Choosing the perfect hotel!

The 2nd most difficult part about our travels, is choosing the perfect hotel for our family. It can be tricky, because we want to be near parks and open space for Olivia to run and play, but also be in a busy area with easy access to all the attractions and fun since we don't rent cars and rely on our feet or public transit. Sometimes these 2 things don't go well together in big cities, but if ye seek then ye shall find! It takes a lot of searching and seeking before finding what we hope is the perfect hotel for our familia, but it's worth it!

Here's my formula to finding the PERFECT HOTEL:

Step 1 - Find the website for that city and a map with all the regions on it. All big cities are broken down into regions/vicinities (If you already have a region your are set on, skip to Step 3). Note where the attractions you want to be close to are.

Step 2 - Access the forums on www.lonelyplanet.com and ask other travellers which region do they think is best for your particular set of needs and desires.

Step 3 - I use www.expedia.ca to search hotels and pricing in the region suggested (expedia is always well priced and has great customer service support, plus you can pull up your account on your iPhone at any time) and pay careful attention to the reviews and review star rating from other travellers on this site.

Step 4 - Check with www.tripadvisor.com for the traveller reviews and rating. We never stay anywhere that doesn't have 4/5 or better on trip advisor. It's never led us astray. The review rating is not the star rating of the hotel, it's the rating of the quality/satisfaction of the hotel.

Step 5 - Access the hotel's personal website. Check out all the photos, amenities and styles of rooms to be sure it's what you want. Choose a style of room. Compare their online pricing to that of Expedia.ca and choose the cheapest!

Step 6 - BOOK IT! Paying careful to the cancellation policy. Many popular hotels have a no cancellation no refund rate which is cheaper pricing for the exact same room BUT you cannot cancel for any reason. We always pay the little bit extra to allow room for cancellation. We do this for obvious reasons of trip cancellation but also because if we stay the 1st night and hate it, we are not locked in to the 4 nights we booked! Clever eh? This way you secured yourself a place to stay but have flexibility to leave a crummy hotel after the 1st night! As long as you inform the hotel the day OF your original check-in by 6 pm (you've seen the place and hate it but are stuck for 1 night) that you will not be spending the next nights, you are good to cancel. Basically 24 hours notice of cancellation.

Phew, okay....after all that being said, here's where we are staying in the South Pacific at all our stops. Only the Great Barrier Island, NZ and L.A. on the way home are yet to be determined.

Hong Kong, China (4 nights) - Staying in an apartment owned by a friend! YAY!

Melbourne, Australia (5 nights) - Staying in the guest home of our friends in Melbourne - YAY AGAIN!

Auckland, New Zealand (2 nights) - Staying at the CityLife Hotel, Auckland. An apartment style room in great area near the harbour and shopping, attractions etc.

Great Barrier Island, New Zealand (3 nights) - T.B.A. A beautiful place on the beach I'm sure.

Sydney, Australia (4 nights) - Novotel Sydney Manly Pacific - on the beach!

Los Angeles, USA (2 nights) - T.B.A. Hopefully near Rodeo Dr. again!

So there you have it, the 3 Travel Bugs method to choosing the perfect hotel. We have never been to a place we chose and did not love it, so far so great!

We are getting VERY excited about our trip Asia & the South Pacific!

Read more by clicking on the page tab above titled "Travels - South Pacific". Hope you enjoy!

REVIEW - Couples Resort, Northern Ontario

You can find the full review for Couples Resort and Spa in Northern Ontario on the "Travel Reviews" page. Enjoy! We sure did!!

Just 2 travelbugs getaway!

So in order to maintain our sanity with all the upcoming "Around the World" travel plans, what do travelbugs do to relax? They leave the tiniest travelbug at Grandma's house while the 2 grown-up travelbugs escape for some "just us" time!
As pat of my Christmas gift from my awesome husband Sam, we are going away this Friday for 3 nights at The Couples Resort in northern Ontario, close to Algonquin park in Bancroft. We went there once before during the winter of 2007 when I was 6 months pregnant. Seeing a giant version of me on cross-country ski's and on skates attempting to play hockey was quite the frightful sight I'm sure!

The Couples Resort is an amazing place with SO many winter activities to do. It is set on Galeairy Lake in the Muskoka's, and is by far the most "fun" Canadian winter adventure that we've ever had. Each suite has it's own wood-burning fireplace and jacuzzi tub, and being in the "true north" amongst the incredible landscape and wildlife, you can't help yourself from feeling calm and relaxed. Oh, and the spa certainly helps too! All that being said, we have an action-adventure weekend planned!

Saturday we are signed up for an exciting activity that neither of us have ever tried before - DOG SLEDDING! We get to mush our own team of dogs through the woods and over the lake. I'm a bit nervous that standing on the sled will prove to be impossible for my gimpy legs but I guess we will have to wait and see! I am REALLY excited about this, because now I can tell all my Southern American friends that we Canadians really DO use dog-sleds to get around!


Sunday we are booked to go winter horse-back riding, a HUGE favourite past time of mine, but not so much for Sam. He's quite convinced that the entire sport of horseback riding was not designed with men in mind, claiming that it is not the most "comfortable" place to be sitting in a saddle atop a horse. I remind him about the cowboys, my aboriginal kin, and all the men who couldn't have survived without the beautiful beasts. For some unknown reason, this doesn't help make him feel any better when he's bouncing up and down in the saddle BEGGING for us to turn back to the barn. I think all he needs is a few lessons - LOL.

They also have snowmobiles that we are thinking about renting for an hour, apparently there are moose everywhere in that area, and how amazing would it be to be riding along and meet up with a real Canadian moose! However, I have what you could call a "strong preservation of life" (basically I'm afraid of everything and anything) and I can envision him zooming off into the horizon on his machine leaving me in his snow dust. That certainly won't be the most romantic moment of the weekend, but it could be a lot of fun just the same!We went ice-fishing at night last time we were there and LOVED IT! It was so amazing walking out on the ice to our little hut in the dark (we had flashlights) and making a wee fire to keep ourselves warm while waiting to catch a fish. If only we knew the fish were at the BOTTOM of the lake and not at the top where we had our lines cast, we might have caught something! Clearly there was no "test" portion that accompanied my Metis Nations Aboriginal status card that I received from the government many years ago....LOL. Perhaps I should pow wow with one of my relatives before trying such things as ice-fishing in the future.


I'll be sure to write a full review on the "reviews" page of this blog next week! Wish us luck in the great white north, and don't worry - we won't forget to pack our woolies! If I do see a moose, I will certainly invite him to come back to Toronto, where I will paint a maple leaf on his bum, tie a scarf around his neck and stand him up in front of Union Station as one of the "Toronto Moose" art collection!