Category: Travel Reviews

Review: 33 Hours In Singapore Air Business Class – $7,734 of Flights for $75 [Part 1]

by A Purple Life, posted in Reviews, Travel, Travel Hacking, Travel Reviews

A series of unfortunate events happened to my Mom and my Singapore Air flights to and from Australia/New Zealand in the fall of 2023.

As I mentioned in previous posts, we had planned to enjoy 24+ hours in the wild Singapore Air A380 First Class Suites, but instead, because of changes to Singapore’s fleet, we experienced their First Class for the first time, had a shorter visit in the First Class Suites and then experienced this fascinating 33 hour itinerary in Business Class. Continue reading “Review: 33 Hours In Singapore Air Business Class – $7,734 of Flights for $75 [Part 1]” →

Slow Travel Review: San José, Costa Rica – The Land Of Pura Vida

by A Purple Life, posted in Budget Check-In, Finance, Food, Reviews, Spending, Travel, Travel Reviews

So I mentioned in my monthly recaps while in Costa Rica all the reasons that I chose to move there for over 2 months, but one of those was because I was shocked at how affordable it was to get there.

I’ve worked out that my flights are usually $200 one-way anywhere in the US. I’m able to get those prices even for longer flights because I book early and I am able to plan my travels around when flight prices are lower. However, despite Costa Rica being way farther than any location in the US, it only cost me about $200 to get there.

Specifically I paid $201.78 on American Airlines to fly from Albany, NY to San José, Costa Rica and $232.34 to fly from San José to Austin, Texas on COPA Airlines to see the Solar Eclipse. Continue reading “Slow Travel Review: San José, Costa Rica – The Land Of Pura Vida” →

Review: Greyhound/FlixBus – Albany, NY to Montréal, Canada

by A Purple Life, posted in Reviews, Travel, Travel Reviews

I’m here today with another travel saga for you. But first, I need to set the stage. In my retirement I’ve been chasing the sun. I prefer to go places that are 70 and sunny and move around the country and the world following that climate.

A few years ago I realized that even the Northeastern US was getting a bit too hot for me in the summer and I knew I never wanted to experience a hot as hell Georgia summer again if I could help it 🙂 . So I looked for another destination. Enter: Montréal, Canada 🙂 . Continue reading “Review: Greyhound/FlixBus – Albany, NY to Montréal, Canada” →

Review: Qantas Domestic Business Class

by A Purple Life, posted in Reviews, Travel, Travel Hacking, Travel Reviews

Here’s another travel saga for you 🙂 . So my Mom and I originally booked a non-stop flight from Cairns (CNS) to Sydney (SYD) as part of our trip Down Under. However, a few months before the flight, we got an email that the non-stop flight we had booked no longer existed and we were now stopping in Brisbane along the way.

Later research would uncover that we wouldn’t be able to make the other non-stop flights on that day. So it’s good that we had built wiggle room into our plan because we had just turned one flight into two. Continue reading “Review: Qantas Domestic Business Class” →

My Favorite Travel Tools Of 2024

by A Purple Life, posted in Reviews, Travel, Travel Reviews

Our world keeps changing and in a lot of ways that’s a good thing 🙂 . I continue to be amazed by new free tools I find online that help make my travel easier. Some of these have launched recently and some have been around for a while and I just had no idea.

I’ve talked in the past about travel tools that help me live my full-time nomad life in the posts below: Continue reading “My Favorite Travel Tools Of 2024” →

Review: Qantas International Business Class

by A Purple Life, posted in Reviews, Travel, Travel Hacking, Travel Reviews

This is a bit of a saga 🙂 . During my Mom and my trip Down Under, we decided to give a new-to-us airline a chance: LATAM. But as you can see from the title, this isn’t a review of that airline. So what happened? 🙂

We booked a flight from Sydney, Australia to Auckland, New Zealand, 10 months in advance. And a few hours before our flight, we received a text message from LATAM that said our flight had been canceled and asked if we wanted a refund. No flight alternatives were given. WHAT. THE. FUCK?!?!?!?! Continue reading “Review: Qantas International Business Class” →

Review: COPA Airlines – A Panamanian Gem

by A Purple Life, posted in Reviews, Travel, Travel Reviews

So I’m a creature of habit. I follow the “better the devil you know” guideline when it comes to things like airlines and rarely branch out unless I’ve received a recommendation from someone I trust. And even then, I do lots of research on the airline before committing to barreling through the sky with them.

When I was looking into an airline to take from Costa Rica back to the states in time to catch my first Total Solar Eclipse, COPA Airlines kept coming up. I knew that a few of my friends had flown them before, but wasn’t sure if it was for me. They’re a Panamanian airline and my flight would backtrack a bit to Panama before continuing on straight to Austin, Texas. Continue reading “Review: COPA Airlines – A Panamanian Gem” →

Review: Air New Zealand

by A Purple Life, posted in Reviews, Travel, Travel Hacking, Travel Reviews

I’m always curious about airlines I’ve never flown before. And in my typical neurotic fashion, I always search around to find reviews of new airlines before I fly them. So in the interest of helping anyone else that’s like me out there, this is my experience flying Air New Zealand for the first time. Continue reading “Review: Air New Zealand” →