Pheonix - Day 2

Woke up this morning to a beautiful Phoenix skyline and 60 degree weather. It was Boxing Day and for my aunt and I that meant shopping. We went to Paradise Valley Mall and I was most certainly impressed with the fact that it was not overly crowded. There were definitely great sales to be had.


After our fabulous shopping spree, David decided to take us to the Deer Valley airport where he flies out on his tiny Cessna. Now you know that my behind will never be caught dead on those small little planes. For my other cousin Garry and his son, this was a great outing especially since they go plane watching in Barbados. There was also a nice place for lunch located on the first floor of the airport. The restaurant allows you have a great view of the runway and all of the planes. It is a great place to visit especially on a Sunday afternoon if you are into aviation or if you just want a quiet outing. Here are some picture to get you intrigued. Just keep in mind that I did not go close to the planes because I am a "scaredy" cat.


Being from the East Coast, there was a little part of that me that missed the snow because of the association it has with Christmas time. However, there is a little treasure in Phoenix where you can get that feeling: the Phoenix Zoo-Zoolights. For only $10 a person, you can visit the zoo and witness the animals at night and the zoo's wonderful light display. The only animal that I was able to see was the zebra, because the time we went ( around 8pm) most of the animals were already asleep. The light displays were great and my favorite one was the Music in Motion where the lights move to the music. My little cousin enjoyed the merry-go-round and taking pictures at the many different exhibits. He was only saddened by the fact that not many of the animals came out. I like the idea of the Zoolights and when I mentioned it to some of my friends they asked if there was anything like that here in the city. I am not sure if the local zoos do have a light show but I do think it would be a great idea if they did. If you are interested in the Zoolights, it takes place from Thanksgiving through the first week in January at the Phoenix Zoo.

West Coast Christmas

To end the year 2010, I decided to visit with my mom's side, who lives in Barbados, and we all met up at my cousin David's house in Phoenix, Arizona. My intentions were to stay from Christmas to the Monday after, but the "Great Blizzard of 2010" said nope. Now if anyone knows my David, they know that although you say you are travling to Phoenix there is going to be some road trip elsewhere. The first time it was too the Grand Canyon, the second time was to San Fransisco. This time the road trip destinations were to San Diego and L.A. Overall, it was great time held by all.

Day 1 - Christmas Day
Phoenix , Arizona
I wanted to make sure that I spent time with hubby for at least Christmas Eve, which is why I decided to leave on Christmas day. Now if you ever have to travel during the Christmas holiday and you don't mind missing Christmas Eve at your destination , try flying out on Christmas day. First and foremost the flights are cheaper. Secondly , there are empty seats because most people try to get to their destinations before Christmas day. It definitely makes sense to do when you are going to the west coast. I left 6:30am on Saturday morning and arrived in Phoenix at 9:30am. I was still able to have the rest of the day to do plenty of stuff.

The weather was quite pleasant which was a change from the cold winter air I was used to. If you dress like it is fall in September and October you are straight. Layering also is a good idea due to the fact that it gets quite cool at night. I wasn't feeling too well so I definitely was layered-up.

We had a wonderful feast prepared by my aunt and cousin and though we were missing my mom and his dad, it was still good to have the family together again. And I believed that they were there in spirit.

Resuming the blog

O.K. the New Year is here and I vowed that I will be resuming my travel blog because I know this year I have some upcoming trips that I would like to share with my friends and family. Also, just in talking to some people at work, I have gotten them excited about traveling again.

The two big trips for 2011 are the NCL Epic cruise to Mexico & Belize, and a week long stay in Espana, a.k.a Spain. I do intend to do some mini-trips along the way, especially since Jon has four day weekends now. I plan to take advantage of visiting places on the east coast that I haven't been to. I will also be mentioning when I find dog friendly hotels because as my baby Spyro is growing older, he is whining more when he is left even for a few hours.

There has been a lot going on with the airline industry and online websites and I plan to report on who will give you great deals and who you need to watch out for. For instance, American Airlines, just announced last week how they were removing there ticket prices from online websites, Expedia and Orbitz. Which now means that you may only purchase from AA.com. This was due to a dispute that was had over ticket prices. Competition, Competition, Competition. We will see if others follow suit.

Well, there is a synopsis of what is ahead for this Ebony Travel blog and I hope you like what I have to share. :)

Cheap Travel Deals

Well thanks to my home girl Lynn, I received some valuable information for cheap travel. It appears that two of the most reliable carriers have been holding out from us. American Airlines and JetBlue both release really cheap airfare on Twitter . I mean really CHEAP. I checked out the site and I was amazed to see from JFK to Syracuse it is $9 one way. WOW ! The only reason why I am a little perterbed is that I belong to both airline loyalty programs and I was never told about it. They said on the news report on Fox 5, that they only release these cheap fares via their Twitter. For those Twitter phobic and facebook phobic people , ya'll are going to have to join the band wagon so you won't miss out on these great deals.

Click on the Cheap deals for jetblue's mobile twitter.
Click here for AA travel website on Facebook

Aussie Day 1

OMG I am here at last. Thank God Almighty I am free at last. Free from the confines of a seat in a 777 for the past 14 and a half hours. It is 7am and the morning light is shining in my eye until I reach the immigration counter. I gave them my passport ,my filled out declaration form, and told them about my electronic visa*(SEE NOTE 1) . I guess when I was filling out my visa online I forgot to add my middle initial which can be seen on my passport. I was detained for a few minutes while they fixed my visa and then I was allowed to proceed to baggage. With that minor delay, the baggage didn't take long to come out and we made it through Customs with a breeze. As we got outside, we had to determine if it was in our best interest to take a cab or the train. The train would have cost $15.20 AUD * (SEE NOTE 2) per person while the cab ride to our hotel in World Square was about $50. We opted for the cab since we didn't know exactly where we were going or the distance we would have had to walk.

RYDGES World Square Hotel

Pluses
- They let us check us check in early. Thank God.
- We had a nice suite with a bathroom that had a separate bath tub and shower.
- I also fell in love with the flat screen t.v.'s, and the eco-friendly toilets.
- It was close to the Museum St train station and the World Square monorail stop.

Minuses
- It was just simply annoying sometimes to remember to leave a key in the keyholder that also controlled the electricity in the room.

We settled in for a little bit until Jeff's friend Levi called for us and out we went. The plan was to meet at the Museum of New South Wales, walk through the Botanical Gardens and end up by the Opera House and Circular Quay.

Royal Botanical Gardens
I was enjoying the 'free' beautiful gardens until I saw something fly above my head. The natives call them Flying Foxes.... Bajans call them Fruit Bats... April calls them People-Eating-Vampire bats. I have no clue who is right . All I knew was that I was ready to run. But I was the only girl amongst five guys (Levi also brought his Australian buddy Luke to help with the tour )and the BOYS were too busy taking pictures. Sigh. But the rest of the landscapes in the garden were very pleasant to look at. While passing the garden cafe I came across this strange bird that till this day I do not know what it is called.

Opera House
Okay now you know April is crazy when she recalls out loud ," That is where Blair from The Facts of Life left her shoe when the Jewelry Robbers were after her." Yeah I know I am special. That episode aired in 1987 and that was when I first wanted to go to OZ. Now as I approached the Opera steps I started to cry . I just could not believe I was finally here. We didn't take a tour only because we had purchased ticket to see singer Lillias White perform there that night. ( It was a really great show for a good price, however I was lil' tired and was sleeping through most parts . But I at least was awake to hear her ask the audience if anyone was from Brooklyn.) The Opera house was a magnificent architectural piece that to the common eye you thought you were looking at sea shells or sails on a boat.

We ended the day with a tasty Thai dinner and an excellent show at the Opera House. Who could really ask for more? G'day Mate!



NOTE 1 {Now I meant to mention about the Visa details before on my preparations for Australia, but I will take the time now to do so. Well after you purchase your airline tickets you must apply for a visa for both Australia and New Zealand. If you are a U.S. citizen you can apply for it electronically on the following website http://www.eta.immi.gov.au/ and it costs $20 AUD. As a US resident you have to send you passport in to the respective embassy and pay a higher price. You do get your passport back before time of travel , and for those of you that like your passport to have proof of your travel the Australian and New Zealand visa patches will provide that.}

NOTE 2 {The conversion is $1 USD = $1.21 AUD. Most currencies mentioned will be in AUD unless otherwise noted.}

Going to Australia

On July 2nd, April & Jon Rose embarked on a trip to the other side of the world where no West Indian has gone before. LOL Okay maybe we're the second set that has made this journey but whatever the number I couldn't wait. So for this trip I kind of handled it a little differently. Those who know me know that I have a trip bible filled with daily itineraries. This time I just wanted to wing it. Jon's Dad picked us up that Thursday morning and took us to Newark where the first leg of our journey started. By the way thanks Dad for that airport drop. I decided to use Continental Airlines because we have frequent flyer miles with them through our Chase account (trust me it comes in handy) and I find that leaving from Newark is relatively cheaper than the other NY airports . Another plus is that their planes are really nice and roomy and offer a free food and beverage service. Even though there were self-service kiosks instead of counters, the attendants present were still very helpful. One attendant helped us to get two exit row seats.
Our flight was due in at 4pm at LAX and David and Jeff were scheduled to get there around the same time..... oh, so we thought. Since my cousin David works for US Airways he tends to fly with them or their partners, standby. As we were taxing on our aircraft, I decided to check my voicemail and I listened to a message that started with," Well, April we're having a great start to our trip." Apparently David and Jeff were supposed to fly to Long Beach but then they got a flight out to LAX instead. However, their luggage went to Long beach which is 30-45 minute drive on the infamous 405 during rush hour. Yeah... Great Start. How are we going to get the luggage? Well: by driving. Jon and I checked in at V Australia first and met up with the boys. Since I have never been to LA and we had all of this lay over time, I didn't mind going with them for the ride. We passed by and took pictures of the famous Randy's Donut shop where I had a delicious glazed donut for 60 cents. We were hungry on our way back and Jeff recommended the In~and~Out Burger joint. The burger was just okay. It was really thin like a White Castle burger and the fries were freshly cut and only had flavor once you added their secret sauce on them ( the secret sauce of course being Thousand Island).
Now that we got the luggage, ate, and checked in it was off to our gate . David was a little disappointed that he could not see the different international airplanes because it was dark, but at least we did see the big LAX sign. Wi-fi is available at the airport but for a cost of $7.99 via T-mobile hot spot. There are also Samsung charging stations. 10:30pm rolled around eventually and it was time to board . My hands began to sweat because I couldn't believe I was about to embark on this dream trip of mine for 14 hours, but, here we go. As I approached the jetway, I saw what resembled a bar at a club. I said to myelf like Madea would say," Hallelulya! I can get drunk." The plane was so wide, fresh and brand new smelling, with subtle blue atmospheric lights that made you feel as if you were in a lounge/club..... and it just felt great. We had seats in economy and David picked them out the right way. Before I proceed I will let you know that unfortunately Jon could not get an exit row seat. On V Australia you have to pay a little over $100 each way for an exit row seat. He was still comfortable in the seat we had in economy. Now back to the genius of my cousin. We were all in row 26 but it was in this order: window- David, middle seat- empty, aisle seat- me, then in the middle group of seats were : aisle-Jon, middle seat-empty, aisle- Jeff. We were counting on the fact that the flight was not fully booked. At first the counter clerks told us they were fully booked but when we saw no one sitting in-between us we knew we were in the clear. Now I could rest and watch some movies with their excellent in-flight entertainment. G'day mate.

Governor's Island

OK I know it has been awhile , but between school politics and graduation, I have been quite busy. Well I am still going to Australia next week Thursday for 10 days but I also decided to vacation in Brooklyn and the five boroughs. My first venture was to Governor's Island during my godson, Ryan, birthday. I have never been there before but it was such a beautiful weekend (the beautiful weekend we had , June 6th & 7th) that I woke Jon up at 11am and said let's go. Our best friends Rodney and LaShawn packed up the kids, LaShawn's Dad, Drew, met up with us in the city, and off we went to catch the ferry.

Governor's Island is open for the entire weekend starting on Fridays. The free ferry leaves hourly from the Maritime Terminal, which is to the left of the Staten Island Ferry terminal. The best way to get to this area is to take the N/R to Whitehall Street/South Ferry or the 1/9 to South Ferry. On Saturdays, there are ferries that leave every hour our on the hour from Fulton's Landing in Brooklyn. When I try it out next time I will report about that experience.

Once we reached the terminal there was a line that stretched all the way outside and persons who had bicycles were able to enter the ferry via a different entrance. We went through a security checkpoint where they made sure you didn't have any alcohol, pets or weapons. After that it was off to the ferry for a seven minute ride to the island.

Funny thing we noticed on this voyage was that there were some individuals dressed as if there from the 1920's. Then I remembered I read earlier on the website that there was going to be a 1920's Jazz Band and dance on the island. Well I know we would see it in passing because my crew was just interested in having a relaxing picnic. It is about a 15 minute walk from the boat to the main area and as we were walking we saw many people on their bikes and a variety of 19th century style homes and buildings. Because we had the kiddies we eventually caught a tram which took us to the picnic point that was on the other side of the island. We found a great spot and called it ours.

Pluses : You can bring your own bike or rent one for the day for $20. There are even two- and four-seater bikes, but they may cost you more. If you are lucky to visit on Fridays you can rent a bike for free.

You can bring anything onto the island except alcohol, drugs, pets, or weapons.

WARNING: The public restrooms are port-a-potties but they are surprisingly clean.

There are a few food vendors on the island and a West Indian woman who has a tent with food. You must have cash to pay for everything you buy on the island because there are no banks or ATM's on the island.
The last ferry for home leaves at 7pm.

All in all, this was a great day trip that was FREE (except for the cost of food and train fare). We saw beautiful views of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the bridges. Ryan enjoyed playing football with his Dad and trying to fly a kite with his Uncle Jon. Rachel enjoyed herself by getting her tan, and the boys relaxed while the women just soaked up the air. Can't wait to get back , I just need the Sun to come back.