Remembering Taipei
Location | New York City About 4-5 years ago, I spent 2 summers in Taiwan. In 2004, I lived on a mountain near the Qizhang (七張) MRT stop (Mass Rapid Transit) station on the main green line going through Taipei. Everyday I would go outside and wait for a van that would take me down winding [...]
A History of Bubble Tea (and Other Taiwan Foods)
Location | New York City Bubble Tea, Boba Tea, Pearl Milk Tea (珍珠奶茶), whatever you may call it was invented in Taiwan sometime during the 1980′s. Very few people know that it was actually invented at one of my VERY FAVORITE tea shops in Taichung: Chun Shui Tang Teahouse (春水堂). Although there’s another tea house in [...]
Open Letter To Puerto Rico
Location | New York City *Note* This letter is a work in progress. May have new additions and be edited at any time… I also don’t mean to offend anyone. Don’t kill me. Dear Puerto Rico, You, the most random of travel destinations, are like the bastard child conceived from the union of Los Angeles [...]
Taichung, A Love Story
Location | New York City Introduction: I completely forgot to write an itinerary entry for my trip to Taiwan & Australia… so in the introduction here, I’ll set out my itinerary for my trip… October 15, 11:50pm – Depart from Newark to Taipei October 17, 6:30am – Arrive in Taipei, head to Taichung October 23-28th [...]
Returning Home from Puerto Rico
Location | New York City Back after the trip. I miss laying out on the beach. Would you like to see Greg’s sad face? We got to the airport in Aguadilla, put the car in the parking lot, went through the agricultural inspection, then got breakfast, then went through security then got on the plane… [...]
Lazy Beaching on the Last Full Day in Puerto Rico
Location | Rincon Beach Resort Today was a day to not do anything. We woke up late (11am-ish) before we headed down to find breakfast. Unfortunately the restaurant was closed, so we went back upstairs, packed up all the food that we had, and carried it down to the beach. We spent the morning and [...]
Giant Radio Telescopes, the Rainforest, Luquillo & Old San Juan
Location | Rincon Beach Resort We started out relatively early. Set out with the El Yunque Rainforest in mind. We got some coffee and drove off. We decided that we should check out the Arecibo Observatory, a giant radio telescope in the mountains. It’s the most sensitive radio telescope in the world. It’s been featured [...]
Beaching, Offroading, and Driving…
Location | Rincon Beach Resort in Puerto Rico After an early morning dip in the ocean and pool, we were off to Boquerón. Apparently it’s one of the best beaches in Puerto Rico, but tourists rarely make it out there. In the low season (and on a Thursday) it was only about 10 people on [...]
2 Hotels, 1 Night
Location | Rincon Beach Resort in Puerto Rico It began at 3:30am this morning when I woke up and began to get ready for my 4:15 car ride to the airport. Greg arrives and we’re off! JetBlue terminal is amazing! Flight is smooth minus the finicky/crying/cooing baby. Got our car, took a scenic ride to [...]
Current Radar Map of Puerto Rico
Location| New York City Check out the current radar map of Puerto Rico… If you look to the west of the Island to about where it says San Sebastian under the green blob, that’s where Rincon is… crossing my fingers that this changes in the next 18 hours…!
Puerto Rico Bound!
Location | New York City It’s almost as if this trip to Puerto Rico snuck up on me. On Wednesday, I’ll be off to Aguadilla, Puerto Rico at the ungodly hour of 6am. You know how much I enjoy those early morning flights. When we arrive in Aguadilla, Greg and I will be staying in [...]
Um. Can I be retired now?
Location | Sun City, SC The retirement life here is simple. After working your butt off during your formative years, then save enough money to move south where it’s warm all year round and live the rest of your life in the glory of sun, other retired people, and a lot of other fun activities. [...]
Living in the Lap of (Retirement) Luxury in Sun City, SC
Location | Model Home – Sun City, SC Taking a tour of this retirement community makes me realize that one day I’d like to retire somewhere as nice (ha, if not in the countryside in Europe). With kitchens larger than my apartment in NYC, closets bigger than my bedroom (imagine how many shoes I could [...]
Down to Savannah & Hilton Head
Location | Astoria, NY Heading down to Savannah today. Excited to take a lot of pictures and share the beauty of old Savannah with ya’ll. Not only that, since my parents moved to Bluffton, South Carolina, outside of Hilton Head, I’ll hopefully have a lot of nice resort-y pictures to post.
Rome & Prague – The Final Day
Location | Little Town Budget Hotel – Prague So ends our trip to Europe. This morning began with breakfast with Maria then off to the stationary shop Ngoc and I visited on the 2nd day. We wanted to buy a few more gifts. We took the bus from Termini and headed over there. Unfortunately the [...]
Rome – Day 3
Location | Malu Bed & Breakfast – Rome After a tiring day 2, Ngoc and I decided to take day 3 easy. We woke up later than usual (around 9:30) and headed out around 10. We made our way down some streets to do a little shopping, first to Repubblica, a big plaza with a [...]
Rome – Day 2
Location | Malu Bed & Breakfast – Rome The morning began with the usual breakfast at Maria’s aptly named “Cafe Nobel” in the main lobby of the bed & breakfast. She gave us croissants filled with fresh custard w/ a subtle orange zest flavour & ample powdered sugar. Then there was the banana with Nutkao [...]
Rome – Day 1
Location | Malu Bed & Breakfast – Rome Today has probably been the best and fullest day we’ve had thusfar. It started out at 9am. We had breakfast made by our lovely hostess Maria. I really want an Italian grandmother – she’s amazing! Super nice and so gracious about making sure we had a good [...]
Budapest – Day 3
Location | Ferihegy Airport – Budapest Ngoc and I are in the airport lounge waiting for our flight to Rome. Today was a fabulous day! It started out relatively early – 9am. We set off to Central Kavehaz again for breakfast. I also bought a box of macarons! Then we took the tram across the [...]
Budapest – Day 2
Location | Suite Hostel – Budapest I have learned a lot of things about myself since coming here. 1) I enjoy fruit drinks (ok I already knew this, but gosh! So many different options here…) 2) I am definitely afraid of the dark – but more on that later I think our suite-mates (we live [...]
Budapest – Day 1
Location | Suite Hostel – Budapest Arrival in Budapest was at 8:30am this morning. The big open air train station is pretty amazing and packed with travelers. Budapest is really run down in that area in town, but I think I was expecting something grand after coming from Prague. We took the local bus to [...]
Prague to Budapest Overnight Train
Location | Train from Prague to Budapest You would not believe how tiny this compartment is… There’s 3 people in about 30 square feet of space. There’s 3 bunks and it’s nothing like Harry Potter. Yes, I did imagine the train to be like the big train cars in Harry Potter. Boy, did I think [...]
Prague – Day 2
Location | Little Town Budget Hotel – Prague Just got back from a day of walking and walking and more walking. Let me tell you: don’t bring new shoes on a trip. No matter how much I try to get them fixed, they are not comfortable. I already bought a new pair of shoes, but [...]
Prague – Day 1 – Part 2
Location | Little Town Budget Hotel – Prague So concludes day 2 of my Prague adventure. It’s been really great here. There’s so much to see that I’m kind of regretting only spending 2.5 days here! After finishing up the rest of Little Quarter, Ngoc and I decided to cross the Charles Bridge into Old Town. So [...]