travel Archives - Page 8 of 10

Exploring the Big Apple: New York CityPASS Review

May 30, 2016

I’ve mentioned in my Empire State Building and Circle Line Sightseeing Cruise reviews that I went to both of these attractions using the New York CityPASS.

I’ve seen the CityPASS program while in Seattle a few times, but this was the first time that I used it for myself!

Today, I will be thoroughly reviewing the CityPASS and giving my opinion on it.

First off, what is the CityPASS? The CityPASS offers customers access to the city’s top attractions, at a significantly discounted rate. Once you purchase the pass, you simply tear off the ticket at the attraction and you are good to go! In New York, here are the six attractions one can choose from:

Empire State Building- Includes two same day admission for day and night viewing
American Museum of Natural History
The Metropolitan Musem of Art
Top of the Rock OR Guggenheim Musem
Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island OR Circle Line Sightseeing Cruise
9/11 Memorial Museum OR Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum

At the time of writing, one New York CityPASS is $159.69 CAD.

To put this into perspective, buying the Empire State Building tickets for both day and night already costs $83.85 CAD (Accurate at time of writing due to the dollar exchange rate). Top of the Rock passes are $57.65 CAD. 9/11 Memorial Museum tickets are another $31.45 CAD.

If purchasing all of the attractions separately, you would be paying at least 40% more! If it is your first time in New York, purchasing the CityPASS makes it easier to explore the city. There is so much to do in NYC, which may be overwhelming for first time visitors.

But with the CityPASS, you don’t have to worry about which places to go and if they are worth it or not. I went to all six attractions with the CityPASS, and enjoyed each attraction a lot. It is no wonder why they have been selected to be featured in the pass.

Top of the rock — Top of the Rock with the New York CityPASS!

For 4 out of the 6 attractions in total, CityPASS ticket holders are offered express lines. Look for the CityPASS logo at the Empire State Building, American Museum of Natural History, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Circle Line, and 9/11 Memorial Museum.

CL8 — Circle Line Sightseeing Cruise with New York CityPASS!

All of the staff working at the attractions are familiar with the CityPASS and will direct you on where to go, should you need assistance.

The pros outweigh the cons of not purchasing a CityPASS. If you are only spending 1-2 days in New York, then it probably wouldn’t be worth it because you won’t have time to visit all six attractions. The CityPASS also only comes in a small booklet. Don’t lose this because all your tickets are inside!
All in all, having the CityPASS made our 6 day trip to New York a lot easier and better. Wait times were cut down, didn’t have to worry about purchasing tickets, and I already knew where I was going so didn’t have to waste time! My favourite was obviously the Empire State Building, and my second would have to be the Circle Line Sightseeing Cruise.

You can purchase the CityPASS online, or at any of the attractions once you get into the city.

There are also CityPASS booklets available in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, San Fran, Seattle, Southern California (DISNEYLAND!!!), Tampa Bay, and Toronto!

Yay!

Thanks for reading,

Carmen

Media samples provided. Opinions are own.

Five Senses Korean Restaurant, New York City

May 24, 2016

I don’t know why, but the name Five Senses reminds me of a scary movie kinda? Weird! Anyways, after a day of exploring NYC and going up the Empire State Building (read my tips on visiting the world famous landmark here!), my mom and I were super hungry. We normally look up restaurants in the area beforehand, but this time, we decided to just wander around the neighbourhood and find a restaurant that caught our eye.
We walked by Five Senses, and it looked pretty busy so we gave the menu a quick look. After seeing the high ratings on Yelp, we decided to try it! I’m glad we came here before the dinner rush because there was a pretty long line up afterwards.

Oh yeah, turns out that we were actually wandering around Koreatown, which explained why there were so many Korean restaurants around us =P
Banchan, free: The banchan was pretty much the same as what you would get in Vancouver. However, I’ve never seen the clear, cold noodles mixed with veggies on the far right before. That was probably my favourite dish out of all of these. The noodles were served a bit chilled, and had a really strong sesame oil taste to it! The kimchi packed a lot of heat as well.
Sul lang tang, $12.99: I honestly don’t know why I keep ordering beef bone stock soup when it usually isn’t that tasty. I’ve come to accept the fact that Korean beef bone soup is usually pretty flavourless, and this was pretty much the same. On the right hand side of the photo, you can see the salt that it comes with, but I had to ask for another plate of it because it still wasn’t enough.

On the plus side, there was a generous amount of noodles and beef, even though the beef was overcooked in the broth. Each spoonful was met with many beef slices, and there was more meat than noodles which was great!
Soondubu, $13.99: I had wanted to order this as well, but wasn’t really feeling like anything spicy. This is the seafood tofu soup. It came with a generous amount of tofu and seafood, and was super filling. We found it to have a good amount of spice to it as well. Overall, a really comforting and delicious dish!

Service was really fast and attentive, which is always a plus. However, since there was a line up, we did feel as though we were being rushed to leave and didn’t really feel like we truly enjoyed our food as much as we could have. But I understand, if I was waiting in line I would hope that the other customers eat quickly as a courtesy!

Thanks for reading,
Carmen

Candle 79, New York City

May 18, 2016

While looking up places to eat in New York, I came across Candle 79. Even though I am not vegan, I wanted to try a vegan place because it’s really nice and relaxing to walk in to a restaurant and not have to stress over whether something contains dairy in it or not. As well, Candle 79 had really great reviews, so how could I pass it up?
So, after an afternoon of exploring Central Park and The Met museum, we explored the Upper East Side and went to Candle 79!

As mentioned above, Candle 79 is a completely vegan restaurant. None of their menus or signage advertise this, but I had found it under the vegan section on Yelp and the server confirmed that everything here is vegan. Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge meat lover, so vegan or vegetarian food takes a lot to impress me. Let’s see how they did!
We were still pretty full from our lunch at Blue Dog, but didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to try this place. Since we already had plans for the rest of the trip and wouldn’t be in this area of NYC again, we decided on just having a small snack to at least try something!

Angel’s nachos, $16: Made with corn chips, ‘mozarella’, chili beans, tofu sour cream, and guacamole. The mozarella is the dairy & soy alternative from Daiya, which you may have seen in grocery stores. For nachos that don’t have real cheese, this was delicious. The tofu sour cream tasted like real sour cream, while there was a very generous portion of guacamole. The corn chips were really crunchy and thick as well.

The one thing I didn’t really like was the chipotle seitan. Seitan is a vegetarian meat alternative, made from wheat. I found it have the texture of tofu puffs, and didn’t really match the taste or texture of meat to me. So, I ate everything else which was delicious!
Housemade ice cream sampler, $9: The nachos were already really filling considering we weren’t hungry to begin with, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to have ICE CREAM. I was already sold when our server told us it was made with rich coconut milk. I’ve been deprived of ice cream for soooo long.

The chef’s selection that day was the strawberry coconut soy, mango, and vanilla chocolate. THEY WERE SO GOOD. Seriously guys, it was soo creamy from the coconut milk that you can’t even tell it’s dairy free. To this day, I am still thinking and wishing that I had Candle 79’s ice cream again.

My favourite was the strawberry, and I found myself savouring every creamy bite. The mango, although it was called a ‘sorbet’, was really creamy and tasted deliciously creamy as well. I found the vanilla chocolate to be too sweet, and that one melted quite fast, while the other two didn’t melt.

Whether you are vegan or not, Candle 79 is a delicious restaurant and worth trying out. I will continue to think about their vegan ice cream over and over again, especially since the weather is getting hotter now.

Thanks for reading!

Carmen

Empire State Building, New York City – Tips!

May 14, 2016

For many, the Empire State Building is a must visit when in New York City. I can’t count how many romantic movies and novels I have read that have used the beautiful building as a setting backdrop. I knew I had to visit the Empire State Building during my visit here, because I am forever chasing beautiful viewpoints.

I already had the New York CityPASS, which included admission to the Empire State Building for the same day and night – so twice in a day to see the day and night view! After going on TripAdvisor, the line-hater in me was horrified to hear stories of people waiting 2+ hours to get up.

So, we decided to try our luck and hope that the line up wouldn’t be two hours to experience one of NYC’s greatest attractions.
Empire State Building Line System:

There are a total of FIVE lines before you are able to make it up to the observatory deck:

The line on the main floor (there wasn’t a line during the day but at night there was)
The airport style security checkpoint line
The ticket purchasing line up
The lineup to the 80th floor elevator
And finally, the lineup to the observatory deck on the 86th floor

For $65 a person, or a bit more than double the regular price of $32 a person, visitors are given the option to bypass the line with the VIP express ticket. I’m not too sure if this bypasses ALL five lines, but it definitely bypasses the elevator lines.

Skip the line with the NYC CityPASS

With the NYC CityPASS, we were able to skip the ticket purchasing line up, which was the longest line of all. After you show the staff your CityPASS, they show you a shortcut to the elevator lines.

We quickly passed by the ticket purchasing line and we were SO glad that we had the CityPASS! The line up was crazy to purchase tickets, even on a Wednesday late afternoon! I can’t imagine a Friday or Saturday night.

Because most people are stuck in the ticket purchasing line, the elevator lines went by pretty fast and weren’t long at all. The waiting areas are a spiraling maze of rope guards for the busiest nights. I feel so bad for people who come during peak hours (Friday & Saturday nights).

Walk up the Empire State Building?

They don’t really advertise this anywhere, but if you don’t want to wait for the second and final elevator to the 86th floor, you are able to walk up six flights of stairs instead. The staff will announce when they are escorting people to walk up, so be mindful of any announcements as you are in line!

My mom and I did this during the night visit as we didn’t know about it during our first day visit. We were a bit tired after walking up the flight of stairs, and I definitely felt the soreness in my legs the day after, but it was definitely worth not having to wait in line. Can you tell how much I hate waiting in line now?

Now, on to the views!

View of the Upper East Side with Brooklyn across the East River. The buildings look short, but they are actually quite tall if you don’t compare them to the majestic Empire State Building.

View of Upper Manhattan, with Central Park in the background. The buildings look like lego towers to me. Even from 86 floors above, you can still hear the fire truck and police sirens. You just can’t escape from the hustle and bustle of the concrete jungle!

View of Lower Manhattan, with the One World Trade being the tallest skyscraper in the photo.

Hello! 🙂 I also recommend bringing a GoPro/selfie stick so you can get better views for your photos!

Since we were able to skip a large chunk of waiting with the CityPASS, we had to wait probably 30-40 minutes. The longest line was security, which everyone has to wait in regardless of which type of ticket they have. We spent about a half hour at the top, soaking in the beautiful, unbeatable New York views.

After dinner, we came back as the CityPASS offers both day and night admission for the same date! As predicted, the night line up was longer but we were able to be up there in 45 minutes as we walked up the six flight of stairs and skipped the last elevator line.

View of Upper Manhattan at night.

View of Lower Manhattan at night.

The view at the top is absolutely breathtaking. You are able to see the concrete jungle from above, in all its chaotic, busy, and beautiful glory. I highly recommend adding the Empire State Building to your bucket list, you won’t be disappointed.

Consider purchasing the New York CityPASS to save 40% on six must-see attractions, and by pass the super long Empire State Building line!

Thanks for reading,

Carmen

CityPASS media passes provided for review. Opinions are own.

Totto Ramen, New York City (Hell’s Kitchen location)

May 12, 2016

Totto Ramen and Ippudo Ramen were both on my ‘want to try’ lists during my visit to the Big Apple. We made it to Ippudo Ramen on the first night, and also was able to try Totto Ramen a few days later! Both places are extremely popular in New York, making the wait times pretty long.

After going on the Circle Line sightseeing cruise (click link for my experience with them!), we walked over to Totto Ramen to their Hell’s Kitchen location around 9:30 pm on a Friday night. Since it was already late, we didn’t think it would be busy so we were a bit shocked to see a big crowd outside the tiny noodle joint!

We had to wait a total of 30 minutes, I can’t imagine how long you would have to wait during peak hours. If you don’t want to wait during peak hours, I suggest coming on a weekday around 5pm or something like that. Luckily, I met a couple in line who were visiting from Israel so the line went by quickly.
I love Japanese culture because of how efficient everything is. While we were waiting, one of the workers went around and we all placed our order in line. As you can see, the restaurant is really crowded and small. We shared a four person table with two other customers against the wall, and there was no room for us to really move around.

So, don’t come here if you are claustrophobic! There is also really loud metal/screamo music playing.. my theory is that it makes people eat faster because of the intense music. I definitely found myself eating pretty fast, partly due to the music and because I was hungry.
Chicken paitan, $10: Totto Ramen’s original straight noodles in a rich and creamy chicken broth. This was immensely delicious, and super warm and comforting. It was raining in New York that night, so it was the perfect bowl to have. The pulled pork was also really delicious and really tender.

I found the chicken to be slightly bland, it tasted like it was just boiled but it’s still good to have some protein regardless.

There was also lots of fresh chopped onions in the broth as well. 10/10 would recommend. So good.
Miso Paitan, $12: The miso paitan has the same chicken base as mine, but with miso added to it. Again, this bowl was very delicious and flavourful. The pork was very tender and melted in my mouth, I wish we had also ordered pork on the other bowl as well!

In addition, the onions, scallions, and bean sprouts were very fresh and crunchy as well.
Here’s a closeup of the ramen noodles in the chicken paitan. They were cooked perfectly and were slightly chewy. This was my first time trying the thin ramen noodles and I really liked it!
The noodles in the miso paitan were a bit different, and were more like the ramen noodles I was used to eating back in Vancouver. Again, these were cooked perfectly and had a lovely bounce to it.

All in all, Totto Ramen was really good and worth the wait. The broth is rich and flavourful, while the noodles are bouncy and cooked perfectly. I can definitely see why there are such long waits for this place. Coming from Vancouver where ramen is already plentiful, I have high expectations for ramen and Totto definitely surpassed my expectations!

Yay!

Thanks for reading,
Carmen