Onboard the Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2), Dubai

We celebrated Halloween this year with a mini staycation onboard the QE2 in Dubai. We booked their Halloween promo which included the “haunted tour below the decks”, a night’s stay, breakfast, and Halloween brunch, for two. 🎃The QE2 was once a Cunard cruise ship and liner before retiring in 2008. It operated between 1969 and…

Zaya Nurai Island – “the Maldives of the UAE”

I had the privilege of visiting Zaya Nurai Island twice this year. This luxury private island off the main part of Abu Dhabi is something I would class as a “hidden gem” and a “must-do” when visiting or living in Abu Dhabi. I would rank this experience in my Top 3 places worth visiting and seeing…

Ladies’ Nights in Abu Dhabi

Ladies' Nights are wonderful in Abu Dhabi. They are different to ones I've seen and been to around the world because they usually involve FREE drinks and sometimes, some free food! There are no other T&Cs apart from you a) have to be female, b) be of legal drinking age, c) go on/at the right…

Applying for a New York State Driver License as an expat

Do you want to transfer/convert/exchange your Australian Driver License (or nearly any other nationality license) for a New York State license? According to the New York DMV site: “You can drive in New York State with a valid driver license from another country. You don’t need to apply for a New York State driver license…

FreshDirect Thanksgiving Dinner Feast Kit

This is a review for the small 2016 FreshDirect Thanksgiving Feast kit. I am posting early so that people (in New York area) that like to plan ahead (like me) can consider this as an option! Our first Thanksgiving in New York was in 2015 when we went to the Thanksgiving Day Parade. That year…

My trip to Austin & Dallas, Texas

It actually wasn't that long ago I went to Texas. In fact it was only a couple of weeks ago (from Wednesday 28 June to Sun 2 July). As part of my new job (yes, I will post about that one day) I was sent to Dallas for a couple of nights so I decided…

Celebrity Equinox – 11 night Southern Caribbean (May 15-26)

We booked our 11 night Southern Caribbean cruise with Celebrity back in July 2016 via http://www.crucon.com during one of their big sales. Celebrity Cruises and Crucon.com had an amazing deal for this cruise onboard the Celebrity Equinox because it was originally supposed to sail around Europe. So, when Celebrity canceled the Europe route, they had to…

Celebrity Equinox – Dutch or French? St Maarten or St Martin?

Husband and I were in St Maarten in 2008. During Hurricane Omar. We visited the island with Husband’s parents and stayed at the Royal Palm Beach Resort (I think – I mean, it was almost 10 years ago!). What I did remember from the trip, apart from buying a lot of ice cream, watching the…

Sailing around St Lucia (with “No Links” tour)

We docked at Castries in St Lucia with the plan to get a tour from a local operator so we’d see parts of the island. We had decided to look for a tour with the Welsh couple we made friends with on board the ship. Once inside the terminal we had many options. Hmmm… that’s…

Celebrity Equinox – Trekking around Barbados

We docked at Bridgetown, Barbados. The terminal was a bit more developed looking compared to the other ports we’d stopped at. The terminal featured a lot of little stores selling duty free items, souvenirs, cigarettes, ice-cream, and alcohol. The taxi and tour operators were available once we stepped out of the small shopping area. At…

Celebrity Equinox – In love with Valley Church Beach, Antigua

We arrived at St John’s, Antigua without much of a plan. The Fodor’s guide suggested that if we didn’t want to travel too far to a beach to go to Dickenson Bay (10-minute taxi ride). Husband and I decided that we didn’t want to travel too far from the ship so both agreed to go…

Celebrity Equinox – Our tour of Virgin Gorda Baths – British Virgin Islands

Our Celebrity cruise docked at Tortola, British Virgin Islands and went on a shore excursion booked through Celebrity. The tour was called the “Tour of Virgin Gorda Baths” which was 4.5 hours long, and advertised as strenuous but the photos I found on the internet made it look appealing enough for me just do the…

DIY Beach Hopping on St. Thomas – Coki Beach, Sapphire Beach & Magens Bay Beach

St Thomas has two cruise ports. Celebrity usually docks at Havensight port however we docked at Crown Bay port the day we arrived. Husband and I decided not to book any cruise shore excursions and to play our luck with catching taxis around to different beaches. When we docked, we walked off the ship to…

Yatala Pies, Brisbane

On our last visit to Brisbane in March, Husband and I stopped off at the famous Yatala Pies. I love a good meat pie and Yatala Pies are great. But for all those that don't eat meat, Yatala do a great assortment of sweet pies. The menu is quite extensive and feature flavours from the…

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert & Stevie Wonder

This is a story about really, really good luck. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert studio is just around the corner from our apartment. Husband and I walk past huge lines of people waiting outside the venue. Last year, I thought that I should finally start applying for all the live show filmings around New…

2016 PaleyFest – Elementary & Gotham

What is the PaleyFest? The PaleyFest: Made in New York was an organized event by the Paley Center for Media. The event ran over a couple of weeks in October 2016. Actors from different TV shows filmed in New York came out to discuss their show on stage. Fans got to see a screening of…

NYC Speakeasy bars

Finding the NYC speakeasy bars was one of my NYC bucket list to-do's. What is a speakeasy bar? It is an establishment that sold alcohol during the Prohibition which meant they were out of sight (hidden) from the general public. How did you come to the list above? I collected a list of bars from…

Jean George, NYC

Eek, this post is long overdue! Especially since our 3rd wedding anniversary is coming around the corner! I gave Husband a cotton shirt with a panda on it as his 2nd wedding anniversary gift, because in the US the 2nd year gift is cotton. Husband's parents had gifted us a restaurant gift voucher at Christmas…

The Circle Line tour – The Best of NYC

Alright people.. are you ready for an overload of photos and gifs? On Easter Sunday, Husband and I went on the famous Circle Line tour. I took over 300 photos and 20 videos. To get the 40 photos below, I painfully went through each one and edited the ones I chose. Urgh... I could never…

A Visit To Coney Island

Coney Island has always been on my NYC bucket list, and on Easter Saturday I was able to tick it off. Husband and I caught the Q train from 57th Street station straight down to Ocean Parkway station. It took roughly an hour each way, and for some reason, the subway wasn’t very busy during…