Goodbye New York :(

On the last full day before returning to The Netherlands we went to Soho for some last minute shopping. In the evening we went up the Empire State Building to the 102nd floor, what a fantastic view! After that we lowered down to the 86th floor to watch the sunset over New York City.

At the very last day we decided to pay a visit to Central Park. We took a tour on a bicycle cart around the park. We came across the fountain where the intro of Friends was shot, the John Lennon memorial and some other things. After Central Park we went to Times Square so Boy and Dope could do some very last minute shopping. :) We went back to our hotel to collect our luggage, ordered a taxi and went to JF Kennedy Airport.

The flight back didn't went smooth at all. The long flight back to London we met quite some heavy turbulence. I love flying, but at some point during that flight even I became quite nervous. The airplane was shaking heavily and met some falling a few times. When we landed, I was glad. But then we had to wait 3,5 hours before our flight from London left to Amsterdam. While we were in the plane, the aircraft had some technical issues, so we had to wait an additional 2 hours before take off. Luckily our luggage didn't get checked in The Netherlands, we could walk right through out of the gate.

Currently recovering from a Jetlag, I am missing New York already. :( No more Starbucks everywhere you see, cheap tasty food, cheap shopping, yellow cabs, talkative and friendly people on the streets or shops... :(

Phantom of the Opera and Harry Potter!!!

On Monday morning we went to Broadway to get tickets for the Phantom of the Opera on Tuesday evening. After getting the tickets, Boy and Dope wanted to go see The Cage: a well known basketball court. We stayed there for an hour and went to K-town (Korean Town) afterwards, where you can find lots of Korean and Japanese restaurants, Karaoke and shops. K-town was stationed near the Empire State Building and we were supposed to go up there and have Korean BBQ afterwards. Sadly the weather changed and the sky became very clouded. Since you can't see far with all the clouds anyways, we decided to go up the Empire State another day.

We went to the Flatiron building, took a few pictures and went back to Times Square to have dinner at Applebee's. While we were eating we saw on the telly that Incubus was performing at The David Letterman Late Show. Since the studio was at Times Square, we decided to have a look there. We went to the backdoor and saw a lot of people waiting. After half an hour Brandon came outside! He greeted us and signed for a few fans and went into the car. Too bad it was too dark, I couldn't take any clear pictures.

On Tuesday we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Alexander McQueen had a special exhibition there, but it was so busy that we couldn't see the exhibition. So we only visit the normal exhibition. It was a nice and huge museum with art from all over the world.

After the museum we went back to the hotel and dressed up for the Phantom of the Opera. It was such a fantastic show, the voice of the Phantom is so beautiful... I knew all of the songs since this is my favorite musical and got goosebumps when Christine sang Think Of Me. During the break I went to the restroom and for the first time of my life I got commanded by a employee to hurry up in a public restroom. "Just pull up your skirt, squat, flush, wash your hands and leave!!" the employee yelled at us. Haha that was kind of funny actually.

Even now I still have the show in my mind and the songs in my head... I am so in love with the musical.

Today Boy and Dope went back to the Cage while I went to Times Square to visit the Harry Potter Exhibition. It was so awesome to see so many costumes and props of the HP movies. Really a must see for any HP fans. I think the exhibition will come to Europe after September this year. I bought Harry's wand at the Diagon Alley shop!! I am so happy with it!!!

After the exhibition I went shopping at Times Square, spend 2 hours in Forever 21 (so many cheap but cute clothing!) and bought a YSL lipstick at Sephora afterwards.
In the evening we went to have dinner at Joe's Shanghai again, such delicious dumplings.

Tomorrow will be our last full day here in New York, I am getting depressed thinking about it. :(

Yankees & Miss Liberty!

On Thursday we went to Papaya King (because Boy wanted to eat there), which was supposed to be a famous hot dog restaurant or something. We had to take a lot of various subways to get there, but I don't find the hot dogs anything special.
Nathan's Hot Dogs are a lot better. After that we chilled a bit in Soho and went to Wall Street to see the Charging Bull, it was so busy there! After a long wait we were finally able to take a picture.

After that we walked down to Ground Zero. They were in the progress of rebuilding at the place where the Twin Towers stood, still there was a big gap between the other buildings. We walked around Ground Zero and saw the memorial of the firemen who died during 9/11. It was so eerie to see that.

In the evening Boy wanted to eat at Ray's Pizza again, but when we got there the restaurant was already closing. So we walked down to Little Italy and picked out the first restaurant we saw. I didn't like the spaghetti I ate.

On Friday we woke up a bit later, since we were supposed to go see a Yankees game that evening. We went to Chelsea because we wanted to go to the batting center, but when we got there, the batting center was closed due of Summer Camp. So we walked around the water park for a bit and decided to get to the Yankee Stadium earlier. We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe at the Yankee Stadium and waited in front of the ticket office at around 5PM. About that time the weather changed drastically and it began raining cats and dogs. We waited there in the line for more than an hour before someone came outside and told us that the game was cancelled. Many people were angry and started yelling and stuff. The man at the ticket booth told us that we should go back to the stadium tomorrow at 9AM so we can exchange our tickets to another day.

So the next day we woke up at 5.30AM so we could be at the stadium at 7AM. When we arrived at the stadium, there were already people standing in line in front of the Ticket Office. At around 8.30AM the line got really long. We were able to exchange our tickets to the game of Sunday, for an additional 200 dollars per person!! There were no normal seats left for the games, only the best seats were left and those costs 330 dollars per seat. Since Boy and Dope really wanted to see a Yankee game, they decided to pay for those seats.

After the stadium, we went to Liberty Island to see the Statue of Liberty. If there is one thing I have learned in New York, is that you should NEVER go visit any attractions on the weekends. It was soooo busy and the weather was sooo hot!!! After a couple of hours we finally arrived at Liberty Island. It was so awesome to see the Statue of Liberty from up close!

In the evening we ate at Go! Go! Curry again, chilled a bit in Bryant Park and went back home to our hotel.

Today we arrived at the Yankee Stadium at around 11AM. We do have nice seats, right behind the home plate, in the shadows (and not the blazing sun). Lucky~! It was so awesome! CC Sabathia was such a great pitcher, he pitched the full nine innings and won the game. Every time Derek Jeter went to the plate, everyone cheered for him since he has reached the 3000 hits with yesterdays game. It was a real Jeter-mania!

We had a nice dinner at Outback (sooo nostalgic to Tokyo!) tonight and we'll go to the Empire State Building tomorrow.

Jersey Shore & 4th of July

On Thursday we traveled to Jersey Shore to visit the Shirt Shop and house where the MTV series Jersey Shore was shot. We arrived there at around noon and parked our car in front of the Jersey Shore house. It surprised us that there were all kinds of camera's and security in front of the house (we didn't know they were shooting a new season at the time). A car passed by and some chick shouted: "I love you Vinny!!!" We were like, huh?

So we walked down the boardwalk to grab some food. While we were walking up to the boardwalk, we heard girls screaming and security clearing the road. So we turned around and who did we see? Friggin Vinny from Jersey Shore. He walked to the T-Shirt Shop and we followed them. We weren't allowed to walk inside the shop (we had to wait at in a row to be able to get inside), but we saw Jenny also inside the store. We decided to grab some lunch first before waiting behind the line.

While we were waiting, we saw Vinny and the Store Manager walking by. Later on, the rest of the Jersey Shore cast walked by. Snookie is so tiny! They were all a lot shorter than I thought. It was funny to see them. I bought a hoodie from the T-shirt Shop with the text: "Come at me bro".

After Jersey Shore we drove to the location where The Sopranos series was shot. We went to Tony Soprano's house (it's GIGANTIC) and the Bada Bing Strip Club. Yes, I was forced to go into the strip club for a split second, I was like "WTF am I doing here?!"

Thursday evening we drove back to New York, it was a fantastic road trip and a wonderful experience.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday we chilled a lot. Especially in the Soho area.

Monday was the 4th of July, the Independence Day. We woke up early and went to Coney Island to watch the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Championship. Daaaaamn those people can eat!! The winner was Joey Chestnut, he ate 62 hot dogs in 10 minutes!!!!! DAYUUMMM!!! After the eating contest we walked down the boardwalk a bit, but the weather was so hot!!! So after a while we went back to Times Square and prepared for the fireworks. We walked to the 42nd street, which was the closest to the Hudson River, where the fireworks were held. We arrived there at around 6PM (the fireworks starts at 9.25PM) and there were already people sitting at the middle of the street waiting. So we folded out our towels and sat at the middle of the street along with the rest. Great experience! We killed some time by playing cards and after 3,5 hours waiting the fireworks started. Great show!!

Today we woke up a bit later because we were dead tired from the 4th of July. We went to American Museum of National History. I looooooove this museum!! They had a Dinosaurs section, Indians and Dead Animals Section and a friggin awesome Planetarium!!! Loved it loved it loved it!!
After the museum we went to grab lunch/ dinner at Go! Go! Curry. Taste is exactly the same as the curry you can eat in Japan. Excellent. After dinner we went to Bryant Park to shop at Kinokuniya and Book Off. I bought a few magazines and the photo book of Lena Fuji. After that we went to chill a bit at South Ferry, watching the Statue of Liberty at a far distant.

We are now 11 days in New York/ USA, but it seems like months for me. I am getting accustomed to the culture here and I don't want to think about the return to the Netherlands at all. 10 more days to go!

Atlantic City Boardwalk

Today was a lot of fun!
We woke up at around 8AM and went out of our room at around 10. We had breakfast (American pancakes!) at the boardwalk, meals here are so huge! I can never finish my plate!! It was so very hot today, the sun burned my sunburned skin. So I bought some sunblock with the highest SPF they had. I became so tanned after only a few hot days.

After breakfast we walked down the whole boardwalk. Donald Trump is definitely ruling over Atlantic City, with his Trump Casino, Trump Mall, Trump hotel etc. There is a Hard Rock Cafe at the boardwalk, so we had a drink there to escape from the heat. After a few hours of walking in the friggin hot weather, we decided to go back to our hotel.

Around 6PM we went back outside to have dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. I love that restaurant!! They have waiters dressed as Park Rangers and they have moving elephants, gorilla's and frogs in the restaurant. At the middle there is a huge fish tank with exotic fishes. Every half an hour there is a show. Thunder effects and animals making sounds etc. The food is very delicious!

After dinner we went to Steel Pier, a mini- fun fair. For 50 dollars we could take a helicopter ride through Atlantic City, but we didn't do it. There was a lot of UFO catchers and to my surprise they had Domo-kun plushes. Boy tried out shooting hoops to win a Domo-kun but still failed after 12 attempts so we gave up.

On our way back to our hotel I bought some Salt Water Taffies for myself and my parents, a specialty of Atlantic City.

Tomorrow we'll travel to Jersey Shore (It's T-shirt time!!) and we'll travel to Tony Soprano's house and the diner where the last episode of the Sopranos was shot.

What's up Obama and Abe? :)

Hi guys,

I am currently in Atlantic City, the city of Casino's and the place where Boardwalk Empire was shot. We are staying at the Tropicana Hotel, a HUGE hotel/ casino/ shopping mall. I can definitely feel the Dead Rising 2 vibe around here.

Yesterday we stayed at the Holiday Inn in Washington, a very nice hotel with a free shuttle service from and to the Union Station (station of Washington). We have visited the White House and the Korean, Vietnam and Lincoln memorials. It was quite eerie to see all the names of the deceased on the memorial walls. Sadly the weather was very very hot today, so we couldn't stay outside for too long. I have sunburns on both my arms, stupid of me for not getting any sunblocks. Around 3PM we went back to our car and continued our journey to Atlantic City. We ate at the Waffle House on the road, friggin delicious waffles!!!

We are going to explore our hotel in a few minutes and maybe we'll go outside to the Boardwalk.

I'll blog ya later!! :D

We are currently in Baltimore, almost arriving at Washington. I am making a quick update since we are heading for the road in a couple of minutes. I was talking about Saturday, but that wasn't really an exciting day since we only went shopping at the Fifth av. We went to the HBO store where I have bought some Game of Thrones merch. Also to the Nintendo World Store and Nike Flagship store. Sunday was the gay parade in Broadway, due of the legalizing of Gay marriages. We didn't want to see that, so we went to Soho. Soho is love love love, I could spend my whole vacation in that area if it wasn't for my disapproving wallet. We went to Flightclub, I saw some awesome Iron Man Nike sneakers, I will buy them later I think. After that we went to the Bape store, which was really disappointing. I fell in love with the Anna Sui, Uniqlo and Muji store.

In the evening we ate at Yoshinoya, which was also disappointing since the food was no way comparable with the Yoshinoya in Japan. After that we went to Regal cinema to watch Super 8, awesome movie, awesome cinema. How a cinema should be.

We are hitting the road again, so I'll blog when we have arrived in Washington!

Hello New York! :)

Hi guys!

Here is my first post in New York, made with my fresh-out-of-the-Flagship-Apple-Store @ Fifth Avenue- iPad 2 White! :P
We had a nice and calm flight; with minimum turbulences. British Airways is really a nice aviation company.
When we arrived at the J.F. Kennedy Airport, the weather was quite gloomy. We took a yellow taxi cab to our hotel in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. When the cab passed through Harlem, I was quite happy our hotel wasn't stationed at that area; I would definitely not feel safe there. Our hotel is alright for the money we paid, a nice budget hotel. The only thing is: we have a shitty toilet. It doesn't flush toilet paper and it's nearly impossible to take a big dump there. Aside the toilet there is a trash bin where you have to throw your used paper in. Actually, all New York toilets are quite nasty. :S

But enough with the toilets, let's talk about the journey itself. After arrival at the hotel I took a shower while Boy and Dope went patrolling the area. Since we were dead tired from the flight, we ate at the McDonald's near our hotel and went back to our room to sleep.

We woke up at 6AM the next day and went out of the hotel at around 7.30AM. We travelled to Time Square and walked around for a bit (most of the stores were still closed). After Time Square we went to Fifth Avenue to check out the Apple Flagship Store. We couldn't find the store at first, so after a lot of hussle we took a cab. The iPad 2 was first sold out but the store clerk told us to drop by later the day since they expect a restock. So we walked down the Fifth of Avenue again....

I will tell the rest of my first day tomorrow, since the Starbucks is closing for today!!!

Almost take off!

After a hectic week the moment is there: today I will be flying to New York! :D It is now 4:23AM and we'll be heading to Schiphol Airport in less than 2 hours. I am now 98% fully packed, only some small things left to pack. Just took a power nap of 1 hour, so I think I will catch up some Z's in the plane.

I am going to have a slow zombie breakfast now (low level of energy = zombie mode ON), you'll hear from me later again when I have arrived in NYC! :)

New York: 12 days until take off!

Hi everyone,

Long time no see! As a lot of you already know, I will be going to the States this Summer for 3 weeks. I am excited about it, since it will be the first time for me to visit U.S.A. Well, technically the second time, but a one day trip to New York to see the other side of the Niagara Falls doesn't really count for me. :P

This blog was intended for my trips to Japan, but since I'm too lazy to make a new blog, I've changed this one into my general travel blog.

I am the most excited about Independence Day (Fourth of July), that we'll be able to experience in New York! It is one of the biggest holiday in the United States with lots and lots of fireworks.

Anyways, since it's still 12 days until take off I'm going to cut this short. I'll speak to you later! :)