport in Managua. We showed up early on the morning of our flight to the Bluefields, a quick 18-minute drive from the Hyatt Place Managua (a huge difference from the hour-long ride we had in traffic at rush hour the night before). We were flying out of the domestic terminal, and a representative, Nestor, welcomed us to help check us in and get through the process. It was a bit embarrassing, as when we showed up we were taken in front of everyone already in line. Our bags were all tagged with VIP Calala Island tags, and we were quickly ushered in through security. There was a small shop that had coffee and pastries, and we helped ourselves to it while watching the tarmac, with smoke emitting from the local volcano in the distance. Quite serene.

There were two planes on the tarmac. A small plane. And the equivalent of a VW Bug with wings. My mom asked me: “which plane are we flying on?” I responded that surely it was the larger of the two. Only about a dozen people could fit in the smaller plane, and who knows where the luggage would go.

The airline staff called a number of names, and people started walking out on the tarmac towards the bigger plane. We were anxiously waiting our names to be called. After about ten minutes, I approached the desk and asked in my mediocre Spanish if we were on the list. Nope. Not our plane. OMG.

We waited another 30 minutes and then our names were called. And we walked out to the smallest plane I’ve ever been on. Obviously no real cockpit…luggage strapped in the back with bungees. School bus style seats. And the kicker? Once we took off, going due East early in the morning, the pilot put up a sunscreen which was not see-through, and the co-pilot took a binocular-looking instrument out, and cocked his head to the farthest side of the window to keep an eye on anything that might be in our way. As someone who does not like to fly, there is not enough Xanax in the world to rectify this issue.

Despite the fears, the ride was smooth, and a passing rainshower that we flew through during the descent was gone by the time we landed. We exited the plane, and walked down the tarmac, and then up a long walkway. Finally leaving the seemingly 20 sq ft airport terminal, we were met by multiple representatives from Calala, along with taxis. In the same manor of the style of plane, these taxis were smaller than Minis. They had luggage racks on top, where you threw your luggage on (no need to bungee them), and we squeezed tightly into the cars. Then began the Formula One: Bluefields edition. We raced through streets, saw schools, shops, and markets. And finally arrived at a port/marina. There was a ton of activity – not for the feint of heart. But the Calala staff whisked us to an open-top speedboat. Flying through the mangroves was a fun experience. Calala staff had bought Minnie Mouse lifevests for the kids, who had an amazing time on the journey. The weather was good, until it wasn’t. But the downpour for 15 minutes added to the adventure, and the kids thought it was the funniest thing in the world. They whipped out ponchos for everyone and we braved the madness.

The clouds then cleared, and the sun was shining as we approached the island. The entire staff was awaiting for us on the dock, with flowers, acoustic guitar playing music, and coconuts. We had arrived, and already had a half a dozen memories.

On the island, everything is unique. Want to kayak? Just ask and they will grab them. You can even compete to try and be the fastest kayaker around the island. Hungry? Ask for anything, anytime. Feel like lobster or fish? They will grab them from the ocean and cook them up. Or do you want to grab the lobsters or go fishing? Just ask!

Feel like a massage? Karen is fantastic. And if you have kids, and want Karen to watch them, she is happy to do so (babysitting fees apply). How about showing up to dinner for a Rum Tasting Experience? Check. Want to learn how to make your own wood-fired pizza? Check. Want to select from multiple coffee beans for your coffee the following morning? Check. Here’s a short list of other experiences on the island:

Cooking Lessons
Returning to your room after dinner to receive a gift each night, plus towel animals – a different once each night
Have kids? One day they put together a treasure hunt, with buried treasure and all
Multiple culinary experiences
Paddle boarding
Linefishing
Kayaking
Turtle Hatching (based on time of season and luck!)
Snorkeling
Cigar Smoking
Swings in the water? Hammock on the beach? Rest in the villa? There’s no shortage of relaxing places to decompress

There are only two things that are not optimal: First, while WiFi is good enough to do most things, it is not 100% consistent. Second, there is no gym, and the island really isn’t big enough to truly exercise. Bring a jump rope or swim some laps if you are interested in working out!