Winter Break - New York: Part 4

Hey guys, sorry for abandoning this blog for over two weeks. I've been doing pretty well here. I just went through a midterm frenzy week. Plus, I've been trying to work on my portfolio website and this Korean drama called My Love from Another Star came along and became a major distraction. Anyway, I'm back on the track with more stories from my previous winter break which I'm still determined to finish it up hopefully by March.

Well, let's continue where we left off. Christmas was here! It was a pretty unproductive day for someone who doesn't celebrate Christmas. Elda woke up early in the morning to attend the Christmas service in the Cathedral we visited earlier. That would leave me more time to sleep and again, wake up nearly in the afternoon. Yeah I know that it's not strongly recommended for tourists to wake up late during the vacation. That was such a waste of time. However, we didn't really have many places to go to. After all, the sole reason we came to New York was to enjoy its vibe on Christmas.

Winter Trip - New York: Part 3

Hello, I'm finally back with some stories from New York. It was Christmas Eve and we woke up quite late (again). Since we didn't really know where to eat within two blocks from our hotel (We just had Applebees the day before, and McD sounds a bit too overrated), we decided to have a little fancy dine that afternoon at Nanking.

Despite the lavish interior and vibe, they actually had a pretty good deal of meal. I had a bowl of Singaporean fried rice that cost up to $8.00 excluding tip. So it wasn't so bad at all.

Winter Trip - New York: Part 2

Okay, I feel like I'm going pretty slow on the winter break story, but bear with me, guys.

The next day, we woke up pretty late and had a quick brunch in Applebees at 50th and Broadway. We had no idea how expensive that restaurant could be, and it was just for brunch. Anyway, it was a good brunch though. We were all filled up and ready to start our day.

Winter Trip - New York: Part 1

I'm so glad to find out that I wouldn't have so many homework this week. I've finished up my homework for one of my Thursday classes, and another Thursday class would be a field trip, which means I pretty much don't need to turn in anything.

Well, last time, we covered two parts of Ann Arbor, but let's hold up Ann Arbor stories just for a bit because after the day we ate at the Mongolian BBQ, we were actually leaving to New York for a couple of days. Elda and I actually visited the city priorly with our own parents, but I personally never get tired to this city, especially when the city gets lit up even brighter at the end of the year due to its thick Christmas/Winter vibe.

We left in the afternoon with a taxi that took us straight to Detroit airport. We were supposed to catch a bus that would leave from Downtown Ann Arbor to Detroit Airport, but the tough weather condition made it hard to go there. The bus to Downtown Ann Arbor from Elda's apartment never came, so in order not to miss the flight, we had to go for the plan B, which is to take a taxi that would bring us straight to the airport. Yeah, the part where we had to let go a certain amount of money we had spent to book for the bus round trip was a bit painful, but at least we figured it's better than missing the flight.

Winter Trip - Ann Arbor: Part 2

OMG, so sorry for the lack of posts these days. It's just the third week of school and Thursdays, particularly, have been killing me. Imagine having 3 classes in a day, from 8 am to 10 pm, back to back. Anyway, I'm back to blogging, just to keep myself sane.

After Aymee, Ashley, and I went back from Frankenmuth, we woke up, again surprisingly, late. The day almost hit afternoon, but then we remember that we were meeting up with Elda that day. I suppose it was the day that Aymee and Elda had been waiting for, because they would finally meet up after years of not catching up with each other. The three of us had always planned to meet up during breaks, but the plan never worked out. This day proved that finally one of those plans worked out, and it was this trip that finally would bring Elda and Aymee together again.

Winter Trip - Frankenmuth

The day after the long walk to Boba Island, complete with our feet getting ached and soaked, Aymee planned on going to Frankenmuth. I've never heard of Frankenmuth until the day before our departure. I was unaware with what else Michigan had to offer, and that would be Frankenmuth. According to Aymee, who knew that place from Ashley who hasn't even been there either, Frankenmuth is a small German town located about 20-40 miles from Ann Arbor.

Getting there by public transportation such as buses would be possible, seeing Frankenmuth really is a small town and quite isolated too. It's not one of the big cities in Michigan, such as Detroit or Ann Arbor. Getting there would require a taxi, and that was what we were planning.

Winter Trip - Ann Arbor: Part 1

I finally made use of the last two days of the break (Gosh, I hate the countdown), writing and posting stories and pictures from my recent trip. My trip started out on December 15, 2013. Since I spent two weeks out of town, I'm just going to share some highlights instead covering each day. I was originally going to leave on the 16^th but the flight on that day was much more expensive. I assume because the closer the date was to Christmas, the more expensive the flight got. I left on Sunday night to the airport and had a chat with my school mates on Facebook before I got on to the plane.

After an overnight flight, I landed in Detroit feeling psyched, not only that I got to feel a completely different temperature and vibe from California, but also because I finally got to see snowcapped buildings and snow-covered roads, something you wouldn't be able to spot in California unless you go to Big Bear or drive a bit to the border where Lake Tahoe is. The bus Elda booked for me took off on time and I reached Ann Arbor shortly. Elda was there and we had a reunion, although we just met a couple of months before. Without further ado, Elda took me to this noodle bar – Tomukun – just a few blocks away from where my bus arrived.

Winter Breakers (a teaser to the winter trip stories)

(I make lame titles, I know)

It's been quite a 50/50 week for me as I'm currently in my last week of break. I know, I'm wiping these tears off my face. Dude, a month just went by so fast. If I could borrow Adam Sandler's remote from Click, I'd really love to so I can click rewind and go back to the moment I just finished my last finals. Well, LA feels a bit lonely these days. Some of my friends have got back to school and work since last week, some of my Art Center friends haven't even got back from their hometowns. I have some errands to run before school starts claiming me again. Good news is, I just got my car back, but I'm still currently recovering from the accident that happened to me 2 months ago, thanks to LA's hideous traffic and my clumsy driving. So I can only drive into far distances only with a company. Hopefully it's all good from now on. Why this week's been a 50/50 week for me?

FROZEN

Hey guys,
So overjoyed cos I'm done with finals!!! The last final gave me such a hard time: there was so much to do but so little time, regardless I decided not to procrastinate. I ended up going to the final presentation without taking a shower or washing my hair. However, it ended with a good note since the presentation was received positively by my instructor, guest critic, and my classmates. My classmates and I had a Korean Barbecue afterwards.
Anyway, I'm posting from Ann Arbor, Michigan! The weather is way more extreme than the weather in LA, obviously. It looks like this...

Horas North Sumatra (pt 2)

The next day after our arrival in North Sumatra would be energy spending, as we were all going on a full-day trip around Brastagi. I actually underestimated this town in the first place, but the visit proved me wrong. There was a lot to take a look in Brastagi. Anyway, our journey started with an early breakfast at the hotel, as usual. I had a plate of omelet and fried rice to kick off my day. My dad apparently already took off earlier in the morning for a stroll. The clear, unpolluted sky in the morning allowed him to take a snapshot of a nearby mountain which the hotel overlooked.

Once the breakfast was done, we set off on our first destination of the day. I was made curious with brief mentions from others that we were going to see some sort of a “golden temple”. A place like that in this pretty isolated hillside place almost sounds impossible. However, when the van started to enter a smaller road with rough surface, a glimpse of blinding gold color reflected by a tall object in the far distance caught my eye.

Horas North Sumatra! (pt 1)

Finally, North Sumatra trip post is up! At least only the first part of it. Last winter break, as you might have known, I went back to Indonesia to take care of some things. One of the events that took place during my almost-a-month holiday includes a trip to North Sumatra. I have to say I really anticipated for it, considering that I've never stepped a foot onto one of the most renowned major islands in Indonesia, Sumatra. Such a shame I've never been there.

On December 27, 2012, two days after Christmas (6 days after "the apocalypse"), I woke up early in the morning, around 6 am. I couldn't believe our flight was actually at 9 am and at that moment, I doubted if we'd make it on time for the flight. However, since it was going to be a domestic flight, so I assumed the check-in process and everything would take shorter time than the international one.

My family and I hitched on a cab to the airport, where we soon met with The Gunawan family and The Tanu family. So there were around 9 people in our trip:

ORLANDO for winter. pt 2: my heart will go on

Previously: It was very brief. We stayed inside the plane while looking out to the still-dark, Kansas landscape before the plane took off for Boston...and this time for real.

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- DAY 2: DECEMBER 18, 2011 -

We got off at Boston at 7:27 am, and by the time we reached it, we missed our connecting flight which already took off at 7:10 am. This fuss forced Elda and me to rush all the way to Jetblue counter, which was located at the other end of the airport. We were soon informed that our next flight to Orlando was actually BOARDING NOW, and even more, the gate was located at near the gate where we just got off earlier, which was at another end of the airport.

Ta-dum-ta-dum, we were running like two lunatic amateur travelers along the hallway of Boston airport. Thank God we made it on time. It was 8:00 am and we barely ate anything for over 10 hours (we did get good snacks on the flight to Boston, but what I mean is, we haven't had a meal rich enough to store some energy). Elda managed to help herself with a bar of chocolate while boarding the next flight, Jetblue Flight 955 straight to Orlando.

We're finally here!!!

Finally....after some long, butt-burning flights, we made our way to Floridaaaaa

Orlando, here we are!

But Elda and I knew our time for having fun wasn't there yet. We've got things to settle and that's specifically regarding our baggages. Yes, our baggages somewhat went missing (not to mention Elda and I got separated while we were getting into the monorail to the arrival hall. Elda got on first but before I did, the monorail door closed and I needed to wait for the next one. The awkward moment was when everyone there seemed to be staring at my dumbfounded face #funnymoment).

Once we got to Jetblue office, it turned out that several other passengers from the previous flight from San Francisco (same flight with us) encountered similar issues. After taking some time to track our baggages, the staff informed us all that the baggages were still somehow stuck in Boston and would soon be sent to the passenger's residences. Elda quickly gave away our hotel address for the sending convenience.

After getting to our booked shuttle, we went to the hotel, which was located right across the Walt Disney World complex in Kissimmee area. On the way to our hotel, we were given glimpses of the complex while sending some passengers to the hotels located inside the complex. We first thought our hotel would be located inside the complex (even when I saw the Hollywood Tower Hotel building scraping up in the distance, I thought it was our hotel! Excuse my drained energy due to the long flight).

http://5bestvacationrentals.com

Worldgate Resort was our hotel. Though it was considerably small, at least it was convenient! It might not be as grand or luxurious as a five-star hotel (cos it wasn't). But for us students traveling in the US, the place was adequate, reasonable by price, and at least, the most important thing of all, it was clean.

Master Yoda on our room key!

After checking in to the room 505, Elda and I asked for some recommendation on nearby restaurants and transportation. Before leaving for lunch, we asked the front desk to kindly book us a cab to go to Titanic: The Experience (our first attraction in Orlando, sort of our appetizer before the Disneyland), since public transportation was a bit troublesome.

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It was 2:15 pm and please note that we haven't had any proper, heavy meal for almost 18 hours. Elda and I quickly took off to find the most promising restaurant close to the hotel. We stumbled upon Denny's and helped ourselves with soups and cheese fries. Feels good to finally munch on some HEAVY delicacies!

http://thediligentdiletante.blogspot.com

Elda and I went back to the hotel just in time the cab reached the lobby, at around 3:30 am. Half an hour later, we were already at the parking lot of Titanic: The Experience at International Drive. The place turned out to be smaller than what I thought, as the building was shared with stores along the row. But what certainly distinguished the Titanic place along with the other stores were the huge Titanic decoration on the entrance's wall.

As we got in, Elda handed the online ticket she already booked to the cashier, who we noticed to be wearing old clothes, perhaps referring to those dating back to the early twentieth century. The ticket was then exchanged with a sophisticated-looking 'boarding pass', as if we were really about to get on the ship herself.

We were told to wait for a few minutes for more visitors to come. When it was time, the cashier guided us in. It turned out that he was the tour guide for the day. What even makes it mesmerizing is, he did some kind of role play during the tour, like revealing his other side, a completely different version of him: a cheerful, Scottish-accented guy whose persona matches the tour guide's costume (he basically wore an early twentieth century working class outfit complete with a beanie cap). Aside from being a tour guide, he pretty much also acted like the story teller of the ship. I couldn't wait to see what he got to say.

Btw, the cashier we met earlier and the tour guide were the same people

All aboard!


The fascinating telegram room

Ship's sitemap!

The awkward moment when this reminds you of a specific scene from a movie

Chilling in Verandah Cafe! Best used by 1st class passengers

The tour guide said that we were exclusive enough to catch a glimpse of 1st class most luxurious suite. It was said that there were only two suites like the one depicted above in the ship. The owner must be hella RICH.

And the best of the whole main exhibit goes to...

Wait for it...

The Grand staircase

Can't help but to have the Titanic theme song ringing in my head and imagine Leonardo Di Caprio and Kate Winslet standing on top of staircase while entering this room. This part is actually the highlight of the entire exhibit

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Things got very emotional when we reached the latter part of the exhibition, where we stepped into a room that resembled the exterior deck overlooking the sea. The night was sound and we all could see stars scattered in the jet black sky hovering the sea. The eerie, cold temperature of the room sent goosebumps, and my feeling was confirmed: the tour guide recounted that it was the night the Titanic sank. The tour guide/Scottish guy narrated how the situation was like that night, as if he really was on the ship at that very moment.

At the end of the main exhibit hall, we found ourselves in a relatively small room with thousands of names written on the wall all over the place. The tour guide amazingly said goodbye to his alter ego, the friendly Scottish-accented guy who has guided the tour all along - and returned to his normal, subtle voice. His upbringing's transition absolutely blew my mind. At that moment was immediately convinced that he must have been in a theatre school or something. Anyway, the tour guide mentioned that his alter ego, the Scottish guy, never left the ship or in short (the Scottish guy the tour guide just role played was obviously fictional)

To close the tour, the tour guide kindly asked us to find the name on the wall in the room that matches the name on each of our boarding pass given in the beginning of the tour. We were to identify whether the person whose name we had on the boarding pass survived or not. The name of those who survived were written bold, and those who didn't were...un-bold. I thought it'd be really hard considering there were LOTS of names on the wall.

But I quickly found the name matching with the name on boarding pass, and she apparently survived the incident.

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Anyway, the room led to a small gallery at the end of the entire exhibition, and the gallery was dedicated to Titanic movie (yes, that famous movie who cleaned up the Oscars back in the 1998 by James Cameron). The hall basically contained of attributes and items from the movie set.

And last but not least...


Holy cow, Leonardo di Caprio's real Jack costume!! #spazzing

After the tour came to an end, Elda and I hung around the gift shop for around half an hour while waiting for the same cab to pick us up.

Once we got back to the hotel, we thought of having dinner at the Downtown Disney, which we thought would be a walking distance from the hotel. But apparently, it's further than seen on the map and requires a shuttle to go there, while shuttle service at that time was no longer available. So we decided to have dinner at Sizzler, who was located a block away from the hotel (remember the receptionist lady informing us about some good restaurants along the hotel rows earlier?)

Sizzlin' Sirloin Steak for dindin!

Right after the fulfilling dinner, we dropped by at McD on the way back to the hotel to buy burgers for breakfast tomorrow. Then approximately at 11.43 pm, we went to bed, as we needed to save some energy for tomorrow because....

Magic Kingdom awaited!!!!!

-Verandah cafe pictures are credit to Elda-

<< Part 1 • • Part 3 >>

ORLANDO for winter. pt 1: departure

As promised, I finally managed to jot down my winter break experience! I might want to focus on Orlando trip and a bit of New York (since I didn't write much journal entries in New York). Anyway, let's get going!

Note: I didn't take lots of picture on the journey. Too busy handling the travel documents and carrying my bags around ^^

- BEFORE THE TRIP -

By the way, a bit about our planning. Aymee first initiated with the idea of going to Orlando on September (in the middle of summer break). I was a bit hesitated at first because going to Disneyworld, as she suggested, didn't sound that appealing to me in the first place compared to going to New York. But I vividly remembered that posted Disneyworld pictures on Facebook and tagged me and Elda on them, consider that as a form of persuasion.

Plus, Aymee mentioned that on Christmas break, everything would look magical in Disneyworld, given the decoration and Christmas-y vibe. After doing a bit of research, I was drawn to Aymee's idea. Thus, we began our planning for real during the Fall quarter that came after the summer break. In the end, it was confirmed that four of us – now with Aymee's boyfriend, Ardy, as the new participant – were positively in for the trip.

Elda and I completed the whole booking for ourselves: hotel, flight, and even Disneyworld. However, Aymee and Ardy seemed to be caught up in a technical glitch while booking for the flight and somehow their flight's schedule was moved to the 19^th. So that makes Elda and I taking off to Orlando two days before they did.

Booked the ticket!

Nothing could beat the happiness of receiving my Disneyworld ticket (been saving my money for this yay)

So all set for the trip!

                               DAY 1: DECEMBER 17, 2011                             

What couldn't have been more relieving than finishing all final exams and a great vacation awaits you? That was what Elda and I felt on December 17, 2011. We were too occupied with our finals that we didn't have time to pack for our upcoming trip to Orlando.

Back to the departure day, believe it or not, I managed to stuff and squeeze everything into my – I don't know – possibly 40”x40” luggage. Seeing that I will be going to New York after Orlando to visit my cousin, I would need to shove both my thick winter jackets and T-shirts to the luggage. These two notable cities in the US are geographically distant, and that quite affected the temperature especially on winter: New York had a potential of snowing while Orlando was relatively warmer than Bay Area.

What a contrast, isn't it?

Anyway, the shuttle was scheduled to pick us up at 7. After packing was done in a flash, I rushed to the post office with Elda in a bit to mail my university application documents, and later on, we went to Ariake Sushi to have a late lunch (it was around 3:30 pm-ish). Then we went back home, did final checking and at 6:30 pm, we got on the shuttle that would take us to San Jose airport.

The journey didn't take long as we arrived at the airport at around 7:00-ish. Our flight was still at 9:30 am. After checking in, we surprisingly met Bill and Siyun in the scanning counter. Bill was taking Siyun to the airport, who was on her way back to Korea for winter break. We soon parted with Bill and the three of us moved to our gates. Elda and I first took Siyun to her gate and talked for a moment because she would be leaving earlier than us. We indeed had a great time but at 8, she had to board the plane. So off she left to LA, before continuing her journey to Seoul.

Elda and I slowly moved to our gate, which was surprisingly located exactly near the same old gate to LA on spring break last year. I munched on Oreo while waiting for the flight, seeing that we wouldn't have meal for at least the next nine hours.

Finally, at 9:26 pm, we were called to board Jetblue flight number 472 on the way to Boston before resuming our flight to Orlando! Our ultimate destination!

See you in 12 days, Cupertino!

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However, midway, I felt the plane was descending. I glanced at my watch for a second to see that it was still midnight, while we were supposed to be arriving in Boston early in the morning. My curiosity was answered when the captain announced that the plane needed to land in Kansas City (excuse my lacking in US geographical knowledge: I barely know where Kansas exactly is located) for medical emergency. Apparently, a passenger was having health issues that they needed to board a doctor in Kansas to check if he's okay. Hope nothing was serious.

It was very brief. We stayed inside the plane while looking out to the still-dark, Kansas landscape before the plane took off for Boston...and this time for real.

Part 2 >>