Archive for the 'Vacation' Category

November 28th, 2015

Maui – part 1

Alright, I edited enough photos to do the first entry! Out of… two or three maybe? I’ll be splitting my Maui trip up, so it’s not terribly long each time 🙂

Day 1 – 11/7

The start of our trip was actually not in Maui. Since we have to fly out from the west coast, we decided to spend a day in San Francisco to see two close friends and also two of my cousins. We arrived in the morning and met up with our friends for lunch before heading to Muir Woods, which is known for redwood trees. Though there were many people near the entrance, we found a longer and less traveled route that let us walk through the park in peace.

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Afterwards, we stopped by Marin Headlands on the way back and saw that there was a beautiful, clear view of the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset.

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Then we met with my cousins and their girlfriends for dinner! Two of my cousins moved to San Francisco just this year from New York for work. One of them has been a close friend growing up, and it was so great to see him and catch up 😀

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12 · Posted in Hawaii, Vacation
September 2nd, 2015

My Favorite Things: Napa edition

I was trying to decide between posting an entry for the My Favorite Things link-up (hosted by Tara this month!) and an entry about my recent trip to San Francisco and Napa. Then I realized, why not both??

One of my closest friends is getting married this month, and for her bachelorette party, she wanted something small with her 3 closest friends. The 3 of us are married already, and all 4 of us are around 30 years old, so uh… we didn’t want anything crazy! A trip to Napa sounded perfect for us.

My friend lives in San Francisco, so that’s where the 3 of us flew into. I really needed a break from work though. If you’ve been following my entries, you probably saw how I’ve been very busy and stressed the past few months. The trip was supposed to be Fri-Sun, but I flew in a day early on Thursday to spend time with my friend and tour San Francisco.

It’s been many years since I last visited San Francisco. The day I arrived, I lucked out on the weather because it was so sunny and clear. I was actually able to take a photo of the Golden Gate Bridge, unobstructed by fog!

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We spent most of the day eating good food and having her show me around to places like Chinatown, Japantown, Sutro Baths, and Pier 39 where all the sea lions gather.

The next day, the other 2 girls arrived, and we took an Uber to Napa. (Getting an Uber to drive out of the city was surprisingly easy to do!) Napa is a gorgeous place – surrounded by mountains and filled with vineyards. You would think that it’s a fancy, arrogant place since it’s nice and focuses on good food and wine, but it’s actually very casual and laid back.

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15 · Posted in My Favorite Things, Vacation
December 19th, 2014

Japan trip, part 6: Tokyo

This is the finale! Since we were flying in and out of Tokyo, we split our time in Tokyo in half. On 11/06, we took a bullet train (about half an hour) from Hakone back to Tokyo, where we first started our 12 day Japan trip. Now we were ending here too.

The first thing we did was check into our hotel, the Park Hotel in Shiodome. It’s part of the Shiodome Media Tower, and the hotel doesn’t start until the 25th floor. This means every room has a great view! We paid a little extra to face the Tokyo Tower, and the view was definitely worth it.

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Since we arrived in the morning, our luggage hadn’t arrived yet (which we sent off from Kyoto the day before). We decided to pass time in Odaiba, which is on a man-made island connected to Tokyo by Rainbow Bridge. It’s become a popular shopping and entertainment area with large malls like DiverCity, Aquacity, and Decks. We found a katsudon place for lunch, were able to do a bit of shopping, and also saw the life-sized Gundam in front of DiverCity!

After returning from Odaiba, our luggage arrived, so we settled in and rested up in the hotel. At night, we wanted to get a view of Tokyo and headed to Tokyo Skytree. We had dinner first at a nearby hitsumabushi (eel with rice) restaurant. There are a few ways you can eat it: as is, with leeks and wasabi, or with seasonings and a hot broth. I tried all 3, and the leeks and wasabi way was my favorite 🙂

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10 · Posted in Japan, Vacation
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