Highlights of my US Trip 2

Theme Parking Like A Rockstar

Universal Studios: Meme, Anne and JD aka Bombom

Disneyland: Ate Karen, Moin, Ate Weng, Che, Josh and Baby Armaan.

Did the whole Universal Studios theme park in 1 full day (split in 2) where we all got wet in the Jurassic Park ride, where Anne and I screamed our lungs off with eyes shut in the Mummy Ride, oohed and aahed in the Studio Tours and more. All while carrying around miniature Spongebob. Ooh and we ate a lot, taking advantage of our Eat-All-You-Can Tags. We also went around the shops in Universal Citywalk a good hangout place lined with stores, bars and restaurants. Now I know where Eastwood got its name.

Disneyland was super!! Better than the one in HongKong (duh). My fave rides? Finding Nemo (submarine ride), Indiana Jones and The Haunted Mansion. (Not-so) Highlight of the trip: We saw David Hasselhoff (my only star sighting) and glimpses of the Human Torch and (drum roll please) Jojo Lastimosa!!! Hahaha. But seriously, Disneyland was great. I loved the Fantasmic show. It’s always been my dream to become a Disneyland employee. I’d love to be Jasmine and get paid to dance and pose for pictures and just wave at the kids. It’s like working in a whole new world . Going there just brought back my dreams that never quite came true. Sniff.

Viva (Viagra) Las Vegas!

Las Vegas Strip and around Nevada: Meme, Anne, Cecile and JD aka Bombom

In the States, there’s a commercial for Viagra where the jingle goes “Viva Viagra!” instead of “Las Vegas.” Hence, the title. The Three Little Pigs and the piglet go to Vegas. We stayed at the Luxor Hotel (a big pyramid) where the elevator goes side-wards while going up instead of just straight up. We braved the 100 degrees + and walked around the Strip and visited the cool hotels. My favorite was the Venetian. It was cool literally and figuratively. We also went shopping in the Primm Outlets (or was it Chelsea?) and ate Japanese buffet (salmon and crabsticks...yum) and burgers from this popular hamburger place, I don’t know if you’ve heard of it, um McDonald’s? Yes. We ate McDonald’s. I ate chicken selects with ranch dressing. Too bad it’s not available here. We also went to the Stratosphere and Fremont Street Experience and watched the Bellagio fountain show thrice J What was fun though was driving in the Hertz Mazda to, around, and from Vegas and getting rated by Bom on our driving skills. And yes we did a bit of the gambling and drinking. But just a bit. We were too exhausted to gulp.

Baby Love

But the highlight of my trip is really meeting Armaan for the first time. He’s just so adorable. He likes sleeping and drinking milk and staring at lights. He cries occasionally and has just learned how to coo. He also likes it when I dance for him and when we play cycling cycling cycling shorts and the staring game. He also likes to grab handfuls of my hair. He’s only two months old but he’s been around. That little traveler. And not just on his stroller. Car. Tram. Plane. Submarine. Oh and he’s got a fly crib. With the fishy mobile and projected lights and twinkly melody songs. All pimped up. He's gonna be a cool kid someday. Made in Vegas. (Born to rock).

he kinda looks like me doesn't he?

Highlights of my US Trip

From August 3 to 27 I was vacationing in California, USA. I’ve always wanted to go to the States and I was lucky enough to have been given a visa. It was my first time but I know I’ll go back before my visa expires. I believe in traveling while still young and worrying about your savings later. Haha. That may seem wrong to most people but there’s so much of the world to see!! And I think we should all see them now while we still have a strong pair of legs and full control of our bladders.

It was a great vacation. Relaxing, shopping, dining, sightseeing, babysitting and catching up with friends and relatives…unlike other vacations where you catch trains and planes, lug around heavy luggage, take audio tours and get lost in translation. But like other vacations, this made a heavy dent on my life savings. But it’s a dent well spent. This vacation was, as Mastercard tells us, priceless.

Here are the highlights of my trip:

A Bay Bay in L.A.

Artesia/ Cerritos: Ate Karen, Moin, Ate Weng, Che, Josh and the newest bundle of joy Baby Armaan.

My homebase was Ate Karen’s apartment in Cerritos. I spent free time babysitting Armaan with Ate Weng, playing Monopoly and Game of Life with Josh, swimming with Josh (and playing Joshua Airlines where I was the plane and he was the pilot), watching Pinoy horror flicks and late night snacking with Ate Karen and Moin. I also spent a great deal of my time in malls within the vicinity like Cerritos Mall, Town Center, and of course trying out the local restaurants (I especially loved Olive Garden for their salads, Soup Plantation, and the Golden Spoon yogurt). For the shops I loved Ross (hahaha for cheap reasons), Forever 21, Old Navy, Urban Outfitters, Macy’s, Claire’s, and our favorite H&M. But I also loved looking for good buys at Walmart, Target and Walgreens. We also went to two of the nicest malls: The Grove and The Block in Orange County where we ate at the famous Farmer’s Market (where Hollywood stars dine and do a bit of veggie shopping). Armaan and Josh went everywhere with us. Armaan gets really excited when he’s getting strapped in his carseat cause he know’s he’s going out!!! And Josh was just so willing to show me around (with trivia pa). They’re both soooo adorable.

The Hills and Thrills of San Francisco

Milpitas/ San Francisco: Ate Karen, Armaan, Miranda and Capili Families

Flew to San Francisco via Jet Blue Airways (Long Beach-Oakland) with Ate Karen and baby Armaan (his first plane ride). When we got there, we stayed at the Miranda house in Milpitas where I met the adorable dogs Buster, Milo and Rosco. We were there from Saturday-Wednesday. We toured Sta. Ana row and San Jose Area where we grabbed the famous Counter burgers, also went around the bay area and quaint little towns there about. Did all the touristy spots in San Francisco –Golden Gate, Union Square, Lombard Street, Little Italy (where we had the best gelato), and chilled out at home...bonded with cousins over wine&cheese, strawberries&cream, and Wii marathon til the wee hours. It was so fun seeing cousins Tin, Frances and Tommy again. We got to talk about family chismis the whole time J hahaha. Also met Tin’s fiancé Johnny Judo and Frances’s boyfriend Mark. Pretty fly boys J

Getting down(town) with Anne and Meme

Downtown LA and Hollywood: Meme, Anne, Cecile and JD aka Bombom

Stayed in Meme’s fabulous apartment. Anne’s trip from New York was such a hassle. They transferred planes last minute and their luggages were left in NY and delivered the next day. Mental note; Avoid taking Northwest Airlines. So we just went grocery shopping and cooked artichoke dip and munched on cornchips while playing Taboo. We also relived our Dapitan days while playing pool at their rooftop gamehall and just lounged around and chilled out. Stress days included: walking around Las Vegas strip in the heat of the sun, driving around in our rented not-fully-insured Hertz Mazda 6 and freaking out on the freeway. We also dropped by Hollywood where we were not that impressed with the Chinese Theater and Walk of Fame and the teeny Hollywood sign. But we were impressed with the Spongebob mascot who actually spoke like Spongebob. I haven’t seen these girls in a long time. It was so much fun hanging out with them. We haven’t changed much over the years. We’re still the crazy funny people we used to be. But a lil older and with a lil more money (and we talked about our tipid days back in college). But still crazy. Oh and Meme’s better at billiards now and Anne loses to Bombom in table tennis. And they’re both working on their triceps and talking gym talk.

To be continued…