Intercontinental Tahiti

My husband and I were just passing through Tahiti on our way to the island of Moorea, but we spent the night at the Intercontinental Hotel in Tahiti and it was great! We arrived really late from our flight from Hawaii. By the time we made it through customs and found a taxi to drive us to the hotel, we were exhausted. We were warmly greeted by the Intercontinental's staff even though it was late at night.

After checking in, we went off for a search of our room. The hallways were a bit of a maze, and with our tiredness, we quickly ended up lost. We did calmly retrace our steps to find more signs and finally our room. What a great room it was, with a giant comfy bed, and tropical fruit waiting for us to have a bedtime snack! Here is a picture of our comfy bed:

The next morning, I saw the gorgeous view that I captured in the first photo above. What a great way to start the day! Sadly we had to check out to catch our morning flight to Moorea, but I would love to go back to Tahiti and stay at the Intercontinental even longer.

5 Items To Bring On A Disney Trip

When you are headed on a Disney vacation, there are some items that you may want to bring along with you to have a better experience!

1.  Camera- There are many photo opportunities to have your picture taken with one of your favorite Disney characters, so make sure the camera is packed and you have an extra set of batteries just in case.  The Disney workers are very friendly and will gladly snap the photo of you and your family with your Disney character that you are visiting.

2. Autograph Book- I was sad that I yet again failed to bring along a book to collect autographs of my favorite characters.  If you do bring along an autograph book, make sure you have a pen too! Have your autograph book opened to the page you want the character to sign before you approach the character.  You do not want to hold up the line!

3.  Mouse Ears- If you already have a set of mouse ears, make sure you pack them! You will feel left out in the Disney park without your own pair! If you do not own any mouse ears, then you can purchase some at one of the Disney stores at the park like I did.

4. Good Walking Shoes- My feet were hurting by mid-afternoon and that was only half way through our Disney day.  Make sure you have the most comfortable pair of sneakers or walking shoes on because you will cover lots of ground in one day!

5. Water Bottle- It can be extremely hot while you wait in some of the lines with the sun beating down on you! Make sure you have some water in your bag or purse to pull out while you are in line to drink.  You may also want some sunscreen and sunglasses to protect you from the sun.

Have fun on your Disney adventure! Say hi to Mickey for me!

Packing For A Trip

On of the hardest, and most annoying parts of traveling is packing for the trip.  Who really wants to spend time deciding what things need to be brought along, then finding all necessary items and fitting them into the amount of luggage that you want to take along?  Here are some tips that I have learned:

1. Save Your Packing List: Since my husband and I travel a lot, you would think that this one would have been obvious to us from the beginning.  But no, I had to learn the hard way! After rewriting packing list, after packing list, it finally dawned on me to keep my packing list saved on a computer file so that I could easily find it, modify it for our upcoming trip, and begin the actual hassle of packing.

2. Have A Packing Area: Designate a certain area in your home to be the place to leave your suitcase to gather the items you are taking with you on your trip.  I usually get out my suitcase a few days up to a couple of weeks before my trip depending on the length of the trip.  I find a spot where it won't bother me or my husband and leave it open to toss items into it as I find them.

3.  Research Weight Limits and Baggage Restrictions: Every airline had different weight limits and baggage requirements, so take the time to double check them online before you start packing.  Some airlines in Europe, and probably other places in the world, have limits on the weight of your carry-on bags too.  We had to have our carry-on bags weighed in France last summer.  It is best to know in advance how much extra you would have to pay for too many or too heavy of bags so that you can budget wisely.

4. Roll Your Clothes: People are astounded when they look at our travel pictures and see that we have different outfits on for the many days that we are gone.  How are we able to take along so many clothes?  Well, we spend the time rolling up all of our clothes and making every precious space of our bag count.  Roll the clothes! It is magical how much space you will save!

5. Check Off Items As They Are Placed In Your Bags: I print off my packing list and spend the evening before a trip placing each item into my bags.  After each item is rolled and placed, I check it off of the list.  Then I go back through the list and circle any items that I missed, usually my toiletries.  I will add those items the next day before I go making sure I take the time to check them off so I am not worried on the plane about forgetting anything.

I hope you find this list helpful! Happy traveling!

Who Are Monkey and Kangaroo?

My husband doesn't like me posting too personal of information on the internet, so I have chosen names for us to protect his identity.  I'm sure you could still figure out who we are, but it makes it more interesting to go by Kangaroo when I write about all of my travels.  I love to hop from my home in Hawaii to other states in the United States and to visit other countries as well.

My husband can be called Monkey since he is always into monkey business with planning trips.  He is constantly looking for the best deals on flights, hotels, and other travel necessities.  He loves researching fun places to explore and making magical trips for us to adventure on!

So there you have it! Monkey is code name for my husband while I go by the code name of Kangaroo.  We are a fun-loving, traveling couple who want to share their adventures with you!