We spent 3 nights in the Cross Hotel Kyoto and enjoyed it. The location is wonderful. It is just a short walk from Nishi Market and other shopping areas. It is also a roughly 5 minute walk to two different train stations (Sanjo Keihan Station and Kyōto Shiyakusho-mae Station), making it easy to explore the city. Gion was also located just a quick walk across the river. The hotel is modern and in great condition. We splurged a little for a deluxe room and really liked the extra space. (Sorry kids… they had a regular room.) The extra room and …

I don’t even remember how I stumbled across The Knot Hiroshima but it was the first hotel I booked and I was so excited about it. The reviews were great and the pictures looked amazing. I booked directly on their website instead of through a third-party booking site and the confirmation email in all Japanese made the trip feel real for the first time. I could not wait for our stay. With so much build up in my mind, I was preparing myself for it to end up being somewhat of a let down. It was not. This was hands …

Our Osaka hotel, The Bridge Hotel Shinsaibashi, was probably the most budget-friendly and family-friendly of the hotels we stayed in. This obviously resulted in some tradeoffs but we were happy with our decision to stay there. Located in Shinsaibashi, the hotel is just outside of (but convenient to) many of Osaka’s top attractions. It is less than a 5 minute walk to two different train stations – Shinsaibashi Station and Yotsubashi Station. It is less than a 5 minute walk to Shinsaibashi-suji Shopping Street and less than a 10 minute walk to Dotonbori. You can basically get to anywhere in …

We chose The Prince Hakone Lake Ashinoko hotel based on its location. The lakeside setting and potential for views of Mount Fuji were really appealing and we thought those factors would outweigh any inconvenience of being a little off the Hakone Loop. The location proved somewhat challenging from the start. From Hakone-Yumoto station, you have to take a bus to get to the hotel. The bus is a city bus that winds up curvy, mountainous roads, makes almost 30 stops and takes over an hour. The bus was very crowded for the first 20 minutes or so and there is …

Tokyo was our first stop in Japan and we knew we would be tired from the long trip. It was also our longest stop, as we were spending 5 nights there. So we felt like it was important to have a pretty nice hotel for this leg of the trip. Hotel Villa Fontaine Grand Tokyo Roppongi has recently renovated, good-sized rooms (by Tokyo standards). They have three different sized rooms: deluxe 40 sq m, twin 30 sq m, and a smaller 20 sq m twin. We booked two of the middle sized rooms, and each had two beds and a …

There are plenty of options to get from the Cancun airport to the hotel zone – bus, taxi, rental car, shared shuttle, private transfer. We wanted to book private transportation ahead of time and there was no shortage of companies available. Nothing screams US tourist like booking with a company called USA Transfers, but they had well over 6,000 five star google reviews so we went ahead and booked them despite the name. It was really easy to make a reservation online through their website. I just entered our hotel, travel dates and times, the number of passengers, and selected …

In planning our quick spring break trip to Mexico, I knew that we would spend most of our time at the resort but that we also wanted to take at least one tour to get out and explore the area a little bit. I was most interested in doing a cenote tour. I wanted to avoid the cruise-ship style, cattle call tours that stopped at 5 hotels and picked up 40 people for an overcrowded, chaotic experience. In the weeks prior to the trip, I looked into a few private tours but none of them worked out. I had trouble …

We stayed at the Hilton Cancun Mar Caribe All-Inclusive Resort for spring break this year. Full disclosure: we are not your typical all-inclusive resort guests. It’s not really our style of travel, which is why we haven’t stayed in one before. We don’t eat or drink a ton. We appreciate friendly staff and great service but are uncomfortable with anything individualized, like a private butler or concierge. We love a beautiful resort and well-appointed rooms but don’t need anything overly luxurious. And a day at a spa is my worst nightmare. 🙂 That being said, we think most things are …