1-month Christmas vacation recap (part 2)

[elyse]

I really suck at making a short summary. Blame it on this detailed & organized personality of mine... As it is said: your strength can be your (greatest) weakness. Hanyaaan... *_*

So, continuing from part 1 of the 1-month christmas vacation story, I present to you:

The (very long) holiday summary! :D

Dec 14-17 (Singapore)
Singapore with friends (a total of 10, including moi). I used my mileage for a free Singapore airline ticket (I went by myself, my friends went together by AirAsia). We stayed at Lucky Plaza apartment at Orchard (the unit is owned & managed by an Indonesian lady), so it felt like home. As for the daily routine: basically, we ate lots, shopped even more (while also buying things I might've needed for my 1-month vacation), and hangout at a different cafe after dinner each night. We left the apartment before lunch, and we went to bed after midnight. Too bad it was raining most of the time.. But it was fun nonetheless.

Dec 19
The 1-month vacation (USA, Mexico, Japan) with my family begun. Transit in Singapore & Hongkong.

Dec 20-22 (Las Vegas)
Arrived at Los Angeles in the morning of Dec 20th. Later that evening, went straight to Las Vegas by car (about 4-hour drive) with my family & my friends (I stayed at his apartment in Irvine during my stay in the US). I got a great deal at Planet Hollywood (only $75 a night!). The routine: slept after 5am, woke up after 12pm, brunch @ Bellagio's The Buffet (Dec 21) & Paris' Le Village Buffet (Dec 22) until 4+ pm, took photos of Bellagio & around (Dec 21), Paris, Venetian & Wynn (Dec 22), shopped at Miracle Mile shops, dinner after 11pm. Since dad & bro wanted to watch a show, I bought them tickets to see Zumanity. I went shopping with mom instead, and my friends played at the casino. Drove back to Irvine in the evening of Dec 22nd.

Dec 23-30 (Mexico)
Mexico pilgrimage tour.
I used the service of Mexico Travel Advisors (contact person: Miguel Robledo) while in Mexico. It was the cheapest & most flexible tour that I could get. In fact, the price was almost half of the other tour offers. I got a satisfying experience from them, especially since I'm a very detailed person, I confirmed everything to the slightest details and Mr. Miguel always responded.
We got a private tour (just the 4 of us, using Lincoln town car, with Raul as the driver and English-speaking guide), isn't it wonderful :) I made the tour itinerary myself (from researching here & there). Everyday we chose what time to go, and we could also skip the itinerary (very, very flexible!).

This is the summary of the itinerary:
 

Dec 23: evening arrival. Stay at Hotel Royal Zona Rosa, Mexico City. Free internet, YAY :D

Dec 24: Mexico city tour: Chapultepec Park, Las Lomas, Plaza de La Reforma, Angel of Independence, Zocalo, National Palace, Catedral Metropolitana. After lunch: Santo Domingo church, arts & crafts market, church of the Fifth Apparition (Juan Diego's uncle's house). Then Christmas eve mass at Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Dec 25: Tlaxcala: San Miguel del Milagro church, Ocotlan church.

Dec 26: Mexico city: churches El Carmen, Chimalistac @ San Angel, and San Juan Bautista @ Coyoacan. We skipped the Xochimilco boat ride & went shopping at Zona Rosa instead.

Dec 27: Cholula & Puebla. Cholula: San Gabriel & Santa Maria Tonantzintla churches. Puebla: San Francisco church (where the uncorrupted body of Blessed Sebastian de Aparicio lays), Capilla del Rosario, Catedral de Puebla.

Dec 28: free day, but we hired Raul personally to drive us around. We went to Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe & spent hours there (including shopping). Then my dad wanted to see Santa Fe district. Final destination: Hard Rock cafe.

Dec 29: Cuernavaca & Taxco. Cuernavaca: a visit to Misioneras Clarisas to meet Sr. Maria Martha (one of the 3 who started the Clare Missionary in Indonesia) & a few other sisters. Then to the Catedral de Cuernavaca. Taxco: visit 3 silver shops & Santa Prisca church.

Dec 30: After Sunday mass & lunch, went to the airport (bound for Los Angeles). Bye bye, Mexico!

 

Dec 31 - Jan 2 (Irvine)
New Year's eve: late lunch at 4p (resulting to gastric problem!), Little Tokyo (just to kill the time - grocery shopping), 9pm mass @ Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels with Cardinal Roger Mahony, celebrate new year @ Universal City Walk, supper @ Bubba Gump (gastric problem started).
New Year's day: lazing around at home (my friend's), while my mom & bro went shopping nearby. Dinner @ Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Irvine. My dad & bro left the US on Jan 2 (coz they had to work, obviously), staying in Singapore from Jan 3 - 6, before going back to Jakarta.

Jan 3-8 (Irvine)
After dad & bro left, my mom & I started to go to the storage & work on Jan 3. The storage closes at 6pm (earlier on weekends), so here's the daily routine: woke up around 10a, brunch around 12p (either at home, outside, or bring food to eat at the storage), went to the storage & worked until it closes, threw the trashes away at friends' apartments nearby :P, went home (take a bath), dinner outside (then either shopped a bit, or went straight home after dinner).
Exceptions: on Jan 3, I met my close friend Faye at Irvine Spectrum Center for lunch.
Gastric problem lasted for a few days, so I couldn't enjoy the food as much as I wanted to.

Jan 9
We decided to spend the last day NOT working, so we finished everything related to the storage on Jan 8. Went to Los Angeles this day. Lunch @ Little Tokyo, mass @ Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels (and took daytime photos, since it was dark when we went there on New Year's eve), visit Wine House (to seek for Dolce by Far Niente), dinner @ Thai Nakorn (at Stanton) - a reunion with my close friend Shirley, her husband & her cousin, then back home to pack.

Jan 10
Flew to Tokyo, morning flight. Got a free upgrade to the United Economy Plus seats by chance ^^

Jan 11-15 (Tokyo)
TOKYO! :D (wikitravel)
This part will be written separately (it will be on vacation recap part 3) as it has more detailed stories. I don’t want this entry to be too long.

Jan 16 (Singapore)
Arrived at Singapore after midnight. Got a free overnight hotel stay from United at Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel. After we slept till noon, we went to mass @ Novena church & had lunch @ River Valley Rd, then treated ourselves to a body massage @ Healing Touch :D We really needed that! So relaxing.

Our SQ flight back to Jakarta was the last one (at 9.20pm), so we arrived at home almost midnight due to the traffic jam.

Bye bye vacation! *sniff sniff*
Tanoshikatta yo!
Jakarta is soooo hot, humid & dirty! -_-
Aaah, back to reality & routine…

PS: Tokyo story will follow soon on part 3. Stay tuned.

Comments

[haruha.livejournal.com]

That sounds like an amazing winter vacation! :D I'm so jealous~

[lisette.livejournal.com]

hehe.. it was actually too long, that i was a bit reluctant to go back to daily routines (esp. work!) :p

[flojack.livejournal.com]

I know who to contact now for Mexico. :D :D
See you in Sydney soon I hope?

[lisette.livejournal.com]

ehehe... i hope i'll go.. i can probably confirm as the days go closer to WYD, since i have several works to do & events to organize on july & i need to see whether i really can leave all of them to my partners. we'll see..

if not, i'll just visit sydney/melbourne soon ^^

[sisqa.livejournal.com]

woahhh!!! what a trip! mexico sounds so cool... i want to go now :D