USA Trip Day 23 - 26 Sep 2014 - Touristy NYC (3)

Today is the second day of our NY Pass and these are the attractions we visited today. We actually scheduled NY Skyride for Day 1 but it was closed by the time we reached yesterday so we added it to today.  However, I wouldn't recommend NY Skyride as it was utterly underwhelming.

Day 2 Overview

1/ Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Immigration Museum

2/ 9-11 Memorial & Tribute Centre

3/ Madison Square Garden All Access Tour

4/ American Museum of Natural History

5/ The Metropolitan Museum of Art

6/ NY Skyride

USA Trip Day 22 - 25 Sep 2014 - Touristy NYC (2)

It was 2:15pm. The drizzling rain has taken a break. The elusive Sun was taking a sneak peak into our world. We took a short bus ride towards the southern tip of Manhattan.  

An hour later, we found ourselves in front of this massive ship

USA Trip Day 22 - 25 Sep 2014 - Touristy NYC (1)

We bought 2-day unlimited use New York Pass for US$ 129.99 and today would be our first day of use. New York Pass allows you to see as many attractions as you like from the list of over 80 eligible places during 2 days. If you are not into partaking in activities meant for tourists and are more of a "explore local neighborhoods and people-watch" kind of person, this pass is not for you.

https://www.newyorkpass.com/En/new-york-attractions/

Of course, we gotta factor in all the travel time so we had to prioritize the few attractions we would see with our two-day pass. We visited 12 places in total. I honestly think the pass is an amazing deal though. We had already recovered our pass cost of US$ 129.99 on our first day alone!

Day 1 Overview

1/ Top Of The Rock 

2/ Rockefeller Centre Tour

3/ Radio City Music Hall Tour

4/ The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum

5/ Circle Line: Harbor Lights Sunset Cruise (2 hours)

6/ Empire State Building Observation Deck

USA Trip Day 21 - 24 Sep 2014 - Free and Easy in the Big Apple

My kind friend is bringing us around the Big Apple today and highlight was food :D

We first started off with Dim Sum brunch in Elmhurst, Queens  area before ending up in Central Park around 1pm.  The funny thing was I needed to use the toilet urgently and the first thing we looked for was huge shopping malls like in Singapore. But my friend was like there was no such thing in NYC as many stores were stand-alone! Plaza Hotel saved me from embarrassing myself though hahaha Also, the hotel's basement has food court in case you are looking for one in the area.   

Charismatic horse carriages at your service to make you feel like a princess! 

USA Trip Day 20 - 23 Sep 2014 - NYC's Broadway

Today, we are taking a 9:30am Amtrak train from Boston to the Big Apple! So, around 8:30am, we headed out of our Airbnb, walked for about 10 minutes to the Tufts Medical Center Station to take SL4 for 2 stops to the South Station. 

Time Check: 9am at the Boston South Station 

USA Trip Day 19 - 22 Sep 2014 - Harvard Area

From TD Garden, we took Orange T to Downtown Cross, transferred to Red T and ended up at the Harvard Station.

First Parish in Cambridge with 400 years of history 
Its congregation honors the spiritual diversity in the Unitarian Universalist tradition.

USA Trip Day 19 - 22 Sep 2014 - Delving into the history of USA (Freedom Trail)

Such a long day ahead of us!  Filled with places to be, things to do, yummy food to eat :D  But first thing first - BREAKFAST!  Remember how we had to skip Paramount Restaurant the day before due to limited space? Today is the day we gotta try their famous breakfast.  

USA Trip Day 18 - 21 Sep 2014 - Onto East Coast (Boston)

A gust of chilly wind greeted us in Boston.  Even inside the airport terminal, the air was frosty.  Sleepy us took shuttle bus SL1 to Boston South Station (5 stops) then took Red Line T to Charles Station (3 stops). 

US$ 2.25 per trip with Charlie Card

US$ 2.75 per trip with Charlie Ticket / Cash on board

US$ 12.00 unlimited 1 day Link Pass

US$ 21.25 unlimited 7 days Link Pass

Barely an hour after our 745am arrival in Boston Logan Airport, we were right smack in the middle of Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood. We had about 3 hours to spare as we could only check in to our Airbnb accommodation only around noon. 

Chiang Mai 3D2N Trip - 1, 2, 3 Oct 2016

As I had wrapped my entries for the USA West Coast trip, let me share about my 3D2N trip to Chiang Mai, before I move on to the East Coast stories.

I and my mother had to go to Phuket, Thailand for a business meeting and we extended our trip by flying to Chiang Mai afterwards.  The below entries were penned by my mother in our local tongue - Burmese. Enjoy!

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Kampaeng Ngam Hotel
18 Kampaengdin Rd., 
Changklan, Thailand, 
Mueang Chiang Mai District, 
Chiang Mai 50100

Twin Room - 2 nights - Exclude Breakfast - THB 3042
Located just 10 minutes walk away from the night bazaar

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Airport Taxi from airport to hotel - 150 THB
On-call Taxi from hotel to airport - 250 THB

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Day tour to Chiang Rai & Golden Triangle including lunch - 1000 THB per pax

Boat trip across Mekong River to Laos - 330 THB per pax

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Adios!
xoxo
Miss N

USA Trip Day 17 - 20 Sep 2014 - Self Drive Holiday: Palm Springs -> Santa Babara -> Solvang -> San Francisco

Even though it was just 7am, the sun was shining so brightly and I felt quite warm already.  We had breakfast at hotel and set out on our epic road trip back to San Francisco! We planned to return our rental car at airport and catch an 11pm flight to Boston from SFO. I was quite worried though as Mister was gonna be the only driver for such a long journey. Hence, we incorporated pit stops along the way. We were on our way by 745am.  

Byeeeee Palm Springs

USA Trip Day 16 - 19 Sep 2014 - Self Drive to Palm Springs (AND shopping!)

For the next two days of our trip, we booked a car from Alamo. So we packed our bags, left hotel around 8am and took FlyAway shuttle bus to LAX to pick up our car around 930am. 

FlyAway shuttle bus to LAX

We paid US$ 8.00 per pax for one way ticket but its US$ 9.00 now.

We then drove back to hotel, checked out, loaded our bags onto the car, bought breakfast and were on way to Griffith Observatory, for a closer view of Hollywood sign.  There is free parking available at the observatory parking lot but we had to wait a few minutes for the lot.  Even then, we visited on a weekday! 

If you are interested in hiking, you can try the 3 miles trail from the parking lot towards the sign. 

http://hollywoodsign.org/hiking-to-the-sign/

USA Trip Day 15 - 18 Sep 2014 - Back to LA

Nothing much on agenda for today.  We just wanted to take it easy after an activity packed day. So we slept in, had leisurely lunch while waiting for laundry, and started on our packing before leaving the hotel at 3pm. 

After an hour bus journey (with #20, through Koreatown), we reached the beautiful LACMA campus on the Wilshire Boulevard. 

Chris Burden's Urban Light (2008) Installation was the main reason for our visit to the Los Angeles Country Museum of Art. Since seeing such mesmerizing setup in the movie Valentine Day, I had wanted to see it in person. 

There are 202 restored street lights, which used to lit up areas in Hollywood, Glendale and Anaheim back in the 1920s and 1930s. Chris Burden started his collection in 2000 with just 2 lamps, purchased at US$ 800 each. With the goal of keeping his entire collection together, he invited prospective buyers to his studio. Among them, LACMA's then new director Michael Govan fit it was a perfect fit and hence, we get to enjoy such as fascinating installation today. 

USA Trip Day 14 - 17 Sep 2014 - Happiest Place on Earth

WE ARE VISITING THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH!!!!!!!!!!!!

CAN YOU IMAGINE MY EXCITEMENT??!!!

I KNOW I'M TOO OLD FOR THIS BUT HEY, ITS DISNEYLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:D :D :D  

Opened on 17 July 1955, Anaheim Disneyland is the only theme-park designed and built under the direct supervision of Walk Disney. Disneyland has a larger cumulative attendance than any other theme-park in the world, with over 650 million guests since its opening. 

USA Trip Day 13 - 16 Sep 2014 - Hollywood Glamour

Whoohoooo it's Hollywood day! 

Regardless of how indifferent I had felt about the City of Angels, I was beyond excited to see Hollywood.  

I meant we all grew up watching movies and cartoons, listening to music, copying the style of those hottest stars - all products of Hollywood. It was also portrayed as the place, where many made it big and had gone from zero to hero. 

Be it unconsciously or consciously, I'm sure we all wish to one day be able to experience such glamorous lifestyle, typically associated with Hollywood! Right?

USA Trip Day 12 - 15 Sep 2014 - LA Downtown & Korea Town

While we checked in soon after midnight, we fell asleep only around 3am as we decided to Febreze the whole bed, pillows and blankets. It was of course expected that we slept in and had a leisurely lunch. 

One of the few good things about this hotel was that it was surrounded by food and amenities. There were loads of restaurants nearby including a very homely Mexican diner and a Chinese take away shop round the corner. There was also a CVS pharmacy nearby for all your necessities. Our hotel didn’t provide us with drinking water so we had to get ours from there.

Another reason we set out only around noon was that venturing out into the sunny LA during heat wave felt like an uphill battle.  While our 'boutique hotel' room didn't have air-conditioning, we were still under the shelter. So doing laundry was our excuse for starting our sightseeing so late.  

Heat wave + sauna like room + bathroom with bad drainage + noisy and shady neighbourhood all combined made us lose our excitement and curiosity in exploring the City of Angels. 

The nearest subway station was like 15 min walk away! In this heat! Grhhhhh

USA Trip Day 12 - 15 Sep 2014 - LA Hotel (Stay on Main / Hotel Cecil)

Oh Heat Wave! Why you no go away! Why must you visit LA, while we were there only for a short 4 days?!  The lack of air-con in our room made it worse! We kept taking a shower when the heat got too much for us too handle. 

Initially, the room I booked didn't even have an attached bathroom.  I realized it when I read the confirmation email. So immediately I cancelled my booking and made a new reservation for a room with private bathroom, for extra charge.  Thank god I did that. Otherwise, I can't imagine how bad our stay could have become. Can I just share a bit about our hotel / hostel?

Stay On Main (Old Name: Hotel Cecil)

+ Great location downtown (convenient to buy food and take public transport)
+ Affordable rates
+ Grand lobby
+ Free iMac in the lobby

- Can be scary location too with homeless, the city's worst drug addicts and most destitute citizens, typical of DTLA 
- Foreboding past with haunted stories and murder cases (Mister wisely kept this history from me and only told me after we checked out.  Otherwise, I don't think I could have lasted all 5 days there)
- NO AIR-CONDITIONING
- Horrible drainage in our private bathroom
- Rooms are not sound-proof, so if your neighbors are night owls, good luck to you
- Extremely noisy with police sirens

USA Trip Day 11 - 14 Sep 2014 - Sightseeing & Shopping in Vegas

Since we toured a great deal of distance on foot the previous day, we were exhausted and woke up late.  We checked out, left luggages at the reception and took an airport shuttle bus from our hotel, to pick up our rental Nissan around 10 am.  

Our first stop (after getting some drinks and bread from a mart) was the renowned "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign. Did you know that it is a self-sustaining neon sign with its own solar panel?

A prefect example of the golden age of neon signs 

USA Trip Day 10 - 13 Sep 2014 - Grand Canyon Day Tour

Being one of the 7 natural wonders of the world, Grand Canyon has been in our bucket list for a long time. Since we were already so close to Arizona, we decided to visit this 227-miles long, up to 18-miles wide and over 1-mile deep canyon.  It was awe-inspiring to witness 2 billion years of the Earth's geological history, represented as neat layers of the canyon in this nature park. 

USA Trip Day 9 - 12 Sep 2014 - Vegas Baby!

As soon as we landed in the Vegas airport, we were amused to find slot machines in the waiting area, next to the boarding gates.  

No question about it. This is indeed Vegas!

USA Trip Day 9 - 12 Sep 2014 - Seattle Old Town

Our flight to Vegas would depart at 13:02 so we planned to leave our AirBnB loft at 10:45.  We only had about one and a half hour to explore and we wanted to take it easy with a tea break too. Hence the morning was spent strolling around International District of Seattle.  

 Red-brick King Street Station built between 1904 & 1906

This station was designed by the same architects who were involved in the Grand Central Station project in NYC. 

USA Trip Day 8 - 11 Sep 2014 - Seattle Centre

First of all, I must apologize for not blogging for 7 whole months! 2016 has been such a busy year for me with many trips.  But that means I will have many interesting things to share about!  Trip of the year definitely has to be our 3 weeks trip to Europe. So let's finish this USA 1-month tour and we can move onto 2016 trips ^.^

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We started off quite late around 945am and took Link Light Rail from International District to Westlake.  Instead of taking monorail (USD $2.25) from Westlake to Seattle Center, we decided to walk to enjoy breakfast at Seattle's famous Top Pot Doughnuts, located along the way to Seattle Center.  

Top Pot Doughnuts
Address: 2124 5th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98121
Opening Hours: 6am - 7pm