U.S Southwest Road-Trip Day 2: San Francisco (Alcatraz Tour)

So we got up really early to catch our domestic flight at 8am to San Francisco from Seattle. Here's the real start to our road trip!

Hello boy!

The flight to San Francisco was an approximate 2 hours.

Excited because we landed!

2 retards lol.

Tita Zenny, Rob, Honey, Grace and Uncle Edgar!

Then we proceed for our car rental.

The cute boots which boy bought for me while he was away in Bangkok.

That's the van which we rented! Enough to sit all 10 of us.

There we go!

Before heading to our motel, we went for lunch at the Public Market.

That's our motel for the next 2 nights!

After some rest we got ready for our Alcatraz Tour next!

The weather was super super cold, it was practically freezing for me. Hard to explain how cold it was but most of the time I would use the white wollen scarf to cover my whole face up and sometimes even had to wear gloves. The wind factor makes it even worse.

But still, I prefer the weather in U.S than in SG! I never ever got to sweat a single bit, totally love.

Queuing up for our Alcatraz Tour. Basically, Alcatraz was an prison on an island in San Francisco which housed a few hundred inmates back in the 1950s and these inmates are usually those that commit serious crimes. So on one occasion (I can't exactly remember which year), 3 inmates tried to escape from the Alcatraz island by swimming in the freezing water across to San Francisco main island. 2 died due to the temperature while 1 managed to escape. From then on, they decided to close down the prison and hence opened it up for tourists to tour.

We had to take the cruise over to the island.

Freezing cold.

There, the island!

Finally we reached.

That's the morgue.

The main prison.

Rob.

The interior of the main prison which housed all the inmates.

So this is how the 3 inmates managed to escape the prison, just by using simple tools!

After the Alcatraz tour, we had dinner at Chinatown but I did not manage to take any photos which I can't remember why lol.

Day 3 to be continued!

Courtesy from the Boy.

U.S Southwest Road-trip: Day 1 (Singapore - Seattle)

Have been too lazy to blog about my recent U.S Southwest Road-trip so I thought it's time I should get my butt on my chair and start writing about it.

Prior to travelling there, all plannings have been done by boy's mum and relatives who are residing in U.S and the plan was really great. It was an enjoyable experience and I really love how close-knitted their family are. Their culture are so different from us though I felt a little "uncomfortable" at times lol. Affections are being shown through actions like kiss on the cheeks and hugs. It was an experience to me (:

Anyway, we went for a total of 17 days. And here's a rough breakdown of the costs:

Air Fare (Return trip from Singapore to Seattle and back by United Airlines) - SGD$1,800

Domestic Flight (Seattle to San Francisco and Las Vegas to Seattle) - SGD$200

Car Rental, Petrol, Hotel Accommodation & Sharing of food: SGD$1,200

Shopping & Individual Food/Expenses: SGD$2,800

Total Expenses: SGD$6,000

My total damage actually adds up more than my pre-planned $5K but well, I got what I want and I never regret it! (:

So on Day 1 at 8am, we board the plane from Singapore to Tokyo Narita for transit. The flight was an approximate 7 hours. There we go!

The food on United Airlines are not that fantastic, in my opinion.

After 7 hours, we got to transit at Tokyo Narita.

I just had to stop by to shop at their duty-free shops!

Everything in Japan are super pricey.. This packet of scallops cost SGD$23 and the Potato Farm below costs SGD$12 with just 10 small packets in it! I still bought it and boy's parents love the scallops.

Queuing to get in the plane which will be another 10 hours of flight.

I can't get to sleep on plane rides so I was quite awake the whole while...

Then finally after 20 hours, we reached Seattle where boy's relatives are already waiting for us at the airport!

This was a really heart-warming moment, and I managed to see this scene for myself.. the first time in my life. I heard they have not seen each other for 10 years.

Touching (:

Boy's mum and Tita Zenny.

Uncle Edgar who is super funny.

Off we go for lunch!

Look like some Jap student lol.

Boy's pretty sis!

One shot together.

It was lunch at Seafood City! We had some grilled BBQ food.

After which we went to Tita Zenny's house to freshen ourselves up. It was a really cosy place.

Jeanny!

The weather was awesome, athough really really cold!

Then we head off for a scenic view of the Memorial Bridge!

Love the houses there really. I was told given the money we had bought for our HDB flat in SG, it is enough to buy such beautiful houses here at a good location.

It was Chinese Buffet after that! Food was awesome.

We had the entire stretch of tables for ourselves!

Got to know Rob's "sister" through this trip. She prefers us to call her "She" because she is a gay.

And I realize that U.S are pretty open regarding this.

That's the end of our first day in U.S.

Day 2 to be continued!