Time to continue to LA

Today it was time to leave NYC and move on to LA. One week is certainly not enough for seeing everything you'd wanna see in New York although we did see a lot of the attractions and don't feel like we would have missed something really important. One thing we all agreed was that next time we'll come during summer. The city was beautiful during winter time too, but for example the Central Park during summer is something I wanna see in the future! So this wasn't the last time in NYC for sure.. Right after today’s breakfast we ordered a cab to pick up us at the hotel to drive us to JFK for the flight to LA International Airport. We thought we’d get a free lunch or at least a snack on the plane but nothing! All you could eat was some light snacks which cost a lot, too much in our minds :) So we were starving when we got to LA and right after getting our rental car we headed to eat at Jack in the Box’s. Getting no food at the plane was not the only negative aspect about American Airlines. At first we were forced to pay $25 each for the bags since they apparently weren't included in the tickets. I'd be happy to say I don't have to fly on AA again but we're flying to Shanghai with AA. So let's give the another shot to give a better impression..

At Alamo’s the clerk strongly was in the opinion that we wouldn’t manage to load our bags into the Chevy Impala or a similar vehicle and wanted us to upgrade to a SUV. Otherwise we’d taken that but the price was way too high for us and he wasn’t in a negotiation mood and we were pretty sure that we’ll get the luggage into the trunk.. And we were right :) It was quite a puzzle and the Impala wasn’t big enough but the trunk of a Toyota Camry was just the right size! The car has not only a big trunk but it’s big in every way and we’re very pleased with it.

We had some concerns about the traffic here but the way from LAX to Days Inn at Long Beach went well, despite the problems in finding the hotel but finally we managed in that too.. In the evening we went for a drive around the suburbs here to take a first look at LA. Have to say that I just don’t get it how it’s possible to have that many fast food restaurants like it is here. There’s on every corner at least a couple of them.. But now it’s time to get some sleep and tomorrow it’s NHL time as we’re going to watch Ducks vs. Coyotes at the Honda Center in Anaheim!  

Last day in NYC

Today was our last day in NYC as we’re flying to LA tomorrow morning. After breakfast we thought it’s a good moment to do some laundry because there’s a laundromat just one block away from the hotel. After that we headed to Manhattan to visit some last places we’ve wanted to go to. First we walked to Madison Square Park to eat at the well-known Shake Shack, a outdoor burger place. Gotta say that there were the best burgers so far :9  After two very cold days it was much warmer today, mostly because of the mild wind and thanks to a blue sky with a warming sunshine. We aimed to buy stamps for some postcards from the postal office at the Rockefeller Center but due to Martin Luther King all governmental bureaus were closed so no postcards to Finland yet.. Maybe we manage to send those tomorrow at JFK.

After some donuts and coffees at Dunkin Donut’s we went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral which is a huge but typical and beautiful catholic church. Because it was the last day here, we walked all over Times Square and the surrounding blocks to have a final look at the Midtown area. We also stopped by at Madame Tussauds to check out the celebrity wax figures.. Now we’re packing our stuff for tomorrow’s flight and wondering which car we’ll get for our time in California and Nevada.

Top of the Rock

After some small departure delays at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport (our first flight to Berlin took off almost an hour after planned) we reached JFK on time on Monday at 1pm and headed to the security check. We certainly weren’t the only people there and had to stand in the queue for an hour before we got out to breathe the American air and catch a cab to drive us to our hotel in Queens.. We did only let our luggage in our room and headed to the closest subway station and drove to Times Square to find Olli and Maiju who had come to NYC already on Friday. First mission for us was to find a decent place to eat since we were starving although the airplane meals were surprisingly good. TGI Fridays’ burgers tasted good but the bill was pretty high which we weren’t aware of before eating J 

After lunch it was time to walk up the 5^th Ave for a while and have a first look at the New York skyline. The only place we visited on the first eve was the new Apple Store. We all were amazed by the size of store and the fanatic iPeople in the States! I think there were at least 50 salesmen and it looked like that many customers were spending the evening playing games on the iPads.. Because we woke up already before 4am in Finland that morning, we were pretty tired and exhausted after the long journey so we decided to head back to our hotel to get a decent amount of sleep to get rid of jet lag.

On the second day we stood up quite early after a cold but well-slept night. We wanted to experience the skyline from the skies so we went to the Rockefeller Center observation deck. Below you can find a few pictures from the deck and gotta say that the view was breathtaking!

With the New York tourist passes we got also a free, guided tour around the Rockefeller Center and Plaza. It was cool to hear some interesting details about several things around the buildings and their details. After the tour we went to visit the American Museum of Natural History. It was way too big and versatile for a 2-3 hour tour and we didn’t spend much time in wondering details J

Being a tourist is a tough job and we wanted to relax for a while and thanks to the museums wi-fi we found easily a pub located in the neighborhood which had a happy hour during the whole day-time so we went to grab a couple beers and relax for a while before continuing. After Top of the Rock we wanted to visit the Empire State Building during the evening so we headed there. Though the view was amazing in the sunny morning, it was even better in the dark as you can see in the pictures below! 

Tomorrow it's on!

Wow, the day has arrived! Tomorrow morning it’s time to catch the plane at Helsinki-Vantaa and fly via Berlin to New York’s JFK. I remember how far away this day seemed to be that one early summer day as we bought our tickets J and now it’s here.. I have a bit mixed feelings at the moment because on the other hand I’m excited that the journey is now beginning but I’m also sad cause I just had to say goodbye to my sweet S. But fortunately she’s coming to Shanghai to visit me in a couple of months which I’m looking forward to! But now it’s time to wait for the boys to come here and spend the evening hanging here together and in the morning it’s off to New York! See you Finland again in the summer..