Curiously Carmen

New York City: 5 Day Itinerary

I have been itching to travel, as I have not gone on a plane since 2017! I also miss writing travel posts, so I recently dug out my New York City itinerary from my files. I realized I never shared my itinerary, although there were quite a few posts on specific attractions and restaurants (which I will link)!

I created this itinerary based on a first timer’s experience, so it covers most of the quintessential, must visit New York City tourist spots.

The takeaway from this post is how to spend your time efficiently so that you can make the most out of your 5 days! When planning, I decided to focus on specific neighbourhoods each day, so that my mom and I would not be wasting time going across the city after each attraction.

Day 1
Neighborhood: Time’s Square (ish)
Attractions visited: Time’s Square, Grand Central Station, Hershey’s Store, M&M’s store, The Morgan Library, TKTS ticket booth
Food: Ippudo Westside Ramen

Tired after a red eye flight…. zzz

After my mom and I landed, we took the subway from JFK and stopped at Grand Central Station before checking in at our Airbnb. We had a red eye flight so took a must-needed nap before heading out in the late afternoon.

We started off with a visit to The Morgan Library, which I would recommend if you’re a history/classical lover. Then, we had a delicious dinner at Ippudo Ramen and headed off to Times Square, which is worth visiting at least once. It is a overwhelming spectacle of bright lights and consumer culture at its finest.

We also checked out the flagship Hershey’s and M&M stores there.

Tip: I would highly recommend lining up at the TKTS ticket booth for discounted Broadway shows. We waited about 45 minutes in line in Times Square, but it was so lively and full of sights that the wait was not bad at all. We ended up getting Broadway tickets to the Matilda show for 50% off!

Day 2
Neighbourhoods: Lower Manhattan, Chelsea, Broadway Show
Attractions visited: Staten Island Ferry (free view of the Statue of Liberty), Battery Park, 9/11 Memorial, Century 21, Chelsea Market, Highland Park, Broadway show
Food: Chelsea Market

We started the day by riding the free Staten Island ferry roundtrip, which gives you a beautiful view of the Statue of Liberty! Then, we walked around Battery Park where the pace was slower and quieter. We then walked up to the 9/11 Memorial site and visited the museum, which was very somber and saddening. From there, we walked a few blocks into the Financial District/Wall Street and shopped around Century 21, a department store with great prices!

Then, we took the subway to Chelsea Market and walked to High Line Park. I really enjoyed High Line Park, it was peaceful and quiet but you were still able to see the sights of the city. It was a great place to people watch.

We walked along the whole path and ended up in the Broadway district, where we ended the night watching Matilda on Broadway! It was one of my favourite movies growing up and the show did not disappoint at all!

Day 3
Neighbourhoods: Midtown, Upper East Side
Attractions: Central Park, The Met Museum, Empire State Building
Food: Blue Dog Cafe, Candle 79, Five Senses Korean Restaurant

For our third day, we started off bright and early with the Empire State Building to avoid line ups. After taking in the views, we went to Central Park and spent a couple of hours strolling around and taking photos and stopped at Blue Dog Cafe for lunch.

Then, we went to the Upper East Side for the Met museum and Candle 21, a delicious vegan restaurant. We walked around Upper East Side after, marveling at the apartments and went into a few shops.

Since we had the cityPASS which came with a day and night visit of the Empire State building, we topped off the night with Korean food nearby and then a night view from the Empire State Building.

Day 4:
Neighbourhoods: Midtown, Upper West Side, Hudson River
Attractions: Rockefeller Center, American Museum of Natural History, Circle Line Sightseeing Cruise
Food: Del Frisco Steakhouse, Totto Ramen

Can you tell I like views? We had an early start to beat the lines at Top of the Rock although tbh, either Empire State/Top of the Rock would have been fine, no need to have gone to both. After that, my mom and I splurged a little and went to Del Friso Steakhouse where we felt slightly out of place with all the fancy corporate people in their suits.

Then, we walked around the American Museum of Natural History, which was not as boring as I thought it would be. We walked around Upper West Side for a bit and then walked over to the piers along the Hudson River for our sightseeing cruise! This was the only professional tour we did on the trip, and it was really enjoyable!

The round trip boat cruise did a U shape around the lower part of NYC, passing the Statue of Liberty, and going under all 3 bridges and then came back to the pier. After this, we went to Totto Ramen for a late night dinner which was sooo delicious.

Day 5:
Neighbourhoods: East Village, Chinatown, Brooklyn
Attractions: Brooklyn Bridge
Food: Tasty Handpulled Noodles

For the last full day, we checked off the Brooklyn Bridge on our list! We slowly made our way there, discovering a delicious hole-in-the-wall noodle joint in Chinatown, Tasty Handpulled Noodle in the process.
By the time we made it to the Brooklyn Bridge, it was packed and so busy! We were originally going to walk across the whole bridge, but it was so full of people and noisy from the roaring traffic below, that we decided not to. We just walked around the area, and slowly wound up in East Village. It was a nice, slower paced day compared to all the sightseeing we did in the past 3 days.
We did stay an additional day, but we just mainly walked around Times Square, bought souvenirs, and checked out Ripley’s Believe it or not museum before taking the subway to the airport in the late afternoon. It was a fun filled 5 days and NYC has left a positive impression on me!

Check out the hyperlinks in the post to read detailed reviews on the restaurants or attractions!

Travel: Din Tai Fung Seattle

While on a weekend getaway to Seattle, I really wanted to check Din Tai Fung off my list and try these Michelin-star rated Xiao Long Baos. In the Seattle area, there are four different Din Tai Fung locations. We visited the one in downtown which is about a 15 minute walk from Pike Place Market and inside a mall (I know that the Zomato spoonback is for the University District, but they didn’t have a page for the Downtown location).

We were prepared to wait, and in total we waited probably about 30-35 minutes? You can provide your phone number and they’ll text you when it’s almost your turn. We killed some time and splurged at See’s Candy which is across the street! There’s also a Sephora and Nordstrom across the street so the wait time goes by quite fast.

The vibe of the restaurant was pretty fancy compared to all the other Taiwanese restaurants that we have been to. It was tastefully decorated and pretty modern.

Xiao long bao: You can’t come to Din Tai Fung without getting the famous Xiao Long Baos! We made sure to order them.

It was love at first bite. What sets them apart is that the skin is very thin and slightly chewy, yet it does not break on impact. The thin skin is still able to hold all of the delicious juices inside.

The XLBs are definitely worth the hype and wait. Do yourself a favor and order it!

Moving to the other menu items that aren’t as popular but delicious as well!

Taiwanese spicy beef noodle soup: Nigiri’s beef noodle soup had incredibly tender beef chunks, which were marinated very well too. It wasn’t too spicy although the broth was very flavourful.

Taiwanese beef noodle soup: Maki and I both ordered the same simple beef broth soup. It was very clear yet still flavourful. The taste was very homemade and comforting, and reminded me of the boyfriend’s dad’s broth.

Dan Dan noodles: The boyfriend had mixed feelings about his noodles. There was a large portion of noodles but no meat. Although there was a large portion of noodles, it didn’t feel like any substance so it would have been better with a protein of some sort. It didn’t seem worth the price since it was just noodles, despite the sauce being delicious.

I’m not sure if it’s because I am Canadian so I have to keep in mind the extra 30% (approximate) approximate exchange rate, but our meal was pretty pricey. I am glad I finally tried it though and would love for Din Tai Fung to open in Vancouver so that it wouldn’t be as expensive.

I would still recommend trying the famous XLBs because they are definitely worth it! Perhaps don’t come as hungry as we did because the portion of noodles aren’t that big compared to what we usually get back home. Which is surprising because America is land of the big portions!

Yay!

Din Tai Fung Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Travel: Hyatt House Bellevue Review

In February, I went on a double date weekend trip to Seattle! One of the main reasons why I agreed to go on this double date was because my house was lately facing a ton of issues. We stayed one night at the Hyatt House Bellevue, which was about a 20 minute drive to downtown Seattle.

We chose Bellevue over Seattle because the hotels were significantly cheaper (like half of the price cheaper!). Hyatt House also came with free parking, free wifi, and free breakfast buffet! All three things won us over.

Even though it was only one night, I really enjoyed my stay at this hotel.

One thing I really liked about the Hyatt House was how quiet it was. Even in the hallways, it was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Even though the hotel was facing a highway, you could not tell because of how greatly soundproofed it was.

Here is a shot of our room when you first walk in! We had the standard room with king size bed.

Right beside the entrance, was the small kitchen. I don’t want to call it a kitchenette because it came with a full sized fridge, a stove top, dishwasher, and all cooking utensils (pots, spatulas). If we stayed longer than one night, I definitely would have utilized it! There was no stink from kitchen sink, so plumbing must be perfect there.

The bed was extremely comfortable. I loved the super soft pillows and power outlets were conveniently placed on the lamp holders. I slept really well and woke up feeling refreshed and ready to explore Seattle!

View of the room from the bed. It’s not very big, but it was comfortable enough and super quiet. With the windows closed, all the highway noise was completely blocked out.

The washroom was separated with the sink outside, and the toliet/bathtub inside. I was telling my boyfriend how I prefer this efficient set up and it is the style in Japan too. This way, two people are able to get ready at the same time rather than one person having to wait.

The toiletries were pretty average, nothing special about it.

In the morning, we woke up and went straight to the breakfast buffet downstairs! The breakfast buffet was really delicious and a lot higher quality than I expected it would be. There was a plethora of delicious breakfast foods, including waffles, scrambled eggs, chicken sausage, toast, yogurt, cereal, oatmeal, and fresh fruit.

It was really clean and the staff did a good job in ensuring that nothing ever went empty. Definitely a great way to start the morning and fuel ourselves for the day.

As for cons, there honestly wasn’t much to complain about. Maki noticed afterwards that she was charged an ‘authorization for incidentals’ despite not making any phone calls, eating the minibar snacks, etc. But that was easily fixed after calling the hotel and they refunded her.

The cost of our hotel visit at Hyatt House Bellevue was $147.00 CAD, which was very reasonable considering the quality, comfort, and free amenities.

If you’re planning on heading down to the Seattle area, the Hyatt House is a great choice.

Hotel stay purchased by myself. Opinions are own.

Travel: Isla Mujeres

Off the coast of Cancun, about a 15 minute ferry ride away, lies the small island known as Isla Mujeres. The boyfriend and I spent a couple hours exploring this quaint island during our vacation. Here is what we did!

There are three ferry ports which all dock from Cancun. To get to the ferry port, we took the local bus which was $1 USD each. Round-trip ferry was about $20 USD.

Waiting to board the ferry 🙂

Tip: Board at either the Punta Sam or Puerto Juarez terminals and save yourself the taxes. If you board at the Playa Linda terminal, you’ll need to pay the taxes since this port is closest to the resorts, aka the Hotel Zone. However, Puerto Juarez is only an additional 5 minutes away so it’s not that inconvenient.

Goodbye Cancun 🙂

The ferry ride to Isla Mujeres is quite nice. There are two levels of the ferry, which also contains washrooms and a place to store luggage. The second level is open air, which is more popular for obvious reasons! During the 15 minute ferry ride, there was a live singer and on the way back, live instrumental music.

A few minutes before we docked, we were greeted by a sudden downpour of rain! Within 3 minutes, everyone on the top deck (including ourselves), were soaked! It was really funny and everyone on the ferry was laughing about it.

It was still drizzling a tiny bit, but we were greeted within seconds from a golf cart rental person. We probably looked like prime tourist bait, but he was nice and the rate was reasonable (our resort agent told us not to spend more than $20/hour for the rental).

So we paid for our golf cart and off we went! We drove along the beautiful coast, the drizzle from the rain dusting our skin softly. We blended in nicely with all the other golf carts around the island.

We didn’t really have a plan, but life shouldn’t always be planned out. There should be room for spontaneity too. All we knew was that we wanted to visit the Tortugranja, the sea turtle conservatory on the island.

There was a$3 USD fee to visit Tortugranja, which we didn’t mind paying because that was pretty cheap compared to other attractions. Plus, we love sea turtles and it goes to a good cause 🙂 You could also buy turtle food and feed the cute turtles too!

After checking out the sea turtle conservatory, our hours were an empty canvas. So we decided to just follow the main road which loops around the island. During our ride, we got lost once and ended up in the residential part of town and saw some locals.

Punta Sur – The calm & relaxing side of the island

Eventually, we made it to Punta Sur, which is the southern tip of the island. There was a restaurant, souvenir shop, and mayan temples… but the most breathtaking part of Punta Sur was nature.

The southern tip was characterized by high, rugged, and rocky cliffs whereas the nothern tip (Punta Norte) features white sand beaches. It reminded me of Maui with all the lush tropical vegetation but also of Ireland’s cliffs.

We spent some time walking around here, and I also purchased a fresh coconut for only $3 usd! It was delicious and much needed hydration.

Fresh coconut juice for $3 USD! Please excuse my face… I was not mad LOL

It was time to continue driving on the main road around the island. The drive to the north tip, Punta Norte, was about 15 minutes so you can see how small the island is. During the drive, it was mostly cliffs and rocky beaches so we just enjoyed the scenery from the golf cart. We passed some stray dogs and saw some beautifully designed Mexican-style homes. It was truly a sight for our eyes, since we watch a lot of interior design & HGTV shows!

The main road back to Punta Norte/ferry terminal/golf cart rental place.

Playa Norte is the postcard staple of Isla Mujeres – beautiful white sand beach, blue water, palm trees. However, it was also very crowded and hectic and not like Google Images. Souvenir stores dot the road and the sales people are extremely pushy, going up and following you.

In all honesty, I liked the southern tip more because it was calmer and no pushy sales people. Playa Norte was too busy for me, and we had the beautiful white sand beach and blue water at Cancun anyways!

The southern tip had more of the quiet, calm island vibe I was wanting. So after buying some souvenirs (and avoiding very pushy sales people), we quickly got out of Playa Norte and returned our golf cart and went back to the ferry terminal to our resort!

Writing this post, I just realized I didn’t take any pics at Playa Norte because it was so hectic and pushy that I just wanted to buy my souvenirs and go to the ferry terminal!

I would definitely recommend a few hours at Isla Mujeres. There are many restaurants to relax at, swimming with sharks, whales, snorkeling, etc etc. Although we didn’t partake in these activities as we wanted to save money, I have no regrets and enjoyed simply golf carting around the island with my other half.

Travel: Twelve hours at Xcaret Park

Happy 2018! My first blog post of the year!

While in Mexico, the boyfriend and I wanted a relaxing vacation but also a couple days of adventure. On Trip Advisor, Xcaret Park was listed as one of the top activities and after doing some research on the park, it seemed like something that we would enjoy!

Credit: Xcaret

Xcaret Park is an eco-adventure park about 1 hour from Cancun and 15 minutes from Playa Del Carmen. When reading reviews, guests had mentioned the park is huge and I definitely have to agree. 

Luckily, we got the insider scoop on the best way to maximize your time at Xcaret, which I will be sharing with you now! This is the order of activities that we did in the span of 12 hours (9am-9pm), not including a delicious lunch buffet next to their jaguar island. These activities are also all included in your admission price.

1- Paradise River: We started off with a relaxing boat ride along the river. For those who do not want to get wet or go swimming, this would be a great activity.

2- Shops/walking around: We spent about a hour following one of the paths, which had handmade souvenirs from local vendors, a fresh tortilla shop, woolmaking shop, and lots of art. Xcaret Park is extremely organized. They have different coloured marked paths so that you won’t get lost. Following the paths ensure that you reach your desired destination and that you are able to see everything.

3- Coral Reef Aquarium: We also spent some time checking out the marine life at the aquarium.

4- Jaguar Island: The jaguars are the largest cats in North America. We were able to spot 3 jaguars hanging out on the island. There is also the international buffet restaurant next to the Jaguar Island, so we enjoyed a delicious meal trying to spot the jaguars.

5- Underground river: This was the highlight of the day for me! There are natural underground rivers that run throughout the park. There are three rivers, and each of them end up at the opposite side of the park.

It was relaxing and really cool to float along the river and inside the caves. From one end to the other, it took 1 hour – which gives you an idea of how large the park is.

6- Take pictures by the coast: The most scenic part of Xcaret! Once we finished the underground river swim, we ended up by the rugged coast line. There were more restaurants, gift shops, and hammocks in this area. We spent some time taking pictures of the beautiful view here, which is a must.

7- Sea turtles & parrots: However, the path back was full of sights to see! We took pictures with parrots on our heads, walked by a beach and snorkelling area. We stumbled upon the sea turtle conservatory area. There were many types of sea turtles and babies here that would eventually be released back into the ocean.

8- Mayan village dance: After about a hour of walking back to the main area, we arrived to the Mayan Village to see the show! I quite enjoyed the cultural show which featured traditional dances and costumes

9- Dinner: At this point, we were just exhausted from all the activities. I would recommend going for a quick dinner. However, we decided to save money and buy some pastries and snacks from the gift shop instead.

10- Night show: The daily night show from 7-9 pm is a must see. The beginning performances had some fire shows, including an activity which looked like hockey except the puck was a flaming ball. Then, they had dance performances and music from different regions of Mexico. It was a great chance to see various cultures within Mexico and we really enjoyed it.

Little things:

– Organization: Xcaret is a very well organized and tidy park. Since it is a huge park, they have specially marked colour paths that you can follow to reach your destination. Following these colour paths will ensure that you make the most of your visit as you won’t be getting lost!

Photo pass – Don’t have to ask strangers to take photos, and the pictures will always have the perfect background! During the underground river swim.

-Photo pass: For an extra fee of $75/group (max 10 people), there are many photo stations around the park which you then download online. When you reach a photo station, you scan your wristband and it will snap a photo for you. This feature came in really handy for us, and we were really happy with how the photos turned out – very high quality and professional looking.

Photo pass – Don’t have to ask strangers to take photos, and the pictures will always have the perfect background! At the end of the underground river swim.

-Convenience: They really have everything thought out here. For the underground river swim, you put your belongings in a large duffle bag (no valuables such as camera, phone, wallet). Your duffle bag with your belongings then get transported to the other end of the park, ready for pickup after you finish your swim. It was so nice to have our towels and shoes ready instantly.

-Transportation: Although I was provided with media passes, they did not come with transportation. We paid $30 each for a roundtrip shuttle bus. At the end of our 12 hour day, I was SO thankful we did because we were so tired. The bus ride was about 2 hours one way, which I used to nap. The buses were also air conditioned and have washrooms. 

We had a really fun and smooth day at Xcaret, thanks to the organization of the park and friendly staff. Not only was it fun, but we learned so much about Mexican culture and history too! It was such a great day and I would recommend spending a day here when you’re in the area.

Disclaimer: Media entry passes provided. Opinions are own.