: US Trip (Part 1- Day 1)

Getting There.

We woke up at 3:00 am for our 8:00 am flight in the morning of April 23. The five hours were spent on preparing (bath, brush, etc.), traveling, and waiting, as it is proper to come three hours before an international flight. Nothing much has changed in NAIA 1. If you are a regular flyer and do not have or want to pay extra for lounges, you do not have a lot of food choices and clean, comfortable seating areas. It's not called one of the worsts for nothing. I do not want to sound too superior or too good for it but it just saddens me that efforts are not enough to raise NAIA 1 from its current situation.

We flew via Delta.

I played the trivia game and was part of the high scorers! Booyeah! Haha

The plane ride from Manila to Tokyo was 6 hours. Thanks to the in-flight entertainment, we didn't feel that it was that long. The last 30 minutes or so of the ride was pretty bumpy though! The turbulence made me feel like throwing up. I chewed some candies but it didn't really help. From the plane to the terminal was a bit of a walk but I was only too glad that we're on land. We only stayed at the airport for an hour so we only had time to eat! I got myself a hot bowl of noodles with shrimp that seems like okoy. Oh, and I bought Kit-Kat Green Tea too!

Aud, Papa, and Mama at the Narita Airport.

Mr. Hug. In this whole trip, he suddenly started hugging us all of the time. And I mean, ALL of the time.

I love Japanese food! There's a cute baby on the bottom left of this picture but his face got covered by his stroller's handle.

My first (and so far, only) Japanese food in Japan! I needed something hot after that plane ride!

New York, New York

Thirteen hours, some movies (I watched House at the End of the Street, parts of Les Mis and Beasts of the Southern Wild), and tummies full of airplane food later, we landed at the JFK! After passing the immigration and getting our luggage, we hailed an airport cab (legit yellow cab in NY!) to take us to our hotel. After the opening of the airport doors, I immediately felt the seven degree weather! It was a lot cold that 36 degrees I was painfully used to, but it was tolerable. I was just wearing a dress and a cardigan but the cab had heater so I was all good. Queens to Manhattan was a bit of a wait, but I was ecstatic the whole time! We were in New York! I got a lot more giddy when I started seeing the buildings and skyscrapers!

A blurry shot of my happy self!

The divider. The card thing. Too cool for me!

The cute cab and my dad getting our luggage.

So many to see!

Our hotel had free chocolate chip cookies at certain times of day. Too good!

Our room was pretty small but we and our luggage fitted! After settling, my brother and father slept, my mom did some work, and I chilled with my phone and TV. At around 6 in the evening, we left our hotel to go around. Our hotel was at 44th St., Midtown. It was near a lot of restaurants and a lot of stores. It didn't hurt that a subway station was a few steps away from it too! We tried looking for a place to eat but we ended up not eating because our stomachs were still full from the airplane food! Delta was really gracious with food.

I think this is at 42nd St?

Biggest McDonald's I've been to!

Broadway

For a musical theatre fan like me, going to New York cannot be complete without seeing a Broadway show. The shows are pretty expensive and we didn't have much time to watch a lot but we were able to see one. We watched Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark. I had heard about this show from the other end of the world. I knew about the falls, the budget, and the reviews. A lot raved its set design and... basically that's it. Since I want to be a set designer, I wanted like to see the best of what Broadway has to offer in terms of set design. True enough, the sets were jaw-dropping! The "curtain" had Spiderman on a huge web. I loved the weaving choreography of Arachne-- perfectly timed, graceful, and solemn! There were huge (and I mean, really!) LCD screens, witty fold-able backgrounds, amazing skyscraper takes, and cool laboratory equipment. I found it really smart and creative how some sets were transformed completely just from turning things around or whatnot. Cases in point, school building which became the classroom, and neighborhood which became MJ's and Peter's houses! Cool beans. I didn't like the music all that much, though. I get that rock is a better option than classical or something when it comes to Spidey but the songs didn't really stick to me and they weren't all that moving (emotions or the story). The story line was pretty bland. I didn't understand Arachne's importance and the villains were too plain in bringing terror, like how the story went. There were not a lot of twists or turns in the story. I found it a bit dragging. Singing and aerial choreography was pretty good though! All in all, if you just want to be thrilled with the sets and acrobatics, anyone would love the show... but if you go deeper into story line and music, it really doesn't say much. Cool experience, though!

At the Foxwood Theater

Coolio ticket!

The lobby before the show.

My first Playbill. Haha! I didn't get a programme though.

It was really cold outside... hence, the jackets!

I couldn't even begin to explain my look here. It was too cold; I didn't care. Such a tourist/theatrefan shot.

Start Counting the Calories!

The show ended at around 10 in the evening. We had an extremely late (and heavy) dinner at Shake Shack. I got a hotdog, a milkshake, and a frozen custard. Imagine how I was not able to burn all these at one night! Yummy food, though! Had I known that the Great White Way was a frozen custard, I would not have ordered the milkshake. The milkshake was good, but, really? Shake and custard? Cold and sweet overload!