~~Towards Barista FIRE~~

This is my fourth trip travelling out of ASEAN region, where I have to plan every bit of the itinerary myself (the first was back in May 2024 where me and my mum travelled together to  Japan , the second was back in November 2024 where me and my mum travelled together to  Hangzhou and Suzhou in China, and the third was back in November 2025 where me and my mum travelled together to ZhangJiaJie and Guangzhou in China).  With these prior experiences, I am less concerned and worried about what to plan for our itinerary this time round, as I would have roughly known what my mum would like to experience, and hence what to include and what to exclude in the planning.  This is the first time we are travelling during peak season to see cherry blossoms, thus it will be a trip highly dependent on luck to see if we get lucky to view full bloom.  In addition, this is also the first time we get to experience Singapore Airlines Business Class travel for single trip, which i...

There are some journeys in life that feel extra special, not just because of the destination, but because of the experience along the way.  This upcoming trip to South Korea with my mum is exactly that.  Not only are we looking forward to the beautiful scenery (praying hard for cherry blossom views), food, and moments together, but this trip also marks our very first time (and quite possibly our last one) flying Singapore Airlines Business Class. What makes it even more meaningful is that this was not something I casually booked.  It took careful planning, miles accumulation , and a bit of strategy.  I got to say I am not a great miles player, as my miles accumulation journey was far from optimized, and thus resulted quite a bit in lifestyle inflation.  Thus I decided to end the accumulation phase earlier, and in the end, I only managed to accumulate and hence redeem enough miles for a one-way Business Class flight from Singapore to Seoul for both of us.  ...

One of the biggest perks of blogging is I can easily look back at previous posts and compare which are the goals I have successfully achieved and which has fallen behind.  In this first post of 2026, I will like to reflect upon 2025, and compare with what I had written in this  post  one year ago to assess my achievements. 1)     Liquidating My US Growth Portfolio This has been a huge debate with myself this year, whether I should continue investing in US Growth stocks, or liquidate the portfolio to pay off my Malaysia mortgage loan.  In the end, I chose the latter, and enjoy the peace of mind and positive cashflow with my finances in Malaysia.  I know I may miss out the huge upside (and facts has shown that), but I am not regretting what I am missing out, instead I am cherishing and looking forward to a slower pace of life next year, with lesser financial stress from the mortgage debts that I have. Will I restart and rebuild this US Growth P...

This is my third trip travelling out of ASEAN region, where I have to plan every bit of the itinerary myself (the first was back in May 2024 where me and my mum travelled together to  Japan , and the second was back in November 2024 where me and my mum travelled together to Hangzhou and Suzhou in China ).  With the prior experience from the China trip, I am less concerned and worried about what to plan for our itinerary this time round, as I would have roughly known what my mum would like to experience, and hence what to include and what to exclude in the planning.  In addition, I have learnt how to use Alipay and Amap one year ago, so all in all, this trip is less intimidating for me.  However, as we are going to the mountainous region this time, what worries me more is the weather conditions and the temperature differences between the morning, noon and evening time.  Being unpredictable, I could only overpack, as it is better to be over-prepared than under....