After 18 months in the US, we're saying goodbye.

We left Las Vegas this week to begin our journey back to New Zealand.

We're going home the slow way... via Hawaii! So don't feel too sorry for us! We have a week on the Big Island where we'll be visiting Volcanoes National Park, swimming and hopefully spotting some whales. Then a quick flight over to Oahu for two nights in Waikiki before a long flight home to New Zealand. Our flight goes via Sydney and takes over 17 hours. Not looking forward to that bit!

We'll be staying in New Zealand for a few months but already have travel plans for 10 days in Melbourne in March. We'll probably do a few trips around New Zealand and we look forward to welcoming a few US visitors that we met on our travels.

Bethaney

Where We've Been

We spent most of January in Park City, Utah. We left a week ago and have spent the last week in Las Vegas. We finally got a photo of us at the Las Vegas sign! After countless visits to Vegas over the past 18 months we hadn't done so knew it was a must this time around!

Reader Question: Finding Hotels in NYC

Carmen asks: "Do you have any tricks for getting a good deal on a hotel in NYC?"

Choose your dates carefully. Avoid any big events with the associated high prices but doing a quick Google search before you book your flights.
Check dates on Hotels.com. Look at the price breakdown and identify which days are more expensive.
Consider switching hotels during your stay. Often it's only one night of the week that's expensive. In NYC, it's usually Saturday night that is expensive. You'll find Sunday night cheap.
Book using Priceline. Use Priceline Express Deals to get better prices. Read this post to see how.

Got a travel question? Reply to this email and I'd be happy to help you.

Best Posts of the Month

On Flashpacker Family:

On Blogs We Love:

13 Month Update: Flying Home! - Our friends from Where's Sharon? just wrapped up 13 months of travel as a family!

What are your travel plans for 2016?

What are your travel plans for 2016? Are you planning any international adventures? Or are you sticking to domestic travel this year?

If you want some inspiration for travel around the US, we've come up with a list of the best experience to have in the US with children. After 18 months of travelling around the US, we compiled our favourite museums, national parks, beaches and cities into one easy reference for planning your 2016 travels in the US.

Read this post: 20 Incredible Experiences to Have in the USA for Kids

Travel Tip of the Month

Always do the travel math!

We just booked flights from Kona to Honolulu and found it was going to cost $25 extra per bag. A first class fare on the same flight was only $50 more. Since we have two bags, it was actually the same price for one of us to fly first class with the bags for free than for us all to fly in economy. It always pays to do the travel math!

Behind the Scenes

Packing sucks. Especially packing up after 18 months! We've accumulated a lot of stuff in the US - toys, clothes, books. After a late night dash to get a third bag and a stressful night packing it was definitely worth it when we arrived in Hawaii and this was our view from the Sheraton in Kona.

Travel Product of the Month

I bought this eBags Slim Laptop Backpack for Lee for Christmas. It was a great choice! His old laptop backpack was heavy, didn't sit well and had way too many pockets and straps. His new laptop backpack is very slim line, has useful dedicated pockets for a laptop, iPad and chargers.

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