When you only have 18 vacation days (Mon-Fri working days) to spare in a year, how would you spend them? Here is the plan.
Feburary 14th to 21st - Disney World @ Orlando Floria. (4 vacation days + 1 statutory holiday “Family Day” + 2 Saturdays)
$939 including flight, 7-day Disney resort, 7-day Disney park admissions and additional $200 gift Disney certificate!
After seeing this deal, I called David up and see if he was available that week to go with me; as much as I wanted to go Disney World for ages, we (I) decided to go. After we got to Orlando, I was even happier about my decision, it was about 22-25 degree celcius everyday, mostly sunny and cloudless (only light rain in one afternoon). Our resort was very nice with two twin beds, the transportation was very convienient and the buses were always on time, most importantly, we pretty much went on every single ride in every park; we even went to the water park…imagin going on water rides in mid-Feburary! Awsome!
There were a lot of people at the parks, but not like an excess amount of people during the high season such as summer and christmas vacations. With a good strategy of using the Fast Pass and a few lineups, we managed to schedule our time very well everyday. My favourate was the seeing Fireworks at Magic Kingdom, and we went to see it twice during our stay!
There were a lot of people at the parks, but not like an excess amount of people during the high season such as summer and christmas vacations. With a good strategy of using the Fast Pass and a few lineups, we managed to schedule our time very well everyday. My favourate was the seeing Fireworks at Magic Kingdom, and we went to see it twice during our stay!
In a tourist area like Disney World, you would imagin that the prices for food would be ridiculously high (like…Canada’s Wonderland), but no….the prices were very reasonable, 9 pieces of McNuggets for $4.99!! I mean, that was even cheaper than the regular McDonalds in Canada! Although the food selections in the parks and the resort were quite limited – ice cream, fries, pop, burger and more ice cream and more fries and more pop…etc (I actually enjoyed them! David: “I never knew you liked to eat ice cream so much!”), Downtown Disney offered a lot more varieties, such as Italian resturants, Wolfgang Puck, Earl of Sandwiches, Bar & Grill…etc.
Anyway, we barely spent much money on this trip and we had so much fun!!!
April 9th to 13th - New Jersey & New York City (0 vacation day + 2 statutory holidays Easter Friday and Monday + 1 Saturday + 1 Sunday)
$224 Flight to New York…
Isabel and I had been planning to visit our elementary school friend Vanessa for the longest time! Three friends who went to elementary school together in Taiwan met up on the east coast of North America after 13 years…wasn’t that something! In addition, Vanessa was 8 months pregnant, so we wanted to visit her before any ER scene occurs during our shopping at the outlets. When we first arrive at Newark Airport, Vennesa and her husband came to pick us up… she didn’t change a bit! (and so didn’t I according to her) Although Vanessa had to wake up at 5 am the next morning to open her Deli shop, we talked until 3 am that night! All those memories came back as if we were just in elementary school the day before; we finally revealed who we had crush on when we were 12-year-old, gossipped about what people were doing now, talked about our current lives and how much of a miracle it was that brought us three together after all these years.
Anyway, we barely spent much money on this trip and we had so much fun!!!
April 9th to 13th - New Jersey & New York City (0 vacation day + 2 statutory holidays Easter Friday and Monday + 1 Saturday + 1 Sunday)
$224 Flight to New York…
Isabel and I had been planning to visit our elementary school friend Vanessa for the longest time! Three friends who went to elementary school together in Taiwan met up on the east coast of North America after 13 years…wasn’t that something! In addition, Vanessa was 8 months pregnant, so we wanted to visit her before any ER scene occurs during our shopping at the outlets. When we first arrive at Newark Airport, Vennesa and her husband came to pick us up… she didn’t change a bit! (and so didn’t I according to her) Although Vanessa had to wake up at 5 am the next morning to open her Deli shop, we talked until 3 am that night! All those memories came back as if we were just in elementary school the day before; we finally revealed who we had crush on when we were 12-year-old, gossipped about what people were doing now, talked about our current lives and how much of a miracle it was that brought us three together after all these years.
The next day, after having a huge and delicious breakfast at Vanessa’s Deli/Breakfast shop, Isabel and I rent a car and went straight to Woodbury Outlet, there was a freaking 20 min line up outside Gucci! For sure I did not see any economic crises there! Got mom a nice Prada bag at about 40% discount!
We took the train from New Jersey to NYC the following day, found the Miu Miu store and finally got my wallet…then more shopping at Jerseyshore Prime Outlet the last day… things were so cheap at outlet price already with additional 40-50% discounts on top of it and NO SALES TAX! What the…..Shopping Heaven New Jersey…Definitely going back again soon!
Isabel and I had a great time in New Jersey, we were treated well by Vanessa’s family and it was very nice seeing Vanessa again. :)
June 20th to 23rd - Las Vegas (2 vacation day + 1 Saturday + 1 Sunday)
$490 including direct Air Canada flight from Toronto and 3 nights at MGM
Naiyu had never been to Vegas, and since I found such a great deal, I decided to give myself a short break in June. Going to Vegas in June is like roasting yourself in an oven…okay, maybe that’s a little exaggerated, but close enough. Luckly, we were mostly indoor or in a cab…
First day, Naiyu and I met up at the Pearson Airport 7:00am sharp for our 8:30am flight; the flight arrived on time and we had no problem finding our way to MGM; by the time we got to the hotel, it was only 11:30am. We checked in our luggages, and off we go for the buffet at Luxor. After that, we went to walk around the Strip. Visited many hotels, shops and casinos, took lots of pictures, got sunburnt, then we took the monotrain back to MGM. We originally planned to go to club Tao that evening, but I was so tired that I fell asleep at 8pm and never woke up until the next morning…oops!
Second day, we woke up at 6:30am, ate at the MGM buffet for breakfast, then we took a cab to the Prime Outlet- we arrived there so early that we were pretty much waiting for the shops opened. By noon, my feet were sore from all the walking and my body was dehydrated from the hot sun; so I was earlerly looking for two things - a pair of comfortable sandles and icy cold drinks! I got a pair of Nike flip-flops at $15…the most comfortable flip-flops ever! We finished walking around the Outlet around 3pm…then we cabbed to another shopping centre on the Strip called the Fashion Show shopping centre or something…so there goes more shopping, got lots of cosmetics and moisturizer samples…Then we went to Wynn to look at Chanel and Hermes purses… I got pretty tired from the shopping, so I sat at a Black Jack table and won $150 while waiting for Naiyu finishing up her shopping at the hotel shops…So everything worked out. We went back to our hotel, rest a bit, got ready to go to Body English at the Hard Rock. We arrived at the club around 10:30pm, there was already a crowd at the door waiting to be let in. I asked the a staff in suite where the line begins, he said “there is no line, pretty much whoever gets closer to the door” I nodded my head and asked “could you get us closer to the door then?” he smiled and led us through the crowd to the front of the door, and very quickly Naiyu and I were in the club. The club was not very big in size, but it had nice decoration, the music was awsome and it was a very nice crowd! Naiyu and I had a couple of drinks and we had lots of fun!
We decided to leave around 1:30 am as we still had a whole day of walking planned the following day. But here was where the “un-fun” began…After we got out the club, we took a cab back to MGM. I wanted to play a few hands before I head up to our room; so I asked Naiyu to go upstairs first, she insisted that she could wait for me at the table and just watch me play, I was like..alright then… about 5 min into the game, I felt Naiyu tapped me on the shoulder, I turned around and found her other hand on her mouth – she was about the throw up! I quickly grabbed my chips from the table and took her to the casino washroom and !@#$^!&!…Long story short, she threw up several more times that night…and even our washroom could not escape its fate… (we left 5 dollars tip on the sink counter the next morning...)
Third day morning, I woke up around 8am. Naiyu was still sleeping…So I showered, dressed, went down to the casino and lost 40 bucks an hour later … I left the casino, went back to our room found that Naiyu had a terrible hangover…I felt quite sorry for her…I bought her water, cookies and gave her some tylenol…rest a bit more... we eventually got out of our room around 11:30am… We took the monorail all the way to Caesar Palace/Ballagio and we pretty much visited most of the hotels around that area. The same night, we also went to watch Cirque du Soleil at Treasure Island, afterwards, we had some very nice steak at the fine dinning in Caesar Palace, took some night shot photos on our way back to the hotel and concluded another busy day.
Fourth day, we both woke up quite early in the morning, because our flight was scheduled at 11:00am, in other words, we would have to be the airport by 10:00am. We had not taken photos at Luxor…so that was our goal for that morning. We packed up our stuff, made sure that nothing was left behind, rushed to Luxor and took some photos, rushed back to the hotel, checked out, headed to the airport, left Las Vegas and said "I will be back!"
August 21st to September 6th - Portugal & Spain & Mediterranean Cruise (10 vacation days + 3 Saturdays + 3 Sundays)
Even though there is no more vacations planned for October, November and December, I hope that Christmas will arrive before I know it and Tremblant here we come again!
We decided to leave around 1:30 am as we still had a whole day of walking planned the following day. But here was where the “un-fun” began…After we got out the club, we took a cab back to MGM. I wanted to play a few hands before I head up to our room; so I asked Naiyu to go upstairs first, she insisted that she could wait for me at the table and just watch me play, I was like..alright then… about 5 min into the game, I felt Naiyu tapped me on the shoulder, I turned around and found her other hand on her mouth – she was about the throw up! I quickly grabbed my chips from the table and took her to the casino washroom and !@#$^!&!…Long story short, she threw up several more times that night…and even our washroom could not escape its fate… (we left 5 dollars tip on the sink counter the next morning...)
Third day morning, I woke up around 8am. Naiyu was still sleeping…So I showered, dressed, went down to the casino and lost 40 bucks an hour later … I left the casino, went back to our room found that Naiyu had a terrible hangover…I felt quite sorry for her…I bought her water, cookies and gave her some tylenol…rest a bit more... we eventually got out of our room around 11:30am… We took the monorail all the way to Caesar Palace/Ballagio and we pretty much visited most of the hotels around that area. The same night, we also went to watch Cirque du Soleil at Treasure Island, afterwards, we had some very nice steak at the fine dinning in Caesar Palace, took some night shot photos on our way back to the hotel and concluded another busy day.
Fourth day, we both woke up quite early in the morning, because our flight was scheduled at 11:00am, in other words, we would have to be the airport by 10:00am. We had not taken photos at Luxor…so that was our goal for that morning. We packed up our stuff, made sure that nothing was left behind, rushed to Luxor and took some photos, rushed back to the hotel, checked out, headed to the airport, left Las Vegas and said "I will be back!"
August 21st to September 6th - Portugal & Spain & Mediterranean Cruise (10 vacation days + 3 Saturdays + 3 Sundays)
Even though there is no more vacations planned for October, November and December, I hope that Christmas will arrive before I know it and Tremblant here we come again!
1 則留言:
18 working days or 18 vacation days?
張貼留言