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The Ultimate Guide To The Best Kids Headphones Of 2019

By Jasmine / September 20, 2019

Ensuring all my kids have the best kids' headphones for all our family travels has been a lifesaver! Often the...

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Complete Guide To Choosing The Best Humidifier Australia 2019

By Jasmine / August 11, 2019

During the winter months, having one of the best humidifiers in the home is a great way to prevent dryness...

Complete Guide To Choosing The Best Humidifier Australia 2019

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Ultimate Guide To Finding The Best Chef Knife 2019 [Australia]

By Jasmine / August 7, 2019

Whether you consider yourself a great cook or not, I can tell you that by having the best chef knife...

Ultimate Guide To Finding The Best Chef Knife 2019 [Australia]

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Ultimate Guide To The Best Baby Monitor 2019 Australia

By Jasmine / July 30, 2019

Technology has transformed the best baby monitors 2019 from being a simple microphone and speaker to sophisticated pieces of technology....

Ultimate Guide To The Best Baby Monitor 2019 Australia

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Australian Best Baby Bouncer 2019 – The Ultimate Buyers Guide

By Jasmine / July 11, 2019

Many mums will tell you that getting one of the top rated baby bouncers (or rockers as they are also...

Australian Best Baby Bouncer 2019 – The Ultimate Buyers Guide

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Australia’s Best Nappy Bag 2019: Complete Buyers Guide & Reviews

By Jasmine / July 11, 2019

With so many brands claiming to have the best nappy bag, it can be a little overwhelming trying to decipher...

Australia’s Best Nappy Bag 2019: Complete Buyers Guide & Reviews

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The Foolproof List Of Best Gifts For Teen Boys In Australia

By Jasmine / June 25, 2019

If there is one thing I hate shopping for most, it's gifts for teen boys. It's always the hardest demographic...

The Foolproof List Of Best Gifts For Teen Boys In Australia

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8 Reasons To Go To Seoul, The World’s Most Underrated Tourist Destination!

By Jasmine / June 17, 2019

We are currently in Seoul, South Korea, and loving it! And it's made me wonder... How come I barely know...

8 Reasons To Go To Seoul, The World’s Most Underrated Tourist Destination!

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Best Baby Car Seat 2019: The Ultimate Australian Buying Guide

By Jasmine / June 1, 2019

I still recall the first time we purchased a child car seat for our first child and all the research...

Best Baby Car Seat 2019: The Ultimate Australian Buying Guide

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Why Turning 40 Is Awesome!

By Jasmine / May 20, 2019

I have some exciting news - I'm turning 40 later this month! While I see so many of my friends...

I’m Jasmine. A 40 year-old Melbournian entrepreneur with three kids who can’t stop travelling! In this blog, I share my life and my quest to live simpler and smarter. Read more.

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- Our Favourite Melbourne Hotel – Ovolo Laneways Review 2019
  I love to travel. However, as a family, sometimes we just need a break without the need to go anywhere. Our answer has been the city break in our own hometown of Melbourne and spend a bit of time playing tourist in our own city. Even though we live quite close to many of the things we like to do in the city being that bit closer makes it easier and more relaxing especially when we subtract the need to do housework and cook. The city stays we’ve done so far has been great successes – helped in no small part by a great place to stay in the Ovolo Laneways Hotel. And it’s fabulous – we knew the first time we stayed we would have to contact Ovolo Melbourne for another stay. This is our Ovolo Laneways review from our most recent stays in 2018 and 2019. *Updated 2019 after staying at the Ovolo for our third time!* Ovolo Laneways review The Ovolo Hotel Melbourne is a small and simple “boutique” hotel. It has great rooms and we’ve found it fits our needs perfectly. Although I suspect it’s designed for business travellers, it works great for families as well. From the free lollies at reception to the spacious rooms with nice kitchenettes, this is a great place to stay. The rooms The rooms of the Ovolo are small yet well designed and feel spacious for hotel rooms. They are more like serviced apartments. We’ve stayed in both one and two bedroom rooms here and both have been a good size. Each has had a good sized lounge with a big couch and a nice table to eat at. Both rooms also had a small but functional kitchenette with a decentÂ fridge, a microwave and a sink. There are glasses and mugs, plates and cutlery and tea and coffee making gear but no other cooking equipment. A tea towel and cloth would be nice but there’s plenty of paper towel. The fridge is also the mini bar which is included and well stocked! On both occasions, there have been beers (Peroni), small bottles of wine, juices, cokes and water. Despite being free they aren’t stingy on either arrival or servicing. On our last stay, they noticed we’d drunk most of everything so gave us extra on top of what was there on arrival! I have to admit this is one of my favourite bits of Ovolo. The lounges have both been great places to chill in or have a small party in like we did last time! There’s plenty of floor space and Baby J could roam around happily. Both rooms had big screen TVs with Foxtel, a DVD player and an Apple TV which we could use our Netflix account with. We didn’t want to watch much but we had no shortage of options when we did feel like something. The bathrooms and bedrooms are small to accommodate everything else but still big enough to be useful. We managed to fit a portacot (supplied) in the main bedroom without too much effort. The beds at Ovolo Hotel Melbourne were nice and comfy. The bathroom was well stocked with supplies and lots of towels. That’s one thing that gets to me – most hotels don’t have enough towels, especially for a family but it’s not an issue here. Overall, we could have stayed in the two bedroom family room for more than the three nights we did. It didn’t feel like we were on top of each other (well, maybe a little but that’s normal) and we could all play or relax without getting in each other’s way. Terrace Suite Review More recently, we stayed in the terrace suite. O. M. G. This suite is just absolutely perfect, awesome, wonderful and any other hyperbole you wish to add. It’s huge with absolutely fantastic and funky furnishings, many extras and so much light. There’s two bedrooms, two decent bathrooms, the main living area with kitchen and dining and a very awesome terrace. We spent a fair bit of time out here and I loved it. There is also a lot of light which was somewhat lacking on our previous stay. The minibar was crazy stocked – so many drinks! They also give you a full bottle of sparkling wine on arrival. We decided we wanted a different bottle of wine instead later so they tossed in another bottle as well. It’s really crazy good service at the Ovolo. We paid a fair bit more for this room than the others, but I think it was worth it. I did not want to leave and was calculating how long we could afford to stay if we spent all our savings 😀 Facilities Facilities are where The Ovolo Laneways Hotel shows its boutique side. There are not a lot of facilities here but what is here is well done. One of the best bits is the breakfast. From 7am to 10am on the 5th floor there’s a kitchen/dining/lounge space with access to a rooftop deck with lovely views. The kitchen is stocked with cereals, pastries, fruit, bread and spreads with a fridge full of milk, juices, bircher muesli, fruit salads and yogurts that you help yourself to. Plus there’s a Nespresso machine and a range of teas. It’s not a massive range compared to a breakfast buffet but instead feels like the right amount of options not to be over the top and is much closer to what we’d normally eat for breakfast while still being different enough to feel a bit special. I liked that everything was nice and healthy enough that we could eat a good breakfast that filled us up without being excessive. All the facilities to toast or heat plus bowls, plates and cutlery are all laid out making getting what you want easy. Then you could enjoy eating at the bench or an indoor or outdoor table or just on a couch in front of a big TV. Or take it back to your room which is what we did. It’s actually one of my favourite hotel breakfasts because it’s all so easy and casual. Serving yourself on your own schedule is great for families. Ovolo also hosts a daily Happy Hour with drinks and snacks from 6pm to 7pm. On our first visit, it was held in the same area as the breakfast and was a lovely bonus to our stay. It had a great atmosphere and was reasonably kid-friendly. However, the last time we visited the drinks had been moved to reception which is much smaller and also less fun and the confined space felt too hard to take three kids to. As mentioned in the intro, there are free lollies in the reception which you can help yourself to as much as you want. Our kids loved this! Also in the reception are drink fridges you can take things from whenever you like. On our first stay there was water, juices and beers but on our most recent visit, there was just water. Still, with the mini bar, it’s not too bad and it was nice to grab some water on our way out somewhere or grab one on the way back to the room. It’s a nice touch. Finally, for longer stays, the Ovolo Melbourne Hotel has a free laundry on level 2 with washers and dryers (and free laundry powder). Open from 7am to 9pm, it makes a longer stay or an urgent wash possible. The Neighbourhood The Ovolo Laneways Melbourne is located at the eastern end (or the “Paris end”) of Little Bourke Street, just down from Spring Street. While it is a quieter area of Melbourne’s CBD, it’s well located for dining and transport and still easy to get anywhere else in the CBD you need to go. Dining-wise, it is really close to Melbourne’s Chinatown, which is located a block down Little Bourke St. It’s no longer the sole location for (east) Asian food in Melbourne’s CBD but it still has most of the best. Unsurprisingly it is mainly Chinese (predominantly Cantonese with some Sichuan) at prices ranging from cheap! to whoa! but has some Japanese, too. Swanston Street is a 10 to 15-minute walk away and has more Japanese plus Korean, Indonesian, Thai and more. There are plenty of options on Bourke Street, too as well as a great Greek option just a few doors down (Kri Kri which has good food in massive portions). The Melbourne CBD has no shortage of places to eat or drink though! If you want to get supplies there’s several convenience stores and mini-marts close by. There’s a big supermarket in the QV centre on Lonsdale Street, about 10 minutes away on foot. Hotel Ovolo Melbourne is well hooked up for transport. Parliament Station is just off the end of Little Bourke Street and is two minutes away. Being close to Bourke and Collins Streets means there are lots of trans nearby and the free City Circle tram is also really close on Spring Street, too. Final Thoughts If you’re looking for a hotel with many room options, tons of extras, in a fantastic location that’s also lots of fun, you really can’t beat the Ovolo. We keep going back, even though it’s only a few kilometres from our home, because we love it. And it’s not just for adults… The kids are already asking when we will go again and we only got back yesterday! Sound interesting? You can check out the latest prices here. You can also read about another Melbourne hotel in our Pegasus Apart’Hotel review or find more Melbourne content here. Our Rating? Comfort Cleanliness Location Kid Friendliness 5...
- Melbourne City Break? Pegasus Apart’Hotel review
  We did it again! It was a long weekend in Melbourne with 5 days off school for our oldest and I needed a break. Like really needed one. I had just launched my new course and there had been some difficulties which really got me down. I felt burned out and low and I couldn’t concentrate on what I needed to do to fix my launch. A couple of days away from home seemed like the solution. In fact, I didn’t even take my laptop charger to avoid me working (I still wanted the computer as I love Netflix in my downtime 🙂 ). So I got online and looked for a Melbourne hotel. It wasn’t that easy as it was Melbourne Cup weekend which is obviously a super busy time. I was so happy when I came across the Pegasus Apart’Hotel. It was a fabulous price especially on Booking.com where it was $100 a cheaper a night than any other site. Click here to find your own special deal. Pegasus Apart’Hotel review The Pegasus Apart’Hotel is a modern hotel located on A’Beckett Street, close to the Victorian Market and Flagstaff Gardens. It’s about a ten-minute walk to Melbourne Central and is close to trams and train. The staff are friendly and helpful and it’s a very easy place to stay. The rooms There are a variety of room types at the Pegasus from hotel rooms to large apartments. What attracted us was that they had apartments especially for families. We stayed in a two bedroom family apartment. In our apartment, we had a kitchen area (with essential appliances including fridge, microwave and stovetop), dining and lounge areas, bathroom and two bedrooms. We also had great views. The best part (for the kids anyway) is the kids’ bedroom. These are themed! We had an African animal theme which was very cool. There were colourful animal stickers on the walls and cool bedspreads and bean bags. There is also a games console. We had a PlayStation which we never seemed able to get working but hopefully, you have better luck! (Note, it did actually work we just couldn’t work out how to use it!) The kids’ room had two single beds and the main room, one queen. We were able to get a baby cot for an extra $10 a night. The apartment was a great size with plenty of space for the five of us. What we appreciated over the Ovolo Laneways was that the apartment was light and airy – the apartment there was very dark. Facilities The facilities at Pegasus Apart’Hotel are great. There is a large indoor swimming with a large spa. It is beautifully heated and like a humongous bath and we had no problems enjoying it in the very cold weather. There is a gym and a restaurant/bar as well. We paid extra for the buffet breakfast which was worth it. There is a special deal if you buy it the night before from reception. We also enjoyed the happy hour periods in the evening which were quite festive. My only complaint is the internet. It was sloooow. I ended up using my phone for internet. Final words The Pegasus Apart’Hotel is a great choice if you want space, some quality facilities and a great price and are happy to be a short walk from the centre of everything (and not right in it). We enjoyed it so much that we extended our stay by another night. The kids loved their room and we all enjoyed our few days away. It completely rejuvenated me and I was ready to dive back into my work. We highly recommend this hotel and will no doubt stay again. Sound interesting? You can check out the latest prices here. While you are nearby, you should also consider these things to do in Brunswick. Looking for something fun to do while in Melbourne? Definitely consider visiting the Great Ocean Road. Read more here. You can also read about our experiences at the Ovolo Laneways Melbourne here. Our Rating? Comfort Cleanliness Location Kid Friendliness 4.8...

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