Entries Tagged 'Vacation' ↓

In my last company I was used to getting monetary bonuses based on my performance reviews. Don’t get me wrong, I love bonus checks, but after getting them as a routine they lose a bit of their luster. When a bonus check is smaller than usual it is also hard to appreciate the fact that it is a bonus. I usually just save my bonuses like my regular salary, and that’s that.

My husband’s company deals with bonuses in another manner. He has never gotten a bonus check as large as mine, but he has gotten awesome schwag. Since he joined the company they have given him a free Xbox 360 and a Wii gaming system. We play with the Xbox quite often and it is something we would not have bought if it weren’t free. We gave the Wii to a friend because we already had a system, but it was still a very nice gift from the company.

Today he dropped a bomb on me and told me that his company is sponsoring a weekend trip for all employees plus one to Vegas. We will also get some spending cash for the weekend. I am so ridiculously excited about this trip that the cockles of my heart are aglow like a supernova. I have never been to the Strip in Vegas before and I just feel like I won a huge prize right now. In actuality, it is a bonus for the hubby’s work, but the truth is that I think I would not be as excited and happy if he just brought home an extra check because we are really in no dire need for extra money. This is a trip we would have not taken if his company were not sponsoring it, and that is a real bonus.

My mom is also a recipient of non-monetary bonuses in the past. Her last company was tiny and the owner is extremely generous. He often had awesome parties with the most amazing food. They were also flown to New York one summer just to visit the boss’s house and have a party.

I think sometimes experiences and things are more memorable as bonuses than money, and could help a company win the loyalty of its employees without costing all that much. For example, an Xbox 360 system is about $300 to $400, and we are still loving it. We tell our friends that the hubby’s company just gave it to him, and they are all impressed by it. On the other hand, telling a friend that you got a $400 monetary bonus isn’t all that memorable or impressive.

So which bonus would make you love your company more? A $5000 check or a trip to Hawaii?

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Today is the hubby’s 25th birthday and our 5 months “mooniversary”. We will be going to a potluck tonight with some friends from church. It so happens that another guy is celebrating his 25th birthday, too, so we will be having a combined birthday dinner. Potlucks are always an awesome way to eat lots of food by contributing a little and this would be a very frugal birthday celebration. However, the hubby and I will be going to Napa tomorrow for some top notch food at Auberge du Soleil and a cooking demonstration at the Culinary Institute of America. Then we will stay in Napa for one night at a bed and breakfast and eat some more.

This weekend is not cheap, but I am a big fan of paying money for experiences rather than things. I am especially in love with good food and I always want to share the delightful flavors and aromas with my hubby because he is a foodie, too. The problem is I am a fairly bad cook so I have to outsource to better chefs. In my family birthdays are always celebrated with an extremely fulfilling and delicious meal, so I want my hubby to have the same.

In my mind excellent food and travel is worthwhile because it will only get more expensive in the future, and there are so many places to see and so many things to eat! Because I am fairly frugal most of the time I can easily afford the occasional splurge on a vacation or excellent restaurant. Ultimately, money is meant to be spent, but I would never spend money I don’t already have.  Knowing that I am able to afford my fun makes it even more enjoyable.

So there, my secret is out. I am not a total tightwad when it comes to food and fun on special occasions. I do enjoy spending money when I know I will have a great time and that I am able to cover my expenses completely without effort. I hope my hubby enjoys this weekend very much!

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For the past week I have been vacationing down in the Inland Empire with my hubby’s family. We spent Christmas cooking and eating and then we did various things like shopping, gaming, and more eating. My hubby was extremely excited over purchasing a double down puffy jacket at the Steve and Barry’s at Puente Hills Mall for $8.98! Actually everything in the store was $8.98 because it was a grand opening sale and the entire time we were in the store the hubby was saying, “HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE!” I thought it was extremely cute that he got excited over cheap stuff. Apparently there will be a Steve and Barry’s opening in San Jose sometime in the future and maybe they will have such a sale too.

Besides being delighted by cheap jackets, we went to a couple of the Southern Californian restaurants that my hubby has been craving for. We managed to go to Thai BBQ and Chick-Fil-A. He also wanted to go to El Pollo Loco. (There is certainly a theme of chicken to these restaurants.) I have to say that Chick-Fil-A chicken nuggets are quite good, and unfortunately the closest one in Northern California is about two hours away from us in Sacramento.We only recently found out that there is a Thai BBQ in South San Francisco, but everything in the SoCal location was $1.00 cheaper. I guess the rent is just higher in South San Francisco. We also had a LOT of boba milktea everywhere we went. When we visited the hubby’s friend J Allan and he drove us to Pasadena to see their “old stomping grounds” (Caltech). The entire city was gearing up for the Rose Parade and there were bleachers erected all over the streets. We ate at a small hole in wall restaurant called The Pasadena Sandwich Company. This is a place that makes sandwiches that are bigger than newborns and they’re mostly under $8. We all ordered something called “Trust the Cook”, which is basically a random sandwich. Then we ended the day with a lot of Rock Band.

Other highlights of the trip included a visit to the San Diego Natural History Museum’s special exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls and a short tour of the U.S.S Nimitz. The Dead Sea Scrolls are absolutely amazing because the Biblical texts they contain actually validate a lot of our modern day Bible. Additionally, the exhibit emphasized that the ideas written by the Jews in turbulent times thousands of years ago still applies to us today. There are also a lot of texts not related to the Bible and one of them that caught a lot of people’s attention is a copper scroll that is basically a treasure map to vast amounts of gold and riches from the temple of Jerusalem. It is believed that the treasure was hidden before the temple was destroyed. On the same day my sister in law’s boyfriend took us on a tour on the U.S.S. Nimitz because he lives and serves on the ship. The seasoned aircraft carrier is literally a fort on the water. I think there were about twelve to thirteen floors and it took us a while to walk up to the landing strip and flight deck at the top. We did go after sundown so a lot of areas were closed off or were going under renovations. The U.S.S. Reagan was entirely decked out in red and green holiday lights along the right side of the Nimitz and it was pretty impressive looking also. Unfortunately I have no pictures of these because photography was not allowed in either place.

One thing that really stuck out to me is how much sprawling land there is down south and how much we had to drive to each location. Here in San Mateo everything seems so crowded and there is a lot of apartment buildings and tiny single family homes. Down south it seems that the standard home has four bedrooms (at least in Chino Hills). I picked up an issue of the Home and Land magazine down there and I was totally amazed that you could rent one of these giant houses for less than the cost of our condo. It is possible that one day the hubby and I would move down there, but it would be at least a few years from now.

Anyway, I hope all of you had a fun and safe holiday and that today was a wonderful beginning of the new year!

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Something I found quite interesting when I visit China is that a lot of people think foreigners are automatically rich, and if you’re a Chinese expatriate people would think you’re loaded, too. When I am immersed in that environment sometimes I do feel I am wealthy and I tend to spend more money than I should. The exchange rate makes me feel rich in a mathematical manner, and I don’t calculate the prices to US dollars extremely accurately every time I buy something. As a coworker of mine says it, “it feels like I am spending monopoly money in China and I could buy so much more!”. Here are some of my stories about this phenomenon.

The first time I went back to China was in 1999. This was a full seven years after I left my home country and I was sixteen. I remember that my mom told me to not tell people that I am from America because they will try to rip me off. When we went back home we did some shopping, and we were buying quite a bit of stuff and the vendor was quite puzzled. She said to us, “you’re not Yangzhouese are you?” (Yangzhou is the city I am from, the birthplace of Yangzhou/Yangchow fried rice). We both knew the merchant was an out of towner because she had an accent of another dialect. So my mom replied in fluent Yangzhouese, “can’t your tell by the way we speak that we’re really Yangzhouese? You’re the out of towner!” I thought it was funny that the way we spent money in our hometown marked us as tourists, and yet we had the essence of the locals because of our language.

The next time we went to China was 2006. China change so much in seven years and everything became much more expensive and the dollar has declined against the yuan, but this time we went with a tour group. We were inexperienced tourists and every time we were brought to a tourist trap shop we bought something. In Beijing my mom gave into sales pressure and bought a little statue for way more than it’s worth. She still blames us for letting her buy it today. I guess the problem is that this time they knew we were from America, and gave us the “special” high prices in the designated stores. The excitement of being back in China and having fun really got to us on that trip, and we went a bit overboard. Then again, I felt like I was supporting the economy of my homeland, and it wasn’t a bad thing.

The last time I went to China was shortly before I got married this year. My mother and I toured some of the most beautiful and remote places in China and I could write a lot more about this later. The people in these distant lands were so simple and beautiful and we bought a lot less things this time, but we were mostly happy with our finds. Then after the tour we went back home to Yangzhou and had dinner with friends and family. Of course my grandparents have told everyone how much money I make because they are proud of it. People were impressed because they always multiply the income by the exchange rate, and they don’t realize that we have fairly heavy income taxes and a high cost of living here. (in China there is still no income tax at this moment) It felt good to invite everyone to a very nice restaurant and pay for it out of my pocket because I am able to do it. Again, that feeling of being rich crept up.

It is dangerous to feel rich when you travel abroad to any country that has a currency that’s cheaper than the dollar because you can end up spending a lot and you will be noticed. It is better to lay low sometimes so you don’t get robbed or scammed. Additionally, I think what is worse is to feel superior to the people who have less than us. The next time I go back to China I will be with my hubby, and I will keep on reminding myself the reality of our life. We are not internet tycoons and we live a comfortable life, but we still need to be responsible with our money no matter which country we are in. It is so easy to get lost in the surreal surroundings of a foreign land and there is nothing wrong with having some fun, but just remember to count your blessings, and your spending.

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I am back from an absolutely awesome trip to Kauai. The hubby and I totally splurged on food and massages on this trip and I felt that it was well worth it. The highlights of the trip for me are still some of the “free” things. Here they are:

1. The Wildlife - We saw quite a few Hawaiian monk seals! One day we saw four different ones. They are so cute and they were just sleeping on the public beaches. They are supposed to be the one of the most endangered species in the world since there are only about 1400 or 1500 of them left. It is a felony in Hawaii to approach these seals and they can bite even though they’re so cuddly looking, but we were only about 10 to 20 feet away since they couldn’t close down the entire beach. Here are some pictures of these lovable creatures:

Another endangered species we saw was the Hawaiian green sea turtle. It wasn’t as cute as the monk seals, but it was still pretty interesting and just lying on the beach.

And finally, another wild animal that runs rampant on Kauai is the chicken. The story is that during hurricane Iniki in 1992 all the chicken coops on Kauai got blown open, and now after 15 years there are flocks of these birds all over the island. The roosters crow at all hours of the day and sometimes they fight:

2. Free Attractions – Most attractions on Kauai are admission free if you are willing to drive there yourself. Very close to our hotel are two attractions — The Spouting Horn, and the National Tropical Botanical Gardens. The Spouting Horn is a natural lava tube that spurts out columns of sea water as the waves push through it. It also makes a very loud moaning noise as the water comes up so the Hawaiian legend states that there is a giant lizard stuck in the tube yelling for help.

The Botanical Gardens is basically across the street from the Spouting Horn Park, and it has ten acres of flora and plant collections that visitors can walk through daily for free. The hubby took some gorgeous photos here, but was savagely attacked by bugs and now has bites all over his legs. I was also bitten multiple times. Here are some photos the hubby suffered for:

Other awesome free attractions include Waimea Canyon, Hanapepe the home of Lilo and Stitch, the Hanalei Valley, and ofcourse the miles and miles of white sand beaches on the island. We spent the entire first day there just driving along the main highway on the island and visited all the little towns along the way and that was pretty fun.

3. The Hotel Toiletries and Complimentary Teabags — These aren’t exactly free since we paid to stay at the hotel. However, I learned from my mother how to get the most out of the complimentary items. Basically, she would take all of the shampoo,soaps, and lotions that are free and put it in the suitcase. The next day the hotel staff would replace it. So often my mom would end up with a whole bag full of just hotel toiletries. Then she would give them as gifts to family and friends in China, who really love American branded things. So amidst the ridicule of the hubby, I took the shampoos and teabags and put them in my suitcase. I regret that I didn’t do this everyday since I forgot to gather up everything a couple days when we left quite early for our adventures. The hotel had some really nice eucalyptus scented shampoo.

One thing we did to save some money on the island is to go to the local Kmart and buy drinks and snacks. The six packs of Hawaiian Suns we bought at the Kmart lasted us for the entire trip and cost a little less than 2 bottles of water at the hotel. There was also a coupon in a tourist pamphlet for a free box of chocolate covered Macadamia nuts at the Kmart so we got that. So betwixt all that splurging, a little bit of frugality shined through.

So now I’m back in San Mateo, and the colors seem a little more muted, but this is home I suppose, and I am so glad that all wedding related expenses are done with.

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