Kon’nichiwa Tokyo!

We took a quick getaway between Christmas and New Years to Tokyo. I’d not been to Japan yet. I think my hesitation was mostly because of my unfamiliarity with Japanese food and the limited times I tried it I wasn’t overly fond of what I tried. Nevertheless, it was long overdue for me to get over it. There are many aspects of the Japanese culture that are very appealing to me, like they are very orderly, respectful, polite, helpful, and they follow the rules. Japan is a very safe country and it’s very clean, even with it being very difficult to find trash bins around the city. It appears it’s less of an eat “on the run” society and take away is taken home to eat.

First impressions of Tokyo, a city of 14 million people, are it’s busy but not necessarily always overwhelmingly busy. There are orderly queues for everything. The transportation system is impressively vast and very efficient. Pleasant music plays when trains arrive and depart, everyone waits for others to get off before embarking. People aren’t talking on their phones on the trains and there are signs everywhere telling people to have their phones on silent. The signage is in both Japanese and English as are the announcements which made it very easy to get around. There does seem to be a heads in the phone culture though; I guess it’s a way to pass the time while commuting. For most of our stay we commuted on the JR line and at most of the stations you’ll find shops or a shopping mall attached to it. It was quite amazing to see all the variety of things you could actually buy at a train station. 

With five days here, it feels like we only have time to barely scratch the surface of what Tokyo has to offer.

Punta (de) Mita

Getting a warm sunny vacation in as our local weather turns dreary has become a thing. It benefits the mind, body, and soul. Punta de Mita and Punta Mita were the destinations this year, a return to Punta de Mita after four years. Landing in warm Puerto Vallarta after our direct flight raised the spirits quickly even though we were a bit delayed. We rented a car through Gecko car rentals, a great outfit, and after our airport pick up and smooth check in we were on the road to Punta de Mita. We split our stay at two places with our first at the W Punta de Mita. We stayed there on our last trip and really loved the resort and the beach. The resort is a mix of beach with a tropical forest feel on the property inland. This stay we decided to splurge and opted for the all-inclusive package. We had never tried all-inclusive before. I’m pretty sure we ended up eating and drinking more as a result. The food at the restaurants was amazing; they had a few themed evenings and brought in a local chef on a couple nights with his own tasting menu. Cool thing it was included in our package so we got to sample some amazing food that isn’t normally on the menu. We even got to meet the chef. 

We stayed in a gorgeous, large ocean view suite with a large deck with a plunge pool. Off the shower, outside was a private hot tub and we spent time enjoying both. The resort has been undergoing a renovation. The reconfigured the adult pool to include loungers and a lot of other seating; that didn’t exist last time. They also redid the lobby. They are adding another restaurant which wasn’t done yet and added some new suites and we got the opportunity to tour through one. The newly built suites are amazing and have a completely different vibe to them as the existing suites. The new ones are more earthy toned with natural wood features while the existing fit more of the general W vibe, eclectic and bright. I think their plan is to update the existing suites as well so we may need to go back to check it out or stay in one of the new suites instead. The resort wasn’t overly busy considering a large wedding party was staying there. We were always able to find loungers by the pool. We mostly stayed at the resort for this part because everything was included, but we did head up to San Pancho one afternoon to meet up with a former coworker and his girlfriend who happened to be there at the same time. We did a walking tour of the quaint town, which had a bit of a hippy feel to it, and caught up over drinks at one of the local restaurants. 

Our second location was just a bit further north in the gated community of Punta Mita. Here we stayed at the beautiful St. Regis, also recently renovated. We stayed in a large, well appointed villa with ocean view. Our room had a large shower with soaker tub as well as an outdoor shower which we ended up using mostly instead because we don’t often get that luxury. Our room was well located to the pool, beach, and restaurants. Again it didn’t feel overly busy when we arrived mid week, but we noticed it start getting a bit busier towards the weekend likely because American Thanksgiving was the following week. Even still it wasn’t bad and we always found a spot by the pool or beach. The water here was a bit calmer as the beach was situated in a volcanic rock cove. The beach was still very nice sand but as you got towards the water it became rockier so water shoes were helpful. It was great for swimming. While the resort is right on the ocean, the beach area accessibility is limited due to the volcanic rock. There is a great surfing spot and we saw several surfers catching some good waves each day, making it look so easy that it inspired Z to give it a try. Turns out it’s not that easy especially when you don’t surf often. 

We tried a couple of the restaurants on site and discovered that if you didn’t quite like the menu at one restaurant you could order off another restaurant’s end and still have it delivered where you were eating. That worked well for me when we had dinner at the beach seafood restaurant one evening. Every night at the St. Regis hotels they serve champagne at 6pm and they have a sabrage ceremony and often they will have guests volunteer to sabre the bottle. I convinced Z to give it a try. He wanted to do it but was being a bit shy but he came around and had a great experience. He did it perfectly and as a souvenir he was given the cork. We also partook in a cooking class with one of the sous chefs from the buffet restaurant. We participated with a family from Quebec and made fajitas.  We made the salads and guacamole from scratch and got to form and fry the fajitas too. That part is a bit tricky; I’ll stick to premade ones back home. 

Having a car made it a lot easier to also meet up with Z’s extended family; a cousin who lives there and his parents who spend their winters in Puerto Vallarta. We met up at a lovely Italian restaurant in Bucerias, a half hour drive south. After a delicious meal and a great time catching up, we wandered through the town a bit as never of us had been there before. Since our resort wasn’t too far from Punta Mita town, one night we ventured out for dinner at a quaint restaurant called Tacos & Papas. Located at the end of side road really off the beaten track we questioned ourselves briefly walking along the dirt road trying to find it but when you turn into the property it has a great outdoor seating area and cool vibe. Turns out the owner has a close to local connection with his daughter living on the island. The tacos were so amazing we were kicking ourselves we hadn’t tried them earlier in our stay. Next time. We had wanted to try out a place for ice cream but we were unable to find it and instead stumbled upon a churros stand making them fresh. We couldn’t resist and it was a nice treat to cap the evening off. We also decided to check out a different beach from our resort and drove ourselves to Playa Careyeros, a beautiful white sand beach that stretched for miles with turquoise warm water. This beach is quite secluded found off a dirt road filled with pot holes making getting there a bit tricky. The swimming is supposed to be incredible here, only thing though was there were jelly fish washed up on the shore which means there were more of them in the tempting turquoise water, so swimming was out. We still hung out at the beach for a while at a restaurant called El Barracuda enjoying a couple drinks in their beach loungers. 

There are many walking trails within the gated community in which the St. Regis is located, along with many other hotels and places to stay. The Four Seasons is nearby and one morning we decided to go for a walk to find the “tale of a whale”, a golf hole situated on an island that is only accessible during low tide. To get there we had to walk on the course and got stopped by a worker who said we shouldn’t be  walking on the golf cart path. We told him we why we were there and kept on walking despite him preferring us not being there. When we got to the tale of a whale another security guard started grilling us and telling us we were not allowed to be there. I was very uncomfortable at this point but Z really wanted to get a picture so he sort of ignored the security guard. There was a group of golfers who caught on quickly to the situation and told the security guard that we were guests of theirs to try and lighten the situation a bit. Not entirely sure the security guard understood but we hustled out of there soon as the golfers tee’d off and as in my typical fashion I was annoyed the whole way back on the walk because I thought something bad was going to happen to us for effectively trespassing. In the end, nothing did happen, but still… We had an incredible time just relaxing and soaking up warm sunshine, meeting up with friends and family, and enjoying the delicious food. Until next time!

To travel is to live… life is good. 

US Open

Going to the US Open has long been on the bucket list for me. It's a sport I'm terrible at, but really enjoy watching. The athleticism of the players is astounding and getting to see them play live is an experience I'll cherish. 

When we originally purchased our tickets, we didn't know which players we'd actually see. The weekend we were there, we knew would be the Round of 16 so at least we knew the likelihood of some of the top players making it that far was fairly high. To better our chances of seeing a variety of matches we bought day tickets to the Arthur Ashe stadium which guaranteed your seats in that stadium but also allowed you to drop into the other stadiums for opening seating. Our original plan was to go for a one day session, but after some further research we decided to buy a couple other sessions including a night session at Arthur Ashe (which ended up being a very good bet) and another day session at the Louis Armstrong stadium. 

The US Open is held in Queens at Flushing Meadows. This was about a 45 minute subway train ride away but also involved about a 15 minute walk from our second hotel, Le Meridien Fifth Avenue, to get on the right train so we only had to take one instead of changing. We wanted the most direct train because we figured changing trains would probably mean that the closer we got to Queens, the more packed the train would be. We were right even for the direct train; by the time we arrived at Flushing Meadows we were pretty much packed like sardines in a can, or in this case, a train. 

The tournament is very well organized and the staff very nice and helpful. We read about very strict security protocol and what you can and cannot bring into the tournament. We followed the rules to a tee (surprising!!) and found security a bit more relaxed than we read about. There is plenty to do and see on the grounds outside of the stadiums and even if you don't have tickets to the main stadium matches, you can watch them on gigantic TV screens outside. 

I think we got so lucky with the passes we bought and got to see some of the world's top ranking players without realizing beforehand that we'd see them. We saw Iga Swiatek - world's #1 woman, play in two separate matches; Americans Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton - in Ben's match we witness him serve the US Open's new record for fastest serve at 149mph and he did it TWICE! We watched a women's double match featuring Canada's Layla Fernadez and her partner Taylor Townsend win. We also saw Taylor Townsend in another match playing singles. But the absolute treat was having tickets to the evening session Sunday night. At the time we bought the tickets we had no clue who would be featured at this main event match. We only finally figured out who might possibly play two days before and we got really excited. Love him or hate him, Sunday night's main evening match featured Novak Djokovic vs Borna Gogo. Djokovic's skill, his precision, and his grit is astonishing. His play is calculated, his ball placement is almost always precise, and he has a way of digging deep to win the point even if it looks like he's going to loose it. There's a reason he is the world's #1 men's player and has won 24 grand slam titles. Watching this match was by far the highlight of the entire tournament and trip for me! What an absolute treat! 

This trip did not disappoint. We packed in a lot, more than originally planned, but we wanted to make the most of the opportunity. The city that never sleeps has again created lasting memories! 

To travel is to live... life is good! 

NYC featuring the US Open

The train dropped us right at Penn Station in Manhattan and from there we had a 10ish minute walk to our hotel. NYC is as busy a city as ever and with the US Open in town felt just that bit more busy with people. Thankfully the weather was good and the walk wasn't so bad; we probably got to our hotel faster walking than had we attempted to take a taxi. We split our time in NYC between two hotels with the first being Pulse Marriott Vacation Club. In true NYC fashion, our room was cozy (aka tiny) but honestly provided all we needed for our stay. We arrived later in the afternoon and after checking into our hotel, we decided to go exploring on foot a bit before we had dinner. We found ourselves ending up at a quaint wine bar during happy hour... oops! When one finds oneself at a wine bar during happy hour, what does one do? Allows the bartender to make your wine selection after a quick explanation of your tastes and you end up drinking some very enjoyable French wine and are happy you tried something new!

As we continued our walking exploration we came upon a store devoted entirely to Harry Potter and of course had to check it out before ending up at Times Square, because what is a visit to NYC without strolling through Times Square. Someone had researched that one of the best pizza joints in NYC is Joe's Pizza and seeing the line up stretch all the way down the block when we got there, the anticipation (and impatience) started to build. After about a half hour of inching slowly forward we got pizza slices and admittedly it was really worth it. Some pretty darn good pizza! 

We had a few days in NYC to explore before our sports weekend started. Oh yeah, not only were we going to the US Open, but we decided that while we were there we'd see what other NYC sports events were happening and found out the NY Mets were playing - turns out baseball for me is also a big snooze fest in person as it is on TV, and NYFC were also playing in Yankee Stadium - how cool is that? It so happened that NYFC were playing our hometown team so there was no excuse not to go and cheer on the visiting team decked out in our jerseys. We also saw two other people decked out in the same jerseys which was pretty cool to know we weren't the only ones cheering on the visitors. Our home/visiting team won the match!! Our initial plan had been only to catch the US Open, but when we learned these other games were on, we thought, when else would we ever have this opportunity? 

NYC has so much to offer, food, sights, and shows to name a few. We walked the city a lot and explored some of the very distinct neighbourhoods. It seems like each neighbourhood in NYC has a park where people meet up or just go to sit outside. We stopped in one by NY University after grabbing some takeout and found ourselves being entertained by a jazz quartet. What a wonderful lunch! We found the lego store on 5th Avenue which was really cool and we found, but didn't go inside, an ice cream museum. We made our way down to the 9/11 Memorial site; they've done a beautiful job with the grounds and while the line up far too long to go into the museum, we walked the grounds and took a moment to reflect at the two memorial pools. It was a bit of a sobering experience going there. And what is a trip to NYC without a walk through Central Park? 

One of the highlights of this amazing trip was meeting up with Z's cousin and her husband who live there. We met up at a fabulous Greek restaurant and had a great evening filled with food, drinks, great conversations and many laughs. After dinner we walked towards the Metropolitan Opera House and Lincoln Centre for Performing Arts all the while getting a local's take on the city, it's history and architecture. 

I had never been to the Statue of Liberty, but we didn't want to take a tour because it didn't quite fit our schedule. Instead we took the free ferry to Staten Island which goes by the Statue of Liberty and turned around and came right back. We weren't the only ones with this idea as half the people on our ride over did the same thing as us; got off and immediately ran to catch the return ferry. Not much, if anything is free in NYC. 

Of course when in NYC you have to take in a Broadway, or off Broadway show... there are so many to choose from so we took in two!! Neither of us had seen either and when we booked, both were supposed to star some actually known famous people. Our first show was the musical Funny Girl staring Lea Michele (from Glee fame) and the night we choose was her last performance as the show was also closing in a week. We arrived to find out that Lea Michele wasn't performing that night after all but the show was fabulous regardless and the lead was amazing in her performance. Our second show was a comedy, not musical, The Cottage staring Eric McCormick (from Will & Grace fame), and directed by Jason Alexander (from Seinfeld). The show was absolutely hilarious and we were in stitches laughing throughout the entire performance even without Eric McCormick performing that evening. Strike two... but it didn't matter, we enjoyed both shows immensely. And besides we'd at least get to see one or more of the top ranked tennis players play at the US Open, right? 

Brotherly Love and the Big Apple

What sounds like an odd title for a book was actually a very fun trip outside of the time I spend being sick. For a long time now we've wanted to experience the US Open tennis tournament in New York. Perhaps our impromptu day at Roland Garros many years ago wet the appetite but perhaps it also is a bit more within reach than many of the other major tennis tournaments. We had a really steller deal from Marriott and one of their New York properties qualified for it, so we decided no time like 2023 to make this experience a reality. Of course, if we were going to fly all the way to New York, why not make the most of it and see if we fit in somewhere else nearby that we hadn't been to before. Enter the City of Brotherly Love (aka Philadelphia). 

This trip started out in Philadelphia. We arrived later in the evening and by which time it was already dark. We were staying in the city centre and our taxi driver assured us that we were in a safe area now; apparently that wasn't always the case but the city really invested a lot in cleaning up the area. Thankfully our taxi driver was right and we felt pretty safe walking around. That first evening we tried to get in to the oldest pub in Philly, McGillin's Olde Ale House, whose beer taps have been flowing since 1860 only questionably stopping during prohibition, but found that Saturday nights turns the place into more of a bar with cover charge and all. Not entirely interested in being in a packed, loud atmosphere our first night we decided to skip and found a shawarma food truck instead, I think meant to cater to those bar patrons once they stumble out of McGillin's, and grabbed ourselves some very tasty wraps which we ate while walking the streets of Philadelphia exploring. What stood out very quickly, particularly for a weekend night, was that driving loud obnoxiously "souped up” cars and motorbikes around the street is the thing to do with the noise reverberating from the buildings into the wee early morning. We did end up having dinner at McGillin's Sunday where I tried my first ever Philley cheese steak, because when in Philley, why wouldn't you?  

Our hotel, The Notary, is situated in the historic old city hall annex building where residents used to go to get documents notarized, hence the name. The building dates back to 1926 and was designed in the classical revival style. There is a nostalgic feel to the hotel with a certain charm. It is located right across the street of the current city hall, and steps from the convention centre, so very well located. The Notary pays homage to its history through its 1920s decor. There are display cases with men's top hats from various historic periods and another display depicting the evolution of the typewriter on its ground floor corridor by its restaurant. The modern day city hall is world's largest free standing masonry building and is an architectural marvel. The clock tower features a clock face on each side measuring 26 feet in diameter. Its location is geometrically centre to four other squares within the city centre and the city hall courtyard provides access through to each of these other squares. 

Philadelphia has a rich history and is known as the birth place of American democracy. We had a couple days here and explored as much as we could given I came down with something that knocked me out for half a day and lingered on keeping my energy levels low. While still taking great care of me and making sure I was good to be alone, Z also took advantage of the time I was down to find himself a barbershop open on a Sunday. It would seem like this has become a thing, Z getting a haircut while we're travelling. He came back looking quite fine with his meticulously clean cut and a cool story about his experience.

We explored old town Philadelphia with a walking tour that highlighted the significance of the city during the American revolution and the eventual signing of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. We stopped in to see the Liberty Bell, and learned about various people that contributed to the birth of democracy and the significance of William Penn as founder of the city. A lot of the buildings have a European architectural style to them with large Roman columns and intricate details. 

Philadelphia has a vibrant food scene so we booked ourselves a food tour and it ended up only being four of us and the guide. The tour started in the famous Reading Terminal market with a sweet apple pastry which was super delicious and quite filling so we couldn't finish it all without spoiling our appetite for the rest of the tour. We had five stops in totalling including a Malaysian restaurant in Philadelphia's Chinatown, and an Irish Pub before heading back to Reading Terminal market to sample a cheesesteak pretzel rollup from Miller's Twist. This Amish style pretzel was the best pretzel I've ever tasted, it was soft and just melted in your mouth. Had it not been our second to last stop I would have been able to devour an entire pretzel on my own, but being pretty stuffed Z and I shared one. Our tour was capped off with a stop in at Famous 4th Street Cookie Company, also in the market, for a choice of whatever cookie we desired. This was the best store bought cookie every and tasted just every bit like homemade. I choose a peanut butter cookie and it was soft, chewy and tasted sweet and salty all at the same time. Z, never able to resist a chocolate chip cookie, opted for that one without any regret. Reading Terminal market is a great place to stop in for a bit to eat at any of the numerous food ventures, it has a fresh fruit, vegetable and foods shop within as well as many other shops selling a variety of goods. I had to stop myself from spending too much time in the honey shop. We did come back the morning of our departure day to grab some food for lunch and couldn't resist stopping at Beiler's Doughnuts to try one of their very unique donuts.  

The other must do when in the city is to visit the Philadelphia Museum of Art famous for the movie scene where Rocky runs up the stairs and jumps up and down while throwing his fists triumphantly in the air at the top. Obviously the thing to do is to repeat that scene; there are even "Rocky feet" imprinted at the top and a statue below where you can get your picture taken for a donation fee.

All in all it was a good visit, but after our 3 days there felt we'd experienced enough and were ready to move on to our main event. We had booked a train to New York which took us just under 2 hours.