Twenty for hours in New York will never be enough like any other city; but if that’s all the time you’ve got like I did once, I’ve a designed a trip for you to make every minute count at this amazing city.
I was with my family. It was funny cause we lived in Washington DC and we didn’t knew what to do on that saturday morning, so we decided to take the car straight to New York City!
It was a 4 hour trip, we arrived aproximately at 11 am. After crossing NY Bridge we found a place to park the car all day and walked directly somewhere to take breakfast!
We found this cute coffee shop called ”Hi-Collar” located at 214 East 10th St between 1rst&2nd Avenue.
This was a cool experience. It reminded me of an old fashion ice cream/coffee counter owned and operated by actual Japanese people. I remember ordering a Japanese Ice Coffee (the cost was about 3 dolars) with Fordenza Brazilian Coffee Bean (with 1 extra dolar). The waiter personally measured and ground the beans. Then she did a pour over, put the coffee in a copper mug with cold draft ice and tasted strong and enjoyable!
After that, we took the closet subway and catch a train to Grand Central Terminal. No one will blame you for staring like a tourist at the glorious constellations painted on the ceiling of the marbled main hall. Head downstairs to the excellent European-style food hall, feast on seafood at the Grand Central Oyster Bar or escape the crowds at the elegant Campbell Apartment.
A long walk took us to 5th avenue. Experienced and amateur shoppers alike will no doubt be thrilled by the amount of choice offered in New York’s shopping places. The city contains branches of almost all of the big chain stores! We bought some NY sweaters for everyone and took some pictures along the way!
Visiting Empire State Building is an must see tourist attraction that cannot be missed.. This building has a lot of history, you should really buy way all the way to the top. If you like taking photos there’s literally millions of “perfect shots!” The journey to the top is part of the fun, do it with a loved one or two and you have plenty of time to catch up, the air is pure and clean at the top.
After the sunset, I was excited to finally take a walk by the Crossroads of the World, the most visited place on the face of the Earth, people calle it the electric heart of New York City. Running from the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue between West 42nd and West 47th Streets in Midtown, it’s a big thing of noise and light, and crowded with people 24 hours a day. When they say the city never sleeps, they mean Times Square.
We walk for hours amazed by all the big shows in the street, lights, people singing, selling all kind of stuff and limousines everywhere taking artists to their destinations! I looved that.
It’s a risk between you and traffic to get a shot of yourself standing right in the middle of the road, light and buildings all around, so here are some pictures that I reached to took that night!
Once in a vacation with my familyon our visit toDiscoveryBaynearSanFrancisco,my familyand I tooka long walkexploringBlackDiamondMines. Better called The East Bay Regional Park District that began acquiring land for Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve in the early 1970s. Today, most of the mining district is within the Preserve’s nearly 6,096 acres. The area is an ideal location for hiking, picnicking and nature study.
The day we went, it was so nice and warm outside. The sun was shining and the view was so clear.
We decided to explore the history of this lands by hiking. From 1850 to 1906, the area was known as the Mount Diablo Coalfield, the largest in California, producing more than 4 million tons of coal during this time.
The pathof these mountainsto the top isfun.Iwas goingmorefor the factthat I hadnever climbeda mountain.
Thislong walkcame withsome verynarrow roadssurrounded bytrees andgiant boulders, where you couldgraduallyseethe entire city ofSanFranciscoin the distance at the TOP!
On the way, we were shown a slideshow of what this entire area of land used to be. There are several pictures of a small town and all the residents. Then we were educated on what was mined and what it was used for.
What I loved the most about the park was the beautiful winding road that puts you in the center of the park. From there you park and choose one of 6-8 trail heads going all different directions around the park.
You can go on your basic fire trail, single track, or explore the rocky sections of the granite rock and go climbing! Has i´ve mention before, there is beautiful sand stone rock formations.
I would recommend to bring a lunch or picnic with Friends, Family or bring your dogs (who must be leashed). You can really go a long ways and not see anyone, the place is so spacious. Just remember to hydrate and bring a camera; you’ll love looking at the pictures later.
One ofmy favorite activitieswill always be hiking,at the sametimetaking long walksand learninga little history, you can seeamazing landscapesthat are worthto see at finish the walkdown the road!
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The main economic activity of Playa de Carmen is tourism because of the beautiful turquoise Carribean sea, the Maya culture and archealogical zones, the night life and warm friendly people. There are many activities and entertainment in this paradise called “Riviera Maya”.
One of my experiences in Playa del Carmen was with a friend from Cancún. We started our trip at the bus station “ADO” taking us about 50 minutes to get to our destination plus about another 20 minutes to find a hotel. The hotel was quite easy to find all we did was walk down 5th avenue ( the most famous avenue of Playa del Carmen where you can find all kind of shops, restaurants, bars, etc). We stopped at a lot of hotels looking for one with a reasonable price, good location and up to our satisfaction. We found a hotel called “Hacienda María Bonita” located on 10th Avenue between 12th north Street and 10 north street just a few meters from “Coco Bongo” the best disco in town. The price seemed right so we paid 75 dollars per night in a room with two double beds, a/c, tv and bathroom with shower. It was a great location as we were right next to the nightlife of Playa del Carmen and 5 minutes walk from the beach.
To begin our day we went to a beach club called “Mamitas” located at 28th north Street which is said to be the most famous in the area. We walked from our hotel on 5th Avenue to get there where we rented an enormous sun bed to relax and enjoy the view of the most colourful sea I have ever seen, the scorching hot sun and some Carribean refreshing cocktails. The music put us in the mood and the service from the waiters was excellent, we had an excellent time. After spending our morning on the beach we decided to look for a local diner to eat and relax. We found a restaurant called “La Fisheria” on Fifth Avenue between 20 north Street and 22 north street. It’s a well known seafood restaurant, we found the place clean and comfortable but unfortunatly there was no air conditioning, only fans. The price seemed a bit high but the food was so delicious it was worth it! At the end we decided to go to the “Quinta Alegria” a mall located on Fifth Avenue, it is a pretty nice new mall with stores like American Eagle, forever 21, among others. We decided to take a taxi as we were tired, we arrived in about 10 minutes and were charged around 40 pesos. Once in the mall we bought us “Ben & Jerrys” ice cream to cool off. My friend was looking for some brand new clothes so we walked through the stores until he found what he wanted. Then we returned to our hotel to rest so we could enjoy the nightlife.
Playa del Carmen 12th north Street is where all the night life happens as it is full of bars and nightclubs. We decided to go to “La Mezcalina” which is a bar where you can taste a variety of mezcal bottles, listen to excelent electronic music with live DJ and spend a good time dancing and drinking mezcal of different flavors! It is located just down 12th north street. We were about 1 hour there and decided to go to a nightclub, there were many to choose from but we decided to go to “La Santanera” which is very large and has 3 floors, it’s a pretty cool place where you spend a great time with your friends listening to electronic music. There is an outdoor area at the top of the building, an air-conditioned room in the second floor and on the first floor has a bar type restaurant. All floors with live DJ playing!
Unfortunately the next day we had to leave and could not continue to enjoy the wonderful city of Playa del Carmen. It is a beautiful place and there are many things to do and enjoy. The distances are very short, the weather is nice the people are very friendly and the beaches are beautiful. It is certainly a place I recommend to all to either relax, have fun or just to get to know this paradise.
I was in Jose Joaquin de Olmedo Guayaquil Airport, where I was waiting to take the next fly to Quito, to take another one to Buenos Aires, Argentina, denominated “The City of Fury” (La Ciudad de la Furia), by Gustavo Cerati because this city never rest. In Guayaquil on weekend you can do a lot of activities from culture to sports, until 3:00 AM, in which hour everything is fishing.
I took a cap from Ministro Pistarini de Ezeiza Airport to go to Palermo, which had cost around 400 PESOS.
I had also the opportunity to travel around in Bus, cap, and Subte which captivated myself because a could travel appreciating the art of young musician like Johnny Wulf a young man who play de Saxophone with his friend a guitar man, they play Swing, Jazz, Blues, and other musicians that play Tango, in my country is not easy to see this musician in the streets so I was amazed by this. I had also the opportunity to go to my first Lollapalooza, a music festival that’s only given in five countries of the world which are Germany, E.E.U.U., Chile, Brazil and Argentina.
Hotel & Hostel Circus.
After two days in Lollapalooza I stay in a very nice hotel, it coasted around 12USD per day (the cost for shared room) in San Telmo, the Hotel & Hostel Circus, include breakfast and night tickets for different activities. Breakfast is made of milk, coffee, juice, fruits, bread, and other little things.
The rooms are very clean, air conditioned and calefactory, in the lobby you got a pool table, sofas to get rest and watch TV, and outside the pool, good music and a refrigerator filled with beer make a good spot to relax. In the Circus Hotel the service was great from the staff, in reception, Bruna Finí from Brazil, Nadia Pamplone from Argentina and Sebastian Pesantez from Ecuador, they made a very enjoyable my stay.
I can say that I miss Ecuadorian food, but food in Argentina was great too this is the place to eat meat.
When I woke up the next day, I walk from Circus in San Telmo to Caminito, a very visited place by many people, well known in Buenos Aires, where you can enjoy a meal and a Tango show, buy many little things or presents from Argentina.
I went to Boca Juniors Stadium and I saw a restaurant across the street, everything was made on the grill, meat, chicken, potatoes, vegetables and it was great and cheap.
And I can say I ate the best pizza ever, I don’t know if it was the best pizza because in Argentina they’re half Italian, but it was great.
Argentina was filled of beautiful women, I’ll never forget that, but I’ll really miss the art of musicians in the streets, in the Subte, in a Plaza, or in San Telmo Festival every Sunday, where you can find antiques, clothe, shoes and food.
All that I’m going to say is that was a nice travel, and everybody in Buenos Aires was very kind, and I’ll go again very soon.
Estos últimos años tuve la suerte de vivir en varias ciudades diferentes. En algunas sólo vivi un corto tiempo y en otras semanas e incluso meses.
Como resultado, desarrollé la habilidad de adaptarme rápidamente a cualquier lugar. Claro, en algunos no tan rápido como en otros.
Aquí les compartiré una breve historia de cómo llegué a Guayaquil y lo que he ido aprendiendo.
Aeropuerto de Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Todo comenzó cuando cumplí 18 años y me dieron parte de una beca para irme a estudiar a Guayaquil-Ecuador, llegué justo cuando la ciudad estaba apenas comenzando un proceso de renovación. Anteriormente llevaba viviendo en Washington, DC un año y medio, un lugar totalmente distinto a Guayaquil.
En mi llegada a éste nuevo país totalmente desconocido, supuso desde el primer momento un reto, sabía el esfuerzo que iba a implicar el mantener mi mente enfocada en mis estudios y motivada al mismo tiempo para terminarlos.
Al mismo tiempo Vivir más lejos de mi país natal implicaba no solo alejarme de las personas que quiero sino también alejarme de las costumbres tan particulares de mi adorado país, México. La comida y la forma de ser de la gente son las dos cosas que más extrañaba. Por supuesto están también los días festivos, los paisajes, el clima, entre otras cosas.
Pensar en empezar una nueva vida, es algo que debemos de hacer cada segundo, es la manera más saludable de ver las situaciones nuevas que se presenten en nuestra vida. Intentar iniciar una nueva vida porque queremos escapar o alejarnos de situaciones anteriores, es como saltar al agua y atracar en un muelle que se está colapsando. Obviamente, esta es la manera de hundirse y no de empezar de nuevo. Por lo tanto, si estás empezando desde cero en una nueva ciudad donde no sabes ni dónde ir a comprar el pan o tomar un bus, lo primero que debes tener en cuenta es que es uno de los retos mas grandes que hay, pero créeme, sí existe una manera de hacerlo!
Foto desde el avión del Aeropuerto de Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Tengo realmente mucha suerte, ya tenía donde llegar, con un actual buen amigo y excelente ser humano, quien me enseñó lo necesario para manejarme dentro de la ciudad, los centros comerciales, el supermercado, bancos, etc. Ya establecida y yendo a clases, poco a poco me fui acostumbrando a un estilo de vida muy agitado, estudiando de noche, trabajando desde muy temprano, lo cual con el paso del tiempo fue positivo en el aspecto de que me volví algo parecido a un robot en cuestión de responsabilidad y organización. Por otro lado, no socializaba para nada, lo cual al final del día me producía una sensación de desanimo y extrañaba mucho a mis seres queridos; amigos y familiares.
Un día, decidí hacer ciertos cambios en mi vida, principalmente en mi salud y en las relaciones personales, ya que en ésos dos aspectos, era un desastre. Descubrí que cuando tienes tus bases fuertes y bien construidas, puedes comenzar a descubrir nuevas cosas, aprender y disfrutar de tus actividades favoritas. Entonces, lograr un equilibro entre mi estabilidad económica, mis amistades, salud y el lugar en donde vivía me llevaría a tener paz mental. Primero comencé por mi salud, alimentarme mejor, cuando uno vive solo y está ocupado todo el día se le olvida que lo más importante para estar bien es la salud, es lo que nos mantiene con energía todo el día.
Equilibrio y Armonía
Conseguir comida en Guayaquil es sencillo, comparándola con los precios México acá la comida es super barata, sobre todo si son frutas y verduras, únicamente lo que puede tener precios elevados es la comida importada. Los mejores supermercados para frutas y verduras es la cadena de Supermaxi, es la más cara pero tienen todo muy ordenado y limpio, tipo Costco, también tienen días en los que la fruta tiene descuento, las carnes también, etc., en cuestión de productos de limpieza pueden conseguir a mejor precio todo en Mi Comisariato, es una cadena de supermercado grande pero más económica, se parece a la Comercial Mexicana. Si vives en la ciudad de Guayaquil, todo queda cerca, incluso hay tienditas en cada cuadra en donde siempre puedes comprar lo que necesitas a diario. Si vives en Samborondón los supermercados están en los centros comerciales; Village, Rio Centro y el Dorado, también hay tienditas en Entre Ríos, en las gasolineras y en la mitad de Samborondón. Existen mercados en donde uno puede comprar todo a un muy buen precio, con $20 dólares ya tienes comida para unos 10 días. En mi caso no me conviene por lo que vivo en Samborondón y me quedan muy lejos.
La transportación en Guayaquil es fácil ya que hay taxis, buses por 0.25 centavos y metrovías. En Samborondón es realmente fácil, hay buses verdes que te llevan por toda la avenida y taxis también. Es mucho más seguro que llames a una compañía de taxis si vas a un lugar en específico, se tardan aproximadamente 10 minutos en llegar a tu casa y te cobran como 5$ por cada 8-10 kilómetros.
Una vez que tenía ya organizada la parte de la alimentación, fui a una clase de prueba a un gimnasio y tuve la suerte de que me dieran trabajo como instructora una hora por las mañanas, fue un buen trueque ya que no pagada nada y me obligaba prácticamente a levantarme todas las mañanas a ir a entrenar, como un entrenador personal invisible. De ahí conseguí un trabajo estable y dejé los cachuelos, los cuales no los recomiendo ya que quitan mucha energía, hay que siempre tener presente la ley del 80/20.
Ya con los ánimos renovados, poco a poco empecé a tener más amigos y hacer nuevas actividades. En Guayaquil por lo general uno sale con amigos a algún bar con música para bailar, a comer, jugar bolos o boliche, visitar los lugares históricos de Guayaquil, alguna actividad deportiva en vía la Costa hay una ciclo vía hasta la playa y hay parques para hacer picnics, kayak, paseos en bote o a caballo, entre otras actividades.
Foto Vía La Costa, Guayaquil – Ecuador.
Una de las actividades que suelen hacer bastante los Guayaquileños es ir a ver los partidos de fútbol con amigos y familiares al Estadio Monumental en el Norte de Guayaquil. Algo que he aprendido es que los guayaquileños realmente son apasionados por el fútbol, cuando hay clásicos que juega Emelec vs Barcelona; las calles, los bares y los restaurantes se llenan de gente, puede parecer exagerado, pero han habido veces que hasta las clases y los trabajos se cancelan cuando hay partidos muy importantes. La foto siguiente la tomé en el Estadio Monumental o también conocido como el Estadio Monumental de Barcelona.
Estadio Monumental, Guayaquil – Ecuador. El equipo amarillo es Barcelona Sporting Club
Ir al cine, pasear por los centros comerciales e irse de “farra” o a “farrear”, es un término que usan aquí cuando van a discotecas a bailar y beber.
Plaza Lagos, Samborondon – Ecuador.
Después de un largo camino de aprendizaje descubrí que adaptarse no es tan difícil, es una habilidad como cualquier otra cosa la cual la vas mejorando, hasta perfeccionarla!
Esta hermosa ciudad con el paso del tiempo se ha convertido, como dicen los ecuatorianos, en el Guayaquil de mis amores, en mi hogar. Poco a poco me empecé a acoplar a su cultura, aprendí sus costumbres y de su deliciosa comida (si algún día vienen de visita a Guayaquil-Ecuador, no se pueden ir sin probar un buen bolón de queso y un encebollado con chifles). Me empecé a encariñar sobre todo con las personas, son muy amables, familiares y divertidas, me impresiona lo bien que tratan a un extranjero que viene ya sea de visita o a vivir.
Centro Histórico de la Ciudad de Quito, Ecuador. Esta es de uno de mis viajes por Ecuador, en otro post hablaré de Quito.
Si algún día te cambias de ciudad, recuerda que siempre habrá de todo un poco. Disfruta siempre cada momento al máximo!
Y Ustedes, A dónde se han mudado y porqué? Qué consejo le darías a alguien que está a punto de irse a vivir a otro país?
As soon as you land in San Francisco and get to the streets you feel like part of one of the Hollywood Movies, it’s streets are so famous and characteristical that you cannot avoid to get excited… excited and a little afraid when riding a car that seems like going in a rollercoaster.. on it’s way down!
I went to San Francisco with my family and boyfriend. We stayed at the Whitcomb Hotel, which turned out to be “OK”. Best of it was the breakfast, each and every meal i tried the 3 mornings i woke up there, were fabulous!
On the first day we went to one of the most famous tours on the area: Alcatraz. I was pretty excited to finally get to know the truth about this place. The boat ride is beautiful as, in one point, you get to see Alcatraz on one side and San Francisco Bay in the other. You must have the camera ready, a cozy sweater and a hairbrush cause the air will turn your hair into a mess!
Once in Alcatraz, you can let your mind fly while listening to the narration of some prisoner’s experiences as you go by the halls, picturing what it must have been like being imprisoned in there. To our best of lucks, that exact same day, one of the famous ex prisoners Bill Baker, who was an inmate in 1957, was there signing his book and answering questions.
What we asked him? you are in front of an ex prisoner, whom seen on the street would seem lovely, one person that spent time with AlCapone, Machine Gun Kelly and Birdman. Our question was simple: “What can you say about Scarface and Birdman?” He answered: “Great guys!”
How’s that for an end to a prison visit?
After that, we went to Fisherman’s Wharf which is walking distance from Alcatraz Island Dock. We entered to Fog Harbor Fish House Restaurant to have an original bread bowl clam chowder. Best place in town to have it! Also the service was very nice (specially considering my family were 12 people and each and every the hard-to-please kind of person, so restaurant visits become a huge challenge for managers, waiters and the rest of the staff). If you go to this place, also DON’T MISS the tuna tartare, it is kind of my favorite dish so i order it anywhere i go and i can say that the one they prepare in here is one of the best (and i would dare to say the best) i’ve ever had.
Later that day, we went to famous Lombard Street; we walk around it, took some photos, passed it through in our rented van (which was kind of prohibited due to vehicle size but adults didn’t care), etc. My boyfriend and I took this lovely picture that is now in a frame, decorating our living room:
Next day we did what became my favorite tour ever, the Golden Gate Biking Tour.
In this tour you basically rent a bike, follow the route, make stops to take some amazing pictures of the Golden Gate behind you, then cross the Golden Gate and get to this little beautiful retirement-dream town named Sausalito. It was a whole experience, and i will now tell you why:
To begin with, my boyfriend and I rented a Tandem, which is a double bike. I should highlight that Andres is an experienced biker while i’m.. let’s call me a rookie. Of course that for this reason we decided he would go in front and i would just follow the rhythm, sounds easy huh? Well.. i’ll just say it sounds easier than it is to coordinate, especially when you are on a hill where you can’t stop pedaling. Karma got me, since i first started laughing at other couples fighting for the Tandem situation and even told Andres: “See honey? We have great communication skills when it comes to facing challenges” 10 minutes later, it was another story.
We forgot all of this when we got to the Golden Gate, i got so busy taking pictures & video and enjoying the view that i even went back to say: “I’m so glad we rented the Tandem bike!”
Then we continued on our way to Sausalito, not before having a flat tire.. TWICE. So we basically had to walk all the way down (luckily) pushing our heavy Tandem.
Once in Sausalito, we sat on Napa Valley Burgers. Best burgers ever! No matter which one you choose, all of the options are delicious and huge. The only risk is that no burger will ever taste the same again.
Next morning, our last in San Francisco, we woke up early hoping to get a table in this high-rated breakfast place called Mama’s but by the time we got there, the line was about a block long and we were hungry as monsters so we just asked for recommendations and ended up in Joe’s. Good place, very retro decorated and huge dishes (you would definitely like to share). A nice way to end our vacation and drive back to Nevada.
Definitely San Francisco is a great vacation destination with a lot to offer. My only advice? Don’t expect to see people wearing flowers in their heads, cause you won’t.
Traveling with your pet is fun and takes away the worry of not knowing who will take care of him while you’re on vacation. But you have to consider the whole process. Time and patience will achieve safely your flight with your pet.
If you realize, aircraft and vehicles (cars, taxis, vans, etc.) are not designed to take your pet. You must also be prepared for any problem that comes in your way for anything.
First, you need to have a properly sized cage for your pet. Typically greater than 10 centimeters on each side cage is required so that the pet has enough space to stand up, turn around and be able to move inside.
Many dogs feel safe inside the cage and will not mind being inside it while you have the necessary space.
Keep all papers ready for the trip. Make copies of your medical history and make sure you are updated on its vaccinations before leaving. If for any reason your dog gets sick during the flight, a veterinarian can treat it if he has access to your its history.
I recommend before traveling with your dog, to take it out for a run or a long walks. Spending accumulated excess energy will help your pet to relax when you are on the trip.
You must accustom your pet to be inside the cage. A week before, leave him daily for a while inside the cage to get him accustomed for the long journey
Make sure there is nothing inside the cage so your dog doesn´t get hurt. Most belts and necklaces are particularly dangerous, they can hurt the dog.
It is best that your dog begins the journey without having eaten or drunk water (dogs can go without eating anything for at least two hours before departure) and must go to the bathroom before leaving. Make sure your dog has enough water to keep hydrated, but not full.
Hope these tips work for you! dont miss anyone.. Be ready to take your life partner with you and have an amazing trip!
What I loved the most about the park was the beautiful winding road that puts you in the center of the park. From there you park and choose one of 6-8 trail heads going all different directions around the park.
