Back in 2014, we visited Hawaii and had a 8.5 hour layover in Seattle. With all that time, we obviously weren’t going to stay in the airport and rot away. We had checked in our carry-on luggage at the gate, so we didn’t have to roll them around. Having our hands free during the layover made getting around quickly so much easier. From the airport, we took the train out to the city, which was only about half an hour away. And from here on, we walked everywhere!
Portland, Maine might not be known for a stellar skyline, but it does have its fair share of lighthouses. They’re quite accessible by car, have free parking, and are popular wedding spots. If you’re into lounging around by the water, here are some we checked out and recommend. Big props to this site for the driving directions.
With a busy work schedule and a limited travel budget, sometimes Tie and I can only afford to travel domestically on the weekends. Hence the creation of this series of posts, “The Weekender.” This August we drove up to Maine for Lobster Fest! We are both huge seafood fans and thankfully have not yet developed any allergies to it. It’s a 5-hour drive from New York, but we’ve traveled further for food. Of course, Maine is known for its lobsters, but I had to curb our consumption of it for our cholesterols’ sake, and also mix in some other foods to avoid lobster fatigue.
Of all the beautiful cities in Italy, Venice was the one I looked forward to seeing the most. And not only because of news that it’s going to vanish in the coming future due to rising water levels. Shamefully, it is because the One Piece fangirl within wanted to see the real-life Water 7. If you didn’t get the reference, don’t worry about it. Just nerding out as usual.
Our first stop in Singapore was the famous Gardens by the Bay, a pretty recent development known for its manmade Supertree Grove. It was slightly confusing trying to figure out how exactly we get there. From outside the Marina Bay sands hotel, on the side facing away from the water, there is an elevator that takes you up to a bridge. Cross that bridge to get to the trees. It was super hot that day so our umbrella, initially brought along in case of rain, came in handy. Honestly I have never visited a place as hot and humid as Singapore. The troubles of being near the equator! Here in New York we can have pretty long winters sometimes – definitely not accustomed to the heat.
Towards northern Bali, there are several waterfalls you can check out, including the more accessible Gigit Waterfalls. But we read somewhere that Sekumpul’s were much more beautiful and decided to do the hike there instead. We paid for a guide to get to the waterfalls (150,000 IDR); some people say it’s not necessary, but I certainly felt more secure having someone who knows his way around to hang onto. Plus, our guide explained some of the fruit-bearing trees to us along the way and even picked a mangosteen. We politely turned it down as it was covered with bugs, but he simply brushed away all the ants and ate it.
The next day, we did a bit of window-shopping around the Galleria. Milan is known as a shopping hub, but you can actually find the same stores around the Duomo in other parts of Italy, like Venice. Being the non-fashionista that I am, my favorite store was the bookstore. For the stylish folks, they do have a good collection of fashion publications, as well as pop up and adult coloring books. Anyhow, we didn’t end up buying anything because there was nothing we needed (and we’re not made of money).
Milan is one of those cities I never imagined I would visit, in part because I’m not a huge shopper and also because I don’t have a lot of money (the likely causality of the former). But since Emirate’s popular $800 roundtrip flight deal per couple lands in Milan, who were we to refuse? I thank my Facebook acquaintances for posting about it during the spring of 2015 – we booked our tickets shortly afterwards. Emirates still has regular promotions for this flight route, but it has definitely gotten more expensive since then ($500 and upwards). We had a different friend going to Italy almost every week at that time.
Our most recent trip to Italy landed around Margaret’s birthday. Emirates had a special offer in 2015 where 2 people can fly to Milan and back from New York for $800 total. We immediately booked the flights on my phone once we found out about it. After the flights were booked, it was time to figure out accommodations.
I had recently applied for the Hyatt credit card from Chase before booking the trip. The signup bonus for the credit card was 2 free nights at any Hyatt hotel. The Park Hyatt was the Hyatt brand’s luxury line of hotels and the Park Hyatt Milan was part of Hyatt’s top category hotels. So I decided to use the 2 free nights at that hotel during this trip.
I don’t know what it is about monkeys that make them so photogenic. Maybe it’s because they’re so humanlike, without being self conscious in front of the camera. If you want to get up close and personal with them, the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary in Ubud is a good place to go. For 40,000IDR you can monkey-watch to your heart’s content. You can also buy bananas to feed them if you want to get really close. Some precautions, however – they do smell, and they will hop all over you. So maybe white shirts are not a good idea, and for the females – there has been a history of monkeys pulling down anything strapless. The forest itself is incredible, and in the morning you can see a faint ray of light streaming through the trees. Very good for photos.