Monday, March 28, 2016

Highlights of Boston Trip

The first mistake I made for this trip is to book round-trip tickets SLC - NYC, instead of one way: SLC - Boston, then NYC - SLC, because what happened was that I lost so many time (10 hours) on the bus NYC-Boston and Boston-NYC, with extra waiting hours.

So, if you're planning to go to New York and Boston, book ONE WAY TICKETS!!! Then you not only save up on bus tickets, you also save TIME which is the most important thing while travelling.

So to summarize your travel plan should be: SLC - NYC (airplane), NYC - Boston (bus), Boston - SLC (airplane)

16 March 2016:

Breakfast at Bom Cafe. 

We got one of each: pão de queijo (butter bun) and another one with chicken meat fillers.
For drinks/dessert, Ruth got a coffee, while I got the strawberry/blueberries fruit yogurt.

The inside of the cheese pao. It's really fragrant, but pretty much tasteless.

This Hershey's-shaped pao tastes like chicken curry and potatoes.

Sam Adams Statue

Quincy Market

Can't resist. I'm like a child.

 Boston Harbor and my ship. 

 New England Aquarium - probably my favourite place.

Ruth touching the starfish.

Stingray petting zone. They felt like very soft meat.
I also touched a shark and a starfish.

Boston Historic North End. Got apa history I taktau ler.

Unni Gangnam style.

Us at the pier.

One slice turns out to be a quarter of a pizza at Esnesto's Pizza. ><

17 March 2016

A photo at our host's place for remembrance. Our host Mary is awesome! She's kind, welcoming and knowledgeable. And did I mention she has the brightest smiles?

Cute Ruth at the Sanders Theatre.

Geh geh a bit Harvard style.

Those losers who say I won't ever get to Harvard, here I am! Hahaha

US Special: Cherry Blossom Frappuccino

Tips for booking flight tickets:
Check individual websites for sale prices. Frontier has some great deals, though I've heard they have terrible seats. You have to book at least one month early, though.

Tips when your carry on is checked in as luggage due to limited overhead space in the cabins:
See the final destination of your checked bag, it'll be listed on the sticker. Make sure you don't run around in the airport like a crazy woman searching for her bag during transit just because you don't realize it was checked all the way to your final destination. Believe me, it's really taxing, and you might miss your flight over something that wasn't even a problem in the first place!

Tips for food:
Indulge yourself in seafood/lobsters. They are heavenly, and you get what you pay for. Use Yelp to find you locate good food nearby, based on reviews. Tipping is very important in American restaurants, the usual amount is 15%-25% of your total meal.

Tips for visiting museums:
Do not carry your luggage with you - they will NOT allow you to enter! Bring your student ID, it'll get you discounts most of the time.

Monday, March 14, 2016

Highlights of Las Vegas Trip

This post is a guide/summary of the fun places that you should consider visiting in your trip to Las Vegas. 

Places:

A wonderful pic with the Las Vegas sign! I walked 30 minutes from NYNY just for this.

A picture with the Egyptian statute of Luxor.

The Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Gardens which is located indoors close to the hotel lobby was nothing short of amazing! This season's theme still reflects the CNY mood in February as the decorations are styled to mimic the elements of Chinese culture.

A realistic depiction of monkeys going after the peaches of immortality, which symbolizes longevity.

An artistic display of the word fu, which means "fortune".

Selfie with the sea-horses, whatever that is.

After I helped these girls take their pictures, they suddenly asked if I want to join them for a pic, and I was like sure! So here it is, us in front of the Caesars Palace.

While you're at Caesars Palace, don't forget to check out the Fall of Atlantis moving statues show activated at the top of each hour starting at 11AM. You can feel the heat from the real flames emerging from beneath the statue.

Flamingo Hotel and Casino's Wildlife Habitat. I expected a larger size, but there were only a few types of animals, including the flamingo and mandarin ducks.

Food

1. BLVD Creamery
 
Tasted the salted caramel custard with shaved dark chocolate toppings from BLVD Creamery. It's tastes alright, but definitely not a favourite. At $4.59 after tax it's slightly expensive. But as usual, 1 scoop in American terms = 2 scoops in Malaysia, so it wasn't too bad.

2. Earl of Sandwich 
Sandwiches/Wraps are $7.56 after tax. The first time I went I got the most popular one - The Earl's Club, and on the receipt it said that if you filled in the online survey, on your next visit you're gonna get a free drink and a free small bag of chips. Guess what I did? Right, I filled in the survey! Cos I expected myself to return to try the Chicken Chipotle Avocado Sandwich, the second most popular. With the free drink and chips, $7.56 is a pretty good deal for a meal on the Las Vegas strip. 

3. Shake Shack 

I posted this earlier on Instagram, because Shake Shack has the best burger ever. The bun is especially fragrant and tasty because they fried the insides with butter. The ham was unlike any normal patty, it just tasted better and I couldn't tell why, because I usually don't like to eat burgers. I decided to visit Shake Shack because of the rave reviews I read online. The vanilla custard is the bomb. Best custard I've ever tasted, the taste is so unique, you can literally taste real vanilla. I'm planning to try out other flavors when I visit New York later.

At $9.60, this is a good deal for the tasty food.

Traveler tips:
  • Make sure to find the best deals if you want to visit the performances/museum/aquarium by purchasing tickets from halfpricetix. Their booth is just beside the Paris hot-air balloon/Eiffel tower building. 
  • Make good use of coupons from the booklets you receive, like 15% off Coca Cola store, 20% off M&M's etc
  • If you have a friend who's a Nevada resident, get them to help you pay at Hershey's World for 15% discount.
  • For food, if you want to save more, fill in the surveys available on the receipts so that you can get a discount/free extras the next time you place an order. If you're really on a tight budget, go for McDonalds/Earl of Sandwich, as they are relatively cheaper. 
  • For drinking water, get Dasani mineral water 500ml 2 for $1 at the gift shops one block before MGM, if your hotel does not have any water dispenser like NYNY
  • Overall, 2 days is more than enough to explore the Las Vegas Strip, and I wouldn't recommend you to stay any longer, because it'll just be a waste of money and time.

Review: NYNY Las Vegas

I stayed at New York New York for 4 nights for the PAC-12 games in Vegas. I arrived at night, and from the outside the sign looks particularly shiny and attractive. The ground floor is a casino, and reeks of tobacco smoke. After checking in, I proceeded to my assigned room. 

Room 2342 is located at the Century Towers, and it was really annoying that the lift practically stopped at almost each level. Even though there were 4 lift cubicles, there was just too many people that it was a long ride to go up or down.

The room looks rather clean and huge. Our room is just opposite of the roller coaster, so you can hear noises coming from outside from morning till night. I'm a deep sleeper so it wasn't that much of a problem for me.

Pros: Big room, convenient location (just opposite of MGM)
Cons: No drinking water in the hallways, no teapot/kettle in the room. No mini fridge and microwave.

Traveler tips: If you need drinking water at night, I would suggest you to get them at the souvenir shops one block before MGM on the Vegas Strip, they sell Dasani mineral water 2 for $1 only, whereas the vending machine in NYNY sells 1 for $3. During daytime, just bring your own bottle to refill at Caesar's Palace or anywhere else that has a water dispenser.

Overall rating: 3 stars

Note: This was a sponsored stay, but I am not affiliated to NYNY in any way. I do not receive any kind of compensation for writing this review. All thoughts and opinion are my own.