North America Archives - Page 2 of 4 - Escapes From The Little Red Dot

San Francisco 2018 Day 8 – Golden Gate bridge, Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39

Posted on November 9, 2018February 8, 2019 by ziyi

We woke up at 8, got dressed and by 10, we were checked out. The reception was pretty closed to the lake and so we decided to go check it out. It was a great decision to take that walk as we were presented a scenic serene view of the area. While K was not able to appreciate the view, he found some pine cones to kick them about. There was a pier that went out into the water. Walking along the wooden walkway, with clear waters reveal the ground meters deep beneath the water (but no fishes). Ducks were seen at the sides of the walkway basking in the morning sun and ignoring us until K got too close and some got in the water. Then a school of geese glided down and landed on water, a majestic sight that I wasn’t able to catch with a camera as I watched in awe. I could just sit there all day to enjoy the peacefulness around but we had to go to San Francisco and it was a tad too chilly. After K had some fun playing with the sand, we walked back to the car, and was surprised to see a wild rabbit and fluffy tail squirrel along the way! (K tried chasing the rabbit as it dashed out of sight)

The school of geese after landing on the water

The road trip to San Francisco was a 4hrs drive, beginning with a nice scenic downhill drive at the start coming out from Lake Tahoe. The tall trees with autumn colors lined the road as the car took the often curvy road but not too uncomfortable to drive. My family were soon off to dreamland while I kept my eyes on the road. I had initially planned a midpoint rest stop at Sacramento Southside Park that had a Farmer’s market nearby but since K was still asleep, I decided to continue the drive straight to San Francisco.

The Google maps initial road to our destination were showing intimidating red colours leading into the peninsula, so I decided to take a detour and go through Lafayette instead of Vallejo as there’s were less reds. We crossed the Bay Bridge and paid at the toll counters the bridge toll of USD4. There was a slight jam while in San Francisco but we slowly made our way to the Airbnb.

Overhead signs indicating cash or Fastrak only

After going through a few streets of the residential area, we turned into a street with a dead end, our Airbnb. We had to carry out the check in ourselves using instructions through the app and it didn’t take long before we unlocked the few doors before finding ourselves at the door to our accommodation inside the garage. It was a small place that came with kitchen place with a portable stove, a small living room and a bedroom and toilet. K settled down to have his lunch while I ventured out onto the streets and found a Burger King a 6mins walk away. Purchased 2 small meals to takeaway for $17. This location had a very Puerto Rican vibe, people were speaking Portuguese, and I heard orders for the meals being conversed in Portuguese.

Colourful buildings reminding me of San Juan

Finished our lunch at about 315pm and we were out again. I had planned to visit the viewpoint of the Golden Gate bridge, the Battery Spencer fort at the opposite end of the bridge itself. Drove there which was not too difficult with directions along the way. Upon climbing up the hill, we couldn’t see place to park the car and thus proceeded further up where there was another viewpoint (see Google map). I managed to park at that viewpoint and we got out for quick photos before getting back into the car and returned to Battery Spencer. Luckily upon arriving, a car just left and I quickly grab the opportunity slot my car in.

Battery Spencer fort was a fort that was no longer in use, and there weren’t anything much left of the fort. To view the bridge, we walked on the rocky road just next to the fort route all the way till the edge of the knoll. When we arrived, we were greeted by the magnificent view of the Golden Gate Bridge from an elevated view, a location for the best selfies!

Toll for the Golden Gate Bridge, but no counters to pay

Our next location to visit was to go Fisherman’s Wharf. This meant driving back on the Golden Gate Bridge. While there was a need to pay toll, unlike the Bay Bridge, there weren’t any toll stations available. Nevertheless, I had 48 hours to make payment and it wouldn’t be too much of a problem. Googled Northpoint center carpark as the place to go to for a visit to the Fisherman’s Wharf but I was on the opposite side of the road that did not allow for me to turn into the car park. Eventually, we ended up parking at Pier 39 carpark.

We went to Fisherman’s Wharf to walk around, there were shops and restaurants abound, like a typical tourist area. We walked into a random shop that had souvenirs and bought a musical box in the shape of a cable car and small model of the Golden Gate bridge. We went into CVS to shop too, buying a lip balm and mommy bought her stuff.

One of the chocolate store at Fisherman’s Wharf

For dinner, we left Fisherman’s Wharf and walked to Pier 39 where there were plenty of restaurants to choose from. We thought of getting some seafood and Fog Harbour fish house seemed to tell us that but there were too many people queuing to get in so we went further down and entered the Crab House. Ordered Cioppino seafood tomato soup and fish and chips for K. It was pretty tasty but the quantity was surprisingly small. Decided to add another half a crab in their special sauce. In total, we paid slightly less than USD100 for dinner. Since we ate at a restaurant in Pier 39, we had our carpark ticket validated too, to save some costs. Spent the night walking around Pier 39, enjoying the sights of lights and a carousel that was closed for the night. However, many shops remained opened while we were there.

Carpark fees were still a hefty USD30 by the time we were leaving. It was a 30mins back to the apartment where we passed by the Bay Bridge that was lighted up with running lights. I thought that parking at the Airbnb would be easy since I could just parked on the road as the schedule for road cleaning wasn’t during our stay. When I arrived, I saw a street full of cars, it was like everyone had thought that it was a good idea to park there. I managed to just park in front of the building, with the risk of blocking the car that was in the garage, but figured that the owner could just call me to move if it was a problem.

I started TV that came with Amazon Firestick for K to catch some familiar cartoons before bath time. Tried to fix K’s sports car luggage with superglue bought from CVS too before finally going to bed.

Lake Tahoe 2018 Day 7 – Lake Tahoe

Posted on November 8, 2018February 6, 2019 by ziyi

Woke up late at 9am, not sure if that was due to fatigue or if the bed was too comfortable. After I managed to get out of bed to check the breakfast timing, I was shocked to find that the buffet was ending in the next 30mins. I quickly brushed my teeth, and went down to the ground level after turning on the tv for K. It was a small buffet section tucked at a small section away from sight. I asked one of the staff there if I could bring up the food to consume them in the room and was quite surprised that it was possible! (never tried that before) I filled 2 empty plates with whatever I think my family wanted to eat and brought them to the room. One of the plate had a waffle that I had to grill myself right from the batter and I found it interesting as this was the first time I was doing this. We had out breakfast in bed.

After getting dressed, we left for the drive to Lake Tahoe, about 1hr drive away. The most part of the drive was the expressway and nearer to Lake Tahoe, the many lanes converted to smaller roads. Our first visit was to the Heavenly gondola. The google maps brought us to somewhere mid-hill near residential areas which was not correct. Then when we finally arrived at the carpark just behind Heavenly Resort, we found the gondola stationary – Not in operations yet! Frustrated about the time wasted efforts of driving around, we next drove to Eagle falls in search for a picnic area some 30mins away.

The road brought us through a town and then back to curvy mountainous roads as we got closer to our destination. I wasn’t really sure where it was and after passing through a view point, I parked my car at a location where there was a parking lot. We got off to explore but the temperature didn’t felt like what it seemed in the sunny day – it was bitter cold! We thought that maybe if we could get a spot under the sun to sit it would warm off but we couldn’t make it to the location before calling off the idea and returning to the car as the wind was mercilessly blowing continuously. While doing so, K took interest in the giant size pine cones which he would pick up from the road and throw them towards the grass.

I drove down to Emerald bay viewpoint called Inspiration point, the place where we passed by while on the way to Eagle falls. There was a car park that was tiny and very full but fortunately we were able to get one slot after going around once. K ate lunch in the car to stay away from the cold while I went outside to take photos of the beautiful bay view with the island in the middle. After my short walk about, I returned to join them in the car where I finished up the remainders (of K’s lunch) for my lunch while mommy ate last night’s sandwich, toughing it out due to laziness to find some decent place to have lunch. We all got off to check out the view and to walk off the lunch. Though it was still cold but it was much better without the wind that we encountered at Eagle falls. There was a restroom without water that K used, a first introduction to the concept of what we ate returns to nature.

Since there was time, we decided to just drove around the huge lake in a clockwise direction, during this time, K fell asleep. We went past a few towns before arriving at Incline village and drove to town center to explore a bit. Unfortunately, it was small and had nothing much so we proceeded on to drive to Sand Harbour.

There was a road before the actual road that I thought led to the Sand Harbour but it was meant for those who would be releasing their boats. Backed out and turned into the actual entrance to find that there was a need to pay for parking. There was some instructions about putting the sum into somewhere since there weren’t any personnel manning the counter so I thought it was too difficult and just went into the car park. It was almost empty parking place and after stopping the car at one of the slot, I got out quickly to take a few shots of photos before returning to the car and driving off to our next destination, the Safeway supermarket.

View of lake at a certain spot. Waves created by wind.

The Safeway supermarket was a huge supermarket at the South Tahoe town that was also closed to where we were staying. After about a 30mins from Sand Harbour, we arrived at the carpark of Safeway with K waking up coincidentally. Mommy spent some time to buy groceries to make dinner that night. While I pushed K around in the trolley, K met a 2year old baby boy and was having a little chat with him (which he enjoyed talking to other kids around his age) and was trying to find him while we go around the different lanes. After an hour in the supermarket spent on shopping and kiddy talks, we left with 50ish foodstuff.

Our accommodation for the night was booked from Airbnb but located at Lakeland Village which was managed like a resort management. I carried out the checked in while the family stayed in the car and was given a Townhouse facing road. I didn’t realised under I checked with mommy whom had booked this accommodation because it was supposed to be facing the lake, as per the description from the Airbnb. I called to clarify with the reception but they mentioned that it must have been a wrong description because for Townhouses, there weren’t any around that had lake views, only the bigger 3 to 4 bedders had. Disappointed but there wasn’t much we could do even when mommy tried to message the Airbnb owner, there was no reply.

The accommodation however was pretty nice, 3 stories including the loft with a beds. I entered the apartment first to turn up heat and also the electric fireplace before having the family come in. We spent most of the time in front of the TV especially K, while mommy cooked dinner that was made up of pasta, egg omelette and salmon teriyaki, in which salmon fillet had to be recooked as it was too thick!

The bath was on the first floor but the entire place had their own and good heating so we didn’t have to rush to get dressed or else catch a cold. Then when we were finally done with TV, it was lights off as we huddled at the loft to sleep. I shared the single size bed with K as he had the inspiration to sleep on another bed from mommy but was too afraid to sleep alone, while mommy enjoyed the entire Queen bed to herself.

Grand Canyon 2018 Day 6 – From Grand Canyon to Reno

Posted on November 7, 2018February 3, 2019 by ziyi

Woke up at 8 plus to a very cold morning, in the desert where the temperature is known to be very harsh. Thankfully the bed was very warm and all of us had a really good sleep. I struggled to get out of bed, worried that I would freeze to death the moment my feet touch the floor. I wanted to generate heat and thus tried to get ready by moving quickly but the limbs froze much faster than being heated up. To prevent K from catching a cold, I dressed him under the thick quilt and kept him warm. When we were finally done, including brushing the teeth with cold water, we proceeded to the reception for breakfast.

The warmth of the reception was welcoming and we got ourselves a simple breakfast of oat bar, muffins and banana with drinks choices of hot choco and coffee. We checked out at the same location after the breakfast and before leaving, we caught sight of a corgi wearing a vest, cuteness overload!

The helpful staff had brought the luggage from outside our tents where we placed them to our vehicle while we were having breakfast. They continued to extend their help by loading them up into our vehicle and bade us goodbye. Then we were off to Grand Canyon once again. This was an impromptu trip and estimating the time to get back to Las Vegas for our flight, we needed to leave by 11. I wanted to save more time so I drove a little over the speed. Then from the corner of my eye, I spotted a police car parked by the side of the road. I knew that was it as I tried to slow down immediately but hope turned to despair as the stationary vehicle got onto the road and followed behind. Once it was a close, the lights on the car turned on and I obediently turned to the side and stopped. As I have heard of ugly stories of encounters with the cops, I just stayed in the car, wind down the window and follow instructions. He asked for documents and my license and told me that I had travelled over the speed limit. Went back to his car for a pretty long time before returning to give me a warning letter only. I was thrilled for his magnanimity and apologised before driving to Grand Canyon within the speed limit.

Grand Canyon was huge and had many places that can be visited on foot or by vehicle. We didn’t have the luxury of time to do the whole circuit and so could only choose one place to drive to, Yavapai viewpoint. It was a good choice as it wasn’t too far from the main road. Parked at the parking and walked into the observatory post, an enclosed area that was isolated from the cold. We spend a good 10mins there, reading some of the geological data and admiring the view. As the time ran out, we then took some photos outside, use the toilet before hitting the road for the trip back to Las Vegas.

The drive back was just a drive, to say the least. K and mommy slept while I just drove. We arrived at Williams and I pumped $40 gas before continuing the journey. Then we arrived at Kingman and I paid another $15 for gas just so that I could return the car with the same level of gas.

We finally arrived at the airport at around 230pm, there was a time difference between Grand Canyon and Las Vegas, and going towards Las Vegas earned us an extra hour. I drove following the road signs that pointed to rental car return and there was a area for Enterprise cars. The staff came over almost immediately and the check was done very quickly, no issues. We had to do a little repacking of the luggage before proceeding to take the shuttle bus to the airport, which was around 10mins drive. I loaded all our luggage onto the storage onboard the bus but as it was relatively empty, the luggage moved a bit while the bus moved. Thankfully one kind passenger helped to hold onto K’s sports car luggage before it slipped off the shelf. Another also gave up his seat for me just so that I could sit together with K, we were thankful for all these kind gestures.

Once we disembarked the shuttle, we rushed to Allegiant counter to check in, which was located all the way at the end of the building. Unfortunately our luggage’s combined weight was over the limit by 17lbs which we had to pay $50 additionally. After dropping off the luggage, we completed the check in with our downloaded tix on the Allegiant app.

Before boarding, we wanted to get something to eat for lunch. We visited the Starbucks (where else right) at the main public areas but no sandwiches were available and the staff advised us to proceed through the gate to visit the branch inside. Then we went through the security checks which was quite strict as both of our carry-ons were requested to be opened for checks. After a quick toilet visit, we went to a Flatbreadz restaurant and we got ourselves ham and cheese and turkey bacon sandwiches to go, for about 21ish.

Walked to gate 18 and sat at the waiting area to have our sandwiches and as much as we tried to keep it tidy, it turned out quite messy as the sandwiches items fell out and everywhere. There were a bunch of slots machines nearby just out in the open catered for the last min gamblers and anyone could actually wandered into the area (K did and was asked keep out of the area by one of the staff). As we munched away, boarding was also started, it was all in a rush.

Once onboard, it was a quick 1 hr flight to Reno and the plane had lots of empty seats. Once it was confirmed that there weren’t anybody taking those long legroom seats, people then took advantage of the situation by moving forward and occupying them for free. We kept to our seats, it was only an hour, and we spent our time finishing the sandwiches that we had started, while K ate his favorite biscuits.

We landed into Reno and proceeded to wait for our luggage at the luggage carousel and for some reason, it took quite a while before the luggage came out. While waiting, I managed to settle the car rental paperwork at Enterprise first, which was conveniently located near where the luggage carousel was. We retrieved the luggage when it finally came, used the restroom, then get across the street to rental car parking lots to retrieve the car. The staff from Enterprise was there to carry out the joint inspection before handing over a Ford Flex to me, something similar to the previous Ford Explorer in terms of size, but probably less advanced and lower in height. I enquired about how I was going to pay toll, hoping for something that was already inbuilt so that I just need to pay when I returned but was advised to pay by cash. The exact how was something that I needed to google for in the coming days for toll roads in San Francisco for example.

Rows of car rental companies next to luggage belt

We drove to Staybridge, our accommodation for the night, just some 11 mins away. After parking at the open air car park, we braved the cold with our luggage and checked in. This was a little apartment with a small kitchen under the IHG hotel brands and was both pretty homely and yet felt like a hotel. It wasn’t too expensive too! I would prefer these over Airbnb ones since the element of luxury and certain level of quality standards were still guaranteed by big hotel brands while Airbnb were more hit or miss.

After our baths, we drove out for dinner to a place about 3mins where there was Smiths supermarket and a couple of restaurants. Decided to have Japanese food and thus walked over to Pisces Sushi, a small Japanese designed restaurant with not many diners. Ordered California roll, caterpillar, teriyaki salmon, tamago and Mickey Mouse, which didn’t looked like it but was delicious and paid $51 for the meal.

We then proceeded for late night shopping at Smiths. There was a trolley with sports car cover and it was enough for K to be interested in going into the supermarket. Zooming down the walkways, we bought all the groceries and water that was needed for meals preparation for the next day.

Drove back to hotel to find that there were no closer carpark slot to the entrance and had mommy and K alight first to avoid the cold while I parked further down. I had to get some hot water for milk and there was supposedly hot water available at the ground floor near the reception. But when I collected it from the flasks there, the water was only lukewarm, not hot enough to make milk. Ended up having to boil water using the pots since there no electric flask available.

The day finally ended after watching a few episodes of iPad video while using data due to location restriction, in order to satisfy the little K. Although there weren’t much activities, all that driving and transiting was physically draining. While Reno was known as the Biggest Little City in the World, or also known as small Las Vegas, we weren’t able to give it any attention regretfully, sleep was more important.

Grand Canyon 2018 Day 5 – Drive to Grand Canyon and glamping under the stars

Posted on November 6, 2018January 6, 2019 by ziyi

We must either be tired or the bed was extremely comfy, but we woke up 9am – late! We had to move quickly and we were only ready to move out by 11am after our breakfast of cereals. Soon we checked out and found ourselves on our way towards Grand Canyon. As we drove, K fell asleep.

2hrs into the drive, a pretty boring one at it, we reached the mid point in big town of Kingman. Pumped in $40 of gas before continuing down the highway to Grand Canyon.

We arrived into Williams, a quaint little old town that was part of the historic Route 66. Our car slowed down to a stop in front of an equally quaint little Western restaurant, Cruisers Route 66 cafe. We ordered a platter to share and chicken fillets for K and as typical American dish sizes, it was very filling, a 45ish price tag. Before we left, we took some photos with the surrounding decorations that hinted of Xmas. Though we would like to spend some time to explore this town, we had to leave as we were rushing for time.

Stretch of road that seemed to go on forever

We initially wanted to drop off our luggage at the accommodation first before proceeding to Grand Canyon but we had to change the plan and drove direct to Grand Canyon instead. The Autumn sunset was horribly early and we were literally chasing the sun to see the Grand Canyon. We arrived at the entrance and paid $35 per vehicle, a permit that would last for 7days. Then it was still quite some drive to the visitors center, along the way the cars stopped for wildlife crossing. By the time we finally arrived at the visitors center, the daylight had dimmed.

Quickly I parked the car and as we were about to go, I couldn’t find the vehicle fob. Tried desperately to find but to no avail, and running against the setting sun, I surrendered and continued to get onto the walk path for Grand Canyon and leaving the car unlocked.

The visitors’ center was long closed by this time and the only point of reference for us was the map on the information board found on the walk path. Mather point it was, a prompt choice and we headed in the general direction in the hope of trying to catch a glimpse of whatever our eyes could master. The winds were strong and numbing cold in the plummeting temperatures without the sun. We arrived at the viewpoint and there were still a few people there, trying to see whatever there was to see, and quickly, we took some photos in the dark. Tried to call out to hear echoes but wasn’t successful. With the cold tolerance depleted, we returned quickly to the car.

Then it was the return journey to our first family glamping experience, Under Canvas to check in, after a good 30mins drive in the dark. We missed the entrance the first time around and had to check website for the directions to drive in and it was to go through the museum carpark. In the dark, I drove cautiously guided by tiny lights on the ground, like fallen stars lining up a invisible path. Soon we saw a lighted up large tent and we knew have arrived. I went into the reception myself to do the check in with the nice staff who asked me about my day in which I replied that it wasn’t so well as I lost the car fob and didn’t get to see Grand Canyon. He advised that I should continue to check in my car cos the car can be started meant that the fob was still nearby.

We were brought to the car park near to our suite tent by the staff driving a buggy and we followed behind. We attempted to check if the fob was in our bags by moving away all our baggage and concluded that it was somewhere in the car. The staff then helped us move all our luggage to the tent itself as the walkpath wasn’t paved and not easy to maneuver in the dark. He also started the stove with me observing how it should be done in case I needed to do get it up again later on. The tent internal became quite smoky after starting up the fire and placing the dried logs into it but it wasn’t for long.

When we were finally settled with the stove, we went out to Grand Canyon Inn just across the street to get dinner, ordered grilled trout and chicken pasta which costed about 38ish. We packed the food and returned to the reception tent to eat. While I was buying dinner, mommy miraculously found the fob!

The tent was really nice to have dinner even in plunging temperatures on the outside. There were heated warmers which we sat next to to enjoy our meals which was pretty decent. K had to go to the loo to poo but there weren’t any nearby and the staff ferried both K and me to the nearest shared loo. There it was cold but somehow K managed his business and we were soon back at the reception, K laughing along the way as we sat at the back of the buggy.

Then K and I went out to sit near the campfire (what’s camping without campfire!) to eat mash mellows and drink hot choco underneath the blanket of stars. We were offered crackers but I was not familiar with that recipe and declined. We didn’t stay long thought because as inexperienced I was with a campfire, we made a mess out of the soft mash mellows.

When we retuned to tent, we found the tent cold and the stove extinguished. Time to put what I had learnt into practice and we tried to start up the fire. There was fire but a lot more smoke! I had to ventilate the tent by flapping the tent covers furiously.

It was time to bath and the shower was something that I didn’t get on how to operate. There was hot water available but when water flowed, it was either too hot or too cold! Quickly gave K a quick shower since the tent was quite cold despite the stove. I skipped.

As mommy and K got into bed with storybooks, I spent some time outside to admire the universe of stars. Tried feebly to take some photos of clear night sky with my not so powerful camera. Until satisfied (and enough of the cold) then I went to bed.

Las Vegas 2018 Day 4 – Las Vegas and Helicopter ride to Grand Canyon

Posted on November 5, 2018January 3, 2019 by ziyi

Woke up at 630am, mommy cooked while I got ready and dressed up K. It was an early start for today even with sleeping late the night before as we would be embarking on a long drive to Las Vegas today, getting out of LA was essential in avoiding the jam. We finished packing and checkout by 830am.

The congestion was already there while getting to the expressway. It was a good thing K fell asleep while we were still on the way out of LA. Once we got onto the expressway, I got onto something called the “carpool lane” which was meant for cars with 2 or more passengers. It was relatively fast moving and it allowed us to bypass a lot of traffic!

LA to Vegas was a long journey and I found 2 towns that we could choose to take and break and pump gas. One of which was Barstow, which was a big area for gas and rest about 2hrs into drive. There wasn’t a real motivation to stop as K was sound asleep and petrol level was still healthy so we continued on without stopping. There wasn’t much to see once we were out of LA, area was just full of nothing much, just sand, sandy mountains and a very straight road that seemed to go on forever.

When we arrived at the other town, Baker, the car was left with 1/4 tank, Went to pump at Velaro, $4.25 per gallon, pretty costly comparatively but with my standard $40, we could almost get a full tank. I also topped up on caffeine for my 1.5hrs journey to Las Vegas.

We arrived into Las Vegas at about 1pm and I drove to our accommodation Jockey Club suites. Checked with the reception on our room and was informed that it wasn’t ready. So after given some instructions on where to park, since it was a shared carpark with another hotel, we left the car full of luggage in the carpark before visiting the super arty-farty design Starbucks at the Cosmopolitan to have lunch – consisting of pastries.

Having booked the Papillon Helicopter flight to Grand Canyon, we were in quite a rush. After finishing our lunch, we had to walk to the pick up point which I didn’t know where it was. The staff had to call me as we were late and he informed us that it was the pickup/drop off location of the Cosmopolitan hotel. Checked with some of the hotel staff and was directed in the direction at the other end of the hotel. We proceeded briskly, passing many glitzy slot machines, a feeling that was so unfamiliar to me (since these are normally not opened publicly in Singapore).

The mini bus with a helicopter picture on its side was spotted effortlessly and we boarded the bus with apologies to the driver and whoever that was onboard. It was then 30mins drive after 3more pick ups before we arrived at the helicopter terminal. Proceeded to the check in counter, paid an upgrade of USD$100 for all to be seated in the front row. Then we had to watch a video about the ride, and of course use the toilet. There was still a short wait to the time we had to board, as we listened out for the call to board. We were introduced to our pilot, Helen, whom then brought us to the helicopter.

There were 2 flights at our flight time of 330pm, and Helen led our group of 7 towards the red helicopter on the tarmac. A short introduction on how to board and buckle up, we soon found ourselves settled and ready to lift off. Putting on the headset, we were soon off the ground and flying towards the Grand Canyon. Weather was great and the helicopter was cruising smoothly, it’s passengers having a great time taking in the expansive view presented. We soon see a large water body, Lake Mead, a bridge and also the Hoover dam. The helicopter circled around so everyone had a good view and then we flew another 10mins to arrive at the Grand Canyon. The layers of rocks differentiated by shades towered above deep valleys and a meandering stream, the grandeur was just breathtaking. It was nearing the golden hour of sunset which made the view even more spectacular. It was not all “Wows” though, cos amidst the appreciation of the view were pockets of funny moments when K called “papa” over the headset and everyone else could hear him and his small talk, it was very comical.

The ride was over as we flew towards the setting sun, and without any drama at all, we were back on solid ground safe and sound. Thanked the pilot for the awesome first time ride for K, and went through the usual viewing of the photos taken professionally and rejected the offer of $20 for it. Quick visit to the toilet and a walk around the shop before a 10mins wait for the transport to bring us back.

The return journey was a little longer, about 45mins back as traffic was built up. K and I drifted off to sleep, and after the short snooze, we had to drop off for a change to smaller bus at Vegas. Another short drive from there and we were dropped off at Cosmopolitan, at the same location where we were picked up.

We made our way back to Jockey Club Suites to check in. I asked if we could be given a room with fountain view and upon checking, the receptionist said that the room didn’t have that view and there wasn’t anything she could do to change it and informed that we should have requested earlier. It was disappointing as I did put in a request during booking but I guessed it must have been missed. At least, though, the room was at highest floor.

The insides of the room was pretty good in my opinion. The place was huge, came with a kitchen, and had shower amenities like Neutregena soap and shampoo. And it was cheaper than the rooms around. I went to collect the luggage from the car while mommy bathed K.

After we all got ready, we proceeded for dinner and amongst the huge selection of dining options available, we chose Bubba Gump, as it was near us and had kids meals. We were also searching for some shows to go to, maybe “David Copperfield” or something like that but unfortunately on Mondays, nothing seemed to be on except Blue Man group, which we weren’t really interested. Ordered seafood trio and calamari to share and a kids meal of ribs and fish. The meal also came with a souvenir cup with lights at its base. The damage was about USD$75.

After dinner, our entertainment was then to explore this colourful night life. We went to Bellagio fountain where the shows were on every 15 mins. The fountain show was different every time but all majestic. Continued to along the strip to the Caesar Palace next door to experience a little bit of Roman city visit. All these thematically designed casinos were worth a visit as the internal designs were as magnificent as they were externally. We had enough walking and ended up in a huge pharmacy CVS to buy anti-nausea med as it was left at home, some titbits and a shaver. Before returning to the room, we went to watch the fountain show again one more time.

As mommy washed up and got K into bed, I decided to go out and see some more of Vegas. I didn’t get a good fountain photo and visited yet again. While there, some people in costumes were hustling people including me to take a photo with them, whereby they could earn some tips whilst doing so. I wasn’t that interested though. After the fountain, I went the other way towards New York, New York. There were many brightly lit buildings along the way and a statue of liberty replica at the end of it. As I walked the return journey back, the number of people on the streets also reduced as it was getting late.

View while walking towards New York, New York

Design covering a restaurant inside Aria

I was back in the room around midnight, took a bath and got into bed, with my family whom was already sound asleep. Didn’t manage to do something which a lot of people in Vegas did – played a game of luck.

Los Angeles 2018 Day 3 – LA, Hollywood and Griffith Observatory

Posted on November 4, 2018December 30, 2018 by ziyi

Woke up at 9am, seemed like there wasn’t much of a jet lag issue. Had breakfast from stuff that we bought from supermarket and while I had the cheese leftovers from the day ago. After much deliberation, I decided to call up Papillon Grand Canyon to book a helicopter trip to Grand Canyon. I had to think quite long as I was afraid that we would not reach Vegas in time to catch this trip but taking the latest flight should be safe enough.

After getting ready, our first stop of our LA tour was to visit the Walt Disney concert hall some 30mins away. The streets of downtown LA was pretty quiet as it was the weekend and there weren’t many cars around. The challenge was to find an affordable carpark. We went into the parking lot there but it would cost us 9dollars per entry basis. As my intention was to just get out of the car, take some photos of this architectural beauty and move on to the next location and I wasn’t prepared to spend that amount of money for that short a time. Got out without having to pay, thankfully, and I tried to find some roadside parking. The amazing thing was even with not many cars moving on the road, all roadside parking were taken. A few turns here and there still didn’t yield a slot and we left eventually, with nothing but a memory of the glimpse of the building.

Chinatown was just 10 mins away and we parked at an open air public parking, at an affordable $5 for whole day. Paid the attendant and we started to walk around. Immediately we felt like we were not in America, as we saw the place full of Chinese. We went into a place called Saigon plaza that felt like the Bugis village where shops selling all sort of stuff, from clothes to toys and terrapin line the small walkways. We got ourselves an adaptor (cos we forgot to bring one) for $10 and food peeler for $2.

Chinese dragons while approaching Chinatown

Even the bank has a Chinese design roof.

Further down the street was a place called Central Plaza, where the buildings there looked like traditional Chinese designed buildings, not sure if they were original or made to look like that. Right at the center of was a statue of martial arts icon, Bruce Lee. We took a picture with him before going back to car. K liked to see the pairs of terrapins on sale and wanted to see them every time we pass by. We left at about 12noon.

Our next destination planned was the Original Farmers Market, coinciding with lunch time. It was only a 30mins drive but K managed to fall asleep. There was a huge parking lot but the place was full. Fortunately, the turnover rate for the carpark was quick and almost immediately upon arrival, I slotted into one. Had to leave mommy and sleeping K in the car while I went to explore the area on my own. Didn’t know where the market was and I unknowingly walked to the shopping area called the Grove. There were plenty of pretty Xmas deco with a small eating area in the middle and a moving trolley on rails for people to get on and off. I wanted to go to the market instead and backtracked until I see small entrance and went into an enclosed but huge areas with many seats for dining and eatery stalls selling the many varieties of food. It wasn’t easy to find something that I could takeaway into the car for consumption and finally decided on getting 2 empanadas (veggie samosa and mushroom) for 8ish dollars from Nonna’s Empanadas and then went to get kraut hotdog bun from Magee’s for 6ish dollars. I returned to car shortly to have our lunch, the food tasted pretty delicious.

After finishing our lunch in the tight spaces of the car, we woke K up and went back to market, this time for K’s lunch. We settled for Chinese food as it would be the simplest of the highly choosy boy, a safe bet of fried rice with broccoli and sweet sauce chicken for 10ish dollars but in a heap on a big plate. K ate without much interest and it could be because it didn’t really tasted good. I got myself a caffeine fix and bought an coffee ice blended for 5ish dollars. The stall offered ticket validation which would reduce the car park charges, which was also why I bought the coffee from there.

We proceeded to the Grove as mommy did some shopping while K and I was outside the store taking photos using our own cameras. Before leaving for the next location, we went to use the toilets in Nordstrom, a big enough shopping mall (as we thought it wasn’t easy to get free toilets here) before leaving.

Though the tickets were already validated, I couldn’t find a ticket payment machine. I thought I saw a counter at the exit and drove out but I was wrong, there wasn’t a counter. Thankfully, I was still able to pay at barrier, as there was credit card payment available and 7dollars was debited from my credit card without any issues.

Our last stop for the day was to visit the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was mentioned in the forums that the best parking place was Dolby theatre. The route to Hollywood was quite jammed while we were there as there was a road closure near Hollywood. But once we drove into the basement carpark, we found many available spaces.

The Dolby theatre most famously known for hosting Oscars. it looked really grand and as we passed the main flight of stairs, I couldn’t help taking some pictures with the theatre steps and the pillars with the big movie names that won Oscars with their dates. Once out the doorway, the “Stars” on the walkway became immediately visible, and I got myself a couple of photos of the names. Just nearby was a big space being blocked out with ongoing preparation works seemed to be for a concert. That made the walkway crowded with people walking around and street performers in their costumes sharing the walkway.

Definitely one of the most beautiful stars

We went to the 2nd floor going up the escalators in between the buildings (near where a the giant elephant statue atop a column) as it was here that we could spot the Hollywood sign. Took some photos of the sign that appeared tiny and barely visible since it was brighter behind us. As we returned to the carpark, we spotted Mr. Incredible which K cleverly commented that he was just a impersonator. Nonetheless we still went to take a closer look but didn’t take any photos for fear of being charged.

From here, we could see the sign behind us

Went to the Hard Rock Cafe next to Dolby theatre for our usual overseas purchases and bought 2 tees. I was disappointed when they didn’t ask for my rewards numbers and couldn’t do anything about it at the register, left me thinking what’s the point of a membership then (she asked the customer in front of me though). Just before we got to the carpark, we had a family selfie with a famous “Star” on the wall instead of the floor of Muhammad Ali. Paid our carpark fees of 6dollars and it was 50mins drive back.

520pm arrived back at Marina Del Rey and the whole sky was dark and hazy. While K and mommy were back at the apartment, I walked to Alan’s Market just across the street to get some cooking oil but only managed to find olive oil. It was a small store that sold a variety of other stuff, little choices in fresh produce and a section dedicated to alcohol.

Bathed K after some playtime and got dressed before our last stop of the day – Griffith observatory. 50mins drive back towards town and arrived at 820pm with a slight amount of traffic on the main journey but increases to a lot more of cars while driving up the hill nearer the observatory. We drove all the way to the top and found a carpark after a while, guided by staff amidst the chaotic movement of cars moving in and out of the area. As K sat in the car to have his home cooked dinner I went to cafe located at the basement to buy dinner for us. At that time, there weren’t many choices left, so I ended up with a beef hotdog bun and Wolfgang Puck cold vege wrap for 14ish dollars. We only left the car at 9pm, paid the remaining one hour of parking at 6dollars per hour at the automatic ticket dispenser before heading towards the observatory.

Thankfully the skies up were much clearer up there compared to when we were driving along the highway. Out in the open around the building were 2 telescopes setup by observatory staffs and we lined up to have a look. One showed a cluster of stars and the a pair of stars, and while K was really excited to look through them, we weren’t sure if he knew what he saw.

Next, we climbed the stairs to the roof of the building where the dome observatory housed giant telescopes. One of them was open today and a queue was already formed. As it was a slow queue, Mommy stayed in line while I brought K inside the main building to see astronomy exhibits that included explanations on moon phases and tides before mommy called on the phone. Then we ran back up as fast as I could, carrying K huffed and puffed along the way.

Upon entering the dome, we saw a huge telescope point towards the skies through an opening. The planet of interest today was Mars as we found out from the staff introduction and instructions. After a couple of minutes more of waiting in line as people took turns at the telescope, we finally see a blurry yellowish dot through the scope, a first time experience for all of us!

Trying our luck, we went into the building afterwards even though it was already close to 10pm and explored around. The exhibits were quite nice especially for enthusiasts such as K who had lots of fun looking around at the photos, birth of Universe and solar system. Stayed all the way till 10pm until staff bade us goodbye (almost impressing on us that we should proceed to the exit). The gift shop however was already closed and we couldn’t get anything.

The journey back was 30mins only. We stopped at Burger King drive through and bought chicken tenders for 6ish dollars. It was slow fast food as we waited quite a while and the queue built up behind. After collecting our precious tenders, we drove to Shell station for gas and paid at counter 40dollars first, as I had nothing to base an estimate first but had to pay for gas before pumping. I didn’t even know if there were any restrictions on the octane rating and just went for the standard fuel and received around 10 gallons of it.

Got onto highway 101 for the trip back to our accommodation and arrived back by 11. Spent the rest of the night washing utensils, packing a little, hanging wet clothes,
making a bottle of milk and then finally off to sleep.

Los Angeles 2018 Day 2 – Venice Beach, Venice Broadwalk and Santa Monica Pier

Posted on November 3, 2018December 19, 2018 by ziyi

K woke up at 4ish wanting milk which was normal, and I made him some. Sometime at 630 he woke up wanting to go poop and while we made to the toilet, he already pooped in the diapers. A short clean up, another bottle of milk later, he returned to bed. I wasn’t all that sleepy anymore and day broke rather early with light coming from the windows as early as 630am.

This morning I was supposed to collect the rental car at Enterprise, not too far from where our Airbnb was. After referring to the reservation note on the email, I realized that I had totally forgotten about their options of picking people up to their office for car collection. Called their number and was informed that they were swarmed with work currently and weren’t able to provide that service. I decided to take a walk.

It didn’t look very far on Google maps, about 1.7km in actual distance and the weather was cool enough for me to clock some distance on my Pogo. As the sun rose, the California street scenes of tall coconut trees lining the road from American drama came into view.

20mins later, I entered Enterprise Rent-a-car at the T-junction and it was already pretty busy. Provided the reservation and was offered the Ford Explorer for my standard SUV reservation. Was initially hesitant about it as I had never rented big cars for holiday trips and from the external look, it was monstrous! The petite lady convinced me that it was actually not that big since she could drive it with no issues and that there were bigger Lincolns out there which were really crazy huge!

We settled the rest of the payment including removal of child seat rental as I have brought along a collapsible child seat and added in damage waiver for fear of damaging the car, all this while the car was sent to a last minute shower within the compound.

After all the adjustments in the car, I drove to the Cheesecake factory to get some breakfast. Arrived at a carpark manned by a valet who directed me closer to the side entrance and I parked pretty comfortably with the built in reverse camera. From the sides, I made my way past the Alfresco dining area (didn’t know it was a full restaurant, thought there were only cheese cakes!) with a view of the beautiful beach of Marina Del Rey and to the cashier where the cheesecakes could be found. Spoilt of choice, I picked a vanilla flavoured one and a original cheesecake for around 15bucks and drove back to the Airbnb.

A short 5 mins drive and I am driving up towards the residence parking of the Airbnb. Parking was easy with enough lots and the rear camera which I did not have the luxury to have on my car back home. Stepping into the apartment, I was greeted with my boy already awake. Quickly opened up the cheesecake for him, one of the limited choices of food that he liked, for breakfast. The portions were too big and we couldn’t finish it, and I left one of them for my next day’s breakfast in the fridge.

We got ready and left the apartment at 1130, towards our first place of visit, Venice beach. Drove the couple of minutes towards the Venice Pier and found a huge carpark. 9 dollars per entry, my first shocking carpark fees to a whole lot more to come. Parked and got out and strolled to the long pier that stretched out into the ocean, snapping photos of proud seagulls standing on poo-stained railings while passing by them. K surrendered walking really early and he was soon sitting on my shoulders, snapping photos of seagulls with his SGD$20 camera.

Returning to the beach front, we approached the Venice Beach Rentals to see if we could get a bicycle so that we can ride along the beach to the Venice broadwalk. After waiting for quite a bit in the scorching heat as the staff served the previous customer who took the last bicycle with child seat, we left disappointed. Thought we would walk to the broadwalk instead but after a short walk along the footpath next to beachfront residences, we decided to drive there instead, as there did not seemed to be anything interesting along the way.

Punched in Venice broadwalk on the Google maps and we were on our way. We drove through a small residential area that was built to feel like Venice, and it was an interesting drive as our car went over small arch bridges that went above small canals.

Learning from the expensive parking, I thought I would drive to somewhere close to the broad walk and not next to it, so that the fees might be lower. Upon arriving at a street near the broad walk, we saw a sign that said “Public Parking” and drove into the open space, where we saw personnel directing cars. As we got off the car, I then realised it was actually a valet, that it would cost me 20 dollars to park there (they claimed that it was whole day parking for 20dollars which didn’t attract me a bit as I was damn sure I wouldn’t be there for the whole day)! Got back into the car and drove around further, and found another manned parking space for 10dollars for 3 hrs, where we ended up parking the car.

The Venice broadwalk had more things to see then when we were at the pier. At least the beach front was lined with stalls and peppered with food stalls and lots and lots of people enjoying the sunny day out at beach. I thought it had all the feels of a California beach (I thought). It was lunchtime and we tried looking for a place where we could sit and eat but we couldn’t find such restaurants around. We ended up with pepperoni pizza with a drink for lunch for 8ish dollars, while we found a small shaded place to sit and eat, and watch the world go by. There were interesting stuff to see along the street – makeshift stalls selling arts and sometimes weird items or performers strutting their stuff or just strange people behaving weirdly.

After the non-impressive excuse of a lunch meal, we walked to big Ben & Jerry’s store to get some ice cream. There were no seats in there although there was enough space for it so we just bought the cookies and cream single scoop cone for 7.75 dollars and went off to sit on the grass shaded by some coconut trees. It felt rather relaxing to chill there.

Before leaving the place, we walked to the skate park nearby to look at kids for different ages taking on the multiple contours at speed and then a short walk to the Venice beach entrance to take a selfie with the Venice sign before returning to the car.

We first drove to a superstore Costco which had its own carpark but was pretty full at that time. Left and drove to Ralphs instead, which also had its own carpark. It was a huge supermarket and while mommy was shopping for groceries, I was with K playing with some Halloween pumpkins display before he decided that he wanted to go toilet. I approached one of the staff there for help and was kind enough to offer me an entry code to use the toilet within the supermarket itself.

After that, I thought I should get myself some Starbucks coffee, a store was inside the supermarket itself! Spent 5ish dollars for my caffeine boost. Ended the shopping with foodstuff 76ish dollars worth and we returned to apartment. Ate some watermelon that was bought from the supermarket before hitting the sack at 430pm for a short nap, the body adjusting to the time difference.

The next thing we knew, we woke up at 630 and I got K to go bath in the tub. Left the apartment only at 830 and we drove towards Santa Monica Pier. Wanted to park beside Santa Monica pier but the road leading to the carpark was blocked and I tried to find another place to park. There was a multi storey parking structure 8 and it was a good location that was close to the pier.

Heading in the direction of the pier, we noticed a restaurant just across the road of the Santa Monica pier, and decided to have our dinner there, at Del Frisco’s Grille. Ordered baby ribs (pretty good) and omelette cheese sticks while K had his home cooked meal. We couldn’t finish the entire portion and left at 1030pm, paying 62ish dollars including tips.

Crossing the road, we went to Santa Monica Pier and there were many people even at that time of the day. It looked like a fun place where there was a games arcade, fun fair rides and stalls. There were restaurants too but mostly closed expectedly. We proceeded to check out the rides although the package price looked enticing, we only took ferries wheel for 10 each, taking in consideration that it was quite late already. Even so, there was a long line for the ferries wheel. K and I boarded the wheel while mommy waited for us. Nice feeling to be up there looking into the distant dotted lights of Santa Monica with a slight chilly breeze. We left at around 1130pm, after just that one ride.

A short walk back to the carpark, we wanted to pay at the ticket machine but found the one at the 1st level to be not working. Luck wasn’t on my side as my stomach started to hurt as well. There was a mall near the parking structure and there were toilets there but they were just stubbornly locked. Without much of a choice, we quickly found another machine to pay for the tickets for 6ish dollars and drove back to the apartment.

So the 20mins back felt like eternity and unfortunately, I couldn’t make it back without an incident. Had to wash up for an extended period of time till about 1am before lights out.

Los Angeles 2018 Day 1 – Flight and Arrival at Los Angeles

Posted on November 2, 2018December 9, 2018 by ziyi

Friday, we were both on leave and packing started really early after K went to school. 2 luggage, a couple of smaller carry-on, including a sports car shape one for K to put his toys, to cultivate the habit to pack his own travel bag.

We were in the premium economy class (it was a cheap deal, just 200 above the usual economy tickets, as we purchased it from its launch offer for the first direct long distance flight to LA) which allowed 2 luggage per person limited to 23kg each. We only have 2 luggage and the pain was to get both luggage to be below 23kg. We expected cold weather and with all the cold wear plus K taking one luggage on his own, I had to dump a few items into my haversack and weighed the rest with a portable luggage weigh. After a few iterations, the luggage was balanced. I sacrificed my cold wear and only brought a windbreaker.

Fast forward – after the afternoon nap, a bath and goodbyes, we left the house at 545pm for a 845pm flight in anticipation of weekday heavy traffic. We were right but it wasn’t all that bad. Arriving at 630pm, we alighted at gate 6 where check in was really quick, without many people.

After watching Daisy the robotic flower for a while, we went thru immigrations and went to the SG food street to have dinner. Had chicken rice and wanton noodles before going to the mini playground for K to play around before proceeding to board.

Card to get food at Singapore Foodstreet.

Visited the toilet and was walking towards the gate at A12 when I received a call on my hp It was from the airport staff and I learnt that we were the last 3 to board! Quickly rushed to the gate and zoomed past the empty security to board the plane.

We entered the plane and went through the business section before reaching ours. There wasn’t any normal economy on this flight and the premium economy looked pretty full too. We quickly got into our spacious seats and put aside our bags on the overhead and under the seats. Because it was a 2-4-2 arrangements, mommy and K sat in front of me while I sat with another passenger.

The first thing I noticed was the gianormas screen and the ultra new interior of everything. It was the inaugural flight after all and I couldn’t help taking photos… lots of it. I guessed the passenger next to me was feeling this weird dude next to him. The massive cushy head phones were noise cancelling and I was falling asleep just wearing them (did stopped the show to take a short nap). There was free WiFi for a pathetic 30MB but I couldn’t connect. I put on Mission Impossible:Fallout as I had missed it previously and food was served after a snack of nuts and drinks.

Complimentary tiny amount of free Wifi in the air.

One of the benefits, Book the cook, allows pre-ordering of some choices of food, and I had pre-ordered chicken rice. It was delicious surprisingly! It even came with dark soya sauce. Ice cream from New Zealand Natural was served later. K had some fish patties that he ate and it must have been good enough for this little choosy boy. Mommy didn’t have what she wanted though, even though she booked the cook. There was a mixed up with the orders and there weren’t enough chicken rice so she had to settle for something else.

The entertainment system was not too good as the movie seemed to be stuttering for quite a bit earlier during the flight. The entire system might have been overloaded as it only became smoother when the lights dimmed on the plane and many went to snooze.

After bringing K to the toilet, I set up his recline which was indeed at a much lower recline than the normal economy, and he went to sleep. Took some time to note this first time experience for me before putting on the eye pads and going to sleep.

Eye masks and pressure socks for long distance flights.

My sleep didn’t last long. It wasn’t all that comfortable and being seated on the aisle seat, there wasn’t anywhere I could place my head while sleeping. Even though the incline was much more compared to normal economy seats, it wasn’t as flat as I wished for. Woke up to play some games before K woke up too.

I walked up and down the aisle with him for some time before he went back to watching shows and playing games. Thankfully there wasn’t much drama on the flight. Mommy woke up too but was feeling nausea towards the end of the flight.

I had my meal of Nasi lemak which was ok and K has some lasagna. Mommy was too nauseated to eat, must have been the turbulence.

K spent the last few hours playing game while I managed to catch Ready Player One and Oceans’ 8, drifting in and out of dreamland while at it.

We landed at LAX with a bump, and while it was an inaugural but revitalized flight route, I was expecting water cannon welcome which didn’t occur. What did occur was a hold up at the entrance and a small goody bag to commemorate the occasion.

It was a long walk to immigrations and fresh from the long flight, K was walking and pulling his luggage all the way, drawing couple of attention from people and praises of adoration. I was returning proud nods.

Hell began with a massive human traffic at the immigration counters as lines and lines of people are seen queuing and moving thru. Our flight coincided with a couple of others and we started at 856pm only to clear at 1025pm. The queue was not only slow due to few numbers of counters being open, we had to register on some of the green machines midway that didn’t seemed to help speed up the process as we had to retake the finger printing and photos anyway. There was a mobile app (Mobile passport app) that they were broadcasting over the PA but I didn’t have signal and my hands too tied up to try. K was tired halfway and slept most of the way in the queue and I carried him until we were almost reaching the counter before he woke up.

Line of machines for data entry for personnel.

We proceeded to the luggage carousel after clearing the customs without problem and found our luggage waiting for us already lined up on the ground. Picked up using the trolley as then we walked through customs without having them checked even though we declared that we brought some foodstuff, the officer just let us proceed.

Went outside arrivals hall and following the sign to the taxi stand, we got onto one taxi and was issued a paper receipt which I didn’t know what that was for. The driver punched in the address that the Airbnb personnel provided me and we were zooming down the 16mins to location.

We arrived at Islands restaurant and I called the person as I didn’t see anyone there. He confirmed that I was in the right location and we disembarked with all the barang barang with a bill of USD50 with tips, which I thought was rather costly.

We met the Airbnb personnel shortly and he helped with the luggage. We took a short 5mins walk up to the apartment, along the way, a rat ran into mommy’s legs, giving her a surprise.

We went into a 2 room Airbnb apartment and was given the instructions mostly thru the SMS and also quickly thru face to face before he left us to our own.

It was already way past eleven and the night was spent bathing in the tub, boiling water and watching downloaded cartoons on iPad. I fell asleep while waiting to bath but we all knocked off for the night rather easily.

Escape Plan to West USA November 2018

Posted on November 1, 2018June 23, 2020 by ziyi

A brief summary on the itinerary

Escape Plan to West USA:

Total duration 15D14N
Singapore is 12hr ahead of California, USA.
Flight time is 15hrs on Singapore Airlines from Singapore to Los Angeles and return flight is 17hrs on Singapore Airlines from Los Angeles to Singapore.

Friday evening flight on 2nd Nov at 845pm and arrival in Los Angeles in the evening of the 2nd Nov at 855pm. Return flight from Los Angeles on the 16th Nov at 1025pm and arrival in Singapore at 815am on the 18th Nov

Day 1 Flight and Arrival at Los Angeles
Day 2 Venice Beach, Venice Broadwalk and Santa Monica Pier
Day 3 LA, Hollywood and Griffith Observatory
Day 4 Las Vegas and Helicopter ride to Grand Canyon
Day 5 Drive to Grand Canyon and glamping under the stars
Day 6 From Grand Canyon to Reno
Day 7 Lake Tahoe
Day 8 San Francisco Golden Gate bridge, Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39
Day 9 Alcatraz cruise, Academy of Science and Powell Street
Day 10 San Francisco Premium Outlets
Day 11 Coastal drive to Prismo beach
Day 12 Detour to Camarillo Premium Outlets and Disneyland Pier Hotel
Day 13 Disney California Adventure Park
Day 14 San Diego Sea World and Gasclamp Quarters
Day 15 Citadel Premium Outlets and Home Sweet Home

This escape plan was an impromptu due to the availability of good deals. Singapore Airlines announced the revival of the direct long distance flight to Los Angeles and with premium economy seats going at just $1328, only $200 more than the economy seats, it would be a sin to miss!

Budget nature: Budget buster

It wasn’t a fantastic time to be spending USD as SGD was weak near the end of the year compared to the earlier months. The savings from the tickets were gone in a flash due to travelling in the state with the highest costs of living in the USA, lots of shopping and Disneyland.

Complexity: Easy

Driving around was not difficult even in multiple lanes highways. Tolls can be a little tricky but reading it up on Google helped. Jams were common in cities but with patience, you would still reached your destination, albeit in the dark. Google maps worked like a charm and pulling to the side of the road by the police for speeding wasn’t too daunting too!

USA and Caribbean 2012 Day 18, 19-21 NYC – Highline, Broadway Musical and Home Sweet Home

Posted on January 5, 2013April 25, 2016 by ziyi

The last day of our NYC holiday led us to the Highline in Chelsea area. This was a converted old overhead railway into a park where people could go walk and sit around. It was quite a distance but since the route was pretty straight except for a few gentle ups and downs, it was pretty nice. There we saw the skyline of Chelsea, being further away from main Manhattan area which was surrounded with skyscrapers, shorter buildings lined the streets of this quiet town.

Converted railway line to a nice walkway with benches.

Huge portrait painted on side of the building.

After walking, we happened to chance upon a restaurant was looked really nice from the outside. The food was even more outstanding. The Cookshop – great place for breakfast.

Of course we had to go shopping, Chelsea area being one of nice places for shopping. Tory Burch was somewhere near the Highline and they had some nice handbags that were on sale. There were some other malls that we went walk around in, sometimes great place to hide away from the cold.

We visited the Bath and Body works to purchase small stuffs that were both on sale and made great souvenirs, since this brand wasn’t really available in Singapore. As we left the shop and was crossing the road, we noticed that there were unusually many police officers and a crowd nearby. We saw one of the officers hosing down the road, which we suspected was blood. An accident perhaps?

While we missed the Abercrombie & Fitch the day earlier, we had to visit that megastore in NYC. As usual, there was a line outside the store waiting just to to enter. Good thing was, the weather was unlike Singapore, so it wasn’t too bad lining up though it took a while to get in. Of course, we spent a quite some time there too, the price was lower (though not necessarily cheap). The place was like a disco and with the crowd in a store with 4 floors, we had to plan to meet after we got our stuff.

Night fell soon and the last item on our to do list for NYC was to catch a broadway musical. We purchased the tickets to the musical on the day itself though much earlier in the day, supposedly cheaper but had to put in some effort in queuing at the ticket booth at Times Square. Bought the tickets to the Jersey Boys and walked to the theatre itself. The streets were pretty crowded with many like minded audience going to various theatres dotted along Broadway.

Got ourselves some small bites to bring into the theatre (something like a cinema). The ushers were pretty strict with photography and as I was about to snap a quick pic of the stage, which was the time the show about to start, I was warned sternly by the usher by the aisle in which I apologised quickly while keeping the camera.

The musical was pretty good and to catch it in a old style theatre was really the highlight of this experience. Definitely a must do in NYC.

After the show, we left theatre thoroughly entertained, we walked back to the hotel with a heavy heart. Good night Big Apple, we enjoyed the city but we had to leave the next day. Packed the bags, filled with American products and rested for the long way home.

Day 19-20-21 – Home Sweet Home

This time around, going back was pretty straight forward, no drama. We made the connecting and 24 hrs, we were home, tired, jetlagged but one bucket list down.

The whole US experience was really expected since we came from a city going to anther city, for the most part of the USA trip. The really nice experience that stood out was the cruise where it was really island hopping where we got to see many beautiful islands, and that there were minimum pack and go times that it was great enjoyment. We enjoyed the Island of Adventure more than Epcot in Orlando. The countdown in NYC was overrated but other than that, it was great place for shopping. A trip of ups and downs that summed up an awesome time in USA.