A Quick Trip to NY and Boston

After a very busy and exhausting week, I'm now back to my regular online activities. Having visitors over can be very stressful because not only do you need to entertain them during their stay, you should also make the house spic and span for them. But I always welcome companies anyway because they trigger my adrenalin to flip the house in a flash. I accomplished a lot in terms of cleaning. I even cleaned and organized the garage and assembled a tool box and installed industrial handles. I was really on fire. But now that my cousins are gone, I feel like I just want to stay in bed for as long as I want. Well that's just a wishful thinking of course, I have to attend to my little tot as soon as he wakes up which is always early.

Read about our quick trips and see pictures here.

We had a wonderful time with my relatives visiting from the Philippines, but I only wished they could stay longer. Their visit was so short so we had to cramp all sight-seeing activities in 2 states in two full days. When they arrived on late Tuesday afternoon, we just headed home for some home-cooked dinner; had a little bit of catching up; and retired to bed right away for a very early drive to New York the next day. Yup, hb set the alarm at 3am and he wanted to start driving at 4am. I was so tired from previous days before so that morning I had a hard time fighting to fall asleep. I was sitting at the front passenger seat trying to be lively and constantly talking to hb so he wont fall asleep behind the wheel too. But I felt like I was I coming in and out of consciousness, dozing off to light sleep. Anyway, we had a quick toilet break along the way and reached NY before 8am.

Driving in NY is a pain in the neck. It's always very crowded, busy and confusing. Hb initially suggested to just take the train from CT, but I refused because it would be a great hassle with a little tot in tow. Our GPS was not working properly because the tall buildings were restricting the acquisition of sattelite power. We drove around to look for the parking garage that hb reserved online but just couldn't find it. So he just decided to enter the first parking garage that we saw and the fee was really high, but what the heck. The weather was a bit chilly and windy for us but most especially for our out-of-towner guests who are used to tropical weather.

In New York, we took the Hop-On-Hop-Off Double Decker Bus Tour around NY city; visited St. Patrick's Cathedral; Empire State Building and Rockefeller Center; had breakfast at McDonald's, lunch at Chinatown and afternoon snack at Starbucks; and my cousins just basically took a lot of souvenir pictures of the place. Then we headed home and arrived at past 10pm. We just grabbed take-outs at Bertucci's. Here are some of the many photos we took in NY.

At the NY subway waiting for the train.

Outside the Rockefeller Center

At the lobby of the Rockefeller Center

On the bus touring Manhattan

Breakfast at McDonald's

Across the St. Patrick's Cathedral

The following day we went to Boston, MA. They loved Boston more than NY, because it was more slow paced, people were more polite, very clean and beautiful. We took them to Museum of Science first and stayed there for quite some time. Hb brought his laptop with him because he's got a meeting at 3pm, so he hooked on Wi-Fi at the food court. After that we just left the car at MOS and took the green line to Fanueil Hall. We strolled at downtown Boston and Quincy Market then walked to Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. HRC was unusually busy and hb got kind of cranky for a lousy service. Then we headed back to Quincy Market for some souvenirs then picked up our car and drove to Costco and Target for some grocery shopping. Here are some of the many photos we took of Boston.

At the entrance of Museum of Science

Strolling downtown Boston

Inside Museum of Science

My little tot in front of the 2000 year old Sequioa tree

Father and son imitating how birds fly
My little tot inside the old style classroom

My cousin and cousin in law

Hb attending an online meeting via wi-fi. This pic was taken by my little tot while playing with my digital camera.

Little tot patiently waiting for dada to finish so he could ride on a train already

At Hard Rock Cafe having dinner

Overall, my cousins though very exhausted had a pretty wonderful time. Of course they enjoyed the company of our little tot too whom they've just seen for the first time. By the way, I had a baptism of fire on the side. I took them to Logan airport by myself because hb had some important appointment to attend to. Driving to Boston is always confusing especially going to the airport even if you have a GPS. I missed one exit but glad to have found my way back. Now I'm a bit confident driving to Boston.