4 States 4 Days

At the beginning of August, my friends Lena and Justin and I went on a tour bus to Boston, New York City, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania. We went with Taipan Tours, an Asian travel company. We went on a bus tour instead of going there on our own mostly because it was much much cheaper. If you've never been on these asian bus tours, let me explain. It is usually a jam packed schedule, with little flexibility. Morning calls are 5:30 AM - 6:00 AM and meal breaks are short. But what do you expect? You're travelling to so many places in so little time. But to me, I didn't really mind. Like with anything, if you're with the right people, anything can be fun. And I definitely had a great time.

DAY ONE: B O S T O N

I woke up at 4:30 AM to get to Pacific Mall by 5:20 AM. Once I arrived, the bus decided to depart right away. We had 3 people so we decided to rotate sitting alone and I was first. I slept most of the time on the bus but I did get to see the sunrise which was beautiful! We went across the Canada-US border and after 9 hours and multiple washroom/meal breaks, we finally arrived in Boston!

Our first stop was Harvard University. I actually didn't expect it to look like what it actually looks like. I imagined a grand campus - sort of like universities in the UK. Instead, it looked kind of plain. Just buildings, nothing special. The town actually reminded me a little of Kingston where Queen's University is located. It was old, cute, and small. We stayed there for a while and sat on the chairs that are just randomly distributed on campus (guess smart people just sit around and think all day).

Next, we were taken to Quincy Market. It's sort of like St. Lawrence Market. After a long period of indecisiveness, we ended up getting a lobster combo and bacon wrapped in scallop. The food was sub-par. After dinner, we walked around the area because it was filled with small boutiques and street performers.

After that, we toured around Boston. This city is so lovely! I love the architecture, I love the environment - a bit of an artistic feel. Then, we were taken to our hotel: Crown Plaza Hotel. This hotel was the best one out of all three. It was really grand! I loved the decor of the lobby and everything was so chic and modern. It was a long day so we just showered, unpacked, played Heads-Up (which i'm pretty good at), and chilled around before going to bed.

DAY TWO: N E W  Y O R K  C I T Y

Bringgg Brringg! We got a morning call at 5:30 AM because we needed to get on the bus by 6:15 AM. I was the first one up (on all three days) because Lena sleeps forever and Justin takes 2 seconds to get ready. After scrambling to pack everything, we made it to the bus just on time (so clutch so clutch). This time, it was my turn to sit with Lena. After two washroom stops, we ended up in New York City! I've been to New York City before but the city never fails to amaze me.

Wall Street Station - This got me kind of excited I don't know why

First, we went to see the Statue of Liberty. The boat ride was an hour long and although I get boat sick sometimes, I really do enjoy boat rides. It was so peaceful and the scenery was beautiful. Taking a selfie with the statue was such a struggle LOL but that's okay.

After the ride, we went to The Rockefeller Centre to see the entire view of the city. Once again, I've been here before with my family so it wasn't that big of a deal. It was a very nice view though.

Then we went to Times Square. We had around an hour and a half to roam around so we went shopping. These screens never fail to fascinate me.

Overall, New York City was great! I'm definitely more of a city person. I love bright lights and I love crowds of people. The streets reminded me of Hong Kong which of course is a good thing. At night, we were taken to a Westin Inn hotel in a small town in New Jersey. Since we were bored, we walked around at night and discovered a froyo place! So we went in and had a cup of froyo. We then sat at the park for a good hour just having a little bonding time.

That night, we slept pretty late because we had deep talks and then it got depressing and no one could fall asleep... so we chilled and somehow decided it would be a good idea to try to fit the three of us on one bed. You can imagine how that went.

DAY THREE: WASHINGTON D.C.

Once again, we woke up super early to get to our next destination: Washington D.C. This day consisted of going to many many monuments, memorials, and museums. It was super hot and I was stupid enough to decide to wear a long sleeve shirt. 

To be honest, I kind of forgot the names of the monuments that we visited... fail.

I honestly don't remember what this place is.

This is the Washington Monument. I've always seen this place in movies but it was awesome to see it in real life.

This was my favourite one! It's the Lincoln monument. I don't know, I just really like the architecture and how it looks. Plus, it faces the Washington Monument and the water/fountain. When I first saw it, it kind of reminded me of that burned down church in Macau.

Ok, this is obviously the white house. Of course we weren't allowed to close to it so this is the best photo I got (as I tried to push everyone out of the way).

Then we went to the wax museum! I've always seen pictures of people who go and I've always thought it was so cool. So I finally got to go!

That night,  we stayed at Sheraton Hotel. The hotel was alright but we had to call the front desk like three times because:
1. Lena clogged the toilet
2. We couldn't find the thermostat
3. We broke the lights in our washroom

We were really tired that night so we didn't go out and explore the town. Justin fell asleep while watching TV so we just decided to call it a night after a while.

DAY FOUR: P E N N S Y L V A N I A

We didn't have to wake up as early (yipee)! The only stop for that day was Penn's Cave. We were taken on a small little boat and toured the inside of the cave. It was really sick. I've always loved this kind of stuff - hiking, caves, nature. It was chilly inside the cave and water kept dripping on my head but it was a really cool experience!

After that, we went back to Canada! We got back to pacific mall at around 7PM.

Woot! So that was last weekend. It was a really fun trip and spending time with Lena and Justin is always ... how do I put it ... "interesting". We somehow get along quite well despite how differently we see things and how differently we live our lives. Next time, we'll go explore California!

xx