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. 

It's a Wrap - UAE and Maldives

As with all our travel adventures, eventually we must come home. Our return however wasn't exactly straight and boring; a further small adventure still awaited us. A couple days before our departure from Maldives, Z was reading the news and read about a strike planned for London's Heathrow airport. Why this caught our eye or was of any significance to us, it because we were flying home through London. The strike was to start 2 days before our arrival and last for a full 10 days. Of course, this created some uncertainty for us and made me wonder if we should look into redirecting our way home. As we read more about it, it appeared to be concentrated more specifically at a particular terminal at Heathrow, and thankfully we were not scheduled to land or fly out of that terminal. Rather than waste our last precious time in Maldives or even Abu Dhabi (part of our return route), we decided to stay the course and see what happens when we get to London. If anything our flight could be delayed, or cancelled and we get home later than expected. 

So after spending another day in Abu Dhabi, we boarded our 7 hour flight direct to London. We arrived mid afternoon and weren't quite sure what to expect after deplaning. We were pleasantly surprised to see at our arrival terminal that with our passport we could get through immigration electronically just by scanning our passport; no need to queue to see an immigration officer. How fantastic!! We breezed through immigration with such ease. Next test was to see how long it would take for our luggage to arrive and here too we were pleasantly surprised when our luggage showed up on the carousel after only about a 10 minute wait. On arrival, we felt no impact from the ongoing strike. We quickly jumped into a taxi and made our way to the hotel. We had purchased tickets to go see a show that evening, so we didn't have much time before we needed to head out for dinner. Heathrow is located quite far from the city centre and so we caught an Uber to the train station and took a 45 minute train ride to the London Bridge area. Z found a cool pub along the River Thames called The Horniman which is located in a former tea warehouse. We had a great dinner before heading to the show Guys and Dolls at the Bridge Theatre. This was a fantastic, funny, and interactive show, at least interactive for the folks who bought floor standing only tickets and needed to move around as the show progressed and needed to elevate the different stage components. This was a great way to spend our time in London and to cap off such an amazing and memorable trip. And any of my concerns about the strike impact were wasted energy in the end because everything was smooth sailing for our departure as well.... now was it because it was so darn early in the morning and not a lot of flights were leaving, or was it because the terminal we flew out of was not impacted, I'll never know. But what I do know is that I should listen to Z more who is regularly saying "worry less my dear, enjoy the moment!"

This trip was certainly one for the trips of a lifetime record books. We got to both explore two new countries in a part of the world that neither of us had really travelled to before. We were so impressed by the sights, the food, the higher standard of most everything, and all the unique first-time ever experiences. Dubai and Abu Dhabi, as developed as they both are, are beautiful in their own right. Each skyscraper has unique architectural features and with many that leave you awestruck with its design and/or height. There is definitely luxury and money here, that's quite obvious. It is such a melting pot of people and while it is in many ways a tolerant society, there are strict laws that you want to be aware of and I'd say outside of purely tourist areas and "international" beaches, it's best to dress more on the conservative side. 

The sheer magnitude of the beauty of Maldives is so incredibly hard to describe with words. It brought such joy, contentment, and peace to me. The picturesque scenery was such a great environment for me to reflect and think...and it really reinforced that the beach is my happy place where I best can collect my thoughts. 

On this trip, we flew over 35,000 kms on 8 different flights. We got to experience Etihad Airlines for the first time and have to say were quite impressed with their in flight service; very hospitable and gracious flight attendants. We booked this trip on points and used those points to fly business class. The seats were quite spacious as was the surrounding space and we experienced for the first time lay-flat pods that had privacy sliding doors; that provided an extra little bit of comfort when trying to sleep and not being disrupted by people walking up and down the aisle. Our flights were all mostly on time, no major delays and everything was quite efficient particularly on the Etihad flights.

As I reflect on how blessed we are to travel and explore the world through our own eyes, I came across some beautiful quotes that ring so true to how I feel:

"Of all the books in the world, the best stories are found between the pages of a passport" (author unknown). We've been extremely fortunate to write a lot of stories. And "once the travel bug bites, there is no known antidote, and I know that I shall be happily infected until the end of my life" (Michael Palin).

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