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Why I Never Book Via Third-Party

I have a personal rule to never book tickets of any sort via a third-party if I can avoid it. My preference is always to book with the original source where possible. I know it’s not always possible, but it’s still my preference and what I always try to stick to.

Part of why I have this preference is mostly because if I need to contact anyone to help me for any reason, it’s always more difficult to reach that person who is able to help. And, it’s just introducing more opportunities for something to go wrong.

But I recently messed up. And this experience is validating exactly why I need to stick to this personal rule.

So, I’ve started to plan the next summer trip for my daughter and I. She’s wanting to go to Greece so I’m making some arrangements now.

I was specifically wanting to book a flight from Athens to Santorini/Thira (JTR) so I went to Google so I can book flights with Aegean Airlines directly. I typed “Aegean flights” into the search bar and I got the below results:

I didn’t pay close enough attention, and I clicked the first result that read “Aegean Flights” in big bold text as I assumed (my mistake!) that the first result would be the official Aegean Airlines website but it was NOT!!!

I continued to not pay close enough attention as I went through the process and I booked the flights I wanted, and I thought everything was fine:

It wasn’t until I received the confirmation email when I realized the mistake. The confirmation email was NOT from Aegean Airlines, it was from a company I never heard of before, Flight Network.

I immediately started investigating and I quickly found that I accidentally booked these flights with a third-party! So next I went to the official Aegean Airlines website and looked for tickets for that exact same flight and found that they were HALF the price of the third-party tickets I just bought. I felt so ripped-off!

I was so mad. I contacted Flight Network immediately and told them that I wanted to cancel with them. They agreed to cancel, and THIS was the refund I received:

Now I’m even angrier than I was before! I chatted with them and they said they had a bunch of fees that had to be deducted from the refund and there were non-refundable portions of the ticket costs and the $130 is all I get back. I mean, they didn’t LOSE anything. It’s not like they sent me a product and I consumed it and that product is gone forever and now I’m asking for a refund. I simply bought a plane ticket for the future that will be sold to someone else between now and JUNE, probably at a higher rate anyway as it gets closer to then.

I, on the other hand, have LOST several hundred dollars. This doesn’t seem fair.

I’m wondering how hard I need to pursue the rest of this refund. What would you all do in this situation? I’m thinking about reporting this company to some Consumer Protection agencies – I did look them up on the BBB Better Business Bureau and they have a terrible reputation already. I’m also thinking about disputing with my credit card company. What do you think?

I feel tricked. But I also see where I should’ve paid better attention to avoid this situation in the first place – I should’ve double-checked that I was on the official website before paying. I need to stick to my personal rule to NEVER book via third-party, and I encourage you all to apply this rule in your lives too.

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My Laptop Died!

Hi everyone! I had a huge issue with my laptop recently and I’m happy to report that everything is ok now. BUT, this was definitely my wake-up call as far as backup, backup, and backup!

And if all else fails, backup AGAIN!

So, I was having a totally normal day and I went to my personal laptop and it was dead. It had been sitting around plugged-in so I was surprised that it wouldn’t turn on anymore. I immediately thought the issue was the battery wasn’t charged anymore so I looked for an alternate plug. Found an alternate plug and that didn’t help either. But I knew the plugs were working because they worked on my daughter’s laptop which is the same brand.

I wasn’t sure what else I could try that was within my limited technical abilities, so I brought the laptop to a repair shop. I was still thinking the issue was the battery wasn’t charging and a quick swap of the battery or the battery port would fix it. So I wasn’t worried at this point.

Then I got the dreaded phone call from the repair shop. They said my laptop motherboard needed to be replaced and it would cost $650.

THAT freaked me out. Because I realized that I hadn’t backed-up anything on my laptop in 2-3 YEARS (including files and photos) and if I didn’t fix the laptop then all those memories would be gone. But I also didn’t want to pay $650 for a laptop that was obviously not reliable anymore. Also, aren’t decent brand-new laptops around that price now anyway?

I asked them if they could rescue all my files and photos from the laptop and they said that they could try, but I would need to provide them the Microsoft Bit Defender Key to do so. That freaked me out too because I had no idea what that was or where it would be. So I went home and logged into my Microsoft account and I was able to find the key (a code that was 50+ digits long) for that personal laptop. I never even knew such a thing existed, so very thankful I found it.

I gave them the key and an external hard drive that I never used. I bought the external hard drive a very long time ago, with the intention to backup my personal laptop files and photos to it, but I never got around to it unfortunately.

And I eventually got the phone call with the verdict. Success – they were able to save all my files and photos from the laptop to the external hard drive. I was so relieved! I had never been this close to losing all that before.

But never again. I am committed now to frequently backing-up all my files and photos going-forward. And if you all can learn from my mistake, pls do so too! I wouldn’t want this to happen to anyone else…

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Visit to the Amalfi Coast, Including Positano and Capri

So we arrived in Naples very early in the morning, around 7am. We cleared border patrol and picked-up our bags pretty quickly and were in our rental car by 8am.

Our hotel for our first few nights in Italy was in Praiano on the Amalfi Coast which was only a 2 hour drive away from the Naples airport, but since check-in wasn’t until 3pm, we had alot of time to sight-see on the way there. Fortunately, both Pompeii and Herculaneum were on the way (see previous post), so we were able to stop and explore those 2 locations as we made our way to our hotel.

Alot of travellers recommend NOT driving on the Amalfi Coast due to the small congested roads in mountainous terrain and lack of parking, as well as the availability of public transportation instead. But since we would have luggage with us while we stopped to visit other sights along the way, we decided to take the chance and drive. I did specifically book our hotel in Praiano because they said they had 4 spots for parking and I reserved 1 of them.

And the drive WAS difficult! The roads were constantly winding with low visibility ahead and they were a bit small for my comfort level, and there would often be cars/scooters parked on the sides and pedestrians walking and the occasional BUS trying to squeeze through, all while you’re on a mountain so there is a steep drop-off on the other side. It was nerve-wracking to drive, but I did it!

Praiano

We made it to our hotel in Praiano by late afternoon. We specifically chose Praiano on the Amalfi Coast to be our home base because we heard that it was less expensive and more low-key compared to other towns in the area. And that’s definitely what I prefer for a home base. Its location was in-between Positano and Amalfi as well (the other towns we wanted to visit), so it couldn’t get more convenient than that!

Here are some photos of the drive down there as well as the view from our hotel.

Positano

Our first day-trip was to Positano. We got up early and headed to the bus stop close to our hotel. Bus was there in 10min and about 15min later we were dropped off in Positano. Couldn’t have been any easier!

We explored the town of Positano quite comprehensively and my daughter enjoyed the shopping there and bought souvenirs and clothing for herself. The town was built into a mountainside so every step you took was either uphill or downhill, and there were so many stairs!

We were able to relax at lunch time by going to a beach club and laying on sunbeds while they brought us our food and drinks. It was quite lovely. It was incredibly busy with tourists, but the crowds didn’t bother us at all or cause any issues until the very end of the day so it was fine overall.

We enjoyed Positano very much and would say it was our favorite town of the Amalfi Coast.

Now, when we tried to get back to our hotel in Praiano at the end of the day, the bus stops were jam-packed with people waiting for the bus home. Some buses didn’t even stop because they didn’t have room. And when a bus did stop, people were squeezing themselves onto it, there was barely any breathing space.

We finally squeezed ourselves onto a bus home after waiting in the crowd for about 45 minutes, and even though we had to stand the whole time and didn’t have much to hold onto, and the bus tossed and turned quite a bit on those winding roads too, we made it!

Below are some photos of our visit to Positano:

Capri

Our next day-trip was to Capri. Since Capri is an island, most travellers visit by ferry. Our hotel actually had a boat tour of Capri available, including private car transportation to the port. Seemed way too convenient to pass-up so we booked it.

We truly enjoyed the boat tour. It was an interesting ride to and from Capri, we even passed-by Positano. One of the Positano photos above is from the viewpoint of the gulf, and that was taken from this boat trip. The boat would stop at several grottos for us to view, and it would also stop to let us jump in and swim. We also got an up-close and personal view of the famous Faraglioni rocks of Capri.

The boat also stopped to let us explore Capri as well. We ate lunch, went window-shopping, and walked all over the town. My daughter didn’t enjoy the shopping experience there since it was a bit too expensive for us so we didn’t buy anything. But it was still neat to look at.

Below are some of our photos of our visit to Capri:

Amalfi

Our last day-trip in this area was to the town of Amalfi. We should’ve guessed this town would be problematic as we weren’t able to easily get there by bus. We originally went to the same bus stop that got us to Positano, but the buses to Amalfi were going the opposite direction so we needed to change stops. But at the new bus stop, those buses ONLY accepted pre-paid online tickets, and I ONLY had cash or credit card. I tried to download the app so I could buy the online tickets, but my phone wouldn’t download it. Since they wouldn’t take cash or credit card directly, and since the app wouldn’t download on my phone, we were kinda stuck. (I was able to use cash for the buses to/from Positano so this caught me by surprise).

I figured our next option would be to drive down there with our rental car that we had left parked at the hotel this whole time. So we got in the rental car and started driving. We made it to Amalfi and there was no parking. Police were standing in front of the few parking areas turning cars away saying it was full. We backtracked a few times to double-check if any availability turned up by people vacating their parking spots, but to no avail.

I finally drove to the next town Atrani and found a parking spot there, yay! But then we had to walk all the way to Amalfi on those scary windy roads and there was no room for error on those streets. I could feel the cars pass me by and they were way too close!

Then we got to Amalfi and it was way too crowded. I mean, Positano was crowded but nobody was really in our way until the very last bus stop / bus ride at the end. In Amalfi, everyone was in our way the whole time – so it was a different kind of crowded. My daughter also didn’t enjoy the shopping there because she didn’t see anything more interesting or different from what she had already found in Positano.

So, we didn’t stay very long in the town of Amalfi, and we actually went back to our hotel early just to relax and start packing-up since we were leaving the Amalfi Coast the next day. If we could do the trip over, we would probably skip Amalfi and pick another town on the Amalfi Coast to visit.

Also, if we could do the trip over, I think I would like to rent a scooter to get to/from Positano and Amalfi instead of trying the bus. The scooters looked fun and they were much easier to find parking for.

Below are some of our photos of Amalfi.

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Visit to Herculaneum, Pompeii, and Mount Vesuvius

Hello all!

Just recently downloaded my vacation photos off my phone and camera and started to go through them. I’ll share the best of them with you all here! I don’t think I’ll do a single blog post with all of them, as that would take forever for me to create and for you to read. So I’ll do portions of our trip in several installments until it is completed.

Visit to Herculaneum

Our Italy vacation started when we landed at Naples International airport, and Herculaneum was our first stop. We stopped there first as it was closest to the airport, approximately 25min away. In my photos, I tried to capture Mount Vesuvius in the background as much as possible.

If you are not familiar with Herculaneum, it is similar to Pompeii as it was preserved very well when it was buried by the Mount Vesuvius eruption in 79 AD. However, it is much smaller in scale so if you only have limited time to tour an ancient Roman town, then this would be your best option. We completed our tour of it in 1 hour, and we prefer self-exploration so we didn’t have a tour guide or follow the audio guide. I believe those other styles of touring would take a bit longer.

Visit to Pompeii

We stopped at Pompeii next, as it was only a 25min drive from Herculaneum. Pompeii is actually HUGE in comparison to Herculaneum. I think we spent 2 hours there exploring on our own; and we didn’t even cover most of its surface area. So if you plan to do a tour of Pompeii properly, I would budget an entire half-day at least. Seeing both of them side by side, it felt like Herculaneum was an ancient Roman TOWN while Pompeii was an ancient Roman CITY.

One interesting thing about Pompeii is that many of the tourists were asking about where the famous plaster casts of the people were located (so morbid, I’m sorry!). We were told that only 4 of them were actually still on display at Pompeii – we were given the specific location but we never did find it even though we tried and used a map. Apparently, most of the plaster casts were moved to several museums for better preservation.

We had time to explore more, but honestly, the day we were there, it was incredibly HOT outside and we just wanted to get out of the heat is why we didn’t stay longer. There wasn’t much shade and the sun was brutal that day. But it was incredible to see and I would probably visit again to explore more of it next time.

Visit to Mount Vesuvius

And we actually hiked to the top of Mount Vesuvius too! We did not do that on the same day as our Herculaneum and Pompeii visit, as those two stops wore us out and we just wanted to go to our hotel.

On Mount Vesuvius day, we went there in the morning as we wanted to go early before the afternoon heat got too hot. You do have to book a scheduled time in order to do the hike to the crater because they are trying to control the crowds up there. Below is a Google photo of Mount Vesuvius that shows the actual trail that we hiked to get to the top. I wasn’t able to capture a photo of that myself. The source of the image below (link in the caption) is the same place where you can schedule your specific time to visit.

Image Source: Mount Vesuvius Opening Hours | When to Visit, Duration

And, it was so difficult! I was so slow, and my thighs were killing me, and I had to stop for several breaks. A few times I told myself that I was crazy for doing it! But I finally made it to the top! My daughter got there way ahead of me and just hung out while waiting for me to catch up.

Once I got to the top, I enjoyed the view of the crater, as well as the view of the city of Naples down below. I also thought, the hardest part was over. But no, it was also difficult going downhill because the trail was actually “slippery” – NOT the right word, but, I don’t know how to say that the dirt and rocks were very easily shifted under my feet so it actually felt more dangerous going down.

Anyhow, we made it up and down safely! I’m glad I did it.

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Buying Christmas Gifts in July?

I sure did!

Let me tell you how it unfolded… as I wasn’t expecting it.

My daughter needed to go Back-to-School shopping and there were some really good sales happening at the time. There was actually a 40% off sale at the specific store where I ended-up buying the Christmas gifts.

It was also a Tax-Free Holiday for Back-to-School shopping. Where, for certain types of products usually related to school supplies and clothing for school, there is NO SALES TAX applied to it. Lucky for me, backpacks are included in the tax-free holiday and I did happen to find 2 very good-looking adult backpacks that I felt my sister-in-law and my post-college niece would enjoy. With no sales tax, I saved another 10% off!

And, since July is my birthday month, I actually had a birthday coupon to use at that specific store and I got ANOTHER 10% off my purchases!

I really felt like the prices were too good to pass up, so I purchased the 2 backpacks in July with the intention of giving it to my SIL and niece for Christmas. I already wrapped them in Christmas bags too when I got home so I can totally cross-off those two ladies from my Christmas to-do list. I feel so productive!

I surprised myself by making those purchases for Christmas, but now that I am fully aware, I plan to be much better prepared during next year’s Back-to-School shopping as I will be on the look-out for similarly good deals that I can leverage for Christmas shopping too! I have a new mission!

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What Finally Worked For Me

Hi all!

Ever since January, I became obsessed with losing some weight and getting in better shape. I was 30 lbs over my desired weight, but the biggest issue was my weakness and lack of strength and stamina. I would get out of breath just climbing up 1 flight of stairs to the 2nd floor of the house. And I know this was due to my sedentary lifestyle and bad eating habits.

The main driving factor for me was that we had a 2-week trip to Italy planned in June, and I knew that it would be A TON of steps and stairs and I wanted to be in good enough shape that I could enjoy it properly and not have to give up on certain parts of it because I couldn’t do it physically. We even had a HIKE up Mount Vesuvius planned and I didn’t want to fail.

So I finally had a motivating goal to work towards.

I started with daily walks outside in my neighborhood and gradually introduced running/jogging to it. While I noticed that I was able to very slowly increase my distance and pace, there was no difference on the scale, so I was still discouraged.

Since I wasn’t seeing a difference on the scale, I started cutting out portions of my diet. I quit all the sodas but kept drinking water and gatorades and coffee (I was still adding cream and sugar to my coffee btw). I felt like I needed the gatorades since I was exercising everyday and needed the “electrolytes”. Still no difference on the scale.

So then I quit the gatorades and coffees and went to water only. STILL no difference on the scale. That really didn’t make any sense to me bc I was consuming much less calories everyday so why isn’t that translating to losing weight?

So then I quit my daily fast-food lunch during the workday. This was probably one of the worst habits I developed once I started working from home. I replaced it mostly with dinner leftovers or making a quick sandwich. STILL no difference on the scale! Ugh, I was getting so discouraged!

Finally I heard about intermittent fasting, and I decided to try it. With my schedule, I felt like I could do the 16/8 fasting schedule, where you eat for only 8 hours a day (no restrictions on the types of food), then do not consume any calories at all for the remaining 16 hours. To do this schedule, I had to skip breakfast. Then I would first eat at lunch around 11-12, and then I would have my final meal at dinner around 7-8 everyday. And then I would skip my pre-bed snack – which also became a bad habit so I wouldn’t wake up at night hungry.

The theory behind it is that your body doesn’t burn any fat unless it’s hungry. The fasting allows your body to get hungry, and so it starts burning the fat in storage at that point. And, burning fat is what leads to weight loss. There’s a much more scientific explanation for it that includes even more benefits, but that was my high-level interpretation of why it would work and it was good enough for me to give it a shot.

And it worked! At this point I started noticing the numbers on the scale finally drop.

It was difficult at first. I was really hungry. Especially in the mornings. I was worried that I would get low blood sugar and pass out. (I don’t have diabetes, it was just an irrational fear that I had). I would wake-up at night hungry and have to deny myself a snack. But I pushed-through and after a few days those fears go away when you realize that being hungry for a few hours each day really isn’t that bad.

Anyhow, I’m 15 lbs down from when I started so I’m feeling really good about my progress.

I was able to successfully complete that hike up and down Mount Vesuvius! I was also able to survive our trip to Italy where we averaged 22,000 – 26,000 steps a day! I don’t know that I would’ve been able to manage that if I didn’t start exercising in January! I was able to maintain my intermittent fasting schedule quite easily while we were on vacation too, and I actually lost more weight while eating pasta, gelato, and pizzas everyday.

So I’m planning to stick to it. It works for me and it’s easy for me to maintain at this point. I’ll let you all know how it goes!

Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor. I’m just letting you all know what my personal experience is. Please do not consider anything I’ve said in this post to be medical advice.

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I’m Back!

Hi everyone! I’ve missed being here. I think I’m in a good position now to finally get back to blogging again, and I’m looking forward to it!

Work has been ridiculously busy for me in the last few months – many late and weekend hours and I’ve been so exhausted from it. But they’ve assigned someone to help me and he’s been kicking butt, taking over alot of my tasks and really freeing me up.

Of course, I’m incredibly thankful for the help. But a part of me is also very suspicious that I’m getting pushed out – and I’ve actually made peace with that being the case. In all honesty, I haven’t been enjoying work at all. It’s my #1 source of stress and pressure in my life. I could use a break from it.

I’ll seek out another job, as we can’t afford to lose my income or my health insurance. But I would seek out a job that I feel I would enjoy more and allow me better work/life balance. I’m already starting to fantasize what that could be…

I’ve also been on a decent health kick lately too. Eating much better and even exercising often! Since I’ve started this new routine a few months ago, I’ve lost about 15 pounds. Actually seeing a difference on the scale has helped me stick to it. Without that evidence that it’s worth it, I probably would’ve quit already.

Anyhow, that’s a quick update from me! I hope you all are doing well! :)