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First Family Vacation to "One Happy Island"

As I mentioned in my previous post, we wanted to take baby on his first vacation to some place that was child-friendly and not too long of a flight. Since we were paying with American Airline miles, it had to be one of their destinations, fortunately AA is the largest airline so the options were basically endless. I ended up narrowing down our options to Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao, aka the ABC…

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Chillin in Chile

Being that I’m the Queen of finding flight deals, when I heard there were flights from Washington, D.C. to Santiago de Chile for $181 round trip, I jumped at the opportunity. We ended up getting our flights for a little over $200 and I reserved exit row seats on Copa Airlines for no additional fee. I’d flown Copa before last year when I went to Guatemala for a whopping $124 so I already knew what…

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Family trip to The Bahamas. First time at The Atlantis. I wasn’t a fan but our son loved all the pools and the aquariums. I guess that’s all that matters.

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Sensational San Juan

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Today’s brunch 😍😍. #shrimpandgrits #neworleans (at Atchafalaya Restaurant) https://www.instagram.com/p/B6on6mvB-Sx/?igshid=44hwyiu366k2

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On the way back to our hotel spotted a mural by @bmike2c. I’m loving his work! Would love to own one of his original paintings. #studiobe #neworleans #blackart #onetimeinneworleans (at New Orleans, Louisiana) https://www.instagram.com/p/B6onLVShibi/?igshid=6rc88ywshwu6

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Enjoying our time in New Orleans for #BeeDayX40. Started off the day with a tour exposing us to the unfiltered history of African Americans in the city. Then we had a delicious brunch at Atchafalaya (highly recommend the shrimp & grits). Afterwards we checked out the amazing works by artist @bmike2c at the huge warehouse that houses his work. As a special treat as we were leaving Bmike stopped us as we were about to leave and convinced us to stay for the Kwanzaa program. If I didn’t already love New Orleans, today would have sealed the deal. #girlstrip #nolagirlstrip #studiobe (at Studio Be) https://www.instagram.com/p/B6oi4GghHeY/?igshid=11hjinln895n

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Last night we decided to check out Enchant at Nats Stadium. We thought baby boy would be mesmerized by all of the lights, nope he was more interested in jumping in the puddles. He also refused to take any good pictures. Oh well, we tried. #toddlerlife #enchantchristmas #riddlepartyof3 #familyfun (at Enchant Christmas DC) https://www.instagram.com/p/B573bNHh1_i/?igshid=16ns7bng9szsl

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Because I’m a foodie, I’m reminiscing on all of the delicious food we ate while in Vietnam and Cambodia. In Siem Reap, we went to a restaurant called Embassy where they are firm believers in women empowerment, their entire staff is made up of women. We enjoyed their 7 course tasting menu that was a whole $36. There wasn’t one thing I didn’t like on their menu and the wine pairings made for an even better time. #TBT #siemreap #cambodia #angkorwat #cambodianfood (at Embassy Restaurant) https://www.instagram.com/p/B5IYOOMh0Pl/?igshid=wn1hv7gc2dso

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More adventures in Cambodia, my 39th country. Today we went on a 30 km (almost 19 mile) bike ride to explore Angkor Wat, a UNESCO World Heritage site. As a non-biker today was definitely a struggle but I’m proud to say I made it, we all did. I was hot, tired, muddy and tore my pants and there were several times during this 8 hour day that I thought about throwing in the towel and putting my bike on a tuk tuk and heading back into the city but I made it y’all! #swipeft #angkorwat #temples #cambodia #girlstrip #itwasanexperiencebutimnotdoingitagain #imeannever (at Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia) https://www.instagram.com/p/B47RHJchQxH/?igshid=cfu7wnu4ibmt

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Today’s adventures took us to visit a temple built in 1007, a monastery, a market frequented by locals complete with not only fruit, veggie, and meat stalls but a hair salon selling virgin Cambodian hair. We took a boat ride to see a floating village and even had the chance to get off and meet some local school children and see others learning English in school. Of course we got suckered in to stopping at a few shops along the way that got all of our money. #swipeleft #siemreap #cambodia https://www.instagram.com/p/B45L9LIhRyw/?igshid=18aydx6k38kkf

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Woke up irritated because someone was repeatedly calling me. I finally answered and after telling the woman I was out of the country and still asleep, she kept talking. Five minutes later, I’m wide awake. Opened the curtains to see a beautiful sunrise over Siem Reap. Good Morning Cambodia. #sunrise #lookatGod #siemreap (at ក្រុងសៀមរាប អង្គរ) https://www.instagram.com/p/B43VlOmh9WO/?igshid=wwwxjy4sammm

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Couldn’t leave Hanoi without getting lunch, an Obama Combo, at the place President Obama visited with Anthony Bourdain back in 2016. #hanoi #hanoivietnam #foodtourism #foodiesinvietnam #buncha #mangoandstickyrice #cyclotour #vietnamoldquarter (at Bún Chả Hương Liên) https://www.instagram.com/p/B41-89Pn1JI/?igshid=1983udo3nn9xi

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Adventures in Hanoi Day 2. Today we explored the city by foot and by bus, visited the Temple of Literature and the Hoa Lo Prison, did some shopping, went to a water puppet show, got caught in the rain, had cheap foot massages, now listening to live music on our hotel’s rooftop. #hanoivietnam #vietnamgetaway (at Hanoi, Vietnam) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4zp9eMByRC/?igshid=15iu5wqiqy2ue

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Our adventures in Vietnam took us to our third stop, Hanoi. We checked into our hotel and were given welcome drinks as they introduced us to the city. Shortly after I had an amazing massage, then off to another food tour. Had a chance to try some typical Hanoian foods including Bun Cha (made popular by President Obama’s visit with Anthony Bourdain to Hanoi in 2016), Hanoian spring rolls, Beef Pho, sticky rice snacks/desserts, Egg iced chocolate, and more. Our guide Ruby was delightful and made our night. #foodtour #vietnamfoodtour #withlocals #girlstrip #foodtourism #hanoivietnam (at Hanoi, Vietnam) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4yKmqwh-a5/?igshid=1vkqgvdfa7x6z

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Sailing around the Cát Bà Islands in the Lan Ha Bay was absolutely breathtaking. Initially we were going to do a cruise on Ha Long Bay but I’m glad @sucrebebe3 did her research and found a better, less crowded alternative. We had a chance to explore a cave, enjoy a spring roll making demo, sit and relax and admire the beautiful surroundings, and I even had a chance to do Tai Chi at sunrise. Next stop, Hanoi. #girlstrip #vietnam #lanhabay #nomadness #nomadnesstribe #blackandabroad (at Cát Bà, Hải Phòng, Vietnam) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4wp8ECBB2l/?igshid=12pjcxec6n05h