And that concludes my USA trip...

Day 18

Honestly these last few days in the US were pretty empty/slow since after Jersey, I was really mellow and going at a very relaxed pace. Day 18 was pretty much dedicated to souvenir shopping. Loaded up with chocolate from the Herscheys store, as well as a few Friends memorabilia from the NBC store, I went and waited in line at TKTS in Times Square for discounted tickets to Avenue Q (40% off). Ended up waiting in line for about 75 minutes before I got my tickets, but thankfully, once you buy once, if you decide to go see another show in the following seven days, you get to go straight to the front of the line. Definitely was going to use that advantage.


Pretty much I just killed time between about noon and the show starting at 7pm by vegging in front of the TV back at the apartment. Ended up meeting up with Nelly for dinner and heard all about his trek across the US (28 states in 6 months by the end of it) before meeting up with Nikki to see Avenue Q. Loved it. It was hilarious. Having heard all of the songs previously, it was also nice to have some context and see the songs actually performed live. The show itself was awesome with some highly amusing E&D songs which had me laughing out loud through pretty much the entire show. I definitely recommend it for anyone considering seeing it. Plus it's off Broadway so it's considerably cheaper than the ones playing on Broadway.

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Day 19

Late morning, decided to sleep in a bit. By the time I got out, it was almost noon so I headed straight to Times Square to take advantage of my TKTS fast pass and got my ticket to the musical Chicago within 10 minutes of waiting in line. After that, I walked uptown to the Museum of Natural History, where I proceeded to spend the next five hours exploring that amazing place. That place is huge and I made sure to visit every single exhibit (that was included in my ticket). Much like a lot of the museums and galleries in NYC, it's based off a donation at entry. You can choose how much you want to pay but the recommended fare is $17 for students and $24 for adults. Those that choose to "donate" any other amount need to line up and pass through the admissions desk with their donation. However those that choose to "donate" the recommended amount can do so at a self-serve kiosk and walk straight in. Seeing how ridiculous the line was, I decided to just pay the $17 and go through. The museum certainly didn't disappoint. I love animals and seeing their massive exhibits dedicated to animals based off continental regions, as well as the ocean exhibit (with the famous blue whale) followed by the dinosaur exhibits - I was like a little kid all over again!! This was definitely one of my highlights of NYC. After the excitement of the museum, it was back to the apartment for a nap before heading to see Chicago that night. Amazing song and dance sequences, and a very interesting story too. Favourite scene/song was Cell Block Tango. So much passion and energy on stage. After seeing the stage version, not sure if I want to see the movie version anymore.

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Day 20

Final full day in NYC started with, once again, getting tickets to a broadway show. This time, I bought tickets to a matinee session of Jersey Boys. Also got a ticket for Jen as it was her birthday, so this counted as my birthday present and thank you present for her. I spent the rest of the morning exploring Central Park again. Seriously love that place. I also managed to catch an amateur baseball game, which did not engage me at all. Very glad I didn't pay to go see a live professional one (not that they were even on at the time). Soon enough, 2pm came around and I headed off to the theatre and met up with Jen for Jersey Boys. This one had a really interesting story detailing the lives of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and their rise to fame (and their susbequent fall). Only afterwards did I realise that it was based off a true story. It then made sense how I knew so many of the songs that were played in the musical. Three musicals in three days. Definitely not something I would do back at home, but hey, I was on Broadway - I had to splurge on theatre tickets!!

That night we had Jen's birthday drinks at the Brass Monkey downtown. Getting there was a nightmare. We had a taxi driver hellbent on killing us with his maniacal driving. He seemed to have it in his head that we wanted to get there as fast as possible. Sitting in the front seat was terrifying. He would accelerate so fast, tailgate and then slam on the breaks all while flipping off other drivers and swearing his head off. I guess I truly got the NY taxi experience. After that harrowing experience, I was so glad when we reached our destination. It was only $9 for a 10 minute drive, but I think I lost years off my life.

The Brass Monkey was quite nice, and we had our own little section upstairs reserved. The usual: drinks, food, socialising. What was cool was that we could all open up our own tabs. I felt so pro telling the waitress to "put it on my tab". Also caught up with Tina who was travelling right before she started exchange in Louisiana. Once we got sick of the drinking, we headed over to this Korean place with awesome chicken wings. Definitely hit the spot after a night of drinking. All in all, a fun night and a great way to end my time in the US.

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Day 21

I had spent much of the night after I got back to Jen's packing and making sure I hadn't forgotten anything so that I could have a relatively stress-free morning. After saying my goodbye to Jen, I headed off to Newark Airport to fly out to Los Angeles for my flight back to Sydney. As I was at the train station, I realised that I had not had a bagel in NYC yet. Bagel bought, smeared with cream cheese and eaten. Tick. Done. After that it was really just a case of waiting. Everywhere. Waiting for my train to Newark Airport. Waiting for my flight to LA. Enduring a five hour flight without entertainment. Waiting eight hours in LA for my flight home via Fiji. That was such a tiring wait. Even waiting in line to check in didn't kill that much time. Also turned out that my carry-on bag was way over and my check-in way under. Damn not having scales to weight, I could have saved myself the hassle of carrying such a heavy bag. 

By the time it came to boarding, I was thoroughly exhausted (having also eaten Maccas for the last time in a long time) and conked out instantly on the plane. Woke up just to eat dinner and went back to sleep. Soon enough, we were landing in Nadi, Fiji at about 5am. We were promptly welcomed by big men playing ukeles and singing as well as hula women placing leis around people's necks. Gotta admit I was quite jealous since I was ushered over to the transfers line and not allowed to "enter the country" so to say. Even after spending only three hours there, I knew this was a place I was coming back to eventually.The people were just so nice and friendly, even their security officers. Lovely. At 8am, I boarded my flight and was on my final leg home. 

And then HOME SWEET HOME. I love seeing the Welcome Home sign just as you walk out of the Arrivals terminal. Three weeks in the US done. Definitely an adventure with many experiences that I'll never forget. Now time to settle back into normal everyday life. And time to start planning the next adventure...

HBL signing out from Sydney, Australia. It's good to be home :)

Previously: Avalon thankfully nothing like the Jersey Shore...

My next adventure? I'm doing Europe again! And throw in a slice of the Middle East as well!