5 posts tagged “vacation”
I wasn't planning on bringing my iPod Touch to Hawaii because my iPod Shuffle would be sufficient for music (I don't use the Touch for that anyway) and I was bringing my laptop.
Plus, who goes to Hawaii to go on the internet? I thought about forwarding my email to my cellphone (Gmail, SMS/text) but heck, it was only 4 days - only one which was an actual work day. I told my bosses that I probably wasn't going to check email, so I was in the clear.
That is, until one of my bosses called me at 10:43pm on Friday night.
I had gone to bed at 10pm - early for a weekend, but I had to wake up at 5am to get to the airport by 6:30am. I hadn't fallen asleep yet.
Anyway, Boss wanted some information that probably could wait until I got back - but it was a pressing issue for him. I had to look up the info, though, so I asked him if I could look it up and email him. He agreed.
I dashed out to the living room, booted up my laptop, connected to my work computer and just as I pulled up the information to read, he called again.
Impatient, much? After a 3 minute discussion, we hung up. I then spent the next hour researching the information and sending him an email, finally going to bed after midnight.
Figured I should bring the iPod Touch, just in case. (Yes, I had my laptop, but with the Touch - I could check email on my way in and out of the lobby. Wouldn't have to lug the laptop around). I ended up checking email twice - though Boss did not email me.
Here are the electronics that I brought:
- Apple Powerbook laptop - DNU (did not use)
- Memory card reader (external) - DNU
- Canon Powershot camera - took about 333 photos and a few video clips.
- Extra AA batteries - DNU
- AA battery charger - DNU
- Nikon D-SLR camera - sis took about 270 photos.
- Nikon battery charger (did charge battery once, but probably okay if we didn't)
- Panasonic videocam (Mini DV) - DNU
- Panasonic battery charger - DNU
- 4 blank Mini DV tapes - DNU
- Compact Flash memory cards (for Canon), ranging from 256MB to 4GB - DNU (only used 1 2GB card)
- Cellphone - my other boss called me at 7:30am to asked a question - granted, it was 10:30am back home and he didn't know I was in Hawaii.
So I went to Hawaii (Oahu) last Saturday through Tuesday - first vacation ever. Flew back on the red-eye flight Tuesday evening and surprisingly was not too tired the next day. I went right from the airport parking lot to work. At least I wasn't one of the people on the prime flights (which were scheduled to leave HNL around 1pm, arrive in L.A. at 9:30pm) - the Delta flight was delayed for five hours! Those people had to sit in the airport the entire time.
We did go on an additional circle island tour on the last day (since our flight was so late), which we had to pay extra for. Not a problem for us. Our bus chipped in $1 per person for our tour guide for the day Aaron. I heard from someone on the other bus that their guide asked for $3 per person. How tacky is that? (Although, prior to going to HI, I had read that some guides do ask for tips, and may specify amounts so it wasn't too surprising. Then again, not sure how well that went over with Chinese-American tourists though).
After that, we headed off for the Polynesian Cultural Center. I know it's supposed to be cultural and educational, but I couldn't help but feeling it was all a bit hokey. Not that people of those cultures don't continue some of the practices (like how they shell coconuts or make coconut milk) but it was almost as if they were playing into the whole "exotic", "the other", whatever. It was like I was the narrator in The Heart of Darkness, exploring the savages or something. It was just a weird feeling.
Surprisingly enough, we didn't go do to the beach in Waikiki. We did have some free time where we could have gone (other people did) but I spent most of that free time napping. Yes, I went to Hawaii to nap :)
We only spent about 1 hour on the beach. Some people went snorkeling, but I just waded into the water about thigh-deep.
We didn't spend much money while in Hawaii - as I mentioned before, everything was pre-paid. We did buy a few souvenirs/gifts (including macadamia chocolates) but it was kind of disappointing not being to find souvenirs that weren't Made in China. Not that there is anything wrong with China (well, that's a different blog post) but if it's made in China, we can probably find it in L.A. too. Why go all the way to Hawaii for that?
A friend from work thinks it would have been insane having 260+ Chinese-speaking people all together. It wasn't too bad. People were speaking Mandarin, Cantonese, Taiwanese, maybe even a few lesser-spoken dialects as well. There were a couple of non-Chinese-descent guys - mostly boyfriends or possibly husbands. I felt a bit sorry for them as they didn't understand Chinese, but hey - you chose to come on this tour knowing full well it was a Chinese-language tour
The world has changed so much since my parents and sister have been on an airplane. You could check in 3 bags, or carry-on 2. You could bring all the liquids you wanted, though scissors over a certain length were still banned. But rather than stopping us at the x-ray machines and making us mail the scissors back to ourselves (or tossing them into a trash bin), a stewardess (as they were called in those days) took them from us when we were already on the plane and stowed it away in their quarters until landing.
You could go through security and walk all the way up to the gate - seeing your friends board or arrive. I seem to even remember them allowing my mom to board the plane to check if her parents were still on the plane (they had mistakenly followed a good samaritan off at another terminal). Nowadays, you can't even get near a plane without the right credentials, lost parents or not.
So, as we plan for our forthcoming vacation, I've started to repeat instructions the same way the TSA agents do in the security check - take off your shoes, put them directly on the belt - not in a bin, take off your coat, take off your watch, make sure you don't have coins in your pockets, take out your 1-quart baggie and put it in the bin, make sure your bags/jackets are side-by-side - not on top of each other. No water bottles - just fill them after you pass through security. Though the instructions about the metal detector themselves haven't changed, our collective consciouness has. TSA agents will be on heightened alert, fellow passengers will be impatiently waiting.
(The last time my sis and mom flew was in 2000. The last time my dad flew was in 1985!)
So begs the question - do I bring my laptop (and if so, which one) on my 4-day long vacation?
I've traveled once a year for the past 14-some years, on trips ranging from 5 days to a week. Since I've had a laptop (2003), I've brought my laptop with me for internet (remember dial-up?!) and later wi-fi. Not so much because I wanted to stay connected while away, but because of work.
Well, now that I'm going on a vacation for just 4 days (the first 3 is the long weekend) - do I really need to? I can just wait until I get back to take care of work. Plus, the hotel only has free wi-fi in the lobby and sometimes that can be a pain. Do I really want to have to go down to the lobby for wi-fi? The building has some 40+ floors! Plus, it's Hawaii - who goes to Hawaii to go on the internet?
Anyway, the problem is that we're bringing digital cameras and will likely take pictures of everything. So transferring the photos to the computer daily would be ideal. Do I bring the Apple (Powerbook G4) which is lightweight (about 5 lbs) and thin? Or do I bring the HP (Pavilion dv5) which is heavier and wider, but faster? On top of that, both laptops have overheating problems (the HP moreso).
Furthermore, the software for the Nikon D-SLR doesn't work with the Apple (I only have OS 10.3.3), plus we can't find the disc so I can't load it onto the HP. I guess we'll have to bring a card reader. I sure hope the Apple's 80GB hard drive is enough. Neither laptop has good battery life - about 2 hours for the Apple and slightly longer (but not by much) for the HP. The HP is also prone to dust (hordes of it) and generally looks ugly because of said dust.
If only I hadn't bought an iPod Touch in May... and if only I hadn't
bought the HP in February... I could have just stuck it out with the
Apple, and then gotten a netbook. That would have been the smart thing
to do, but who says I'm smart? I could get a netbook now - but most of
them only have 3 or 4-in-1 card readers so I'd probably still have to
buy a card reader.
Travel dates: Saturday, June 23, 2007
Travel method: Car (from home, about 25 miles)
Resort: DL
Accommodations: non
Ages Represented in Group: late 20s (2), early 60s (2)
My sister and I (we're both in our late 20s) took our parents (both in their early 60s) to Disneyland on Saturday. We bought the Costco Play 4 days ticket which basically allows us to enter either DL or DCA on 4 separate days. It is not a park hopper (even if we wanted to use up 2 days on the ticket on the same day, we can't).
My sister and I have been to DL maybe 10 times? She's gone one more than I have - her high school English teacher was nominated for some Disney teaching award and though she did not win, her students got to go to DL for free... on a school day! My mom has gone maybe 6 or 7 times and my dad has only gone about 5 times. The first time we ever went to DL was when I was almost 2 years old - it was basically the 2nd thing we did after setting foot in the US (Universal Studios was the first - in the morning, then DL for the afternoon. Our flight to NY was in the late evening (around midnight) so we had to go to the airport and missed seeing the Main Street Electrical Parade - to this day, I still have not seen the parade. We went almost every year when I was in elementary school - with friends and relatives who came to visit from Taiwan. Then the economy went downward, Asians opted to go elsewhere for vacations and I didn't return to DL until 1999 (about 10 years).
Anyway, we left our house at 6:53am and arrived at DL at 7:21am (25 miles). Parked in the outdoor parking lot, just on the other side of the driveway out. The tram dropped us off at DTD and we went through security check quickly (just a simple glance inside the bags). Then I went to the ticket booth to trade our Costco tickets for actual tickets. Each person had to present a CA driver's license or ID card and the CM typed our names into the computer. Then he stamped the Costco tickets with "VOID" and handed us 4 tickets with our names printed on them.
There was already a lot of people waiting at the turnstiles. We waited for about 10 minutes before the park opened (there were already some EE guests milling around Main Street). Though the CM member said we would need to present our IDs again at the turnstile, they did not ask to see them.
First stop - Splash Mountain. This is my all-time favorite ride ever. I remember riding Log Jam or some similar ride at Knotts Berry Farm and Magic Mountain and wishing that DL had something like it. Well, now they do! The past 2 years, Splash was basically the last ride we went on - our plan of action was to go to Fantasyland first and then make our way around. By the time we got to Critter Country, we had to get Fast Passes because the line would be an hour to wait in. Since I love this ride so much (and since I was the one planning the itinerary) - we went on this first. There was basically no line and we saw a few logs going by with no riders - our log was just the 4 of us.
We got a bit wet but nothing major. The rest of my group headed off to Fantasyland while I stopped to get FPs for Splash (I told you I loved this ride!). There was a CM there fixing/loading the machines... keep this in mind for later.
Then I headed for Fantasyland, but I got temporarily confused which direction to go - this way or that? Wait, is it over there? Uh... I then headed towards the Rivers of America and I heard my name being shouted (by my mom, over at Haunted Mansion). We were planning on riding this later (since lines are usually not too long) but since we were already there and there was no line... my sis wanted to minimize walking back and forth between lands. Remember this for later too. The ride stopped briefly as we waited for "ghosts" to get off the path.
Off to Fantasyland
My plan had been to ride Matterhorn first (since the DL mountain ranges, i.e., Splash, Space, Matterhorn, Big Thunder, usually get busy quickly). But we ended up near Dumbo and Peter Pan (both which had quite major lines) so we rode Pinocchio and Snow White (no waits for either). Then we walked over to Matterhorn and passed by the hoards of people waiting for the subs (a 2 hr wait). Brief wait but it went by quickly.
I guess because there was a lot of people waiting for Matterhorn - the CMs made us sit 4 to a bobsled. 2 in front, 2 in back. When it's early in the morning (i.e., the first thing we ride) - they usually let us ride 2 to a bobsled (1 front, 1 back). I like that way better...
It's a Small World was next - there was a brief line (again - if you go first thing, no line at all and one year, we rode it twice in a row). I guess that's the name of the game - if you go early to just about anything, there's no line.
After Small World, (10am) we walked through the shop there and took a few pictures of the Princess Fantasy Faire area. Then we headed for Toontown next, either to ride Roger Rabbit or get FPs, depending on the line. Well, there was no line at all because the ride broke down!
We waited only a couple of minutes for the Railroad and headed off to Tomorrowland. I believe this is where they have that diorama off the Grand Canyon as it is today and as it was in the prehistoric era. When I saw the T-Rex, it reminded me of that clip from that movie (forgot what it's called) where the guy asks the T-Rex why he didn't seize the boy and the T-Rex says something about his arms being short. It's true - he did have short arms!
In Tomorrowland, I snapped a couple of pictures of Buzz Lightyear and then went to Space Mountain for FPs. The return time was after 1:25pm, though since it was only about 10:30am, I could get another FP at 12:25pm (rather than at 1:25pm). I like going into the shop right next to it and looking at all the things I wish I could afford. Well, I probably could afford them, but it's not what I would spend my money on.
AstroBlasters was next - short wait. While we were aboard, the ride stopped briefly (kept shooting at the targets, since it still counts). Then we took a brief break and sat down on the benches near the Disney timeshare stand. Then we walked over to City Hall to get a birthday button for my sis and anniversary buttons for my parents. (After my mom saw the buttons, she and my dad went in to get b-day buttons for themselves and 2 more anniversary
My sis went across the street to the theater thing to get some pressed pennies. They have a nice wall display with pictures from DCA. I didn't really look at them but I should - since we may be going there this summer.
Adventureland was next on the list - short line at Jungle Cruise. I asked a CM for a map at the end of the ride and they happily gave me one. Then I went to get FPs for Indiana Jones (the standby wait time was 62 minutes, I think). Except when I put my ticket into the FP machine, I got a ticket saying that I had to wait until 12:25pm to get another FP. Quick check at my cellphone - it's 12:24! So I walked out of the FP area, went around to the entrance and tried again (voila!)
New Orleans Square
We rode Pirates of the Carribean (the board in Main Street said 15 min wait, but when we got to PoTC - the sign said 20 min). It wasn't too bad of a wait though (compared to our previous trips). The crowds did not seem too bad - I kept thinking that as the day went on, there would be more and more people, but it was pretty empty for a summer Saturday. I thought the fire fight in PoTC was longer or more dramatic - seemed kind of tame, though part of it might be because I spent a good deal of time, fiddling with my camera. Note to self - on dark rides such as PoTC, don't bother with the cam. I did use the flash a couple of times but so did everyone else...
Then we waited for about 3 minutes and boarded the Mark Twain. It was a nice trip around the Rivers and we saw some baby ducks swimming with their mommy.
Fantasyland + Tomorrowland
Back for Teacups (short wait) and Carousel (short wait). Back to Space Mountain (which had a 13 minute wait, even with FPs) and AstroOrbitors (wait time: 20 minutes). The parade was in progress so we stopped briefly to watch. The Queen of Hearts from Alice was wandering around Tomorrowland (looking a little out of place).
Then we took the Railroad all the way back to New Orleans Square to walk to Splash Mountain. But alas, the ride had broken down! We rode Winnie the Pooh in the meanwhile (while we were waiting in line there, about 5 minutes, Splash started up again).
So we headed over to Splash Mountain and handed our FPs to the CM. Right before this, I took a picture of the FP and I noticed that it didn't have the name of the attraction on the FP. Hmmm? I guess it didn't print? So anyway, when I handed the CM the FPs, he joked about how we had upside-down FPs and that they don't take those. Then he said that he was just joking (which we knew already) and my mom said that we printed them from home. He told us to use a laser
printer next time rather than inkjet.There was a brief wait for Splash - I'm not sure how long the ride was down for, but it seemed like everyone with FPs came back at the same time. My dad decided not to ride Splash again. My mom wasn't going to ride either (so my sis and I would get to go twice) but we urged her to join us.
We always sit in the same order - my sis in the front, me 2nd, my mom 3rd and my dad 4th (they don't like to get wet). When we got to the front of the line, the CM asked if we wanted to sit towards the front of the log or the back. Definitely the front! The group of 3 behind us in line rode with us. The logs stopped twice (briefly) as there were log jams. (Ha ha).
Did I mention that I love this ride? Except this time, we got splashed so much! Even before the last drop, I was already shivering. And then by the end of the ride, my jeans were soaked, my socks/shoes were wet and my t-shirt was wet. Oh, and the jacket I was carrying to cover my bag (which had my cell and camera in) also got super wet!
Not sure why this time was especially splash-y but that was fine with me... we dried off while waiting for Fantasmic (from 6:40pm til the start of the show). We had a pretty good seat - in the 2nd row along the River. Definitely should bring towels or blankets to block off your area (we had large towels) - otherwise, people try to crowd you and overtake your spot. We saw a couple of people who taped down their blankets/tableclothes.
By the time Fantasmic and the fireworks were over - I was freezing. I kept shivering and finally put on my sis's jacket (I said I was fine earlier). We walked over to see what the wait for the subs was - 90 minutes, so we decided not to try this time. Headed out the gates to DTD, wandered in the store briefly and then waited for the trams. A tip - wait for the tram over by the DL gate, not DTD. We had to wait for about the 3rd or 4th tram (my parents got on the one before us) and it took maybe 20 minutes for us to finally get on. When we circled around - there were barely any people still waiting by the DL gate, but plenty (lots!) of people by the DTD side.
After we got home, I looked at the FP from Splash Mountain (the one my dad didn't use) and I noticed that the ticket was printed upside down - I guess the CM loading them into the machine put it upside down? Good eye for the CM at Splash to notice that! I didn't even see that.
And we did end up walking back and forth between lands. We went to Toontown 3 times - once where we saw that Roger Rabbit was down, once to get the FPs and once to ride the ride. Too many times for a simple kids ride!
Overall, it was a great day at DL. Next time - we may spend the time waiting for the first showing of Fantasmic over waiting for the subs instead. The lines should be a little shorter... maybe? And note to self - bring a plastic bag for my jacket in case Splash gets wet again!
