June Travel Deals + A&S Updates from Kimmie!

HAPPY JUNE, A&S SUBSCRIBERS!

It's me, Kimmie here, a travel blogger you must have subscribed to after stumbling upon my blog online (or meeting me in person)! It's finally time for what has become my quarterly newsletter with some travel updates, currect travel deals, featured destinations and posts of the moment, and products too. Feel free to hit 'reply' to this email and let me know if you read it and/or found any of it helpful!

If you don't follow me on social media, you probably have no idea what I've been up to since New Zealand and Sydney at the beginning of the year (although I recommend you do - many links below)! SO let me catch you up on my journeys to Sri Lanka and Indonesia from March to May before getting into recent helpful content and travel deals.

What I've Been Up To:

Yes, all four of the photos above are SRI LANKA! I spent 10 days there at the end of March with Destination Sri Lanka and it was a whirlwind of a trip seeing ALL the different parts of this beautiful, biodiverse, and culturally rich country. From the busy cities to the high elevation mountains to the crystal clear beaches, to the jungles and the national parks to the wildlife and historic cities, it was an EPIC trip.

We started in Colombo and headed to Kandy, a beautiful hilly city in central Sri Lanka. From there I took the famous train ride to Nuwara Eliya, a high elevation English settlement town, and then to Ella which is rich in tea plantations and mountain adventures. We then headed back down to sea level to see elephants at Udawalawe National Park, and then release baby sea turtles into the sea in Kosgoda at a fantasti beach resort. I then made a day trip to Galle, a fortress city previously built and expanded upon by the Portuguese, Dutch ,and British, right on the sea! It was a magical trip.

I know what you might be thinking: Is Sri Lanka safe? They did have some economic unrest last year, but I can guarentee you that it is as safe as anything to travel to. All the 2022 protests were nonviolent, and although there is some inflation, there are no shortages and the people there are just as kind, hospitable, and welcoming (and in need of your tourism) than ever! Here are some reels and videos of my trip and scroll town to see a couple articles I have written about Sri Lanka too.

Sri Lanka Train Vlog
Sri Lanka Reel incorporating all the different landscapes (one of my best performing reels ever)!
Things to Know Before Traveling to Sri Lanka
60 Second intro to Nuwara Eliya
60 Seconds on Galle
And more :)

One of my favorite parts of Bali, Sidemen!

Visiting a tiny island in Komodo National Park

Next up, we have Indonesia! I flew straight to Indonesia from Bali and met Eliot there. We stayed with friends working remotely for our first week, then spent our second week living in a beautiful villa with some other friends and partying it up in Canggu to start Eliot and my friend Brooke's birthday celebrations.

This whole trip was just for fun and not sponsored in any way; we just missed Bali SO much since getting stuck there for basically the whole first year of covid, and we had been planning to go back for a long time. Hopefully one day we will build our dream villa there - that's the goal, anyway!

After a quick 3 day trip to Sidemen to relax, we got on a 1hr flight with two other couples to Labuan Bajo on Flores Island, Indonesia. This is the gateway to Komodo National Park - yep, the one where Komodo dragons come from! We did a 3 day liveaboard diving trip including 9 scuba dives, and got to see SOO much incredibe sea and wildlife including komodo dragons of course, manta rays, many sharks, sea turtles, water buffalo, and more! It was the best diving of my whole life.

THEN, it was time to return to Bali for a week in Uluwatu for Eliot's birthday! We had lots of festivities including an Argentinian BBQ at the villa, seeing our favorite dj at a beach club, having dinner at our favorite Mexican retaurant, and more. I then spent a week in Canggu catching up on some self-care and other appointments for a lot cheaper, such as the dentist, getting my hair done, laser, and even a new tattoo :)

Since early May I have been living back in Melbourne, catching up on content and work! The blog is going amazingly and is supporting me better than ever. We are hoping to become digital nomads again this year and travel full time, but slowly!

Up next for me is a week-long trip to Thailand with Air Asia (I am helping to promote their new direct flight to Bangkok from Sydney), which happens next week.

After that, I am heading to Croatia for our very own sailing tours to finally start! I have talked about Fjaka Sail on a few of these newsletters before, but basically me, Eliot and a friend I used to tour guide in Croatia with, Andre, have started a new affordable luxury Croatia Sailing company for young people who are a bit older - so not for 18-22's but more for people in their late 20's, 30's, and 40's who still love a good time but want something a bit nicer. We are having our last flash sale this weekend so if that sounds like you, hit us up (discount code just below).

Travel Deals + Promo Codes of the Moment

Fjaka Sail (explained above) is MY VERY OWN Croatia Sailing company I'm running with my partner Eliot and our friend Andre. We just hosted a giveaway on our instagram for a two-person cabin, and we are having a flash sale this weekend only for 10% off. But there's also an exclusive secret discount code for 15% off just for subscribers and giveaway entrants, and I'm going to give it to you too - it's IAMSTILLCOMING15. Use it! Come! Check out our website here and message me with any quesitons.

Hostelworld is offering up to 45% off the best hotels in Latin America until June 4th (I'm a bit late, I know). If you're planning any journeys to Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and more, check out the deals on Hostelworld's homepage.

You know I love my unique stays, and I heard CitizenM Hotels (which has unique and affordable hotels all over Europe and the US) is having a big 25% off sale WITH free breakfast for any summer stays. A great option for a vaycay OR a staycay.

VRBO has just published their most popular destinations for summer in the US and UK along with the bet summer rentals too. Time to start planning if you haven't already! On a budget? They also rounded up the best affordable escapes.

Expedia is having a 30% off Summer Sale on select (amazing) properties around the country/world.

Groupon has announced their summer sales on activities, travel, and food. Oh, I just love Groupon; I have found so many fun experiences on there and what I lvoe most is that you can still get Groupons when you travel because they have it all over the world!

TourRadar is one of the biggest tour booking platforms in the world, and they constantly have MASSIVE deals on multi-day tours.

Here is their deals page with dozens of different deals on right now
They have different deals of the week, too - currently there are Southeast Asia Trips for up to 55% off, including 10 days in Thailand
Or their BEST deal of the moment is a whopping 56% off an 8 Day Prague to Budapest Rail adventure... from $3960 to $1745. So good.

Worldpackers has more and more work and travel opportunities every single day, and my link gives you $10 off the already affordable annual membership! Get a Discount a Check Out their Work & Travel Opps Here

Destination of the Month: You Guessed it: SRI LANKA!

You knew it was coming! This was my first trip to Sri Lanka and certainly not my last. I have only written a couple posts so far, but I think you will like them! The first one tells you all the amazing reasons you shoukd visit Sri Lanka (Spoilet alert: it IS worth visiting) and the seond one details the actual itinerary we did on this trip with hotels, activities, and more! Save them for your eventual trip!

Here are my Sri Lanka posts:

Featured Posts of the Month:

This month I wanted to share TWO posts with you:

THE ULTIMATE MUSIC FESTIVAL CAMPING CHECKLIST + PACKING LIST

This one has been on my agenda for like 8 years, which is ridiclous. But it's finally live: the most comprehensive festival packing list on the internet! This festival checklist was adapted from my real packing lists I have used for festivals over the years and includes everything you could POSSIBLY want to bring to a festival. Includes all the camping essentials as well as toiletries, clothing, electronics, carrying things, and all my favorite foods to bring to festivals as well as links to where to get them.

Read it Here

BALI HIDDEN GEMS: MAGIAL OFF THE TRACK SECRET SPOTS

I have been focusing more on unique places to stay/things to do on my blog lately, and also hidden gems in eaach destination. After living all over Bali I've published a comprehensive Bali hidden gems article here! Stay tuned for Bangkokg and Chiang Mai hidden gems content after my trip in a few weeks.

Read it Here

Favorite Product of the Moment

I GOT A NEW SUITCASE! It's the Solgaard Carry-on Closet and this thing LITERALLY has a closet INSIDE the bag that folds up and extends when you open it, and you can hang it up. I haven't actually used this suitcase yet but you can see how it works on their website here.

I'm actually doing some UGC (user-generated content) for Solgaard so I will be shooting photos and videos of this bag in different destinations during my travels for the next few months. Keep an eye out for me on their instagram page, and I will share more info about packing with this suitcase this month when I start packing.

---

Thanks a million for subscribing and for reading this. It means the world to me!

Wishing you fun adventures and beautiful sunsets in whichever corner of the earth you are in,

KIMMIE XX

Kimmie Conner