Showing posts with label vlog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vlog. Show all posts

Monday, May 20, 2019

Bali Travel Guide and Vlog


BALI TRAVEL GUIDE & VLOG

Bali is a whole mood! I visited Bali with my husband for our 8th year anniversary and fell in love immediately. Watch my BALI TRAVEL GUIDE VLOG below and read the rest of this post to get all the details!




We flew from Orlando, Fl on Singapore Airlines, which I recommend. It is an airline very similar to Emirates airlines. We had three layovers, in New York, Germany, and Singapore, and was about a 24 flight and took two days to get there. So, keep that in mind if you plan a trip to Bali, you will lose two days traveling. Their money, which is called the Indonesian Rupiah conversion rate is about 14,000 ≈ $1.00 US. We exchanged our money in their airport.  We landed in the morning and our driver took us right to our hotel, the Amatara Royal Ganesha, a 5 star hotel in Ubud (About $50 US a night). We were so extremely jet-lagged we fell asleep all day and all night LOL!



On DAY 2, our actual anniversary, we woke up bright and early for my floating breakfast which I reserved with the hotel the day before. They bring out your breakfast for you in the beautiful infinity pool over looking the rice paddies and I took pictures galore (My hubby is amazing!) and afterwards ate breakfast.


 

Our driver, Gede, who was absolutely the perfect driver and we HIGHLY recommend as well! Before our trip, I reserved him. I gave him my itinerary and he made a few changes to give us the best Bali experience. He takes you anywhere you want to go, all day long for $40 US!! His contact information is below!




After breakfast, Gede took us to our first stop, which was the Bali Swing. For $35 US per person, you get unlimited swings on any of their 18 swings and pictures in nests, on rocks, etc.  plus, lunch is included.

 







We stopped at the Tegalalang Rice Terraces where you can walk around the rice paddies before heading to the Sacred Monkey Sanctuary Forest. Here you walk through the sanctuary or natural habitat of Balinese long tailed Monkey. They are roaming free and you should not touch them or stare them in the eye. They may see that as a threat. The monkeys seemed very chill to me, however, other tourists complained that monkeys stole their belongings. So just be safe and smart! 😊

 


Our last stop was the Tegenungan Waterfall, one of the most popular waterfalls in Bali. For less than a $1 US, you can hike the waterfall, swim, and enjoy the scenery. I would definitely bring water shoes. There is also a swing at the waterfall! One of my favorite parts of Bali.

 


We ended the day eating dinner at a restaurant our driver took us too (Sorry I can’t remember the name) The chicken satay was delicious and affordable. Our driver warned us about eating the street food and that it will give us “Bali Belly” aka nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. So, I would advise against that! Go the restaurants in the city center of Ubud that are geared towards tourists. We knocked out that night!


The next day our driver took us to the Lempuyang temple where you see the “Gates of Heaven” and get the infamous picture! Definitely get there early, we got there a 9am and waited 1 and a half hours for the picture, some people we met, waited 3 hours! 





 Stop two, was to the Tirta Gangga Water Palace where less then a $1 you can walk around the beautiful grounds and feed the koi fish.

Later on the night, we went to the Udaya Resort and Spa for a couple’s massage and flower bath. I did make a reservation before I left and put a deposit down. It was such a relaxing experience and the massage and bath were perfect!  The massage was about $75 US and the bath was about $40 US. Make sure you ask for the “Celebration of Flowers” when booking and you can choose however you want the flowers to be designed. 






The next day we checked out of our hotel after breakfast and another swim, and our driver took us to Kuta Bali. Kuta is a touristy beach resort area off the coast of Bali known for surfing, backpackers, and clubs. Other great beach areas to stay are Seminyak and Jimbaran, which are more family friendly. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Baruna, another 5 star hotel (About $50 US a night) We let our driver go home and took a Grab (Similar to Uber) to the Beach Walk mall and two other malls in the area. This area has tons of restaurants, massages and shopping in the area that are all in walking distances. Beach walk mall had Zara and H&M plus Top Shop and other great stores if you love shopping like us.

The next day we went to the Uluwatu Temple, which a is a sea temple with the best views I have ever seen. There were also monkey roaming around there too, but they were much more aggressive!


 

We went to Dream Land Beach after, which was beautiful and good for surfing, not swimming. The waves were huge and will knock you right off your feet! We went to our hotel afterwards to swim in the hotel infinity pool at sunset. Another highlight of the trip.


 Gede had added having a seafood dinner in Jimbaran to the itinerary. This dinner should be added to everyone’s itinerary. We went to the Ganesha Café, where you first pick your seafood, whether, fish, shrimp, lobster, crab, etc. and they make it fresh however you like and bring it to your table on the beach. You get to eat a delicious and fresh seafood dinner overlooking the waves with live entertainment. Another highlight of the trip!





On our last day we got massages (About 7$ an hour) at one of our favorite spots in Kuta CARLA SPA and did souvenir shopping. Bali is always a good idea and I am so happy and blessed that we were able to visit. The people are the nicest, most genuine, I’ve met, and the culture is so humble and 
gracious. Bali…TERIMA KASIH (Thank you)








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Saturday, June 2, 2018

Bangkok | Thailand Vacation Tips!



Hello LOVES!

It has been a long time! With work and school I have had to find balance, which I have hopefully found. I am so happy that I finally got to upload Part I of my Thailand Vlog! 

I went to Thailand in April, 2018 for my 30th Birthday...of course Aries do it BIG! Had the BEST VACAY ever with my hubby! Loved every minute of it and will definitely be back. Of course I wanted to give you guys all the details! This is our first trip that I planned 100% all by myself...whew! It was a task but with God's help, I did it! 

Click the link below to watch "Bangkok Thailand Travel Vlog" Part I and continue reading for the trip details!




Here are the trip details!

-Flew Emirates airline (Can be expensive but super comfortable, lots of movies, leg room, staff is 5 star, lots of food and we had  a 10 hour layover in Dubai!)


- Flew to Suvarnabhumi (BKK) Airport in Bangkok. We stayed at the Park Plaza Bangkok Soi 18, very affordable 4 star hotel, free delicious breakfast and was in Sukhumvit (This city is very central to everything) 
- We did a private tour of the Temples through Viator. They pick us up from our hotel and we drove (YES A/C) to the different temples and walked around. April was very hot! 
We used Viator as well to take a tour of the Damnoen Saduak Floating Markets! An open market where you can float through different markets with souvenirs and other goods. Loved this experience! Don't forget to try some coconut ice cream and coconut water!
🔸The food is amazing and so fresh in Thailand, the seafood, pad thai, pad see eww, and crab curry are my favorites!
🔸Don't forget bring sunscreen, Insect repellent, hand sanitizer, baby wipes, and tissues. Public toilets or squat potties (google it) usually do not have any.
I felt very safe and didn't have any issues at all over there. Love the culture and the people. Don't be scared to visit a foreign land, just research well and have fun!















Pad See Ew (My favorite Thai Dish)


Hope you all enjoyed! Stay tuned for my Phuket, Thailand Travel Vlog!






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Tuesday, January 24, 2017

CANCUN VACATION VLOG 2017




Hey Hunnies!

My hubby and I have the travel bug and recently went on a week vacation to Cancun with my church's marriage ministry. It was an amazing week and we spent time planning our year and what we are declaring in our lives! This was also a very adventurous trip! We zip-lined and snorkeled in Mexican Xenotes which are natural sinkholes.

We stayed at an all-inclusive resort called the Iberostar Cancun. It was a beautiful resort. I loved our room, the beach, and the multiple pools. The customer service was great and it was definitely family friendly. My hubby and I were disappointed in the food choices though. The buffet was medicore as well as the grill. We ate at two of their four specialty restaurants, the Japanese Hibachi and Steak restaurant. The Hibachi was good they did not have the white sauce!? The best restaurant was the steak restaurant and I would recommend eating there. All in all we had a fantastic time.


I love travel vlogging and hope you all enjoy all of my travel videos and there will be more to come! And no worries I have DIY , beauty and style videos in the works!


Click below to watch my CANCUN VACATION VLOG!

CLICK HERE!!



Check out more pics on my Instagram @RbyRachaelRae








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Wednesday, December 14, 2016

DUBAI TRAVEL VLOG 2016 | Places to Go + TIPS!



Hey Loves!!

I FINALLY got a chance to upload my DUBAI TRAVEL VLOG! This is PART I and PART II will be up next week..Yeaa!! This was literally the BEST VACAY Ever!! We had such a great time and I vlogged it so you all could get a little taste of Dubai! 

Click the link below to watch!






So many people think traveling to DUBAI is super expensive and yes it can be, however my hubby ad I love to travel affordably and this trip including our flights, hotel, breakfast, one dinner and a tour of the city was less than 2,400 for the both of us!! Yes we went to DUBAI for 7 days for about the same price as a cruise!? The way we did it was through GROUPON!! Yes, Groupon Getaways are legit!! We booked this vacation in April of 2016 for November and the reason we chose November is because it is one of the cooler months in Dubai. I recommend traveling in November, December, January and February. Otherwise the temperatures can reach up to 120 degrees F! The weather was beautiful when we went and we did not complain at all. We are from Florida though so it is always warm where we live Lol.

Dress: If you read up on Dubai it is a Muslim country and you will see the women cover up and signs in the Mall and other places to cover your knees and shoulders. I can say that yes I saw signs, but no I did not see anyone follow them. I did show my shoulders and I saw plenty of people with short skirts, shorts etc. This country is big on tourism so people from all over the world visit. My advice would be to dress comfortable and wear whatever you like but please be mindful that you are in a Muslim country and you may get stares. I would say dress comfortably and respectfully. It is hot and its understandable you will want to wear less clothes, but again be mindful of where you are. At the beaches of course you can wear bikinis etc as did I. But when you are away from the beach area wear a cover up. 



Day 1: Our flight was on the Emirates airline and it was great for a 13 hour flight. Big seats, movies and food galore. Our stewardess was very nice and let me wear her hat Lol. When we landed, the travel company was waiting for us after baggage claim and we took a van to our hotel. Our hotel was the Hilton Garden Inn Mall of Emirates and was beautiful! I give it 5 stars!  We had absolutely no problems there. We had free breakfast every morning and it was delicious. The mall was in walking distance (about 10 minutes) to the Mall of Emirates which we went to everyday because there was a METRO stop in there. 

We visited the Mall of Emirates the first night for dinner at the food court and called it a night!


Day 2: We visited the Dubai Mall, the Burj Khalifa and had a Dhow Dinner Cruise (Included in Groupon). My tips are to bring a lot of money and exchange it to their currency which is the Dirham. The America Dollar is strong in Dubai. 1 Dirham = .27 US (in 2016) We occasionally exchanged our money to make it easier with transactions, however you can pay with US money but will get Dirhams in return. The Burj Khalifa cost money so if you want to go up to the top keep that in mind. Also, I would buy my tickets online days before you go because spots fill up quick. The Dubai mall is the biggest mall in the world and has over 2000 stores so bring good walking shoes!  :-) The Dhow dinner cruise is a traditional touristy thing to do in Dubai. You get on a wooden Dhow boat and sail along the Dubai Creek with traditional food and entertainment. There are multiple companies that off this dinner and you can shop around. Usually the rate is $75 US per person. 

Day 3: The Dubai Museum was our first stop on our Dubai City tour (Included) I do recommend visiting to learn the history and culture of Dubai. It was very interesting and we enjoyed it. Other stops on the tour included the Gold and Spice souks which I recommend visiting for Gold which is said to be very affordable however we did not have any luck and for souvenirs. We also drove out to the Palms Islands where we saw the Atlantis Palm Hotel which was gorgeous and was given the history of Dubai throughout the tour.

STAY TUNED for PART II of my DUBAI VLOG!!
COMMENT below any questions you have! 

MUAH!!








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Thursday, September 29, 2016

Chicago in 1 Day! | Travel Vlog Summer 2016




So happy I got to finally upload our 1 day in Chicago Vlog! Over this past Labor Day weekend my husband and I went to visit his family in Rockford, IL! I planned for us to drive up to Chicago which is about 45 minutes away and spend the day there. I am originally from Chicago but have not done the "tourist" thing since I was a little girl so I was so excited to be able to be a "tourist" with my hubby!

Before going I looked up all the places we wanted to visit and made a plan about how to experience it all in 1 day. What made this all happen smoothly and easily with little to no walking was the Chicago Trolley Hop on Hop off Bus ! We loved touring the city a top of this double decker bus and having a tour guide tell about the cities rich history. Keep in mind some tour guides are great and others not so much! However, all in all this was the best decision ever! This bus stops off at all the major sites in Chicago and comes around every 20 minutes and you can simply Hop on and off as you please!
Another aspect you have to think about is parking! We were blessed to find parking for $19 for the whole day by prepaying and using this site which I highly recommend: Chicago Best Parking

Click here to watch my vlog of our Chicago trip in 1 day! -->> CLICK HERE!!



Thank you for watching!  Here are some pic highlights of our trip! 

















★★★★★★★★



Here is a list of all the places we visited and ate at!

Our Next vacation will be in Dubai! So stayed tuned to not miss a thing! Like , share and subscribe to my channel for more videos and I'll see you guys later!



Places we visited:

The Willis Tower - Sky deck Chicago
Cloud gate "The Bean"
Shedd Aquarium
Adler Planetarium
Buckingham Fountain
Navy Pier

Places we ate:

Giordano's
Portillos
Garretts Popcorn
Luke's Italian Beef


Comment below if you have any questions or advice about our upcoming trip!

★★★★★★★









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