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As 2014 comes to an end, I am looking back at the trips I took this year. All in all, it was quite a year of travel and I honestly enjoyed every minute of it! January La Paz, Bolivia I celebrated the New Year in La Paz, Bolivia and it was really such a fun night. It was the last official night of our South America tour, so our group got the nicest hotel we could find (FYI, there are almost no luxury hotels in Bolivia) and celebrated into the wee hours. I knew 2014 was going to be an amazing year because I ate 12 grapes at midnight and made 12 wishes per Bolivian tradition. ;)  New Year's Eve in La Paz, Bolivia  New Year's Eve in La Paz, Bolivia Bogota, Colombia New Years Day, I flew to Colombia and was ready to make the most of my 15 hour layover. My friends and I wandered around La Candelaria (Old Town Bogota) and saw as much as we could see before it got dark. The city was eerily empty since nearly everything was closed on New Years Day - we didn’t plan that one very well! Once darkness fell, we actually were warned by local police to leave the area and took that as a sign to spend the rest of our layover in the safety (but incredible boredom) of the airport.  Bogota, Colombia February None Amazingly, I managed not to have a single trip in February. This was the only month this year I didn’t at least travel somewhere either by car or by airplane and I’m honestly kind of miffed that I missed getting somewhere every single month! March New York, NY I met my travel buddy extraordinaire (aka Chris) at the end of January. By mid-March, we decided we were ready to travel together. On an incredible whim, we booked insanely cheap fares to New York and hit the road. Chris was clearly trying to impress me and used one of his United 1K upgrade certificates to get us fully lie-flat seats for our red-eye flight out. From there, we had such a great time. We got into the city so early the next morning that there was no way we could check in to our hotel. Instead, we went to the Google New York office and rode scooters and explored for a few hours - our favorite part of the trip! We were also able to meet up with a friend of mine and a friend of Chris’ and have some very delicious food (I really cannot say enough about how amazing Briciola is).  New York, NY  New York, NY Vancouver, Canada It was in Vancouver that Chris and I really hit our traveling stride. This was another trip we booked on a whim and we did it solely because Vancouver’s tourism board was promoting some really great hotel rates and because Chris had never been (despite being Canadian). We burned some miles and headed up for one of my favorite weekend trips. We stayed at the Fairmont Waterfront and the amazing Shangri-La (still one of our favorite hotels in the world), did some shopping, saw another friend of mine, ate more delicious food, and biked around Stanley Park. I even threw together a city guide when we got home. We’ll be back for the amazing city and the amazing Shangri-La!  Vancouver, Canada April Phoenix, AZ I traveled to Arizona, my home state, for the wedding of one of my favorite friends from college. She and her husband had the most beautiful ceremony and reception at the Arizona Biltmore and after, I was able to spend a bit of time with my family before heading back home. May Portland, OR Neither Chris nor I had ever been to Portland, but all I hear is how amazing that city is! Since we were behind the curve, we decided to check it out but honestly, we didn’t love it. For me, if I wanted to go to the Pacific Northwest, I would rather head to Seattle or Vancouver. That being said, we did a lot of eating, visited Multnomah Falls, the Portland Japanese Garden, walked around Pearl Street and the Saturday Market, and drank a lot of beer. I threw together another city guide based on our experiences.  VooDoo Doughnut, Portland  Portland Japanese Garden Los Angeles, CA I headed to Los Angeles to spend the weekend with some wonderful friends from high school and celebrate one who was graduating from USC with her Masters degree. We checked out the Andaz West Hollywood while we were there. San Diego, CA The weekend after we had been in LA, we went back down south to San Diego. I’ve been a hundred times, but Chris had only been once and didn’t have much time to see the city. We checked in to the Andaz San Diego and I took Chris to Coronado Island and La Jolla and then up the coast via the Pacific Coast Highway all the way to Huntington Beach. The next day, we caught a Padres game at Petco Park and met up with a friend who was in town. Our last day, we visited the USS Midway and my favorite restaurant in Balboa Park. With many visits to San Diego under my belt, I threw together another city guide when we got back home.  Padres Game at Petco Park in San Diego
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Travel Planning: Fall in Asia Review: LAX Star Alliance Lounge Review: Singapore Airlines Suites Class LAX - NRT Review: Park Hyatt Tokyo Recap: Time in Tokyo Review: HND JAL First Class Lounge Review: JAL Business Class HND - GMP Review: IP Boutique Hotel Seoul Recap: Time in Seoul Review: ICN Cathay Pacific Lounge Review: Cathay Pacific Business Class ICN - HKG Review: Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui Recap: Time in Hong Kong Review: HKG Cathay Pacific “The Wing” First Class Lounge Review: Cathay Pacific First Class HKG - SFO After spending a few days in Tokyo, we were booked on a business class fight to Seoul out of Haneda on Japan Airlines. Because of Chris' One World Emerald status, we were able to wait for our flight in the First Class area of the Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge, which opened in August of this year. You can find the JAL Sakura Lounge on the 4th floor of Haneda's international terminal near gate 112. When you enter the lounge, you will see the Sakura Lounge entrance on your left and the First Class Lounge entrance on your right. Once entering the First Class Lounge, after walking down a fairly long hallway, you will notice the incredible size of the lounge. Typically, First Class lounges are quite small, but this one is positively enormous.  HND JAL Sakura Lounge Front Desk  HND JAL Sakura Lounge Entrance  HND JAL First Class Lounge Entrance Hall  HND JAL First Class Lounge Entrance  HND JAL First Class Lounge Seating Area The First Class lounge has no less than four different seating areas that span the length of the lounge and as you can see from the photos, the place was nearly empty, which made it feel even larger. The lounge boasts some excellent views and nearly every seat in the house is able to take advantage of them. Once walking in, you will pass some typical seating, followed by table seating for those enjoying the buffet, followed by another typical seating area, and at the far end of the lounge, you'll see the "Red Suite". I'm honestly not sure what the Red Suite is, but it is a nice departure from typical lounge decor and has quite a bit of interesting airline memorabilia, including books, vintage suitcases, and photos, and is a very quiet, nice area to rest while waiting for your flight. The Red Suite even has a champagne and sake room in case you're thirsty.  HND JAL First Class Lounge Seating Area  HND JAL First Class Lounge Seating Area  HND JAL First Class Lounge Seating Area  HND JAL First Class Lounge Seating Area Runway View Travel Planning: Fall in Asia Review: LAX Star Alliance Lounge Review: Singapore Airlines Suites Class LAX - NRT Review: Park Hyatt Tokyo Recap: Time in Tokyo Review: HND JAL First Class Lounge Review: JAL Business Class HND - GMP Review: IP Boutique Hotel Seoul Recap: Time in Seoul Review: ICN Cathay Pacific Lounge Review: Cathay Pacific Business Class ICN - HKG Review: Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui Recap: Time in Hong Kong Review: HKG Cathay Pacific “The Wing” First Class Lounge Review: Cathay Pacific First Class HKG - SFO We spent two and a half days in Tokyo and while we didn't hit some of the biggest tourist attractions of the city, we were content to walk around the neighborhoods and just become absorbed. Tokyo is incredibly bustling and can be overwhelming at times, but it's also an incredibly clean and beautiful city full of very polite and helpful Japanese.  Kabukichō, Tokyo Our first day in Tokyo, we spent the day visiting different neighborhoods and a few tourist attractions in the city. We started off our morning at around 10 AM and headed for the Tokyo Metro. Big. Mistake. Even though it was later in the morning, the train was still packed full of morning commuters. We were literally stuffed into the train and I have never been closer to a total stranger in my life. Despite my discomfort, I had to note that regardless of my location directly in front of a man's armpit, there was no smell in the train car. I really appreciated the Japanese's sense of hygiene at that moment. For our first stop, we figured we should check out Shibuya Crossing, which is famous for being one of the biggest crossings in the world. Traffic stops in all directions to allow people to cross and it's usually packed full of people. Unfortunately, when we visited, for some reason there really weren't that many people in the area so it wasn't as impressive as we expected.  Shibuya Crossing From the crossing, we headed to Meiji Shrine, which is a large Shinto shrine dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shōken. Surrounding the shrine is a quite large evergreen forest, which is beautiful to walk through on your way in. It's really quite nice to disappear into a wooded area right in the middle of a huge city full of concrete and we took our time wandering around.  Meiji Shrine  Meiji Shrine After the shrine, it was time for lunch, so we popped in to a favorite restaurant that Chris had discovered on his last trip to Tokyo. It was dirt cheap and incredibly simple - a bowl of rice with thinly sliced beef and onions on top. Put that with a beer and it was a well-rounded and simple lunch that I actually enjoyed.  Rice and Beef Bowl |
AboutJust a girl with a full-time job and a full-time obsession with traveling. It's best to LiveTraveled. Categories
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