With our final Wild Card judging live stream set to come out tonight (we’ll be live on Youtube at 9pm Eastern time), it occurred to me that I never journaled my final activities in Melbourne. On our final stop, I met my challenge of finding food for the picky eater, thanks to two Australian staples: jaffles and lamingtons — even finding a way to stack two treats into something that I’m almost certain my (picky eater) son would enjoy.
What is the Wild Card challenge? For this challenge, our contestants chose from wild-card decks to set the parameters of their trips. First, they selected travel destinations, then hotel, airline, and transferable points cards that set their points-and-miles budgets. And finally, they selected power-ups and obstacles to make their travels a little more realistic to the challenges our readers and listeners face and make things a little more interesting! Learn more about the challenge here.
Next up: Travel is done! All three contestants made it to Melbourne and are now safely back home. The final step is for the judges to name a winner. The judges, Stephen and Carrie, will crown the winner during our final Wild Card Livestream on YouTube on Wednesday, October 7th at 9 PM ET.
Trip Overview
| Card Draws | |
|---|---|
| Destinations | Guadeloupe -> Vietnam-> Melbourne, Australia |
| Credit Cards | Capital One Venture: 75K Miles + $300 Stays credit |
| Lufthansa Miles & More: 70K Miles | |
| Marriott Bonvoy Business: 125K miles | |
| Cathay Pacific Visa: 38K Miles | |
| Obstacle | No ride shares in destinations 1 or 2 |
| Power-up | Get out of surcharges free (airline surcharges do not count against me for the purposes of wallet-friendliness) |
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- Pre-trip: Trip planning. Before the trip started, I described how quickly I booked my flights and where I decided to go in Vietnam. See: Feeling relaxed & ready for your recommendations
- 9/22: I flew to Europe on Swiss Air for just 88 miles one way and accessed the Lufthansa business class lounge thanks to a card benefit that will soon end. That worked out well since we boarded from the lounge, which bumped me far ahead of the boarding group I would have had otherwise! See: Europe for 88(!) miles and business class lounge access you might have for 1 more week
- 9/23: I spent half of my 7-hr layover in Paris riding some of the best roller coasters in France at a French comic-themed amusement park that’s just a shuttle bus ride away from the airport. See: Forget the lounge: check out the tallest and fastest roller coaster in France at Parc Asterix during your layover.
- 9/24: I had tropical birds eating out of my hand and had one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen almost entirely to myself in Guadeloupe — and that was all before lunchtime. See: Lorikeets eat from my hand, a gorgeous beach to myself, and more in Guadeloupe
- 9/25: For the long trip to Asia for the next leg of the trip, I enjoyed the sweet taste of Swiss business class. See: Crossing the pond a 3rd time and the sweet taste of Swiss business (Nick’s Wild Card journal)
- 9/26: I took a Michelin-level food tour and visited a tailor to see if I could get a custom-tailored blazer/sport coat made in just 24 hours in Hanoi. See:
Back on the fast track, a tailor-made stop, and Michelin-level food in Vietnam. - 9/27: Inspired by my food tour, I decided to take a cooking class at a highly-rated restaurant to learn how to make my favorite dishes from the night before. I also picked up my freshly tailored threads and learned 6 ways to make Vietnamese coffee. See: Bringing Hanoi home – cooking classes, tailored success, and more.
- 9/28: I became the first contestant to reach Melbourne, and I did it so under budget that I could actually still book my way back home. See: Getting to Melbourne on time & under budget.
- 9/29: I finally eased into a day, with a leisurely breakfast, followed by a stroll around Melbourne before meeting up with Greg for his secret Melbourne dinner and cocktail bar crawl. See: Taking it easy in Melbourne.
The final Adventures (Weds 9/30)
One of the mini challenges that the judges bestowed upon me was to find food that would appeal to a picky eater. As the parent of one very picky eater, I can sympathize with that particular challenge. When we travel, we often default to pizza (which isn’t all that much of a struggle for me since I used to eat pizza four or five nights a week in my bachelor days!). But the judges really upped the ante when they called for finding a dish I’d never heard of that a picky eater would try.
I settled on two classic Australian staples that I thought would be unknown to Greg or Tim, but were still familiar enough that a picky eater might actually be persuaded to try them.
First, we went to Union Kiosk in Melbourne for jaffles. The jaffle iron was invented in Australia in 1949, and Jaffles quickly took Australia by storm. Essentially, a jaffle is like a panini made in a special type of press with concave metal plates that seal one edge of the sandwich (think a waffle iron for a sandwich). That makes it possible to add gooey fillings that would otherwise be hard to put on a sandwich, like baked beans and cheese, which is a classic combination that I had to try.
The twist here is that I decided to get jaffles at Union Kiosk, which is a vegan restaurant in the Central Business District of Melbourne (very close to our accommodations). All of their jaffles are entirely plant-based. That would at least theoretically make a jaffle a healthy choice, while being similar enough to a grilled cheese sandwich to pass the picky eater test.
We each ordered our own jaffle. I went with the beans & cheese jaffle, since that’s the classic version of the sandwich and I figured that most picky eaters probably eat baked beans and cheese (though likely not together).
I like a lot of vegan food, and while I do eat meat, I could probably be a happy enough vegetarian. The one thing I think I couldn’t give up to go vegan is cheese. And vegan cheese is also the one vegan ingredient that never quite does it for me. I had hoped that since it is such an integral ingredient in the jaffle, and since Union Kiosk has such strong reviews, they had perhaps mastered the art of vegan cheese to a degree where I’d likely enjoy the sandwich. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite hit the spot. I’d bet that you could get a picky eater to try a jaffle, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend the vegan jaffle unless your kids are already vegan (and are thus more accustomed to the cheese). Thankfully, it wasn’t too expensive. Lunch cost us about $41.
From there, it was off to try something that I knew the picky eater in my own family would try: a lamington.
Lamingtons are named after Lord Lamington, who was the governor of Queensland at the turn of the 20th century. The classic (though unconfirmed) story is that his French chef had to come up with something to feed unexpected visitors at Lord Lamington’s summer home, so he took day-old, slightly stale sponge cake and rolled it in icing to help moisten it, then rolled it in desiccated coconut so that it could be picked up to be eaten without the icing melting on the hands. On the surface, that sounds like something that could easily please a picky eater.
However, ever obsessed with stacking, I found a way to stack two unfamiliar dishes that would appeal to a picky eater.
Fairy bread is a very popular, very Australian treat that is commonly served at the birthday parties of Australian children. It isn’t a dish you can typically buy anywhere, as it consists of bread with butter that is covered by “hundreds & thousands”, which are rainbow sprinkles. I had never heard of fairy bread before, and I was sure that my kids would eat that.
To stack these treats, I found a place called Tokyo Lamington that actually serves a fairy bread lamington. And that’s exactly what I ordered, confident that I would enjoy it and that most picky eaters would gladly give it a try.
However, the night before our trip to Tokyo Lamington, I was telling Greg about how the texture of seafood is what ordinarily turns me off from it, and he said that he feels the same way about dry shredded coconut. Whoops! I knew that Greg doesn’t have the same sort of sweet tooth that I do, but knowing that he has enjoyed high tea on trips to the UK, I figured that a small cake might actually still be a fit for him. Once I learned about his aversion to coconut, I knew that this wouldn’t be a hit with him.
Tokyo lamington does have some interesting flavors, including Japanese Forest lamington that actually isn’t dipped in coconut. Tim got that one and enjoyed it. Here was the description of it from Tokyo Lamington:
Our version of a Black Forest, come walk through a Japanese forest with us with the green, woody and sweet lamington. Not to brag but this might be the best lamington we’ve made. Cake: Houjicha Sponge, Matcha Sponge Filling: Confit Ume, Ume Cream Dipping: Dark Chocolate Coating: Matcha Cookie, Chocolate Shavings
That did sound pretty good!
To my surprise, Greg went with the “O.G.” lamington, which is dipped in chocolate icing and covered in the coconut he doesn’t like. He still finished a few bites, and I give him credit for that. Meanwhile, I certainly did enjoy my fairy bread lamington.
By now, you know how the rest of the day went, with Tim’s incredible 123Boom activity being the perfect way to close out the trip. I said it on a live stream, but I’ll say it again: that might have been my favorite activity yet from any team challenge. A reader pointed out that kids need to be 12 years old or older for 123Boom. When my kids are that age, I would definitely take them to do that. A couple of readers have suggested somewhat similar activities at different places in the US that I’m going to have to check out.
After 123Boom, we enjoyed a good dinner at The Langham and did our final livestream before flying home. It was a great finish to a wild weeklong adventure.
Trip Accounting
Note: I hadn’t previously accounted for the miles earned on my Capital One Travel bookings to use the “Stays” credit. Those mileage earnings are now reflected here.
| Item | Rewards Spent | Cash Spent | Rewards Earned |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9/22/26 | |||
| Swiss Air to Zurich and on to Paris | 88 Lufthansa Miles & More | $48.80* (note that the true cost was $339, but my get-out-of-surcharges-free card means that the judges will not count the $290 in surcharges against me | |
| 9/23/26 | |||
| Airport shuttle to Parc Asterix | `$15.95 | ||
| Park Asterix Weds reduced-price admission | $55.75 | ||
| Uber back to CDG | $26.21 | ||
| Flight CDG-PTP | 12,000 Virgin Atlantic miles (transferred from Capital One) | $47.78 in taxes (+ $154.07 in surcharges that don’t count due to my power-up) | |
| Avis rental car | $30.80 | ||
| 9/24/26 | |||
| Tropicana Suites | $110, which dropped to $96.54 after a Capital One travel credit from a price match on a different part of the trip. Note that this comes out of my Capital One Stays credit. | 483 Capital One miles | |
| Botanical garden | $22.79 | ||
| Bakery lunch | $11.39 | ||
| Memorial ACTe museum | $22.79 | ||
| PTP-CDG | 12,000 Virgin Atlantic miles (from 36,000 Marriott points) | $97.40 | |
| 9/25/25 | |||
| ZRH-BKK | 55,805 Lufthansa miles | $44.63 in taxes (note that there was also ~$590 in surcharges that don’t count thanks to my power-up) | |
| 926/26 | |||
| BKK-HAN | $102.79 | ||
| Hanoi VIP fast track and transfer | $55.27 | $16.58 cash back | |
| Peridot Grand Luxury Boutique Hotel | $192.23 (Note that I already accounted for the $14.01 savings from the price match previously since I booked this hotel first and then used the resulting price match credit toward Guadeloupe) | 961 Capital One miles | |
| Tailor-made blazer | $211 | ||
| Private Michelin Bib Gourmand food tour | $29 | ||
| 9/27/26 | |||
| Taxi to and from the flower market at ~4:30am | $6.24 | ||
| Salted coffee at breakfast (note that breakfast was included at the hotel) | $4.35 | ||
| Vietnamese coffee making class, 6 preparations | $24.07 | 1,500 Capital One miles | |
| Vietnamese cooking class at Hoang’s | $82.07 | 1,149 Bilt points (14X at Rakuten). Note that a current card-linked offer could have also yielded 8% back. | |
| Private car back to the airport (arranged by hotel) | $16 | ||
| HAN-SYD in Premium Economy on Vietnam Airlines | 47,500 Virgin Atlantic miles, transferred from Capital One | $69.03 | |
| 9/28/26 | |||
| Dining at Priority Pass restaurant at SYD | $6.41 (Priority Pass covered $36 AUD, but I spent a bit more to get both a pizza and a drink) | ||
| SYD-CBR-MEL | 8,000 Air Canada Aeroplan points (transferred from Capital One) | $69.03 (plus the partner booking fee) | |
| Public transit from MEL to Central Business District | $3.85 | ||
| 9/29/26 | |||
| Walk to check out Melbourne Street Art | Free | ||
| Meet up with Greg for his evening activities | |||
| 9/30/26 | |||
| Jaffles at Union Kiosk | $41.19 | ||
| Lamingtons at Tokyo Lamington | $17.93 | ||
| Uber back to the Central Business District from Tokyo Lamington | $9.83 | ||
| Total Cash Spent & Rewards Earned To Date: | 67,500 Capital One miles + 55,893 Lufthansa miles + 111,000 Marriott points +$96.54 Capital One Stays credit + $1,172.35 cash (which includes the cost of my tailored jacket) | $16.58 + 2,944 Capital One miles + 1,149 Bilt points | |
8
| Capital One Venture | Lufthansa Miles & More | Marriott Bonvoy Business | Cathay Pacific | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Amount | 75K miles, $300 stays credit | 75K miles | 125K points | 38K miles |
| Spent To-Date | 67,500 + $288.77 stays credit | 55,893 miles | 111,000 | None |
| Amount Remaining | 7,500 miles, $11.23 stays credit | 14,108 miles | 14K points | 38K miles |
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