Day 4 

Our fourth day in Singapore was super busy.  We were heading to Sentosa Island for Universal Studios Singapore.  But we started out by heading to the Mount Faber Cable Car ride to Sentosa Island. It's a neat view of the city and the man made island.  Cost $28 SGD and included on the Go City Card. 

We then did the Sky Helix  at the sentose cable car station cost $18 SGD and included on the Go City Card.  We also did the 4d ride cost $30 SGD included and the Luge  but not included with the go city card so we paid $88 total for 4 of us.  The luge is basically think a downhill non snow sled ride.  The kids had a great time.

Then we cable car to Resort World Universal Studios.  The cost? $80 SGD but included in the Go City.  We got there around 1 pm but had lunch first outside at their malaysian food court.  Again pricey since it's universal (cheap compared to North America) but expensive for the area.

What was Universal like?  It was pretty crowded but overall fun.  A super small park easily doable in 1 day.  We rode like 3 rides and enjoyed the singapore foods with a twist.  Just like Mcdonald's. 

We left around 5 pm riding the monorail back to Singapore island.  We had to use all forms of transit - cable car, monorail, bus, and uber that day!  Anyway we had dinner again this time at the Suntec Food Court and Monster Curry.  Running total for the day $138 + $357 SGD = $495 SGD.  

Would we have done so much without the card?  Probably not.  Mostly because we wouldn't have gone to Universal.  $80 for a pretty small park.  But included?  For sure.

We had a lovely trip to Singapore and Thailand at the end of August. I'll post some photos and notes in the next few days.  But I have to write a bit about my experience reading blogs about travel and traveling with kids.

I read a lot of posts about "saving" money while traveilng.  Mostly about transportation cost, using miles, hotels, etc.  Of course there are a bunch of bloggers writing about traveling with kids first class because of miles and getting free airline hotel comps or cruise comps.  They aren't exactly average joes looking for a deal.  Their job is blogging and ads and evaluating where they are going.  So it's not really easy to discern how expensive traveling with kids is or how easy or hard it really.  And of course there are a ton of bloggers who are single or couples doing it super cheap not constrained by school schedules and use to paying for a family of four.

So I just wanted to put it out there reality wise for all those blogs I read about food, transportation, etc.

1.  When you travel as a family of 4 or 5, sometimes it's cheaper to use a cab.  No public transit is not cheaper.  I can prove it with my uber rides versus paying $2 a person for a one way subway and having to walk.  We did use the subway/bus/walk because of the experience and fun.  But the truth is that with 4 people it's often more economical to use a grab.  I made a conscious decision not to buy a $5 transit pass card because I suspected that using ubers would be more efficient and I was right.

Also after a long day it's often times easier to go straight back and not waste an extra 30-60 minutes navigating a subway/walking/waiting with kids and maximize rest times.

2. Hotels often in Europe and Asia are built for 2. It's way more expensive and harder to find rooms accomodating families.  You can easily get 2 rooms but then you are sharing with one adult one kid.  The rooms are smaller and meant for couples.

3. Food stalls are awesome as a single or couple. It's somewhat painful to go eat at food courts with a family where you have to get your kids food, navigate a seat, get your food, and navigate trying to accomodate everything.

4. Kids need down time. Even older kids aren't as resilient as adults.  A lot of flexibility and change need to happen.

5. Carrying around a lot more and spending more. I already had a backpack on the entire time filled with sunscreen, 1 water bottle, napkins, tissues, hand sanitizer.  And I still spent more than those couples/singles with their one bottle. I bought from vending machines and 7-11 drinks because it's awful to carry around 4 drinks.  I learned that years ago.  1 bottle of water to refill in case of emergency and you buy everything else you need along the way.  Water/drinks are cheap compared to the effort of carrying it.

6. Food - i missed the michelin star food hawker stalls in singapore because trying to find it and wait in line impossible. I had fantastic food and we had a fabulous time, but as a family? You have to let go and go with the flow rather than making perfection happen.

7. Sometimes you just do the experience in front of you instead of what you planned.  There were all these itineraries of "travel" warriors for seeing everything.  Couldn't be done with my two kids ages 11 and 13.  They just couldn't hack those days.  Our itinerary was jammed packed for a family, but it still didn't come close to what bloggers write.

8.  I paid extra to sit up front in economy going and we lucked out to have no one sitting next to DH and DK1 grabbed and empty row.  Coming back I forked over $450 per person for economy plus on our mileage tickets and it was worth every penny.  

9.  Find a hotel with an amazing pool.  We had three crazy pools and it was incredible.  We needed downtime to just relax.

10.  When you land you pay a premium to eat either in the hotel as a family or nearby but often you are too exhausted to care where or what you eat.  Our most expensive meals were when we couldn't move.

I just had to post a few thoughts on traveling with kids.  I guess I found myself a bit cynical after reading a lot of blogs about itineraries and ideas.  But none really hit on traveling with kids.  

FWIW, it's awesome and fun to travel with our kids.  We always have a blast and our experiences if you've read my blog the photos have been good.  But for anyone who thinks it's what other bloggers write? Or try to experience or do it on the cheap?

It's not.  Even reading about people going to disney?  There are way to do it cheaper but cheap? Or to do it the way some single or couples do it?  with a family?  Impossible.  So cut yourself a break and enjoy the ride.

So how good of a deal did I get?  Well last week I managed to book me and the two kids round trip tickets to hawaii for $655 total for 3 people.  That works out to $218 per person round trip.

Alaska airlines was having a 2 day sale for BOGO to and from Kona.  So the price of our one way ticket was $103 per person.  That is $309 for all three of us returning from Kona.  Then going the same thing happened except it was $347 for 3 of us or $115 per person.   I had already reduced our fare a couple weeks ago to $200 one way pers person so our total trip already was $1200 for the three of us.  Now I got it almost 50% off.

I sent it to my friends but some people can't get out of their own way.  Instead they kept their booked tickets and paid $600 per person to go to hawaii.  I get it.   Once you book your tickets the idea of sitting there and snagging a deal is hard to wrap your head around.

This is the reason why booking the main cabin tickets for $40 per person with seat selection is worth it. If you buy saver fares you have to pay $150 to make a change. Instead you can cancel your ticket and use the credit to buy the new cheaper tickets. Or if you are hesitant if you talk with the airlines or through chat you are able to get them to give you airline credit for the overage.  I currently have around $679 in alaska wallet credit to be used in the future.   

So sometimes it's worth checking airfare much like checking the pricing of a hotel room or car rental.

So I guess I'm sort of becoming one of those points people.  I had to unfortunately cancel our WDW at the end of august but DH said he still wanted to do something.  Why?  Because he wanted to relax and he had been looking forward to something.  So I had to come up with something that seemed fun but not as strenous.

So interestingly I found a us tickets to singapore. I managed to use miles on Alaska to fly to singpore for me and the two kids at 47.5k miles each.  Then on the return I managed to use 58k miles on united for us to fly back.  The fees for all of this was $216.50.  We have layovers going through LAX and returning through SFO.  I paid $50 each = $150 for us to choose our seats going.  DH I bought his tickets same flights with seat selection for $1649.65 for a grand total of $2060 for 4 round trip tickets.  Then we are going for 4 days and three nights to Krabi, Thailand.  Roundtrip those tickets with seats for 4 were $544.74.  Our flights total was $2605.54.  

I tentatively have booked a hotel for one night before we leave, 3 nights in Krabi, and I'm waiting for a few more miles to seal the hotel we want in singapore for points mostly.  The krabi was $2318 for 3 nights, i'm not sure if we should spend that much.  It's a lot because we needed 2 rooms.  In asia it's very common to not be able to fit a family of 4 in 1 room. So you typically need to book two rooms.  The beds and rooms are small.  There are other cheaper hotels so I haven't decided yet if we are keeping this "resort" style hotel or downgrading.  I also booked our last night in Singapore somewhere fancy and that was $844.59.  That I think we are keeping.  That indulgence had been suggested to us and I really do want to stay there. 

So for hotels so far $3163.57 plus the points for the other 5 nights and $400 cash at a marriott.  What's left?  I was looking at GoCitycards, about $1000 USD for activities, $320 for upgraded singapore universal passes (only me and the kids).  DH will likely just walk around and not ride anything.  Amusement parks in Asia are different and very interesting.  The food is really fun and cool and so different.  Typically the parks are busy but not crazy like the US, probably because it's not a "thing" in asia.  But we like to see their take on amusement parks.

Then food in singapore and thailand? I plan on a couple of michelin restaurants but they are going to be the food stalls. I am not sure I feel like eating at a super fancy or expensive michelin place with the kids.  And typically in Asia we tend to just stop and eat whatever looks interesting.  And food is usually so good and so cheap.  

My goal had been under $5k.  If I cancel the krabi hotel and go to a really cheap hotel (I am out of points) I think we could do it.  But I'm not sure I want to do that.  I spent more than i was expecting on flights around $2500.  When I started pricing it out I thought I could do it for $1000. But DH flights and paying for seat selections ended up more than I thought.

But we'll see.  I'm sure people are curious how much bang for the buck I can get.  Personally I got a lot of bang I feel from my miles for 3 of our tickets.  And our hotel points I also got a lot of bang for the buck so far.

We've been pretty good about covid these past 2.5 years.  I think we are done for knock on wood.  About to leave for a trip and I'm pretty sure that my DK1 got covid from a friend.  We tested daily for the past 8 days and no symptoms for her.   But I woke up feeling tired.  I don't know if it's stress or prelude to covid.  My guess is she was positive earlier in the week and asymptomatic but vaccines worked and she didn't have high enough levels to detect it.  I have no idea.  I tested again today and we were all negative.  The naat thursday said negative.  But I just feel tired but could be stress over all of this.

Looks like the market rebounded slightly. I have nothing to report other than I am looking forward to a week away.  I hope to just chill.

We've lost $300k on retirement alone and $100k on our taxable accounts.  We were very aggressively invested in our retirement accounts.  Say La Vie.  We have a long time until we retire.

We went to Las Vegas for the weekend and it was a lot of fun.  We had a great time with the kids.  While people don't think Las Vegas is kid friendly we found it to be.  It was a lot of fun.  We also spent a ton of money but that's what we chose to do. I think Vegas can be done cheaper especially the eating out and activities.

Prepaids $1668 for 4 flights, $1214 for Hotel, $1021 for O show, $253 Blue Man Group, and $688 for Go City Las Vegas Card = $4845 before we landed had been spent.  So not exactly cheap for a trip, but we were ready for fun.  I rented a car the first day so we could go to dinner, fremont experience and pick up friends from the airport.  That was $15 parking, $18.34 car rental ($40 free expedia point i had been trying to use), $8.50 gas, and $4 parking.  One day car rental then we used uber/lyft, taxi the rest of the time. 

We paid $171.97 for the rest of the days for uber including a $25 tip to the airport when the driver stopped and allowed us to grab our luggage from the hotel, drove to front, then loaded it, and waited for us to get it from bellhop.  He made the same as driving in tip.  He didn't have to but it was super nice of him.  We also tipped $5 to the maids daily in cash and a few other cash, so i'm unsure where the $120 in cash I had went (likely tips).  

The kids bought a necklace and MM and $10 games for $59.40.  That was the extent of our shopping except for some sunscreen and lotion from CVS.  We did only handcarry after all.  We also spent $5 gambling.  

Our biggest expense was eating out for $1914.37 for 6 days family of four.  That averages out to be $319/day.  Yikes.  I know we skewed it with a few fancier meals $362 morimotos (for adult couple only), $260 for Wynn Buffet dinner, $249 at hotel for drinks at cabana/pool, hotel.  So $1043 really for most meals I would guess $173/day for family of four sounds more in line. 

But the buffet (which wasn't great for the price and I am not a huge fan of buffets to begin with) the kids loved it. They had been asking about going to a buffet and on the last night we had a reservation at one of two open dinner buffets and they had a GREAT time.  They ate well (not the value of their $40 dinner) but they did try at least 1 new thing and surprised themselves by eating so many different varieties of food they normally wouldn't eat.  It was a lot of fun and we spent the full 2 hours eating and relaxing.  That day was ridiculous because we rented a cabana by the pool all day 9 am - 5 pm then uber to and from the wynn and sat and ate dinner and that was it.  The DH and kids had a blast.  Buffets are not good value and are not good food.  But they are fun and they are easy with a large group.  So you suck it up and go. 

Maybe I'll post some pictures.  We did a lot of touristy things with the kids like marvel station, linq zipline/high roller, helicopter ride over strip, bus tour, illuminarium, ny nyn roller coaster, excalibur 4d movie.  So overall the kids had a great time.  But it was not a cheap weekend.  $7705 all in for the family of four for 6 days.  And that is gambling with $5.  Had we been into gambling (mostly my DH, I wanted to but he kept saying no), then it would have cost us more.  But I have to say I loved it.  I liked the heat, the nightlife, the energy.  I can see why everyone from hawaii loves it and it's the 9th island.  Totally my cup of tea.  My family had a great time.  I think it could turn into an annual trip to seea a show, eat some buffet (yuck), and hang out.

So I don't understand how people who have a family of four talk about how cheap it is to travel.  Okay maybe if we only used points for every plane ticket.  But how do you get so many tickets to travel every year if you aren't a big spender and no longer have work travel to help gain points?  I don't get it at all.  

We are planning on a 5 day trip to Las Vegas.  Tickets for the family will be $1669 roundtrip for 4.  Hotel will be $1215.  So before we step foot there we are out of pocket $2884.  So people who go for a week to europe or anywhere I always wonder how? I mean the only answer I have is that they get free hotels and free airfare because I can't seem to figure out how else to stay under $3k for a family of 4 on airline tickets.

That being said we  bought tickets to O for $1021 for the 4 fof us.  I'm also considering the go las vegas card for $900 for the 4 of us and it includes the blue man group, hoover dam (No one wants to do this with me) and a bunch of other activities.

I also just bought tickets to hawaii for our summer trip.  $588 for DK1 and DH, but his was using chase sapphire preferred points of 47,040 points.  I used a coupon and some discount codes we had for $614.73 for me and DK2 using a companion fare and codes.  So far we ar in for $1202.73.  Of course our lodging is covered mostly and we may go stay in a different city in hawaii for a few days so we will have hotel and rental car.  And of course I spend a lot on eating out and paying when we go so there is that.  But again How do you go for a week and spend $3k or less for a family of four when hotels are solidely $250-300/night other than free flights and hotels?

I also used our miles to fly to Canada this summer, unfortunately it's only booked 1 way so far to go to DH's cousins wedding.  We I need to figure out how to transfer more miles to use miles to fly back.  Although on a budget airlines the airline tickets are pretty cheap so maybe that would be worth it.  I also paid for 50% of the airbnb which I need to figure out if we are staying only there.

What are you thinking for travel?

Well at least for us.  I booked a ton of reservations.  It's interesting that I decided that 2022 is it.   Started with Christmas 2021.  We are going back to Hawaii. I booked using a combination of miles and points.  Then I booked our tickets in February 2022 to Mexico.  Using the travel companion fare on Alaska it was $1500 for the 4 of us on the only direct flight.  We also paid for today our friend's timeshare for $1800 for the week.  It's a very fancy resort and for $1800 we got a 2 bedroom suite.  That is huge considering that $250/night is not unreasonable nowadays especially for a 2 bedroom suite which technically can fit another family.  If we wanted to save money we could easily invite another family for $800 for the week.

Finally I booked a flight to Canada for DH's cousin's wedding.  I finally snatched up and used our united airlines miles.  So we booked 4 tickets for $12 each and 26k miles.  Considering we've been sitting on our miles for years and never earning or using them.  I'm glad to be over and done.  1 less account to worry about.   We basically now always fly hawaiian or Alaska mostly because we want to fly direct.  Flying direct is a premium always.  This is also why using our unused miles is so nice.  We get to use miles we don't earn anymore and we get the only direct flight considering alaska didn't have any direct flights!

I am so excited right now.  Last hold up is DH's passport.  He sent it off for renewal this month and they said 18 weeks.  That puts him at January.  But I think we should be fine by then.  

Can you feel the energy?  I think life is getting back to normal.

So we went away this weekend and I haven't quite sorted out everything on that.  However I did manage to compile some.  So here is our spending for the month so far.

$252.40 for Groceries
$20.50 Eating out
$70.92 Alcohol
$66.09 Dog
$45.57 Gas
$427.31 Utilities (water, internet, xm subscription)
$14.90 Home Depot
$35.27 Haircuts
$6.60 Auto (windshield blades)
$77.13 Home Goods
$75.57 Gifts (Bought some stuff)
$9.61 Misc
$173.49 Kids ($135 piano lessons)
$71.56 Gas for road Trip
$494.79 eating out for trip/musuem/activities etc
Total $1841.39 so far for the month

So we are settling up the groceries for the VRBO with friends.  Personally I budgeted $1000 for the weekend and we will come in under.  I think the groceries and couple of meals out shared will be ~$250.  Also it doesn't include our share of the VRBO of $710 which I paid last month.  Personally I know we spent more on the weekend doing it with friends.  

I found it difficult to travel with one of the families and I won't be doing a VRBO again with them. I don't think we mesh well.  We haven't traveled together last summer in a road trip but we had our own rooms and kept food separate. I hadn't ever agreed to a VRBO before and now I know why I didn't.  They totally waste food and run up bills and don't care.  They have too much money and not enough time.  Even if we have money I can't stomach watching the food just get thrown away and wasted on such a large scale.  There is no scaling back excess.  I think it's better we keep things separate and try to separate out our eating.  

And example of the excess, the morning we left we got take out breakfast from a cafe they wanted to try.  LAL's family ordered 1 order of Eggs benedict came with side of 3 pancakes.  We shared that for 4 of us.  DH and I split eggs and kids ate the pancakes and fruit and yogurt at the VRBO.  2nd family (the shoppers) ordered 2 adult meals for the 4 of them and they mostly finished it.  The KUWJ family ordered 4 meals and threw away 50% of each meal if not more.  This is standard for them.  Even cooked meals they will serve their kids enormous portions then throw out whatever they don't eat.  There is no sensitivity that others probably want a portion.  I don't know that we can travel so up close and personal again.  I will also add that I realize I'm picky and this was my 1st and only trip we will be doing a VRBO with anyone again.  I suspect we'll only do hotels and keep things to ourselves.  

But otherwise it was fun.  FWIW we have traveled with Shoppers before multiple times and they are more along our lines of spending.  They do spend more than we do, but they are typically pretty thoughtful.  They realize they are traveling so they watch how they order so they don't waste food. They typically aren't just in excess of life and just throwing money around.  Everything is thoughtful.  Yes they spend money but they don't just waste it.  I can't explain the difference.  I

guess it's where they look for a good deal on a hotel "the shoppers" but the KUWJ just book the nicest place possible and to them $500-1000/night is normal.  The Shoppers will see $400 and be willing to ante up to stay but want to be sure it's a good "deal or value".  LAL's family?  $400?  No.  Don't want to spend that much even if we can afford it.  Goes against principals but will bend if we are traveling with other people to an extent.

Overall we had fun.  Next trip planned?  Camping at a family Camp May 21st Friday to Sunday.  Then a second camping weekend 6/4-6/6.  We are paying more than normal because we're "camping" in a cabin at a YMCA.  Basically renting a cabin they usually use for overnight summer camps.  Should be fun.  We are provided food and activities.  These are local camps and if our kids like it maybe they will want to do an overnight camp one day.

This month we are also booking 1 week of summer camp. 

So we obviously flew to hawaii for Christmas.  We spent 3 weeks and when we went we tested 72 hours before for a negative test.  It was good we got our results back 24 hours after our test.  Anyway we flew out and the airport was empty.  It took us about 15 minutes from car to gate.  We arrived at the airport 1:45 minutes before our flight.  We arrived at the gate 1:30 minutes before the flight.  We then took 20 minutes standing in line at the gate to get our pre-clear bracelets from alaska.  This was to allow us the opportunity to bypass the forms in hawaii.  We wore kn95 masks and disposable kid masks, face shields, and gloves.  We then sat down, I bought a water and we went to the bathroom.  We were on a 5 pm flight PST arriving in hawaii 9 pm HST.  It was a total of 6 hours on the plan and 2.5 hours extra in airport.

So the airport wasn't busy.  But airlines started boarding 1 hour before departure.  They were supposed to board 40 minutes but they started early because they were boarding by rows.  Also the middle seats weren't sold so there should have been less people.  Actually this wasn't true. If you had bought your tickets early you were able to keep the middle if you rebooked your ticket from March-May.  

So the boarding should have been smooth but instead people were rushing.  They were called and they got up and rushed to board.  I think what happened is people were standing in line and then missed their boarding then felt pressured and naturally rushed to board.  UGH.  We were at the front having paid for the premium seats row 7.  So we waited till the very end.  Plus I was nervous about sitting on board just waiting. 

Overall it was good.  I was surprised how many people decided to use the bathroom on the plane.  The airlines handed out single packages of chex mix and one can of soda mini.  I didn't drink my drink or eat anything.  My kids only drank the soda with a straw.  We wiped down the seats, trays, seatbelts, etc.  I did test after flying and was found to be negative. I am also testing now after flying back last week. None of us have symptoms so it should be negative again.

I would not travel with children younger than my 8 and 10 year old. I think it's hard to sit there with a mask and faceshields and not eating or drinking. I think that it's hard to sit with masks and not eat or drink. I told my mom I was glad we made it but it was not an easy flight.  

I'm glad we went. My parents needed to see us.  They have been struggling so islolated and zoom is not the same.  They were so happy to see us and feel the social interactions they have been missing.  Besides the fact that my mom is used to seeing us every 6-12 weeks.  To go since Feb 2020 and no see us for 10 months was hard.  Typically she would come december, january, april, june, and october.  And we would typically go back Feb and August to see them or travel with them. So she was used to being able to be part of our lives.  It was just magnified that they were also unable to see their friends or other family. 

Hence why we decided it was worth it.  I will also say that hawaii had so many less covid cases and was mostly open that made us feel safer.  My kids loved swimming for hours a day.  They came back super tan.  We went out to eat both outdoors and indoor.  It was just felt so much more normal.  Anyway I'm hopeful that we might go back in April.

I'll write about hotels and activities later.

It's thanksgiving and it's time to be thankful for everything we have.  Yes I am frustrated with my parents.  I'm frustrated on so many levels but I decided I have to let it go. I can't stop them from going out. I can't stop them from getting on a plane and going back and forth between islands of hawaii. I can't stop them from riding the bus.  I can only say it is what it is and hope we make it out alive. I mean it makes me angry for my mom to say things like we'll "we're 90 and 69 year olds.  We've lived a good life so if we are meant to die, we die."  That's not the most positive thing I want to hear or think about but it's not worth arguing.  Nor is it worth arguing about fake news.  

I decided that I am pissed over my mom joining what I feel is a cult.  That I'm perfectly fine with legitimate values different from myself.  But watching fox news and spewing things that are completely fake news drives me crazy.  I have a lot of friends who are "republicans" and don't watch fox news and can tell me the values they have.  My mom - republican values of personal responsibility and the government doesn't get to tell me what to do.  And of course the fake news of everything else.  If she doesn't like it she pretends it's not real.  Sigh.  Again I have to "let it go."  Sometimes you can't argue with crazy.  For awhile there my mom told me that she heard covid wasn't real.  Yeah I know.  I don't know when this whole fake news will even if ever.

But I decided I need to bite my tongue and be thankful that they are healthy, we are healthy, and we stay that way.  I had a mammogram last week my first.  I was called on monday that I needed to come in for further testing. I had another mammogram and ultrasound on tuesday and luckily it's a benign cysts. I'm grateful they could fit me in the next day.  I'm glad I'm healthy. I can definitely feel the lump they are talking about and I had been panicking.  So it put into perspective. I can stay mad at my parents and think they are ridiculous.  Or I can say it is what it is.  At least they are healthy.  At least my family is healthy.

And I'm thankful that we've made it through this year and i hope to get older each and every year.  It certainly makes you appreciate everything you have.  But it also makes you appreciate how slow life has gotten with covid.  It makes you appreciate the idea that there is life outside of work.  I know the worry of the lump made my DH realize he has to slow down and stop pedal to the metal. I don't believe he works so hard because of $$.   The money he makes is a effect of him loving what he does.  But he works that hard because I think he likes the accolades and accomplishment.  That is a post for another day.

But face with our mortality?  Faced with the idea of us not being perfect?  It's hard.  It is real.  But I'm still thankful for everything I have.  Now we have to make it through thanksgiving.  DH's brother is visiting us and I'm nervous.  I'm also flying to hawaii for Christmas and nervous.  We'll see how that all goes.