Day 6 - NYC Baby!

We finally made it!  And we also slept in!!  Our body clocks seemed to have adjusted and wanted more sleep to catch up.  Hotel room is nice enough, bed is very comfy, and the curtains definitely black out the room.  We woke up at nearly 9am and quickly got ready to head into NYC.

Those of you planning on a trip here and want convenience but at a good price, staying in Jersey City is definitely the way to go.  We're here at the Courtyard Marriot (Newport Jersey City) and it's directly next to the PATH station which takes you right into Manhattan in 10 minutes.  Directly across the road is a big shopping mall too!

So we headed off into NYC, first on the list, breakfast at ihop. 

I ordered a breakfast special with smoked sausages, eggs, biscuits (for the aussies reading this, will explain shortly), 3-stack pancakes, hash brown (to share).  KN had 2 eggs, bacon, french toast and pancakes.  Was pretty good, average pricing.  The biscuits we were keen to try.  Back home, biscuits are more or less 'cookies' (as Americans would call them).  So naturally, seeing a menu for breakfast, lunch or dinner with 'biscuits' is amusing.  When they came out, we saw that they were more like our 'scones'.  Very fluffy, melt in your mouth.  Depending on the quality, they can be quite starchy.  These ihop biscuits were starchy.  Had much better ones later in the day from another food chain :).

Yummy yummy in my tummy

To get to ihop was relatively painless.  The subway system makes a lot of sense and I was finding myself using this iphone app "Hopstop" all day to figure out which trains to catch to which destinations, very handy.  Google maps on the other hand has been rather slow and buggy, sucking my battery dry whenever I use it.  Moving on, we decided to head into the heart of the city - Times Square.

Checking the trains/times, I found my phone decided to start using "WebGuard", which is T-Mobile's internet content filter.  It basically started blocking all the important websites, like.....Facebook.  And uh...erm... Facebook.  So I couldn't check in anywhere, oh my god how painful it was, not being able to leave evidence of our travel destinations.  Naturally our next stop was a T-Mobile store to get it unlocked, because the only way to do it online was to provide the last 4 digits of your social security number.  Being Australian and not having one, my random entry of 1234 or 4321 failed to work.  And so we arrived at the T-Mobile store.

The gentleman who served us, clearly displayed his frustration at this request.  Whilst on the phone to the operators who remove the WebGuard, we found this was his 40th request in 2 days, since they turned the feature on - all of them tourists not from the US.  Poor fella, we were on our merry way once done.

We decided to go to Central Park first, being such a beautiful day.  Typical tourists, we got excited seeing a squirrel come right up near us, digging the ground for something.  Of course we took pictures, it was a cute looking thing.

There was still some snow scattered around the place from the other day and a lot of fallen/broken tree's and branches.  Moving through the park, we found a couple of spots we recognised from movies, including the ice skating rink.  We also paid a visit to the Central Park Zoo.  That was pretty cool, not as many animals as we thought there would be.  The seal we saw smelt fishy and he/she had one eyelid shut the whole time, as if it was winking at us permanently.  We were also meant to go to a 4D movie about penguins, but never made it.

Fish breath Seal

After our trip to the zoo, we headed out and made our way to times square.  Walking out the park on the southern end you find a number of gentleman lined up with a horse and carriage, with plenty of horse shit for you to smell.  They have these clever bags hooked up underneath the horses ass which catches all the shit.  I'm surprised this hasn't caught on for tourists to wear, with the lack of public toilets around the place.  You could literally walk around and just shit as you please...  Yeah, maybe a bit too much of a convenience, excuse that disgusting thought (don't worry no pics).

I lie, here's a pic.  No poo though.

By this stage my phone had full internet access again *sigh of relief* and we made our way to times square, to see it in the day first and venture back in at night.  On the way, we got out of the train in the subway and got pulled into a group of dancers performing.  A group of African American dancers, promptly reminding you they're black throughout their show and their expectation of tips before we leave...also reminding us of their blackness and they can run fast - if you choose not to tip.

They were really good dancers and their 'lead' dancer was pretty funny.  He seemed kinda gay, which I found interesting.  He had an alpha male persona, but was charismatic and flashed his hands around with peculiar facial expressions.  He clarified this for me, when he randomly mentions to the crowd that he's not gay.  Okay then.  After the show, yes we did tip, and continued on.

Said non-homosexual dancer

**Update** I actually had a whole section here that mysteriously disappeared, so I'll have to attempt to rewrite what I had here.  ***Update #2***  I just updated my udpate, and this damn blog site keeps deleting it!!  Try again...

We arrived at Times Square, and were immediately drawn to all the sights, shops, scenery, everything.  Back home, you see this all on TV, but you can never appreciate the full scale of it till you are here.  You quickly realise where the tourist traps are, after the fact.  Like getting sucked in by those cartoonic characters you grew up watching as a kid.  Mickey, Minnie, Elmo, how you took advantage of me.  Innocently walking by, we saw them, and naturally being first time tourists - you take a photo with them.

As you start to walk away, these warm, welcoming characters quickly change their cartoonic voices to deep manly desperate calls of "TIP, TIP!!".  At which point you go, "oooohh, okay", and tip them :).  Tricky characters, lucky I didn't tickle Elmo, who knows what he would have asked of me next.

"You there, unsuspecting tourist!"

(Mickey/Elmo) .oO(Suckers)

We were so surprised by how much bigger this place is, not just the city itself, but Times Square.  Back home, you see it on TV, you know it's big, flashy, lights and all.  But you never realise the full scale of it till you come here.  After countless times of checking google maps, I soon realised that it stretches from 42nd to 47th Street, along Broadway between 5th/7th Avenues.  In this entire section, is shop after shop, store after store, billboards everywhere and restaurants galore.

In my absent minded tourist gawking at all the sites, I got sucked in by a local rapper, telling me his spiel of his demo CD and officially naming me "P. Boogie".  That is now my official NYC name, according to....."Square Free".  I think that's his rapper name.  Anyhow, I got a signed CD, and tipped him.  Was worth it for an official NYC name, I think P Boogie will catch on.

We spent a lot of time going up and down times square just looking in shops and absorbing it all. After all the walking and sightseeing, decided to head back to the hotel room for a much needed break.  Although we adjusted our body clocks sleeping patter, our eating habits have been somewhat askew.  Late breakfast, late lunch or no lunch - replaced with dinner.

Once we were rested enough, we headed back into midtown to look at it all again, and get some grub!

First stop was the "Original Soup Man" store.  For the Seinfeld fans you know what this is about, those of you who didn't watch Seinfeld, shame on you - NO SOUP FOR YOU!  Although not the actual original store, it was from the same owner and relocated to W 55St & 8th Ave.  We both bought a lobster bisque, but I ordered a special with a T-Shirt and a large bisque.  Mmmmm, was soooo good, hit the spot.  We actually brought it with us back to times square, then ate it at one of the public seating areas in the square.  An awesome idea, sit back relax, eat/drink and soak it all in again - this time with bright neon lights.

Lobster bisque, also came with bread, halloween chocolate and a banana!

Sensory overload, it's such a cool thing.  I wonder what it would be like walking times square drunk... No we weren't drunk in these pics, but here's a few around Times Square at night.

After the soup, we looked around some more, and decided to visit another junk food spot on the must do
 list "Popeyes Chicken".  It was actually a bit of a mission finding it, I blame Google maps.  We were following directions for a store that was permanently closed.  Eventually we found one and it was worth it for me.  It's a bit crunchier than our KFC Hot n Spicy, but tastes different.  In a good way.  The fries are awesome too.  And, the biscuit was better than the one at ihop :).

Crunchy and juicy chicken. mmmm.. Definitely going again.

We were beat after this and decided to call it a night.  Back to the subway, and back at the hotel.  Passed out like a light and slept in a bit again the next morning!  Things I've learned today:

• Learn the subway well, it pays off, so convenient
• Keep your phone charged, try to research areas you want to visit first
• Be aware of being absent minded while gawking at the sites, especially at night
• Further on the above point, if you have a drifting girlfriend, consider one of those kids leashes attached to a vest/bag.  I kept losing KN! lol
• Don't fall for the tourist traps if you can help it, you'll find yourself handing out cash too many times at the end of a day
• Prepare for sore feet, legs and back

Night folks, more tomorrow!

Day 5 - NJ & Seaside Heights

We awoke to a beautiful day, sun shining bright, and white snow still scattered everywhere.  The deceiving sun always catches me off guard.  I always think it's nice and warm outside when I see it so bright, forgetting about the ice cold wind.

After 5 days, I still found myself now and then, having mini freak-outs about driving on the right hand side of the road.  There's other little differences I've found here too:

• They have these mini-mall set ups, where all the department stores like Target, clothing stores, etc are all in one complex - but in separate buildings.  Rather than the smaller shops/malls we have back home in a self contained complex.
• The hot and cold water in showers are all operated with a single handle (not separate hot and cold)
• The toilets in general are longer in forward length, and they flush differently, lol.
• Food in general is cheaper, much cheaper
• Fuel/Petrol is cheaper (works out to be around .95c/ltr back home - compared to what we know it as being $1.45 roughly)
• The money is a bit trickier to manage in my wallet, still find myself digging into my wallet when paying for things, trying to find the right notes/bills
• Target has sells hot food (Pizza Hut, and other junk food) and also has a grocery section

That's about all I can think of for now...

Anyhow as I was saying, was a glorious day, so KN and I decided to play in the snow before it all melted.

Our first snowman/lady (I have the uncensored version up on facebook)

Snowilicious

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 After our morning play in the snow, we basically rested at home for the morning, then spent the rest of the day with family hanging out and catching up.  We did end the afternoon however by taking a trip to Seaside Heights. 

For those of you in the know, that's where they shoot the TV show "Jersey Shore".  Here's a couple of pics for the notorious Jersey Shore house and the T-Shirt shop they worked at!

Some very classy shirts and under-garments to be found here

 

 

 The Jersey Shore house

 

 

After our little trip to seaside, we went back to see the family and see the kids in their halloween outfits!  Very cool time of the year to be here.  Oh, and we fit in McDonalds on the way, and ate a McRib!  They're back here in the US, been years since we've had them back home!  Although I got ripped off, and they ran out of the McRib buns, so they slapped it in a cheesburger bun!

Still McRib-licious!!

On a full stomach, we headed back to pick up our luggage and head straight to Jersey City (across the river from Manhattan), to check into our hotel.  Ready for the main agenda tomorrow!  Was a very long day, and again a BIG thank you to my family for taking us around all day.  Lots of driving involved and it was nearly midnight by the time we settled into our room and crashed!

Day 4 - Old Bridge, New Jersey

Prior to leaving the Showboat hotel/casino at AC, we had a nice breakfast in their restaurant.  I ordered eggs, pancakes and bacon. KN had an egg omelette that was easily made with 1/2 dozen eggs.  Nice and full, we left AC and the weather was fierce.  Really strong wind and cold rain.  There's a road that leads up to the AC casino's, and the weather was that strong, it was pushing water up onto the road.  Parts of it were flooding already and we left just in time.

Drive to Old Bridge NJ from the AC is about an hour and a half.  It was a very interesting drive back.

Prior to leaving Brisbane, in the lead up to our trip, I recall a conversation with KN where I said - you know what would make this trip awesome, if it would snow.  Unlikely as that would be, the forecast today was actually snow.  Apparently it is very rare for it to snow in these parts in October, but it did just for us!

Was cool to watch the rain gradually change to snow, the closer we got to NJ.

It was a laid back restful day when we arrived.  Did some more shopping at a nearby mall in NJ.  Bought the kids some clothes, cool hats and other things they'll love.  And I got myself a new pair of jordans for only $60, a jacket and other clothes that I failed to pack for this cold weather! 

For dinner I had to try Wendy's to check it off our "Junk food to do list".  I ordered a 1/4 pounder burger, it was nice and juicy.  The drink it came with was huge.  KN took a photo, the drink on the far left is the equivalent to our large size!

After the mall, we stopped by a Target to pick up some Halloween candy and a few other things.  Interestingly the Target stores here have a grocery section and a canteen type area where you can buy pizza and other hot food.

Called it a night, and spent the rest of the night blogging!  Next up tomorrow, our main agenda, NYC!!

Day 3 - Part II - Atlantic City

We quickly headed to Atlantic City from Gilbertsville, Pensylvannia.  A couple hours drive maybe, we reached our destination.  From what we've been told, and what we could see, AC is basically a smaller version of Vegas - not as hyped up though.  Was just a short overnight stay, courtesy of my Aunt who had this awesome suite booked.

<========= Yes, that's a little TV in the bathroom

          SEE!!! ----------------->

Picture doesn't do it justice, but the room is massive and has access to a balcony outisde with a view of the boardwalk/ocean.  And there is a remote for the curtains.  Yes.  A remote for the curtains.  Yes.  We used it when we woke up in the morning.  Pure awesomeness.




After settling in the room, we took a sneak peak at a live show that was on in the casino.  It was apparently one of the lead guitarists from the band KISS.  We lasted maybe 3 minutes.  His guitar kissed my ear drums goodbye, after the torture from jet lag, his insanely loud guitar riffs made me temporarily deaf.  We didn't take any photo's, but this story is true.

Returned to the room, then headed downstairs for dinner.  Awesome food, I ordered kobe beef sliders, KN had a crab salad, and I shared the fillet mignon my cousin ordered.  Best steak I have ever eaten, it melts in your mouth!

Eat me NOW, i'm full of kobe beef

Okay mr kobe beef slider.  nom nom nom

After dinner, I gambled a bit.  By a bit, I mean $20 in an electronic poker machine.  I actually won $20, but failed to hold the cards and drew another deck.  That ended our night, i'm such a high roller.

Day 3 - Philly (Part 1)

Part 1 (Philadelphia)

It was a bright sunny morning, waking up on Friday.  The sun here is very deceiving, waking up nice and warm, not realising most houses in this area of the US have centralised heating systems.  I was telling my cousin and his wife, "yeah we didn't need an extra blanket, wasn't cold at all".  Duh Paul, they have centralised heating, it was about 3 degrees celcius that morning.  I also used to think the winter in Brisbane brought some cold wind.  Till we arrived in Philadelphia that morning for a tour with my cousin, and it felt like beign smacked in the face with sheets of ice.

Was a beautiful day however, just very cold, for a couple from Brisbane.  The agenda for the day was to be typical tourists and join a duck tour group.  An informative tour of the Philadelphia CBD, covering all things American history and movie facts for films shot in this city.  All this inside an amphibious vehicle, captained by a bemusing comedian who strategically plants jokes to coincide with his ipod playlist of tacky music - themed to his jokes.  It was also an 'interactive' tour, as he called the lame jokes, the tourists had to quack like ducks, if you wanted to earn your prize at the end of a tour (a duck quacking plastic contraption).  But a funny chap he was, despite the lame jokes.

After the amusing tour, we headed to the Reading Terminal Market.  A place we saw Adam from "Man vs. Food" eat a pulled pork sandwhich that looked irresistable.  A few blocks away, we walked and entered the market, full of food stalls and a huge crowd of people.  My cousin found the name of the food stall that served the sandwiches, we found it, along with a long crowd of waiting customers.  While my cousin and I waited, KN went on the hunt for Philly's infamous "cheese steaks".  Which is basically a steak roll, packed with a huge amount of chopped up thin steak and drizzled with american wizz cheese.

Finally got served, ordered the sandwich with greens and provolone cheese (totes awesome), sat down and ate away.

Pulled pork sandwich ---------------->
(Delicioso)

<------------- Cheese Steak
                                (delicioso)










After filling our bellies with Philly's fine food, we headed our way out, but quickly stopped by an amusing meat and veg stall.  Operated by the Amish!  They were dressed in their traditional outfits, beards and all (both men and women...just kidding).  Took a quick pick of their 'stuffed pork chops'.  Personally, I don't think they stuffed it enough.

Said Amish peoples

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's hardly any stuffing in these pork chops!

 We then exited the market, headed back into my cousins car, and did a quick lap around Philly to take obligatory photo's with the famous "Love" sign and with the statue of Rocky and those stairs he runs up in the movies (I swear in the movie there were a lot more stairs).

After all that, we had to rush back to my cousins house, get a few things organised so we could head over to Atlantic City to meet up with my Aunt.  Was a jam packed day, and a BIG THANK YOU to my cousin, his wife and family for accommodating us.  An awesome time in Philly!!  Next up, Part II (Atlantic City).

Day 1 & 2

Day 1


Flew from Brisbane to Sydney relatively quickly, wasn't bad at all.  Flight from Sydney to LA was horrible.  Never been on a long haul flight before, and didn't think it would hit us so bad.  Was watching the main monitor with the live map of where the plane is, felt like it was in the middle of the ocean for days.  Both of us started to get all sore and congested in the ears, headaches, and generally feeling like crap.

Once we arrived at LAX, thought it was going to be a huge relief, but I felt even worse.  Felt like a zombie.  Feeling like crap and being jet lagged, uggghhh.  KN spotted two celebrities however, one was Australian (Rebel Wilson), the other was covered in some kind of disguise covering her face and had a bodyguard with her.

Bought a few things for the kids at the tourist shop, drank some water, contemplated having McDonalds but changed our minds feeling like crap.  Right now KN is commenting on how exciting this is, ooo drank some water, woooow.  I know, boring, but it highlights the point of how I had no idea such a long flight would make me feel like crap.

From LAX to JFK, took about 4.5 hours.  Felt like an eternity.  Once we landed, my cousin picked us up, took us through Manhattan for a quick tour and we had some hot dogs at a place called Gray's Papaya (as featured on "How I met your mother") in Greenwich Village.  $4.95 for two hot dogs and a drink.

Also had a sneak peak at the skating rink in the Rockerfeller Centre, will definitely be going next week!


My cousin lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  About 2.5-3hrs drive north of NY.  Before we left, I 'guesstimated' 1.5hrs and told KN "yeah he only lives about 1.5 hours".  After nearly 24hrs in the air/travelling, the thought of a 3 hr drive feels like an eternity.. Woooops.

Day 2

Today my cousin took us around Philadelphia, needed to get a prepaid SIM card for my iphone, which is hard to get.  Unlike back home, the phone companies here don't really offer pre paid sim's for iphones.  TMobile works, but you have to get the sim card cut to micro-sim size.  Bought one from Best Buy, later we went to the mall and this phone shop/cart guy cut it for me.....for $15!  They even have a tool that does it in 1 second, but charge $15 for it.  Couldn't believe it, anyway it worked.

This all might sound boring to everyone back home, but i'm easily amused.  A lot of little things we wanted to try, see, experience that we don't have back home.  Like Taco Bell, so cheap.  A Taco and Burrito combo with a large drink was $6 US.  Seeing a red barn on housing properties (lol).  Eating a churro from Costco for $1 (the guy at Southbank is ripping us off).  Shopping at a 'Wal Mart', and seeing banana's for 30cents a kilo.  Also bought some food we don't have back home...junk food/snacks.

Went shopping at an outlet mall, spent a lot more than originally planned in one day.  The place was huge, had an outlet store for so many major brands (just like harbour town).

Back at my cousin's house, weather got pretty cold, it's also snowing here on Saturday!

Tomorrow the plan is to see Jersey Shore and do the touristy thing then head to Atlantic City.
 

Countdown restarted!

Won't dwell on the details, but health complications set our trip back a couple of times.  On the road to recovery now, so trip is back on.  Departure date 26th October, returning home 11th November.  Wish us luck!!