Fancy, Full Filipinas

Birthday Trip to NYC 2020

Day 1 - Friday, January 10, 2020

Travel to NY

A few months ago, Jenn asked if the Posse wanted to go to New York City to see Rockapella in a venue she really liked when she saw them there last year.  I said that I would love to see that show, but the trip to NYC would be cost-prohibitive for me this time around for just one show.  Then Jenn realized that she had some points to burn, and asked me if she could use them to treat me to the trip as a birthday and Christmas gift.  Well, OK, then, I think I can afford that!  I offered to at least buy the show tickets, and we were all set.  Then the venue decided to add another show for that night!  That made me feel better about agreeing to go. So I bought us another ticket.  Then the venue canceled the second show.  Well, darnitalltoheck!  At least we'd still have one show to see, right?  The venue said that they would refund the ticket, and as of the day I'm writing this, they are working on it.

Jenn booked us car service through Wingz, and asked that I be at her house at 4:15 a.m.  Yes, a.m.  Yikes.  I didn't get much sleep during that week, so I worried that I wouldn't wake up in time to get there, but I got up, got ready, and arrived about a minute before driver Michael did.  Phew!  Our flight was at 7:20 a.m. from LAX, and due to the traffic being non-existent at our crazy hour, we arrived at the airport with plenty of time to get my bag checked and go through security screening.  It's a good thing, too, because Jenn was moving slower than usual due to a bowling injury the previous evening.  Poor thing was hobbling and using the extended handle of her roller bag as her crutch.  It was also a good thing that we had lots of time, because her bag got pulled for extra screening.  Mine did, too, and I had a moment of separation anxiety from Bananaman as he went through the x-ray machine again.  He's OK, though.  He might be glowing from the extra rays, but he's got those sunglasses, you know, so at least his eyes are protected.

Jenn's bag, though, was opened up and they took out the See's Candy she was bringing to her friend. She told the TSA agent not to take her candy, and I reminded her that she can't really tell them what to do, as the agent nodded and smiled at me.  It took forever for the agent's supervisor to take a look, and they brought her stuff through the x-ray again.  We think that it might be the aluminum coating inside the can of Toffee-ettes, because her friend said that she had the same issue when she brought them through airport screening at a different time.  Weird.  We had some time to use the facilities and grab something to eat, and then we realized that they had started boarding early.  Jenn was bummed that we missed the beginning of the boarding, because we would have been able to board first, what with our FIRST CLASS TICKETS.  Yes, you read that correctly!  Jenn decided to splurge and surprised me (the day before, because I had asked if I needed to pay to check my bag.  She told me that First Class passengers don't pay for bags).  Whoa, fancy!  

Bananaman had lots of leg room!

We boarded the plane, and we were in row 3, right in front of the flimsy curtain that separated us from the riff raff.  I forgot to take a picture of the two of us in our big seats, but I guess that made us look more chill than we actually are.  The flight attendant asked me to unplug my charger from the USB in the armrest, which I thought was strange.  You're saying that this one charger could interfere with the plane's systems?  The sun was rising as we took off, making for a beautiful view outside our window.

Ascent with view of Catalina Island

It's a good thing that Banaman's arm is in
 this silhouette,
 or this site might get reported.

Gorgeous sunrise

We were provided with tablets, headphones, and power cables so that we could watch movies and stuff.  Jenn and I decided to watch "Maleficent: Mistress of Evil" together because neither one of us had seen it yet.  We both really liked it.

I ordered an English Breakfast Tea to go with my breakfast, a Gruyere, Onion, and Tomato Omelet with sweet potatoes, cranberry Cognac chicken sausage, a Cranberry Apple Orange smoothie, Greek yogurt with granola and spiced pomegranate seeds, and a roll.  I ate everything except the mandarin oranges that came with the yogurt, and my roll, of which I only took a bite because I was full and it wasn't as sweet as I hoped it would be.  

Jenn also ordered the omelet, and was bummed out when she proceeded to spill most of her smoothie with a flick of her wrist.  

Yummy, nutritious breakfast

I also watched part of "Abominable", but wasn't able to finish it because I didn't include descent time in my calculations, and they asked us to return our tablets to them as I was nearing the end of the movie.  I was really enjoying it until then.  I was also enjoying my Baileys and Coffee cocktail and had to drink half of my cup quickly so as not to waste it before I had to turn in my mug.  I thought this would make me tipsy, but no.

Upon arrival in Newark, we picked up our bags and arranged for a taxi. As we neared our hotel, I marveled at the buildings around us, especially this one.

We arrived at our hotel in about half an hour (we really lucked out with traffic!), and relaxed in our room on the 35th floor of the Westin Grand Central. I looked out the window, and guess what I saw?

Bananaman insisted on a
height comparison shot.

  I had a devil of a time getting the TV to turn on, and realized that I needed to turn on the switch in the hallway first.  Jenn called downstairs because she couldn't get the mini-bar open, which is where they told us our complimentary water was located.  The person she spoke with didn't know why we couldn't open it, and they tried to reset it for us, which didn't work.  Jenn needed something for her pain from her injury, so we walked to the CVS across the street.  After we individually walked back to the hotel to get our coats, we walked a couple of blocks to Shake Shack for a late lunch.  I happily ate my chicken sandwich, and we played our Wizards Unite game for a while until the place started filling up again and we decided to give up our seats.

Shake Shack Smiles

I saw that there was a sponsored fortress nearby for us to play our game (sponsored fortresses provide more points and extras), and we walked around to find it, now that Jenn was feeling less pain.  There were a couple of electronic signs with cute map artwork, so I asked Jenn to wait with me to get the images to cycle back to the artwork in order for me to take photos.

These did not help us find our
fortress, though.

On the way, we found one of Jenn's favorite bakeries in NYC, Maison Kayser.  We bought little puffy pastries (chouquettes) to eat while wizarding, and eyed the croissants for another day.

French pastries are so pretty!

We ordered drinks at a Pret A Manger that was next door to the sponsored AT&T fortress, so that we could play there for an hour or so.  The tea I ordered wasn't available, so they compensated by giving me something free from their baked goods case to go with the peppermint tea, my second choice.  I chose the Double Chocolate Pecan cookie that Jenn and I were eyeing, but we refrained from eating everything we had bought in the last hour.

Bananaman with our goodies

When we returned to the hotel, we figured out that the hallway switch must also be needed for the mini bar, but we don't know why the hotel clerk didn't know to give those instructions to us.  Voila!  There was the water.  Only one bottle of the free kind, though.  So Jenn called for another bottle, as well as a 2nd robe and slippers.  I don't understand why hotels don't just have 2 at the ready.  I guess it's so that we can tip the staff.  Whatevs.

Jenn's friend Pauline contacted her and we decided to meet for dinner at a Japanese restaurant nearby called Soba Totto.  We ordered edamame, all kinds of yakitori, and I also ordered an eel roll.  They didn't have a couple of the menu items listed, but there was such a wide variety of meats that we didn't mind much.  I enjoyed my Totto Old-Fashioned, made with Ume Whiskey, Japanese Whiskey, Cane Sugar, and Mole bitters.  

My favorite dishes:

Hohate Bacon:
Bacon-wrapped Scallops

Shishi Tsuku:
Japanese peppers stuffed with chicken

Negima Miso:
Miso marinated chicken thigh and scallions

For dessert, we ordered a  Green Tea Mille Crepe Cake with Black Sesame ice cream.  I've been wanting to try a Mille Crepe cake ever since the Lady M bakery first opened at my mall.  It was delicious!  We also enjoyed the ice cream.  All of us were curious about the flavor, and none of us were disappointed.  It had a nutty flavor, not too sweet, and the cake wasn't too sweet either, so we were quite pleased with our dessert choice.

Presentation view

Back view of cake so you can see the many layers

Our dinner was great, the conversation funny and engaging, and I learned lots of stuff like a family superstition and what "microblading" is in the world of eyebrow design.  Note to self: Do NOT subject yourself to this particular type of torture.  Go get another tattoo on your body instead.

Bananaman and his three Filipina dinner companions

Pauline needed to wait for her husband to pick her up, so we chilled at the hotel for a while.  We had told her that we could see the Empire State Building from our room, so she looked out the window. She asked where it was.  We pointed at the building with which Bananaman took the above picture.  She laughed and told us that was the Chrysler Building.  OH.  Then we saw the photo of the Chrysler on our wall, and I pointed at it and realized that it still wasn't the Empire State Building.  Ohhhhh.  We laughed and laughed. So, um, King Kong didn't ever climb this building.  It was the other one.  I immediately edited my caption on Instagram to delete #lookingforKingKong.  Then Pauline suggested it was OK because we still hadn't found him.  Eh, I left it without the hashtag so that I wouldn't get too many crazy comments.  Yet, here I am, sharing my ignorance with you.  BTW, the Chrysler was considered to be the building to be used by the filmmakers, but then the Empire State was built, and history was made.  We said our goodbyes to Pauline, and I do hope to see her again someday.  She's fun!

Jenn and I were still awake at midnight, even though we were tired from waking up so early in the morning.  We finally fell asleep while watching "Ancient Aliens", happy and full of yumminess.

Next up:  PELLA!!!