Going Up Down Under

[trip style = luxe, beach, sun, urban, sightseeing, glamping, cruise]

Australia is... - a country I've never tasted or experienced - a place I'm going April 19 - a destination I know I'll love and am already conspiring to return - the trip I've been dying to take for years - #2 on my bucket list

As I prepare to fly 15.5 hours from Vancouver to the land of Oz, I've been a busy bee trip styling like a mad woman in preparation for my trip. The irony is, I'll be going up while Down Under---or making my way North in a land that sits down and under the equator.

Having put so much work into planning this trip, I wanted to share some tips and opportunities you may want to explore when you decide to throw a few shrimps on the barbie in Australia.

Getting There From Vancouver, Air Canada is the only airline to fly direct, with Air New Zealand code-sharing the same flight. One- or multi-segment flights, usually connecting through San Francisco or LA, cost about $300 less. I checked prices out of Seattle to see if there was a significant savings, but there wasn't, so YVR is your best bet. Flights from Vancouver to Sydney cost $700 - $2500, with a realistic range between $1000 - $1600.

Choosing What To Do When you only have a short time on the ground---in my case 2 weeks, which I think is pretty typical for a cross-ocean visitor---it's best to choose your trip style first, and where you want to go, second. Australia looks small on a map, but to put it in perspective, a flight from Sydney to Cairns is like flying from Vancouver to Regina, or Vancouver to San Diego. With this in mind, trying to do too much on the ground can feel un-vacation-like, so we've opted to immerse ourselves in part of the East Coast: Sydney - Whitsundays - Great Barrier Reef - Hamilton Island - Sydney. Though I feel like I'm not even scratching the surface, I look forward to returning many times over to do the rest of Oz.

My Itinerary {& Tips} We've decided to divide our trip into 3 major parts.

Sydney {trip style = urban + sightseeing + luxe} STAY We decided on the Sofitel Sydney but I would not recommend it based on my experience. Here are some other hotels for your consideration: - The Establishment {luxe boutique} - The Taj Blue Hotel {waterfront} - Shangri-la {harbour views + free wifi, I also stayed here, highly recommended} - Park Hyatt Sydney {undertaking biggest reno in its history, re-opening November 2011} - The Westin Sydney - The Blues Point Hotel {budget hotel option just outside the city, with a bar featured in design blogs serving $3 champaign on Friday nights} *Note that most upscale 4- and 5-stars in Sydney range from $175-500/night.

HOW TO BOOK The best resources we found for booking Sydney hotels are: - booking.com - lastminute.com.au - hotels direct

Island Time in the Great Barrier Reef {trip style = luxe + glamping} STAY We decided to stay at: - Heron Island {family-friendly, all-inclusive located on one of the world's best dive sites} - Wilson Island {close to Heron, a tiny "shipwrecked in style" island with only 6 tents} - qualia {ultra-luxe retreat on Hamilton island} Other luxe options: Lizard Island, Hayman Island*, Bedarra* & full list of GBR islands + prices ranges here... *Resorts re-opening in summer due to damange from cyclone yasi **Note, staying on islands in the Whitsundays or near the Great Barrier Reef can be expensive. Budget $150-$2000/night. For budget conscious options, companies like Virgin Blue offer great flight and stay packages near Airlie Beach from $600 for three nights.

HOW TO BOOK - Resorts direct

Cruising the Whitsundays [trip style = cruise] BOAT There are hundreds of ships sailing in the blue-sequened waters surrounding the Whitsunday Islands. Most leave from Airlie Beach and last 1- to 5-nights. Some boats are 30-person tall ships and others are small catamarans. We were looking for a boat catering to an active crowd, with a small number of guest rooms and a deck where we could relax. We found On Ice, a 46ft catamaran with room for 8 guests and 2 crew.

HOW TO BOOK Booking a Whitsunday cruise is really confusing, but here's a good place to start.

[photo by dbearth]

Healthy on the Road :: 20-min Exercise Itinerary

[trip style = all-inclusive]

I am writing this post from Puerto Vallarta Mexico. We’re staying at a family-friendly, all-inclusive resort, with my husband’s side of the family. The weather has been perfect and the resort is lovely, but I have a confession to make: my expectations for rejuvenation weren’t too high for this trip! Good thing I was wrong, and my husband and I made a simple, daily exercise schedule to keep our bodies and minds sharp!

The Daily Schedule I am literally amazed that we are entering week two feeling relaxed, healthy and energetic. How did this happen?! I was sure my husband and I would be sick, or at the very least burned out by now. Our answer: the daily schedule we were once dreading.

Good Timing Up until very recently we were the couple in the family without kids. Nap times did not dictate our daily schedule, nor did the operating hours of the froggy slide. Things are different now, but much to our surprise, the change has been a very good thing.

A New Itinerary In the midst of our new “itinerary”, my husband and I have made an exciting discovery: a plan does not take the fun out of a holiday, rather it makes play---or rest, or work, or whatever you need out of your holiday---possible! Once we worked through some initial growing pains, we realized that our new routine is actually infusing tons of life and energy into our days.

Day 1 - The Plan On day 1, we made a plan for spelling one another off to give us both a chance to exercise, read, swim in the adult pool, have a drink at the bar, whatever, as long as chasing a two year old wasn’t involved. Spending time as a family was still our biggest priority, so these breaks required efficiency.

The 20-Min Workout I love my daily exercise, but I also love to read on the beach, my solution: a very simple, efficient 20- to 30-minute workout. The fact that my husband has adopted this daily practice as well is truly incredible. Typically, on vacation, he would prefer to call a round of mini golf his workout for the day. Now, he can’t get over how much more energetic he feels from devoting a short amount of time to intense and efficient daily exercise.

Running – For a short workout, running is a fabulous way to get the most bang for your buck. Alternating the morning or afternoon “shift”, I either hit the beach or the treadmill. When I’m on the treadmill, I have a good hard run for 20 minutes...that’s it. I add variety with 1-minute sprints or hills. Twice a week I’m doing a quick circuit routine after my treadmill run (could be done on the beach too) of 3 strengthening exercises (e.g. 10 push-ups, 10-12 forward lunges with overhead reach, and 30 for the core; repeat twice).

So that’s it! Combined with earlier nights and regular wake-up times, we’re feeling great and are returning home truly relaxed, refreshed AND invigorated.

Whether you are parenting on your vacation or not, try making a plan with whomever you are travelling, to ensure you accomplish all you want and need to do!

{When she’s not training clients or being trained by her dog Zuzu, Leah writes Healthy on the Road, published the first Thursday of every month.}

Related All-Inclusive Month... Active, Relax, Repeat Healthy DIY Plane Snacks

[photo by heather0714]

Credit Card Travel Insurance

[trip style = any]

Did you know most major travel credit cards come with built-in travel insurance? If you like to pay with plastic AND get points for travel, check your travel credit card's fine print to determine what insurances and protection features are included. See below for some ways I've *almost* used my credit card's insurance...

As an example, here's what's included in my card {TD Travel Rewards Infinite}: - Trip Cancellation Insurance {covers $1,000/eligible person up to $5,000/per trip} - Trip Interruption Insurance {covers $5,000/eligible person up to $25,000/ trip} - Travel Medical Insurance {8-day trips if under 65, 2-day trips if 65 or older} - Common Carrier Travel Accident Insurance - Auto Rental Collision/Loss Damage Insurance - Delayed and Lost Baggage Insurance - Emergency Travel Assistance Services

What About Other Travel Insurance? Normally, I make sure I have one or two travel insurance policies going at one time to make sure there are no coverage gaps. For example, for short trips I rely on my travel above credit card's insurance, but since it only covers me for 8-days, for longer trips I default to my medical plan's built-in 6-month travel medical insurance.

A Lost Bag and a Loophole Recently my husband booked two tickets through his Business Travel Rewards Visa {with same features as above}---one for himself and one for his business partner. Upon arriving at their destination, my husband's business partner's bag didn't. It turns out that even though my husband booked his business partner's ticket with his card, the lost bag insurance only applied to him, his wife {me} and any offspring {non-existent}. Therefore, the loophole is unless you book the ticket yourself, or are a spouse or child of the ticket purchaser, you won't be covered if your bags are lost aside from making a claim to the airline. Air Canada did provide a $100 sorry your bags didn't arrive for a few days kick-back, but that didn't help much.

Swine Flu Debacle A few years ago myself and 13 other girls were about to leave for Mexico on a triple-bachelorette when swine flu broke out. Travel plans had to be changed. Aside from lending my trip styling skillz to select the destination and most appropriate trip style for 14 girls {an all-inclusive in Los Cabos}, a travel agent made the booking and she was thankfully able to get each of us a refund given the circumstance. But, I'd booked the flight myself. Knowing my credit card had travel iterruption insurance, I thought getting my money back on the flight would be easy-peasy, but I was wrong. I had to submit a form and wait three weeks for my credit card's insurance provider to make a determination on my case, but I was supposed to leave in 3 weeks so wasn't willing to risk the uncertain wait. Thankfully I was able to re-route my Cabo flight to Vegas.

Insurance is a strange concept. We need it, but it doesn't always pan-out to protect us. Either way, we have to have it and seem to learn more about its intricacies when something goes awry. When you travel, make sure you have the appropriate insurance---whether from your travel credit card or a purchased policy---to protect you from harm's way.

Travel App Tuesday :: Room 77

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Room 77, the world's first hotel room search engine, allowing you to find the best room based on your preferences. Although the company is still in its infancy, they launched an iPhone app at the same time as the site to crowdsource hotel room pictures and details to grow the results. Keep the Room 77 app on your radar. Why? It puts power in your hands. For example, say you're checking into the central and swanky Sofitel Los Angeles and you want the scoop on finding the best rooms at the hotel. Simply find it in the app {either before your stay or while you're checking in} and learn helpful tidbits like "the hillside rooms offer views of the Hollywood hills" or "each floor has rooms in a variety of categories, so even standard rooms can be found on higher floors."

Room 77 has excellent hotel {room} inventory for major cities like LA, New York and London. Because they only recently launched, they are in an intense growth period working on sourcing the details for other major cities in the US, Canada the rest of the world. The app and website already offer curious travelers {which is pretty much all of us} details and pictures about specific rooms in each hotel they feature, so I can't imagine how valuable this app will be when it grows to incorporate hotel room listings worldwide.

Trip Styler Tip :: On your next trip down to Seattle, check Room77's app or website for 15+ hotels {and hundreds of rooms} already listed.

Details

• Free
• Works with iPhone, iPod Touch & iPad

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Other Travel Apps Every Tuesday we feature a new travel app. Don’t forget to peruse the other 70+ travel apps we’ve reviewed from travel first aid, to luxury and boutique hotel finders, to border waits and trip itinerary management. Here are the most recent:

• mileBlaster
• HipMunk
• Mad Libs
• Travel Etiquette
• Jetsetter

Simply The Best {Flight}

[trip style = any]

Booking a flight takes time and money: time to research the best flight, money to seal the deal.

Recently a member of the TS community asked me about tips and resources for booking the best/cheapest flight without spending hours of research. After giving my two cents---and recently going through my own research process for flights to Australia and New York---here are my top 5 tips for finding the best flight.

5 Commandments for Booking the Best Flight 1 - Know thy destination/price range {5-10 mins} - get a sense of which airlines fly there from your departure point{s} and the price range by doing a quick search on Kayak - don't rule out smaller airports near you

2 - Know thy budget/path {5 mins} - how much money do you want to spend on your flight? - are you willing to spend more for a direct flight? - would you rather spend less for multi-leg, all-day journey? - consider the airline alliance with which you collect points, sometimes the 'best' flight might be $75 more

3 - Seeketh and findeth the best options {up to 15 mins} - knowing which airlines fly to your destination and how you'd like to get there, start looking for seat sales and deals on the airlines' websites, facebook groups and twitter feeds.... Trip Styler Tip :: if you choose only one place to look for seat sales, go to the sale section of the airline's website

4 - Followeth thy rules of flight booking {up to 15 mins} - booking your flight on a tuesday night or wednesday morning are your best bets for fare deals - avoid flying friday and sunday {unless you absolutely have to} - know that last-minute flight deals are a usually a myth - booking 15-30 days in advance usually posts the best price

5 - Findeth the best online resources {3 mins} - see a list of Trip Styler's go-to travel website here - don't forget about discount airlines---some of which are not indexed by travel meta search sites like Kayak

Related How to Save on Airfare Fight or Flight The Airfare Dance {When to book your flight} The Chicken or the Egg {Booking your flight or hotel first?}

[photo by @tripstyler, taken on a runway at Wilson Airport in Kenya]