USA
our visit to the empire state building
Maybe its our generation or maybe its just our curiosity to see as much of the world as possible but New York City was high on our list and when the Australian dollar was tracking so strongly against the US dollar, it was our cue to go!
Those gone before us were giving us advice about this, that and the other, especially about visiting the Empire State Building. There were suggestions of going early, going late, pre-booking entry tickets and even others telling us not to bother and instead go to Rockefeller to see the same view for free.
On our first day waking up in NYC, the sky was blue with some clouds. We knew what we had to do – we raced over to the Empire State Building. It was early and we were staying only about a block away. We arrived and the elevators weren’t sending people up just yet as it was about 7.55am , so we joined the queue of about 15 people.
Within 10 minutes of waiting in line, after about 2 lots of security checks and of course having our token tourist photograph taken in front of the green screen, we were up on the 86th floor!
Other than the pollution morning haze, this was the view of New York City that we saw!
And upon leaving we saw that our “token tourist photograph” had us super-imposed in front of…. what else??! … But the Empire State Building.
Our tip based on our great experience: Go early on any clear day that you get so you can get uninterrupted views without having to wait too long. By the time we left, the queues were weaving worse than any theme park ride! (Opening times are 8:00 am to 2:00 am)
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weekly photo challenge: let there be light
Genesis 1:3
Then God said, “Let there be light” & light appeared
This week’s photo challenge made us think a little bit about which photo to use. Would we use a photo of a candle from a birthday cake? Or the sun rising? Or a light show? Or a tunnel with a light at the end?
We ended up choosing this photo… a photo taken of Las Vegas from our hotel room: with the lights in the fountains, to the lights in the parking lot, to the lights on the Eiffel Tower…. Let there be LOTS of light!
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did we miss a bullet? literally, quite possibly
When we saw today’s Daily Prompt: Close Call, we knew we had to write about two experiences that happened to us while travelling, as told by Mrs WiseMonkey.
Have you ever felt a feeling or an inkling that you couldn’t quite explain? Then it finally dawns on you that it was your instincts all along & that some greater being out there is looking out for you. Bet I am making absolutely NO sense whatsoever at this point but please bear with me for a few more paragraphs before running away.
Let’s retell a story so you know where this post has come from.
Back in the early months of 2013, we were both dead-set on going to Africa. A safari through Kenya and Tanzania is something we’ve always dreamed about and so we booked it. As the weeks and months rolled on, we got our vaccinations, got prescriptions for malaria tablets, even got as far as applying for our visas.
However, our visas got knocked back because we had applied too far in advance. It needed to be within 3 months of leaving. Maybe that was the turning point. Come mid-June, a few weeks out from when we needed to pay off the balance for the trip, I become agitated about going to Africa. There is no rhyme or reason, i just keep getting this feeling of a lack of enthusiasm to go to Africa – something I’ve never felt about any holiday before. So I have a conversation with hubby that goes a little something like this:
Me: Are you sure we want to go Africa? We still have time to change our minds.
Him: What makes you say that?
Me: I’m not sure. I’m just checking that this is really what we want to do. The balance for Africa is due next week, and we just need to be sure that’s where we want to go.
Him: Well, where would we go instead?
Me: I dunno. There’s plenty of other places we want to see.
Him: Ok, well, let’s have a think and then decide….
Me: Well, we need to decide by next week
Similar conversations ensues each day for another 2-3 days, and for some reason, I recall feeling like a nag but I also remember feeling we urgently need to make a decision. So we settled on Turkey.
I thought nothing more of it until September 21, 2013 – when we were meant to be in Nairobi, we were in Istanbul instead, not realising what was happening in Nairobi. Militants had stormed a mall and were holding hostages and killing people indiscriminately. When I found out about this 3 days later while Skyping my family, I got goosebumps and I wanted to cry! I actually want to cry now while I write this 2 months on. The automatic questions that flew through our heads when we had heard this: Could we have been at that mall? Would we have been lucky to escape or possibly been one of the victims? Would our holiday have been tainted by being in a country where so much pain had just been caused? Would we feel safe anymore or want to jump on the next flight back home?
So many questions where we would never know the answers. The only thing we know is that we went with my instinct to change our plans and were now safe! Close Call Number 1.
You see, this story may seem coincidental or pure luck but this isn’t the first time something like this has happened.
Beginning of this year, when we were flying back from Orlando, we had a massive layover in Los Angeles. We normally get a room at Hotel Hacienda to freshen up until our flight home. This time we had booked a hotel at Santa Monica to spend some time by the nicer part of town and we were really looking forward to going there. It had been 4 years since we were last there and wanted to just enjoy the day.
However, as our flight was preparing to take-off at Orlando airport, I turned to hubby and said,
You know what? I actually don’t feel like going to Santa Monica today.I don’t know why but I would prefer if we just go to Hotel Hacienda near LAX like we always do and just chill out. I know we’ve already paid for Santa Monica but to justify paying for another hotel, it will cost us the same to catch a cab to and from the airport to Santa Monica anyway. So technically we break even.
That seemed a reasonable explanation to hubby so he agreed.
It was that evening as we turned on the TV in the hotel to watch the news that we found out that there was an armed robbery in Santa Monica and there were police car chases through the streets with 2 gunmen: with one allegedly loose on foot by then. When we looked up on google maps where this was all happening, it was one street away from the hotel we would’ve been staying at. Hubby turned and looked at me and dropped the remote control he was holding. I was stunned myself. Close Call Number 2.
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m-i-c-k-e-y-m-o-u-s-e: a week in Disneyworld
To set the scene for this post, look at the title again and sing it…. in the tune that is oh so familiar!
Yes we know – we are big kids! Okay, so we admit it – the whole reason we were in the area was to visit DisneyWorld not to do our Caribbean cruise at all. Hearing and reading other people’s stories we figured that we would only want to do this once in our lives and to do it properly so we booked to stay at the Disney All-Star Music Resort for 11 nights (reviewed at Tripadvisor so we won’t talk about it here).
Getting to Orlando in itself was an interesting experience though. We had Amtrak train tickets from Fort Lauderdale to Orlando, except upon arriving at the train station, there was track work as it was the weekend. Hang on – were we back in Sydney? Man, we think back to how much flack public transport in Sydney get yet here at Fort Lauderdale station, the passengers were told nothing at all. We were told to just stand “there” (which was really nowhere in particular) and that a bus was coming! The ticketing and luggage staff could barely squeeze a smile from their lips, let alone make eye contact or answer any questions meaningfully.
So all we knew was that instead of the train, we were going to be chauffeured to Orlando in coaches. What we learnt by the end of the trip is that it would take us approximately 3 and a half hours which wasn’t significantly different from the train but we prefer rail travel over bus travel any day. Fortunately, we also got one pit stop for food and a toilet break so it wasn’t all bad 😉 Arriving into Orlando, we were dropped off at the train station with our luggage, which was in the middle of nowhere. Now, how to get to DisneyWorld?! There was a taxi rank and as we made our way over, we were intercepted by “Amtrak” transfer shuttles who would get us to the resort at a flat fee of $30USD which we thought seemed reasonable. We had nothing else to compare to so we will never really know.
DisneyWorld is in a league of its own! We have visited Disney Land in LA and Paris and had heard that World was huge but to what scale? One could never really comprehend until you get there. We bought 8-day Park-Hopper Passes and we put them to good use. It is simply not possible to do one theme park in one day. We were so fortunate to have arrived just after New Year’s (5th of Jan to be precise) and the holiday crowds had obviously headed home by then. The longest ride we had to wait in line for was the “Winnie the Pooh” one in Magic Kingdom. The rides are getting more interactive these days: the Toy Story rides have you shooting for points as you travel through the ride. We had so much fun on the Buzz Lightyear 3D ride, we went on it 4 times. So in those 8 days at the theme parks, we enjoyed character breakfasts and lunches, themed dinners, saw parades, went on rides, enjoyed the shows and ate and shopped for Disney-themed products!
If you happen to be anti-Disney though, never fear – there are so many other attractions in the area. On our other days from the theme parks, we spent at SeaWorld, Kennedy Space Center and Downtown Disney. The advantage of spending almost one and a half weeks in the resort was that we had down time and believe it or not, we didn’t get theme-parked-out!
View more photos of our trips at Photo Gallery.
wise monkeys abroad 