Review: Down Under Cruise And Dive – A Great Barrier Reef Snorkeling Adventure

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

So my Mom and I were originally going to do a retirement victory lap around the world to celebrate my retirement in 2020. Obviously that didn’t happen 🙂 . But the main point of that trip was to go to Australia for the first time specifically to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef – a bucket list item for both of us.

Well after the pandemic calmed down, we finally made that trip in September 2023! However, because it’s us and we have not had the best travel luck, there was a fly in the ointment. A few days before we were set to go snorkeling on the reef, we heard from our contact that it might not happen because there were high winds as well as the king tides and visibility would be low so basically, even if we went to that spot, we might not be able to see anything. BUMMER! Continue reading “Review: Down Under Cruise And Dive – A Great Barrier Reef Snorkeling Adventure” →

The Month Of Costa Rica: February 2024 Recap

by A Purple Life, posted in Blogging, Early Retirement Updates, Film, Finance, Fitness, Food, Hobbies, Investing, Keto, Net Worth Update, Spending, Travel

What even is time 🙂 ? I feel like I just updated y’all about 2023 and here we are in the 3rd month of 2024. I keep waiting for time to make sense, but I think I’ve been having too much fun so it keeps flying by. I remember when months would drag on and feel like 100 years when I was working.

I guess I should just count my blessings instead of always being baffled by time passing so quickly these days. Lessons learned 🙂 . So let’s see what I got up to in February!

Continue reading “The Month Of Costa Rica: February 2024 Recap” →

Review: Virgin Australia Business Class

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

I’m always curious about airlines I’ve never flown before. So in my typical neurotic fashion, I always Google around to find reviews of new airlines before I fly them. And in the interest of helping anyone else that’s like me out there, this is my experience flying Virgin Australia for the first time.

However, I have flown Virgin Atlantic before. I flew Business Class to London for a weekend before I discovered travel hacking (unfortunately you read that right). Continue reading “Review: Virgin Australia Business Class” →

Is The Prime Visa Credit Card Worth It?

by A Purple Life, posted in Personal Finance Reviews, Reviews

I’ve mentioned before that I have a complicated relationship with Amazon. I don’t agree with how they treat their warehouse workers, but I do buy things from them on occasion when I can’t find what I need locally (I’m obviously not perfect – just always trying to be better) .

So with that in mind, here’s something interesting that happened during a recent Amazon purchase of mine. I was checking out with an order of a little over $100 when a promo popped up. Usually I ignore everything extra Amazon tries to push on me, but this time I paused. They were offering $100 to open a no annual fee credit card…enough to almost pay for my entire purchase. Continue reading “Is The Prime Visa Credit Card Worth It?” →

Review: Dashing Diva Gloss Nail Stickers – A Nomad Beauty Revelation

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

So I love having my nails painted. I feel fancy for some reason and I like it as an option for self-expression. However, the fact that I’m a full-time nomad and move every month, has made it challenging to always travel with the accouterment I need to do my own nails. Continue reading “Review: Dashing Diva Gloss Nail Stickers – A Nomad Beauty Revelation” →

The Month Of Family: January 2024 Recap

by A Purple Life, posted in Blogging, Early Retirement Updates, Film, Finance, Fitness, Food, Hobbies, Keto, Net Worth Update, Spending, Travel

Welcome to another monthly recap of what I’ve been up to during my 4th year of early retirement 🙂 . I’m currently writing this while sitting in the sun in our Costa Rica Airbnb staring at the lush green mountains that surround San José. But for the sake of accuracy, let’s turn back the clock to see what I was up to during most of January, which overall involved freezing my ass off in the northeast US 🙂 . Let’s get into it!

Continue reading “The Month Of Family: January 2024 Recap” →

How I Read 250 Books For $8 In 2023

by A Purple Life, posted in Finance, Hobbies, Spending

After reading 52 non-fiction books in 2021 and 100 total books in 2022, I decided to read less in 2023 and focus on video games. And I failed 🙂 . Instead of reading less, I accidentally read 250 books in 2023 – a number my brain can barely fathom. Continue reading “How I Read 250 Books For $8 In 2023” →

Lessons Learned After 9 Years Of Blog Writing

by A Purple Life, posted in Blogging, Hobbies

Well, I’m still here 🙂 . I’ve now been writing on this blog for 9 years and it continues to be my longest running hobby. So on the anniversary of penning my first words for this blog, I like to reflect on the past year and if I’ve learned anything new about writing. So let’s get into what I experienced and learned in the last 12 months. Continue reading “Lessons Learned After 9 Years Of Blog Writing” →