US trip 2007

Now where do I start? Hmm…blogging a series of 18 days isn’t easy. :P plus, it doesn’t help that each day was jam-packed with exciting things.

To start off, I had fun. And yeah, I’m on the road of overcoming my fear of riding planes. :D
Brace yourselves guys! This may be my longest entry EVER. Hahaha :D

April 25
I had a hard time sleeping. I guess I was too excited? Haha I think I was able to sleep at around 11 pm already, which was bad since I had to wake up at 2 am the following morning. We got upgraded to 1st class! Well not all 4 us. Only ate and I were upgraded. The flight was fully booked so we thought that the chances of being upgraded to 1st class was far from possible.

The guy in the check-in counter even “chased” us just to give us new boarding tickets. CREDITS to the client of ate in northwest.

It was obvious that my sister and I were so fascinated with the 1st class area that we kept on pressing different buttons! Hahaha :D it was soooo cool! The chair was huge compared to the economy ones. There was enough leg room for two more chairs and there was even a massager option in our chairs! Hahaha J you can also recline your seat up to 180 degrees! Which is incomparable to the 100 degree possibility with the economy class J you can even lengthen the foot rest or have your pillow inflated! Hahaha :D I had my OWN tv screen where I could choose from a wide range of movies, games, music, etcetera! Is it obvious that I was too pysched to get my hands into the controls that I didn’t sleep at all?! Hahaha J the food was delish and didn’t had that usual yucky taste that plane food have. And the food was served in glassware. And not the disposable plastic ones. J was it obvious that I was so happy that I finished all my food?

All I can say is that it was classy. Classy mehn.

Well at least only up to Nagoya, japan. We weren’t upgraded anymore since the seats we had in 1st class were already booked.

Oh well. How I wished to be upgraded to 1st class going to Detroit instead of japan. The flight to Detroit would weigh more since it was 11 hours. While the flight to japan was only 4 hours. Oh well. I wasn’t able to sleep. For about 11 hours, I only got about 2 hours sleep. Yeah. And that’s already when I drank a pill that would make me feel woozy. It also didn’t help that it was so turbulent that I wanted to hurl. We also didn’t have aisle or window seats. Bummer.

After 11(which took forever) dreadful hours, we had to face immigration and customs. They weren’t nice at all. And very narrow-minded, if you ask me. It was new to me that I had to press my finger into this red screen for security reasons. last time I went to the US, I just remembered standing behind this yellow line.

The customs people were a lot more accommodating. It was such a blessing since they didn’t inspect our baggages anymore for declaration since they were too happy to realize that we overdeclared the money and not underdeclared it. J

I think the customs lady thought I was an 11 yr old since when we told her that we were going to Disneyworld and the Smithsonian, she talked to me as if I was a little girl. She gave me this expression of forced amusement that I used to see in grown-ups when I was still a little girl.

Good thing they didn’t check our bags anymore! we almost missed our Orlando flight! The doors were about to be closed when we arrived. Now I remember Detroit. The Detroit airport is HUGE! They have trains to bring you to terminals.

it was a 2 hour flight and the lady beside me kept on laughing while watching nick cannon on her portable dvd player. Good for her.

Anyway, arriving in the Orlando airport was surreal. We made it! wipee! Now all I thought about were happy thoughts of Disneyworld :D I was so tired but I couldn’t resist the sights. I kept on looking at everything! But the first thing I did was to breathe US air. There’s really something I love about the air there. J it smells good mehn. hahaha J

Checked in at the Hilton hotel. Ate and I shared the room 936. and mom and dad at room 990. hmm…about the Hilton hotel, I expected too much. I tell you, the Hilton hotel wasn’t that grand as I expected. It didn’t even looked like a 5-star hotel to me. And if it weren’t the sign Hilton, I wouldn’t even know that this was actually THE Hilton hotel. Our hotels here in Manila are even nicer. The interiors weren’t that impressive and weren’t classy. The lobby ceiling wasn’t that high at all and the rooms kinda looked like standard hotel rooms. It didn’t look like a suite or anything.

But what I did I find impressive was their line of free toiletries. It was branded. Crabtree and evelyn. :D and they even had mouthwash. Hahaha :D my sister and I started hoarding the stuff and were happy to find new sets everyday. :D

Gosh, I was so tired that I quickly took a bath and slept. We were supposed to go to downtown Disney but I told them I was too tired. So we ordered room service instead. Spaghetti and meatballs. Gosh, the serving was soooo big, considering that it was part of a kiddie meal! Hahaha.

April 26

The next day, we got the tickets at Epcot. Only ate and I went since mom and dad rested. It was amazing! Epcot is my favorite Disney theme park. :D haha they were all surprised hear me say this since my old time fave was magic kingdom. I guess I kinda outgrown it already. Epcot is where you can travel in about 11 countries (Canada, UK, Norway, Germany, italy, japan, china, france, morocco, and US) ! going from one country to another only takes about a 5-minute walk. The architectures were amazing. For each country, they would have a miniature version of a famous landmark. And in the stores, they would have native items. Like for france, they have an Eiffel tower and would sell perfume and artistic stuff.

I even got an epcot passport and had it stamped per country. Ate was too embarrassed to even fall in line. So every time, I had to bare the humiliation of having 2 passports signed along with kids half my size. It’s even worse when they ask my age!

April 27
NASA baby! Gosh, I’m such a nerd. I love everything space! I EVEN BOUGHT 3 SCALE MODELS TO PROVE IT. when I was a kid, I always dreamt of being an astronaut. It just seemed soo cool. It was just so nice to go back to the place where my first dream developed.

Apollo 11. the imax movies were superb! :D

April 28
MGM studios. Cool backdrops. But the stunt show was soooo great! As in! cars splitting into two?! Extreme stunts while driving backwards? Well that’s only how it looks, but the driver is driving forward, only the chassis is inverted. :D I’ll post pics. Mgm was a bit of a drag. Kinda a waste of money, actually. It’s kinda small.

April 29
Went to church mary, queen of the universe. How I wish Filipinos could be a lot more like Americans. And I’m not saying this because I have a colonial mentality. Regardless of race and culture, Filipinos should learn how to be more courteous and polite. I mean, hello? During communion, Filipinos would usually race down the aisle. And in public areas, Filipinos usually bump each other just to get by and would not even say sorry or excuse me when they hit somebody. Filipinos don’t even bother saying welcome when you say thank you. Americans, on the other hand are so conscious of space that they say excuse me and even apologize when they come close to you accidentally. And I mean, a meter apart, they still say “excuse me”. They always say welcome when you thank them and would often offer a hand even when you don’t ask help from them. I’m not saying all Filipinos are rude. It’s just sometimes depressing to realize that we have a lot of uneducated people here in our country.

And oh yeah, in the US, you can walk barefoot on the road without having to worry about stepping on another person’s saliva.

Anyway, after going to mass, we went to magic kingdom. And o yeah, kuya david and ate were already with us. pirates of the carribean :D it made me more excited about the new movie. It was a blast!

I finally got to ride space mountain and even wanted to ride a couple more times. Haha it was fun screaming at the top of my lungs. Hahaha :D

It’s a small world. Gosh, there was only one Filipina doll and it looked out of place pa! it was beside Hawaii and Switzerland. Right, DUH.

Rode Winnie the pooh. :P
Bought a scratch and sniff chocolate shirt. Yum :D

I just realized that ate is a bigger chicken than I am. Her palms were soaking wet after. Nyahaha. She wouldn’t even accompany me in thunder mountain! Only kuya david and ate anne were willing to. It was fun even though it was cold (it was night already). Watched the parade 2 times. And I think dad enjoyed more than I did. Haha. And oh yeah, I visited minnie’s house again. :D I think they changed the seat cover. Hahaha.

April 30

Epcot again. Ate at the electric umbrella and got fast passes to test track. It’s a ride where you ride a car that undergoes crash tests. Tihee :D I forced dad and ate marissa to go hahaha. :D dad and ate were already having 2nd thoughts about riding. Hahaha :D

One of my fave rides is mission space! It’s so much fun. It’s a simulated space ride where you go to mars. We chose the less intense training since mom was with us. it was sooooo REAL. And I mean it really did! I really did feel my face stretch. Hahaha. And I felt weightless. And it was hard moving because there was a certain force that pushes my arms backward. Slow-mooooo. I was the pilot! Hahaha. Dad was the enginner. And ate was the commander. Gosh. It really makes me wonder how they were able to make that ride. It was so amazing and REAL! :D the advanced training was so cool! As in you’re like in NASA and you’re controlling the space ships! It was soo cool! It was just like in the movies.:)

Went to living with the land, nemo &friends (it was sooo cute and real! They mixed the animated dory(surgeon fish) & nemo (clownfish) with real fish. It was so incredible!

Watched Illuminations-fireworks. I got to use the fireworks option in my cam. :D

May 1
Animal kingdom

Watched it’s tough to be a bug. Cool :D they even had a real stink spray when a bug farted. Hahaha. And the cockroaches “poked” my back. Ate at restaurantosaurus. (mcdo). And tried to get a fastpass for safari but it was too late. After walking under the scorching sun for 20 minutes, we found out that all the fastpasses for safari were distributed already. Ate and I just laughed over our frustration. HAHA.


Went back to ride EXPEDITION EVEREST!!!! That’s my favorite ride ever!!! Ate marissa was showing signs of chickening out but I talked her into it. J

TRIVIA: there really is such a thing of a yeti university, and a YETI! A professor established the university because he proved that there was really such thing as a yeti. There was even a cast of the yeti’s footprint. And there were also authentic pictures of the yeti found in a deserted campsite!

Hanep ung ride. You ride this crazy train which goes through uphills and drops until you finally find a torn track and are about to fall through a cliff when the train goes backwards. And I tell you, that feeling is intense! All I could do was scream! Hahaha! Then you meet this mad yeti who drops you. Hahaha. I rode that for 3 times! I even had a thumbs-up pose in one of the pictures! Hahaha. After that, I felt so dizzy that I had a swagger to my walk.

Also rode the primeval whirl. Crazy mehn. :P

Watched nemo the musical. It was cute.:D

Finally rode the safari and felt the beauty of Africa. I felt I was reliving my ultimate dream – to be a biologist in Africa. :D I adore animals and the African savanna. :D

Rode the train to rafiki’s and went to the affection section. Cute goats J one tried to chew my dress!

May 2
Went online. Gosh, the internet there is a robbery! 20 cents per minute. You load the money and a card comes out. You insert the card into the computer and it unlocks itself. And when the time’s up, it suddenly spits out your card and the pc locks itself. My gosh. Ate and I were trying to locate a michael’s store nearby. And I tell you, it wasn’t easy, especially that their addresses are all numbers of boulevards or something!

Just stayed at the hotel since ate and kuya david weren’t feeling well. Ordered room service and watched “because I said so”. Gosh, the movie was horrible! It was like a pinoy movie where the girl falls for the “good” and “kawawa” guy. The ending was even more dreadful! When mandy and the guy kissed, all the other people started making out. Even old grannies. Ewww. It was soo cheesy and not well thought-off.

Went to downtown Disney and watched cirque du soleil. La Nouba. :D it was so amazing! Too bad we couldn’t take any photography of any kind. L it was just soooooo amazing! It’s like a circus minus the trecheary to animals.

Ate at PLANET HOLLYWOOD baby! We felt like superstars! Apparently, the card that was given to us by the hotel was actually a VIP card. :D nyahaha.

May 3
Went online for 5 minutes! Haha J just peeped in ym. J then we went to shop at Michael’s!!!!!!!!!!!! ahhhhh dream come true!!! :D for those of you who don’t know Michael’s, it’s an ARTS AND CRAFTS store. You name it, they got it. as in super! You could leave me there for a whole day!!!! I could get crazy in there :P

They had a sale so yay for me :D their acrylic paints were sold for only 50 cents!!!! I mean hello? Here, it’s sold for about a hundred plus!! Their stamps were also in sale. All 50 cents. My golly. 0_o I also got interested with their glass mosaic line and stained glass section. Wipeee :D

Ate lunch and went back to the hotel to catch the shuttle to Lake Buena Vista outlets. Gosh!!!! You know, I love Divisoria and all, but when US brands have sales, they practically give their stuff to you! Imagine this. Nine West shoes. Usually 5,000 php here, right? But when you use a 50% coupon, it’s such a steal! Plus, if it’s already on sale, you have an additional less 20% !!!!! ate’s shoes were only 20$!! It used to be 60$. Old navy and gap stuff are so cool. Their cute flip flops are just like 150 php! and that’s not even with the coupon!! I was even surprised to see my bill because it was so low! Haha turns out, there were additional discounts!!! Waaa :D

I felt so independent and lady-like. I was finally shopping ON MY OWN. We all went to separate directions since we only had 2 hrs to shop. Haha it was so much fun. The wind blowing my hair. My shopping bags swaying in sync. Hahaha. Kulang na lang paparazzi! J)

Went to claire’s but I didn’t fancy anything. I guess I kinda outgrown it already. Not like before, I used to go gaga whenever I enter a claire’s store. So I admit, I was a lot more kikay back then. now, I’m more subtle. I’d rather spend for nice clothes than accessories. ;)


May 4

Transferred to ANIMAL KINGDOM LODGE. It’s an African savanna. I really felt like I was in Africa. The interiors mehn were very impressive. Giraffes and ostriches were just below our room balcony. The bed was uncomfy though. Not like in Hilton. I stayed in the upper deck, and I guess going down takes practice. :P

Went to Epcot again and ate at the electric umbrella (yes, again!). got a fast pass for mission space and rode the Intense training.(orange!) ate was even hesitant to accompany me. Haha. Grabe. It was SO INTENSE! I felt like barfing! A guy even threw up! Good thing they had those barf bags inside. But it was fun.

Ate at THE LAND. Went to Canada to have our passports stamped. :Dwipee J
Watched the French 180 degrees film again. Gosh, I wanna go there. I do hope our Europe trip will push through next yr. :D

Rode test track again, but I was alone. :P haha the American girls started screaming after I screamed haha. :D
Did the laundry until 2 am. I guess we were a bit anxious about doing the laundry after that Australia incident. (note: soap suds overflowed all over the floor of the apartment!)
Fortunately, this time we got the laundry right. :D

May 5
Went to Disney Quest. It felt like being in an arcade! But you don’t have to pay. :D cool. :D but their games were a bit old school. Some seem like it was created using turbo pascal! Hahaha. There was this fun ride called astro blaster. It’s like a bumper car but you get to vacuum up dodge balls and launch them to your opponent. When it hits them, they spin for about 15 seconds! Cool huh?

Rode a water taxi and hopped from resort to resort. Grand Floridian & Polynesian resort. Headed for magic kingdom and rode the haunted mansion. Ate dinner at casey’s and watched the parade before going home.

May 6
It was a good day to head for the water parks. It was sooo freaking HOT! Manila may be warm, but it isn’t burning hot! Manila is humid, while US isn’t so it really burns skin!
Went to tyohoon lagoon first. Rode the storm slides, Keelhaul falls, and mayday falls! I tell you, splash island will seem like a baby slide after you ride these! Intense :D the crush n’ gusher was my favorite!!!! It’s a water coaster that lauches you to uphill climbs and drops! It’s like no other water slide!!! And we rode all 3! Coconut plunger, banana blaster, and pineapple crusher! My fave is the coconut plunger! it was sooo steep! Hahaha :D you ride in a donut-like floater, so don’t worry. :D

Headed for blizzard beach. :D rode the snow stormers! It’s a switchback slalom-style mat slide. It’s like a riding a sled! Also rode toboggan racers. Intense. :D high drops mehn. :D and guess what? They have this ride called the SUMMIT PLUMMET!! It’s a 120 FOOT VERTICAL FREE_FALLLING BODY SLIDE. Most intense ever. But I didn’t ride it coz the line was so looong. And oh yeah, I swan in the wave pool. Again, it was intense! The Fontana waves will seem like a ripple next to the waves there! As in their waves may be at least 10 feet tall! And it wipes you out just like that! Hahaha :D

Also rode cross country creek. That made me have this tan right now.

It rained hard so we went back to the hotel.

May 7

Flight to Washington DC and was picked up by kuya Joey. Headed to Delaware, which was a 3 hr drive! It was nice seeing billy & julianne again. How bad I wanted to play with them like I used to. Ack, I hate this adult thing going on. Why can’t I be the same age as they are? It would be more fun.

Went to michael’s again. Yay :D

May 8
Went to the Washington memorial and the Capitol. :D also saw the department of justice, the old post office, and the white house!!! :D which was kinda bad since we were stuck in traffic since the president had to come through! Rar. Haha. But at least I got that “close” to the president. Haha.

Checked in at the Harrington Hotel. My gosh. It really is an OLD hotel. It was built on 1917!! Plus, the bathrooms were creepy! It looked like as if it was the kind of bathrooms used during the World War! It looked like a chamber cell and I could envision Natzis.

Hahaha. I didn’t even locked the bathroom door in fear of being locked in! hahaha. :D

But the location is incomparable!!! It was in the center of anything!!! We just walked a few blocks to get to the white house, Lincoln memorial, Smithsonian museums, and the spy museum!

May 9
Smithsonian museums :D I couldn’t believe that admission was free! Believe me, the place was so impressive! It’s very educational and interesting too! I was even more impressed with the Smithsonian air and space museum compared to NASA! They have a lot of spaceships and documented the 1st ever plane made by the Wright brothers. Mom and dad were too tired to roam around so I was again going around the place like this geekazoid, reading and trying to comprehend everything that I see. Grabe, you wouldn’t believe how amazing that place is if you haven’t been there yet. And it’s free! Some English guy donated his riches to DC without even seeing how the US looked like. Mehn.

Also went to the Smithsonian natural museum. The fossils were so amazing! You wouldn’t believe how much fossils they have actually collected! They had a T-rex, triceratops, pterodactyl, long-neck, tortoise, primeval fish, and a whole lot MORE! As in! this only made more inspired in pursuing my dream of being a biologist. Too bad I’m stuck with management. L

The day was bitin so we came back the next day. :D

May 10
Smithsonian natural museum again. :D
I saw the hope diamond! Gawd it was HUGE! It’s the biggest and rarest diamond in the whole wide world! And it is also believed to have a curse. Hmm..it used to be bigger but was stolen and cut and was only donated it to the museum. The gallery was filled with the biggest and rarest gems I have ever seen! The biggest topaz-emerald-ruby. You name it! grabe talaga. You’d actually think they’re fake since they’re soo big!!! And they have a lot of gems, so it makes you wonder why people would donate these stuff to a museum.

SPY MUSEUM BABY!!!! OHEMGEE! So there really such a thing as an umbrella gun, a micro-dot camera, a lipstick gun!, a shoe tape recorder, nail guns, camera sunglasses, invisible ink, codes (using belts and letters), necktie cameras, and MANY MORE!!! It’s sooo cool! At the start, you are asked to memorize a series of information.
Example:
You are an undercover spy:
Name: jane meyer
Age: 13
Residence: USAbirthplace: sweetwater, Tenn.
Destination: duplin, Ireland
Purpose: vacation
Duration: 7 days
Occupation: student

After that, you enter a briefing/training room and then there are computers where you are to be interrogated by an immigrations officer. There’s even a suspicion meter! When you get something wrong, you might get arrested for being a spy! Fortunately, I got all the info right and proceeded with my 2nd mission.

Mission: go to the national museum of Ireland
Purpose: know about Vikings
Meet : forgot the name! haha

And you’ll be interrogated again at the end of the tour.

It was very educational, and the museum was sprawling! From the outside it looked small! There were A LOT of galleries and real devices used as spying devices during the World War! And there are a lot of interactive devices too. :D kewl :-B too bad I couldn’t take any kind of photography. L

May 11
Aww our last day! We went to the zoo and for the first time, commuted! Usually we just walk..but here we took the subway! Gosh. I think the last time I ever rode the subway was about 8 yrs ago!!! Yeah, in new york. The subway “cave: or whatever you call it was huge! The escalator ride itself already made me nauseous of the height! I’m guessing it’s about more than 100 ft deep. Duh. Maybe even 200.

The Smithsonian zoo was nice. Very clean and well-maintained considering that the admission is free. We first saw the pandas. :D ahhhh ishipanda. :P Tai shan’s sooo cute! He likes to run a lot, which is weird for a panda! Hahaha and the dad was sleeping in his den the whole time we were there. It was as if he wanted to tell us “I’m trying to sleep here! Leave me alone!” awww :D

I have a stuffed toy of tai shan by the way. He sleeps with me every night. :D

Went to Georgetown and ate at Bet & Jerry’s! yeah, the famous ice cream place! And it was soo sulit since we had 2 coupons of buy one take one ice cream. :D wipee. I got the strawberry cheesecake. Yeah, forever strawberry. It tasted heavenly. But haagen dazs is still my fave.


Strolled for a while with mom. Georgetown is so nice! It’s like you’re in the old days! Their shops are like 50’s style.

Went to this shop called urban outfitters. I like their stuff there. It’s so spunky and colorful. But the price aint! A blouse for 48$?!!! Puhleassse! I bet Divisoria has those kind of clothes.

I ended up going to barnes & noble, which is weird since there’s a branch in front of our hotel! Haha. Didn’t buy anything and went to the union station to eat dinner, look around, and went home.

Passed by the barnes & noble bookstore near our hotel and was surprised to see shelves of manga!!!!! I was soo excited! Too bad they didn’t have kashimashi or ouran! Which is weird since there’s kahimashi 1 being sold in Virgin music store. They had a lot of fruit baskets manga. I was even tempted to buy one but I guess I would only get bitin since ther are more than 10 series, and I’m only going to buy one?! Hahaha :P I guess I got too overwhelmed with their selection that I didn’t buy any. Nyahaha :P

Dinner at Harry’s. shit ang dami kong kinain. As in I even asked for the leftovers of mom and ate! Hahaha :P

May 11
Woke up at around 545 am. Showered and finished my packing before eating breakfast. The flight was about 11 I think. 1 hr flight to Detroit, a 13 hr flight to Nagoya, japan, and another 4 hr flight to manila.

Shuccks. I think I only had a sum of 3 hrs sleep from the whole 18 hr travel time! And to think, I already drank a sleeping pill. Mehn.

It’s good to be back home. Even though I still despise the rudeness of most Filipinos, it still feels great to be back home. J

Arrived here at around 12 mn. I was soo tried that I woke up at 4 pm the next day! Ack haha. :P

Byers for now. I do hope that you didn’t get bored reading my entry. And if you read from start to end, wow, congratulations! :D

-may 2007-