I miss NYC....

Was going through some old pictures and thought I would start posting some of them randomly on my blog for funsies! (yes I said "funsies") Travel photos always cheer me up. They also make me miss all of the places I've been.

Oh New York, how I've missed you...



Some of my previous posts about NYC:

http://christinamg.blogspot.com/2008/01/new-york-city.html

http://christinamg.blogspot.com/2008/06/excerpts-from-travel-journal.html

Have a great day travel peeps!! :-)

Travel & Adventure Show- LA

So yeah.....I went a little crazy on brochures.






Got to meet Rick Steves and sit in on his seminar. http://www.ricksteves.com/ He reminded me of my Travel & Tourism teacher back in the day. He was enthusiastic about what he was talking about and for travel in general.



After listening to him speak about what makes his tours different from other tours and what people would be a good fit for his tours......I decided that I would most likely not be a good candidate for his tours.... your luggage has to be approximately 9 x 22 x 14! wtf! For those of you that don't want to do the math...that is the requirements of a carry-on at the airport. There is absolutely no way! The reasoning behind the small luggage is because they stay right downtown in main cities (as opposed to some of the bigger tour companies who stay outside of town in bigger hotels). Some of these main cities have lots of stairs, no elevators or a little bit of a hike since the bus cannot access some small areas in which these hotels may be located. Also, everyone carries their own luggage. The advantage is that you get some great family owned quaint hotels in some amazing cities right near all of the action. When all of the bigger tour buses have to leave for the night, you will still be there in the middle of everything! But yeah.....2 weeks worth of luggage in a carry-on?? I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to do that. :-)



We also got to listen to Samantha Brown speak. She is host of a few shows on the Travel Channel. Passport to Europe and Passport to Great Weekends and next season's Passport to Asia. http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Samantha_Brown She pretty much has the best job ever! Getting paid to travel and stay in wonderful places! Luckyyyyyy.

I put my name in all the drawings. I haven't won anything yet but I'm waiting for a phone call or an email telling me i've won a 6 night trip to Ireland or a round trip ticket on Jet Blue to anywhere they fly or one of the sweet gift baskets or the trip to Vietnam. ;-) I'll keep you posted!

LA Travel Show this weekend!!!!

So I just found out about this travel show coming up this weekend in Los Angeles. It's called the Los Angeles Times Travel & Adventure Show. The show will be at the Los Angeles Convention Center this Saturday 2/14 and Sunday 2/15. The cost to get in is $10 at the door or $8 if you purchase them online. Parking is $12 so car pool!! The show will be open to the public from 10am-5pm. http://www.latimes.com/extras/travelshow/index.html

I checked out the exhibitors list and they have some really awesome ones. A few that I am excited to see are:

Authentic Ireland- www.authenticireland.com
Car Italy And Tours- www.caritaly.com
Celebrity Cruises (Europe)- www.url.com
Contiki (Europe)- http://www.contiki.com/
Greek National Tourist Organization- http://www.visitgreece.gr/
Holland America-Cruise Stars- www.hollandamerica.com
Holand America Line Alaska- www.hollandamerica.com
Jet Blue- http://www.jetblue.com/
Oceana Cruises (Europe)- www.oceaniacruises.com
Travel Bound (Europe)- http://www.aaa.com/AAA_Travel/EuropeanVacations/european_vacation.htm
Travel Impressions Africa- http://www.travimp.com/brochures/ti_south_africa/index.html
Travel Indochina- www.travelindochina.com
US Department of State Passport Agency- www.travel.state.gov

Some of their sponsors are AAA, National Geographic Adventures and The Travel Channel.

Along with all of the booths, there will also be Destination Workshops, Speakers and chances to win some sweet prizes (trips!!!!!).

**Also, the US Department of State Passport Agency will be there and you can apply for a passport if you need one or renew your current passport. I will be renewing mine as I'm pretty sure it's almost expired. ;-) See the show's website for information on what you need to bring to the show if you are interested in getting a passport or renewing your current one. If you don't have a passport, it is always good to have on hand.....just in case!!!!

I am looking forward to collecting brochures and information and adding my name to all of the drawings. ha ha.

Hope you get a chance to check it out too!

I am SUPER excited!

Massachusetts!

Maine to Massachusetts...

The drive from Maine to Massachusetts was approximately 4 hours. Our longest drive so far. By the time we got to our hotel (which was right outside of Boston), it was too late to do anything. We grabbed some maps and brochures from the lobby and planned the next day.

Plymouth-

The next morning, we decided to go to Plymouth. We went to Plimoth Plantation (yes, it's spelled correctly). http://www.plimoth.org/ Plimoth Plantation takes you back to the 1620's. You can also get tickets to go onto the Mayflower II which is near by. We did go on the Mayflower II which is a lifesize replica of the orginal. They even have actors staged around the Mayflower II in period clothing who don't go out of character. Any questions you have, they answer as if they were back on the actual Mayflower taking the journey from England to The New World. Crazy to think that there were 102 people on this tiny ship for so long!

We also went to see Plymouth Rock which is a short walk from the Mayflower II.

Mayflower II

Nutrition of the passengers....ek.

Cape Cod-

The same afternoon, we decided to drive out to Cape Cod. Apparently they practically have closed down for the season. It was tough to find anything open. Like at all! I took a really long time to find a place to have dinner. All of the restaurants were closed for the season. We finally found a restaurant where the bar section was open. The bartender explained that they close down for the whole season. It works out well for them because they are so busy during the summer with tourists.

Cape Cod is divided into a bunch of sections. We stopped in Hayannis and Chatham. Even though almost everything was closed, it was a nice drive and fun to see all of the little neighborhoods and main streets. We also found another lighthouse! Chatham Lighthouse. It was a great one with a nice view. Very windy though! Actually, all of the Lighthouses we saw were really windy. Duh, they are all on the water. ha ha.

Chatham Lighthouse

Near Chatham lighthouse

Chatham Lighthouse

Boston-

Our last day!!!!! :*( We decided to go to Boston finally! Pronounced Bahston to the locals. Oh how I loved Bahston. Well, actually the only thing we did was go to Faneuil Hall Market Place.....but I got a real taste for the city. I absolutely loved the people and their accents. Everyone was cracking me up. The Market is filled with shops, restaurants, tourists, locals and street performers. There was also a farmer's market going on. That's where all the locals were! There was also a dog Halloween costume contest going on. They had some hilarious costumes out there.

Cheers! Where everybody knows your name....

Faneuil Hall Market Place

Pretty much the most awesome sign EVER!

I learned a few Bahston words for you:

Bahston- Boston

Chowda- Chowder

Lobsta- Lobster

Awesome. Can't wait to go back and visit!!!

So, that was the trip. After going to Faneuil Hall, it was time to go to the airport and drop off our car. We flew out of Boston on Jet Blue again to Long Beach. We arrived at about 9:30pm. By the time we got home, it was after 10. My little niece (2 years) waited up for us so she could see her mom and big sister. It was the longest they had ever been apart. My nieces were so excited to see each other. Don't worry, we brought the little one tons of presents so she wouldn't feel left out. Sure, when she's older, she will most likely be bitter that we didn't take her. But there is no way we could have done it with both of them at these ages. When she gets older, we will definitely take her on a nice trip too. We should actually take her to NY or Boston because she totally has an east coast accent. She calls her pink bear, "Pink Bayer". ha ha.

New England Trip- NYC

So finally.....my first blog for my New England trip! So much has been going on with the Presidential elections and everything. And of course, my computer still being a biatch. ;-)

Anyway, it was the perfect time of year to take a New England road trip! October. Seriously. It was so beautiful! It was a quick paced whirlwind trip, but soooo worth it. Let's start from the beginning. :-)

Day 1-

Long Beach to JFK. For those of you who have not experienced Long Beach Airport, let me tell you. A-Maz-Ing. There are only 2 gates, 1 baggage claim and you have to walk out onto the tarmac to get on to your plane. It's simple and quick. Not to mention, like 10 minutes from my parent's house where I can leave my car.....for FREE!

We flew on Jet Blue which is my favorite domestic airline. The seats are leather and nice, each person gets their own tv with cable and they give you free treats and drinks! Anytime you get a chance to fly on Jet Blue, I highly recommend it. http://www.jetblue.com/

We did not arrive in New York until 9pm. We were kind of starving since we missed a few meals with the flight and the time difference. We didn't think there would be anything near the hotel so we opted to have pizza in the airport. I was traveling with my mom, sister in law and one of my nieces who is 4 years old. My niece got to experience her first "New York pizza"! Even if it was in the middle of JFK Airport. ;-)

While waiting in line for a taxi (a very long line mind you), my niece yells, "I love New York!". Everyone near us in line starts laughing and one older lady replys, "She's the only one." Welcome to New York! ha ha.

Day 2-
We didn't have to pick the rental car up until 3pm so we woke up early and decided to go into the city. To get there, we took a bus which took us near a subway. We then took the subway into Times Square. Now I have been to NYC about 5 times, so I am very comfortable taking subways and getting around the city. I know most of the streets and how they run. I know what main sites are in what areas and I know if things are "walkable" or not. For instance, I knew if we started in Times Square that we would be able to walk to Rockafeller Plaza, walk by St. Patrick's Cathedral and walk to Central Park giving us enough time to get back to the hotel and back to rent the car by 3pm. We did just that. We also stopped for breakfast/lunch at a diner that I most likely mentioned on my NYC blog a while back. Ellen's Stardust Diner. http://www.ellensstardustdiner.com/ I thought it would be a fun place for my niece and sister in law. I had previously taken my mom there on a different trip. It's a fun diner where the servers all perform songs. They perform mainly oldies and show tunes. Very lively, crowded and lots of fun. Our server even came over to my niece during his performance in which she hid under the table. That's ok, I probably would have done the same thing. ha ha.

My niece really loved the whole "public transportation thing". She loved the bus, subway and the taxis. It was hilarious.

I absolutely love New York City and wish I could have spent more time there this trip. But this was a trip about places that I have never been before so we had to be on our way. Unfortunately we did not run into any tapings of Law & Order: SVU to the dismay of myself and my sister in law. Probably a good thing because I probably would have flipped out if I saw Benson or Stabler. Seriously. It is actually very common to run into a film/tv set in New York. They are everywhere.

We made it to the rental car place and found our lovely red Sebring waiting for us. So there are 4 of us traveling together with luggage and enough "stuff" to occupy a 4 year old for 8 days all packed into a Sebring. Um yeah......do the math. It doesn't add up. We knew this was going to be an issue but we made it happen. 2 big suitcases in the trunk, sister in law driving, mom in passenger seat, 1 suitcase and huge backpack and snack bag behind driver, niece in booster seat in the middle and me squished behind the passenger side with my maps ready to navigate.

Next Stop...... Mystic, Connecticut!

Travel Girl's New York TV:

Law & Order: SVU

Lipstick Jungle

Without a Trace