Brandon O'Brien

Sunday, December 1, 2019 @ 10:00 PM in 2019 New Zealand

Day 8/9

We needed to be at the airport a little before noon today so we could get checked in and ready for our flight back to LA. Rather than try to make food at the hotel, we went to a coffee house where we had some coffee and pastries. After that, we did a final grocery run to buy some snacks to bring back to family and friends. I bought some Tim Tams which my mom ended up loving when we brought them to Christmas.

The flight was uneventful and we made it back to LA in the morning. Sam and I opted to stay an extra day in LA to unwind from the international trip. We ended up taking the metro up to Pasadena where we had some Himalayan food for lunch. After that, we went pretty close to where she grew up and walked around for a while before taking the metro back to the hotel and passing out a little early. We did walk around the hotel area and got dinner at a hole in the wall asian place. Our flight back to New Mexico was bright and early the next morning. Fortunately we were a stone's throw from the airport and didn't need to worry about getting there on time.

All in all, the trip was extremely fast but we were able to see and do a lot. New Zealand was a beautiful place and definitely one I want to go back to. The culture and landscape are both extremely impressive and it's worth a visit if you get a chance!

Tags: new zealand, los angeles, honeymoon

Posted from: United States

Monday, December 1, 2014 @ 1:23 AM in 2014 Asia

We got up at 5:30am in order to get packed up and head to the airport. The streets were completely empty that early in the morning so we got to the Hong Kong MTR station really fast. It was pretty cool that Cathay Pacific had a check in counter at the train station. Mike was able to check his bag and everything even though we were an hour from the airport.

We got to the airport and went up and hung out at one of the executive lounges where we had some pretty good food. We were in the premium economy class which meant we got to board before most people and also had a lot more room on the plane. We were served some pretty good food and slept for most of the 3.5 hour trip.

We could tell as soon as we stepped off the plane that the humidity and temperature were a lot higher. We got a ticket to the KL Sentral train station on the KLIA express train. It's an express train that goes back and forth between the airport and train station which is where our hotel is. The train station was packed with people and it took us a little while to find our hotel.

Once we found the hotel we checked in and relaxed for a little bit. The hotel is the Aloft and it's a pretty modern style hotel with a free minibar and snacks. We did some researching on things to see and places to eat while we're here. We found some really good reviews for a restaurant called Songket over near the Petronas towers.

We wanted to go up the towers but it started raining and was a little gross out so we decided to hold that off until later. The towers themselves are pretty neat looking though. After snapping some pics we found our way to the restaurant for dinner.

Being a Sunday night, the restaurant was pretty empty but they seated us outside where it was pretty humid. The food itself was really good though. We started off with an appetizer sampler that had four different items and some spicy sauce. We ordered a sweet and spicy chicken and a coconut curry chicken that both came with rice. The coconut curry chicken was really good. Afterwards we got some dessert. I opted for the coconut ice cream and Mike got some kind of classic Malaysian dish called Sago Gula Melaka.

We came back to the hotel where we got to bed early since we had a couple long days back to back.

Teaser photos:

Downtown from our rooftop pool

Petronas Towers at night

Appetizer sampler at Songket

Dinner at Songket

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Tags: travels2014, malaysia, kuala lumpur

Posted from: Malaysia

Monday, December 1, 2014 @ 12:56 AM in 2014 Asia

Last night ended up being quite the night. After getting back from Lantau Island we took a little nap before heading out for dinner. We originally wanted to hit up a wonton place that was recommended to us but didn't realize what time it closed and we didn't get there in time. Instead, I tried something at McDonalds called the Green Lantern burger. It's basically a hamburger with a hashbrown and some weird sauce on top. I wouldn't get it again but it's interesting to see the different variations of food they have at the global chains.

After that we took the MTR to the mainland part of Hong Kong and were planning on checking out some of the nightlife. Instead, when we got out of the MTR station we saw that we were dead in the middle of some of the Occupy Hong Kong protests. We hung around there for a while taking photos and seeing what was going on.

By the time we wanted to head back to the hotel we realized that the MTR had shut down and we were on the wrong side of Hong Kong (aka, the hotel was on the island and we were on the mainland). None of the taxis wanted to take us across so after about 45 minutes of wandering around we finally found a bus that would get us to our island. After that we had to catch a taxi to get us closer to the hotel and still had a 10 minute walk afterward. We didn't end up getting back to the hotel until around 3am.

Today however, we wanted to head to Macau and check out their version of Vegas. We slept in a little bit since we got to bed so late last night. For an early lunch/late breakfast we went to the wonton place that we missed last night. The food was good and also really cheap.

The process of getting a ferry ticket was really easy and once we were on it, it only took about an hour to get to Macau. Macau itself was actually really disappointing. The entire place was under construction and crowded. None of the casinos were really that impressive. The nice thing about Vegas is how it's built around entertainment whereas Macau is strictly built around hardcore gambling.

Macau used to be controlled by the Portuguese so we were excited to find some legitimate Portuguese food. We did some searching and found a few places. When we got to the one called O Santo we sat down and started looking through the menu. It was a joke how expensive everything was as well as how lame all the food was. It would have been $22+USD just for some pork fried rice. None of the food was authentic Portuguese (we saw some people eating and it was mostly frozen style french fries and chicken or pork).

We left without ordering and found a sitdown fast food place called Curry Monster. Mike and I were able to each get a milk tea and full meal and combined it was less than the average food price for one dish at O Santo.

We walked around a little more and decided to see some of the casinos and then head back to our hotel. We used the free hotel buses to get us to the ferry terminal and booked our ferry back. I think we both passed out for the ride home and got back around 1:30am.

Teaser photos:

Portuguese square in Macau

Venetian hotel/casino in Macau

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Tags: travels2014, macau, hong kong

Posted from: Hong Kong

Sunday, December 1, 2013 @ 7:07 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 158

Not really much to report today. It was just a lazy Sunday here in Seville. I went to check out a big open air art market in the morning but I got there a little too early and they were still setting up. There was some nice work from local artists but of course it was all pretty expensive.

I read by the river for a while before heading back to the hostel for lunch. After lunch I read here at the hostel and then went out for a mid-day snack and beer at 100 Montaditos. I got a few tiny sandwiches and a beer then came back here.

I'm excited to head out to Ronda tomorrow. All of the photos make it look like a really cool place. It'll also be good to get out of Seville for the day. I've been here long enough where I'm starting to run out of things to do. It's not like when I was in some of the UK cities for long periods of time and could go on warm morning runs and then relax on the beach. It's just a little too chilly here to relax outside for too long.

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Tags: daily journal, spain, seville

Posted from: Spain