Travel 2012 Plan

Ok, time to get serious here. I only have like 4 months before I return to the West Coast for good ending my Senior year here at Nova. I still have so much to do!! AAaaahh! Freakout time!!!......
Ok, let's get planning.

Aside from my much anticipated Atlantic City trip scheduled for spring break in March, I've been wanting to go to Philly again and what with Fridays free, I think I definitely have enough time. Here is a list of things I'd still like to, no, scratch that have to do!

1. Go to the Philadelphia Museum of Art one last time! (preferrably on one of the free Sundays!)

2. Go to the Mutter Museum (home of fascinating medical oddities)

3. Try a Geno's cheesesteak (so I can compare it to Pat's!)

4. Eat ice cream at Franklin Fountain (you can see how my list is quickly becoming dominated by food)

5.  Go to Penn's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

6. Somehow find a way to Gettysburg


Heck, while I'm at it, here's the New York List too!

1. See the Statue of Liberty

2. Go to the top of either the Empire State Building or the Top of the Rock

3. See a Broadway show (preferrably Phantom)

4. Find another food truck and sample their delicacies!

5. Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge

6. See the Wall Street bull

7. Go to the Natural History Museum


And just one more thing in D.C.

1. Go to the Crime and Punishment Museum


I'm also trying to figure out if I can take a trip to Boston sometime too, but I might run out of time :(

Does anyone know of anything fun to do in Baltimore by any chance? That's pretty close as well.
Looks like I have a lot to do and see still. Sigh. World, here I come!

Happy travels during the new year! Have any plans?? Share them :)

Stephanie, WWT

Ocean City, NJ

This trip is from last semester, but unfortunately I didn't get to post about it on time. So without further ado, here it is.

Ocean City is located in New Jersey, and is most exciting for its boardwalk which boasts a host of rides, snack shops, and little gift shops where you can get your own personalized pressed shirt Jersey Shore style! The city's motto is "America's Greatest Family Resort." Well, I'm not sure about that, but it certainly was nice to walk along the boardwalk and the shore on a nice hot day. Because of it's family oriented atmosphere, there is no alcohol sold anywhere. 

The length of the boardwalk itself is about 2 1/2 miles long and perfect for biking, jogging, walking, or anything else you might fancy. You quickly learn that the designated lanes should be paid attention to unless you want to get runover by one of those cart, peddled, surrey things.  Although many people neglect to follow the rules of the labeled lanes, it still helps.



FOOD

My favorite part. Here is what I decided to sample!

Kohr Bros. Frozen Custard
Luckily there are about 3 locations on the boardwalk, so you can always find a Kohr Bros somewhere. They claim that their custard is only like 150 calories so go for it! I tried the mint and chocolate swirl, but they also have an orange cream swirl that I heard was amazing. You can also get it inverted and dipped in sprinkles if you desire.  The custard was not as dense as I thought it would be. It was very light on the contrary, yet it didn't melt super fast!

One of the many locations near the main entrance.

Fried Pickles

I just had to try these after they were made popular by Snooki on the Jersey Shore.  I was pleasantly surprised and have to admit that I'm a follower now! They were greasy little slices, but they were great. You can't go wrong with fried anything right? They also give you an amazingly tasty sauce to dip your fried pickles in which I highly recommend. It's sort of like a spicy thousand island which is amazing with the seasoned crunchy batter and the sourness from the pickles.

My pickles complete with side sauce! Yummy :D



Banana Whip

Down one of the side alleys on the boardwalk sits the Bashful Banana Bakery and Cafe.  They are home to an amazing dessert like creation made of pure frozen bananas. Legit, nothing else is in there. They run the frozen bananas through this press sort of machine which turns them into an ice cream like consistency. I'm not entirely sure how they make it so decadent, but it's amazing. If you opt for toppings (which you should!) try the fruit fudge sauce, made of fruit! The kiddie size is like $4.25 which is plenty for someone like me! It's like 0.65 to add a topping, and you can also get them flavored with strawberry or pineapple etc.



Banana whip topped with all fruit fudge sauce. Soooo amazing!



Pizza
Of course I had to get a slice on the boardwalk. I went to 3 Brothers From Italy where they have an eating competition challenge thing. Although I didn't attempt to eat an entire pizza in 15 minutes, I would seriously admire someone who could. I opted for a slice of broccoli chicken to get my serving of veggies for the day (lol). It was a typical reheated slice of pizza, but it was perfect.

Fudge
Seriously go try some fudge while you're here.  They even hand you free samples outside to entice you. I went to the Original Fudge Kitchen where you can watch them handmake the fudge which is cool.

I bought the pumpkin pie and pistachio fudge. It was great. Their maple is also delicious too.

Taffy
There are several taffy places to shop at but I went to Shriver's where you can see the taffy machines in the back room. Pretty cool.

You can fill up your own bag with taffy and they charge you by weight. There are also many other commonly found candies there to indulge in.

Activities

Aside from the amazing beach located like 50 feet away from you, there are numerous other things to do on the boardwalk.  Here are some:

Mini-Golf
Go try out one of the several mini golf places.  They looked fun, but I didn't participate.

Rides
If rides are more of your thing, they have the typical boardwalk/carnival rides. Try out the ferris wheel for a nice relaxing, breezy ride. You do have to buy tickets for each ride or you can buy a wristband thing.

I would generally advise avoiding the "Glass House" on a hot day. But that's just me.

Try to have fun and follow the rules
Why are there so many rules?! Here are some. So you can pretty much walk around and not have any fun. If you can walk around between all of the people swarming on the beach. Also, how do you skateboard on a beach???

Apparently, you cannot throw balls or frisbees. Bummer. You also cannot picnic.

Clearly these brave souls have decided to break the rules. God bless them.

Good luck trying to find a spot to set up that umbrella.

For all of you Philly residents, it might interest you to know that both David Akers (former Eagles kicker) and Jay Wright (Villanova's awesome Basketball coach) own summer residences here.  Other famous people also are frequent summer vacationers here.

Seriously, go to the boardwalk for a nice day at the beach. I would advise going early if you don't want to be around the crowds, but in the summertime, that's kind of inevitable. A family fun destination, Ocean City didn't disappoint. Next time I'll have to try the fried Oreos!

Stephanie, WWT

Back to Philly...

Well, it is finally that time of year again. School is starting! In fact, this will be my last year of college! I can't believe how fast the time has flown by and I'm honestly a little sad :(
BUT... I'm determined to enjoy senior year and make the most of every opportunity that presents itself.

Tomorrow I've got my 7 hr trip from Cali to Philly. I feel like I just got off the plane from Minnesota. It took me a week to settle back into CA time and now I'm leaving again -_-

At least I'm armed with a ton of healthy snacks (a Luna Bar + roasted edamame, wheat thins, apple slices, almonds, walnuts, raisins, Special K flakes, Cinnamon Cheerios, and dark chocolate chips= my own personal trail mix! :P) and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson, which I am thoroughly enjoying. I am about 200 pages in, a third of the way finished, and I really like Larsson's style of writing.

And if that's not enough to keep me busy I've got my iPod, sudoku and word search puzzles, plus my laptop so I think I'm covered! You gotta have enough options to keep yourself occupied on a long flight.

I hope the trip goes ok, I heard it's supposed to rain in PA, which combined with hot weather can be super miserable. I'm crossing my fingers for some sunshine. We'll see.

Stephanie, WWT

Update: Duluth, MN?

Hello to everyone who reads my blog! (Which isn't many, but oh well!)

I have recently relocated to Duluth Minnesota! Well, not permanently, but until next Tuesday at least. I left with both of my parents to go visit my mom's side of the family including grandparents, aunt, uncles, and cousins! It's been about 3 years since I've been back and I was really looking forward to it.

So far the weather has been a bit humid, but a little chilly in the mornings and nights. No mosquito bites yet so we're good there!

The flights from California were horrible to say the least. Let's just say that Delta airlines has made Southwest look like a luxury airliner. I had to take 3 flights totalling about a 9 hour trip for what should only be a 4 hour direct flight.

Oakland - LAX (backtracking ugh)
LAX - Minneapolis
Minneapolis - Duluth

The one thing I was surprised to see was Duluth's new airport that is currently being built. Complete with an entire glass front, it adds a little something unlike the old building with only 4 gates.  Things have changed.
I'll have some photos when I get back as well as some restaurant reviews! Yay!

Everyone go out and enjoy family and friends sometime if you get a chance. Sometimes it's nice to just sit down, relax, and catch up with good company. :)

Stephanie, WWT

Travel Trauma: Part II

Part 2 of my arduous journey home:

So I boarded my train 20 minutes later and caught the connection from 30th Street onward to the airport. I quickly rush over to the Southwest baggage dropoff/check-in area and wait in the surprisingly short line. Maybe things were starting to look up for me huh?

This thought soon became a false alarm however when the man at the check in counter informed me that my bag was 2 lbs overweight. He said if I could not remove the extra weight and store some of it in my carry-on duffel that he was going to charge me $50. Really? Ok, so I wasn't going to dig for the key in my backpack to unlock the main part of my luggage and open up all of my clothes and underwear in front of spectators, so I opened the outside mini-zip-up compartment on the front of my luggage and proceeded to remove 3 scarves and some papers.

He then claimed that it was fine. Really... 3 scarves were 2 lbs overweight?? In the first place, I had a hard time believing that my bag weighed 50 lbs. However this did give me an ego boost knowing that I had been carrying/lugging around 50 lbs worth of weight. I guess all those push-ups paid off!

Anyway, after that annoyance was settled I ran upstairs to wait in the security line and when asked by the man who checked my ID how my day was, I replied honestly and told him that it could have been better. His cheery attitude dimmed my frustration level a bit though. That is, until I got up to the security area.

An intimidating woman asked whose backpack had just passed through the converyor belt and I was forced to claim it as my own. Wondering what could have possibly set off their suspicion I hurried to put on my shoes and jacket, my last shreds of dignity in a plastic bin before me. I went over to the counter where she gave me 'a look' and asked if I had any sharp objects in my bag. I didn't recall putting any knives in my backpack so I replied no. Then she reached in and pulled out a half-used water bottle and raised her eyebrows at me. Seriously? She knew where it was the whole time and could have just pulled it out. I realized I had just been careless and left it in there. I was really planning on throwing it out before I got in line, but the craziness of the previous 3 hours had left my brain a little bit jumbled.

My backpack was forced back on the conveyor where they examined it again, to see what else they could get me for. Thankfully they didn't need to humiliate me twice and I was sent on my way. At this point, I was almost in tears out of frustration. It was one of those days where if something CAN go wrong it WILL go wrong!! I made my way to the closest women's bathroom and just took a breather in a stall. Yes I picked the handicapped one I needed the space.

Overall, that was it for the most frustrating part of my day. After all that had happened not even listening to the yelping/screaming/crying dog sitting in the row in front of me for four hours on the flight could compare. My focus was just on getting home, and really, that's what it should have been on the entire day.

If we tend to focus on things in the moment, we feel like we aren't missing anything and we are getting the most out of our situation. Sometimes, though, to get through the present, we find that focusing on the future, can be the best coping mechanism.

-Stephanie, WWT

Traveling: Train Ranting

Dear readers! I am finally back home in sunny, lovely California. After a cold night sleeping on a mattress with just a jacket for comfort and no heat in my dorm, I finally left for the airport early this morning at 6:45. I only had three hours of sleep because of the freezing temperature of my dorm, but that couldn’t put a damper on my spirits! I was going home.


However, my thoughts and life outlook was soon interrupted when it came time for me to haul my huge piece of luggage (along with a duffel bag and backpack mind you!) down the flight of stairs and up again to the other side of the train tracks. As I slammed the wheels down the first flight of stairs and began to walk through the tunnel I felt and heard the train come to a stop above me on the track! In my despair, I stopped and prayed for help trying to lug this monstrosity up a flight of stairs. All of a sudden, I hear a rush behind me and a man’s voice saying, “‘scuse me!” I had hoped this man would be willing to help me with my bag, yet when I turned I just caught a glimpse of his collared electric blue shirt, glasses, and briefcase running past me in my predicament without a second glance and no care seemingly, for anyone but himself. I stood on the stairs, shocked. I mean, I hadn’t asked this man for help directly, but I knew my body language was probably conveying a sense of distress and helplessness. I mean, isn’t helping someone out the right thing to do?

Next my brain wanders to the thought that maybe this guy will hold the train for me since he saw me struggling, down just 5 steps from the top! Yeah, that’s it! While these thoughts were passing through my brain a man-child Villanova student passed me and went on his merry way. Him, I can ALMOST forgive. I mean, his maturity level is probably hideously low; he is a college student after all. In my hesitation however I missed the train, watching it roll past me, just my head visible above the stairs. 4 steps were all that was standing between me and my way home. Now, I had another 20 minutes to wait. There was some comfort in finding my bias against college boy-men opposed when another Villanova student asked if I needed help. At this point I needed quite a lot of things. Namely, reassurance that all men out there aren’t total douchebags and may have an ounce of chivalry, respect, and care for their fellow human beings, let alone the fairer sex. I denied his request for help, feeling foolish if he would have carried my bag up three steps.

As I sat on the bench waiting for my next liberator from the confines of campus, I pondered about my situation. I wasn’t even that mad about missing the train. Hell, maybe if I had really booked it and ran I could have made it in time…my bad. What bothered me more was the depressing interactions, or lack of them, that I had with strangers. I guess I just had more faith in the social glue of society that would motivate complete strangers to help each other out, due to moral and ethical instinct. This event and it’s outcomes ultimately set the tone for the rest of my day, which would bring even more nightmares.

To Be Continued…

*I know this post said "this morning," but I actually wrote it like a week ago and just never got around to posting it! I've been enjoying my time at home and it takes a while to settle in, so I have forgone my blog.
 
Anyway, thanks to anyone who is actually reading this blog, you are much appreciated!
 
Stephanie, WWT

NYC!!

So the past week (April 20th - 23rd) I spent my Easter break in New York City!!
It was super exciting for me because I had never really been sightseeing in NY before. I had just visited a couple friends' houses and seen our Wildcats lose embarassingly to Texas at Madison Square Garden my freshman year.

Unfortunately in the past, my history with NY hasn't been too great. It seemed that every time I traveled across the state line I got sick. This time, I am happy to say I think the trend has been broken! Well, kind of. I ended up getting sick for a day after I got back to school, but I just attribute that to exhaustion and fatigue.

Anyway... I spent 4 lovely days and 3 nights at a hostel in Harlem, yes I know what you're thinking. College girl alone, staying in Harlem, at night = bad idea lol.  Most people think I'm crazy or strange for wanting to travel by myself in the first place, but it's actually kind of relaxing/enlightening for me. I can go wherever I want and do whatever I want, not having to worry about pleasing other people.

You have so much freedom and opportunities it's amazing! The only downside is that you are alone. It makes eating kind of limited because you can't just walk into a restaurant, sit down and eat a meal by yourself without feeling awkward. Luckily, NY has lots of cafes and food trucks perfect for single diners!

Overall, I had a great time seeing what I was able to see. I even was fortunate enough to get tickets to a premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival! However I missed out on the Statue of Liberty (it was sold out until like July!) and the Empire State Building. Hopefully, next year will bring another opportunity for me to visit this fabulous city. Over the next week or so I will post individual reviews and such about the various things I did in New York, so stay tuned!

If you want to go somewhere, go! Don't wait for other people to decide to tag along or you will miss out.

-Stephanie, WWT