April was a whirlwind of travel starting in Asia, to Europe, then finally back to the United States. This was also the final month of my travels around the world, so this will sadly be my last “Year Long Honeymoon” post.
Of course Kailyn Travels isn’t going anywhere! I still have many posts to share from the previous year, and of course more upcoming travels planned.
Thank you all so much for following along on this incredible journey with me! Writing these posts has been an amazing experience for me and will allow me to look back and relive this year whenever I want to.
Without further ado, continue reading to see everything I did during my last month out exploring our beautiful world!
Indonesia
Gili Trawangan - 2 days
I was already on Gili T for a few days at the end of March. The Gili Islands are a group of three small islands off the coast of Lombok in Indonesia. There are no cars allowed on the islands and they truly feel like a blissful islands escape from the real world.
There’s isn’t much to “do” on the Gili Islands but I had so much fun in my 10 days on the islands I didn’t want to leave. During my last two days on Gili T I rode a bike around the whole island (again) and went on a sunset boat cruise (again.)
Gili Air - 5 days
After five days on Gili T I took a short ferry ride over to Gili Air. I stayed at a hostel attached to a dive shop and went scuba diving for three days during my stay.
My favorite dive was an “adventure deep dive.” I was only certified to dive to 18 meters (30 feet) and after the adventure dive I can now dive to 30 meters (100 feet.) It was so crazy realizing just how deep under the water I was. The dive site was called “Shark Point” and we did manage to see one black tipped reef shark!
Besides diving, my other focus on Gili Air was riding my rented bike around the islands and trying all the amazing restaurants they had. I am currently working on a post for “The Best Restaurants on Gili Air” and I hope to have that done soon.
Nusa Dua, Bali - 2 days
After my amazing ten day stay in the Gili Islands I took a ferry back to Bali. It was a very long travel day as my hotel was several hours from the port I arrived in. I checked into my third Hyatt property on Bali, the Grand Hyatt.
This hotel was totally different than either the Hyatt Regency or the Alila Manggis I stayed in last month. The property itself was situated in and area with many other nice hotels and not in a “local” area at all. You couldn’t walk off the property except to other nearby properties or a centralized mall/restaurant area between the hotel properties.
While the hotel was gorgeous, it really felt like you were missing out on anything remotely authentically Balinese. I will have all my Bali hotel reviews published soon!
Flying back to Europe - 1 day
From Bali I flew to Singapore on Singapore Airlines business class and had an overnight layover. I slept in this luxurious (lol) and comfortable chair in the business class lounge all night and took my first airport lounge shower in the morning!
After my overnight layover I boarded my first ever long-haul business class flight. I spent 13 hours flying from Singapore to Frankfurt, Germany in an A350. I preordered my meals with Singapore’s “book the chef” option so I had lobster for dinner! How crazy is that?!
I spent about 100,000 American Express points on the flight which is pretty hefty but I’m glad I had the experience of flying in business class for a long flight. Sadly, I’ll be back in economy for awhile after this trip 😢
Frankfurt, Germany - 3 days
My three days in Frankfurt were more of a very long layover than anything else. I wanted to fly Singapore Airlines business class back to Europe from Asia and it was the best city to fly into for that option.
I spent my time working out in the hotel gym and relaxing in my room, but I did venture into the city once. I went in to do my laundry and grabbed a beer at a corner bar while that was washing. Afterwards I had some ramen and thus concluded my extremely short venture into Frankfurt.
Portugal
Lisbon - 4 days
My good friend Kyle that I met nearly 10 years ago freshman year of college (how is that 10 years ago?!?) met me in Portugal for a week! We started in Lisbon and we were both obsessed with the city.
On our first full day we walked around the main touristy parts of the city and admired all the beautiful views. We also took an amazing food tour that night and had the best guide and a fun group, plus the food and wine were amazing too.
On our last full day in Lisbon we explored the small seaside town of Cascais just west of Lisbon. It was beautiful, the weather was perfect and the vibes were just incredible. It’s only a 30 minute train ride outside of Lisbon and I definitely recommend devoting a day to checking it out, especially if the weather is nice during your visit.
Our final activity in Lisbon was a sunset boat tour down the Tagus River. We had amazing views of Lisbon and it was just overall a great little experience.
Porto - 3 days
From Lisbon we took a 3.5 hour train ride up to Porto. After getting check into our hotel room we grabbed lunch then wandered around the town down to the river. The views of Porto from both sides of the river are amazing. You can easily walk across the bridge or pay to take a gondola ride across.
Kyle and I only had one full day in Porto together and we decided to do a day trip to the Douro Valley. We booked an Airbnb experience that included a small eight person group, two winery visits and tastings, a nice lunch, and a boat ride down the Pinhão River.
Spain
I said my goodbyes to Portugal, one of my new favorite countries, and flew to Spain. This was my third visit to Spain but my first time visiting Granada and Málaga. The two cities are in Southern Spain in the Andalusia region.
Granada - 4 days
The main tourist attraction in Granada is the impressive Alhambra sitting atop a hill overlooking the city. Unfortunately you need to book your entrance ticket in advance and I didn’t do that. While I didn’t get to go in and tour the grounds of the Alhambra, I still really enjoyed my time in Granada!
I stayed in a fun hostel and went out for drinks and tapas most nights. I even found a restaurant that serves beer for €2.30 which includes a free tapa! Spain is such an amazing country, especially if you get out of the main touristy areas.
Granada is located near the Sierra Nevada mountain range and one day I got out of the city and went for a really fun hike! The hostel I stayed at arranged the day trip, but it’s easily doable on your own too. We took a bus to the town of Monachil and did a nice 5 mile hike on the Los Cahorros trail.
Málaga - 3 days
After leaving Granada I took a bus to Málaga for three days. Málaga is on the coast so it’s a popular vacation spot for other Europeans and it’s a cruise port. The downtown and touristy areas can be quite busy, especially the days that a cruise ship is it port.
I enjoyed a day at the beach and tried a few amazing restaurants, but otherwise I didn’t do a whole lot while in Málaga. I think I was in a bit of denial that my year abroad was about to come to an end!
Back in the USA
My flight back to the US was from Paris to Chicago, so I had a quick overnight stay at an airport hotel in Paris between Spain and the US. I landed back in Chicago on April 29th (do you really want to know where I was April 29th? TS fans will get it 😉.)
I had the most classic Chicago meal ever for my first meal back home, an Italian beef sandwich and cheese fries from Portillo’s!
Top Three Meals of the Month
#3 Mama Pizza - Gili Air, Indonesia
I know it’s silly that my favorite meal in Indonesia was pizza, but Mama Pizza is quite the institution. It’s well known on the Gili Islands as being the best. Honestly it’s one of the best pizzas I’ve had anywhere, even including Europe.
The restaurant is packed every night of the week and there are many different pizzas to choose from. I’m sure each one is delicious though because the amazing sourdough crust is what makes these pizzas so tasty!
#2 El Gallo Ronco - Málaga, Spain
Dinner at El Gallo Ronco was my favorite meal in Spain. We only tried three dishes but they were all so well cooked and flavorful. We tried meatballs, braised beef cheek, and fried eggplants with molasses sauce. The whole meal including three drinks was just $35. For the same quality of food and wine in the US the meal would have been at least double the cost.
#1 Food Tour in Lisbon, Portugal
I went on the best food tour while in Lisbon. We made five different stops throughout the city and each stop was very unique and good! I booked this tour on Airbnb Experiences and I definitely recommend it.
First we tried ginjinha, a Portuguese cherry liqueur, from a store that has been open for 200 years.
Our next stop was to a traditional Portuguese restaurant where we tried cod cakes, octopus salad, and fried green beans. For the third stop we got to try several dishes from a Mozambican restaurant. It was definitely one of my favorite stops of the night.
The fourth stop we tried more wine along with some traditional Portuguese cured meats and cheeses. Finally we ended the night with two kinds of dessert and some fortified wine.
Budget Update
Now that the trip is officially over I’m working on a full blog post of the cost breakdown of the entire trip! I think it’ll be a pretty big undertaking so I’m not sure when it’ll be finished.
For approximates, we used just over 1,000,000 credit card miles to book 22 flights and 50 free nights at hotels and around $48,000 for two people to travel for nearly a full year. I know it’s not the case for everyone, but that’s typically less than what two people would spend in a full year living in the US!
Points & Miles Update
Credit Card Points
Even after using a million points this year I still have a decent amount of points left but they’re all spread over different accounts. Hopefully I’ll still be able to visit a few new places for nearly free later this year!
I have approximately 60k Hyatt points, 40k Delta points, 40k Turkish airlines miles, 30k Southwest points, 30k Capital One points, and approximately 10k each of American Airlines, United Airlines, and American Express points.
Road to Hyatt Globalist Status
I hit Explorist Status this month after 30 qualifying nights! I ended the month with 32 qualifying nights so I “only” need 28 more to go to hit Globalist. I’m not super confident I will end up hitting it, but we shall see!
To recap how I got to 32 nights
- 5 nights from having the World of Hyatt credit card
- 2 nights at Hyatt Place Bangkok Sukhumvit – Read my review of the Hyatt Place here
- 4 nights at Hyatt Regency West Hanoi – Read my review of the Hyatt Regency here
- 2 nights by spending $5k on my World of Hyatt Credit Card
- 2 nights at the Hyatt Regency Manila
- 7 nights at the Hyatt Regency Bali
- 4 nights at the Alila Manggis
- 2 nights at the Grand Hyatt Bali
- 3 nights at Hyatt Place Frankfurt Airport
- 1 night at Hyatt Place Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport
I’m not sure I’ll be able to hit Globalist status, as I currently only have eight more nights planned, and I’m not sure how I’ll come up with twenty more nights, but who knows!
What's Next?
This is such a loaded question for me right now! I cut my trip a few weeks short and am officially back in the United States! This April update post will be the last official “Year Long Honeymoon” update post.
But don’t fret; Kailyn Travels isn’t going anywhere! In fact I plan to spend a lot more time working on my blog this year.
I’m not totally sure where this life will take me but I plan to spend the rest of the year in Indiana. I have a few weddings and bachelorette parties to look forward to this summer. I also have a trip back to Europe planned later in the summer as well.
This year has been a wild ride of self discovery, joy, anxiety, relaxation, and nearly every other emotion under the sun. I will always remember this year and I’m so glad I took this leap into the unknown.
Thanks for coming along on this journey with me ❤️
– Kailyn
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