Goodbye America

The following day, the Green couple was due to leave for London! Awww, time flew!! Syndy and me had one more night but I would be the last to leave. Syndy wanted to go back to Santa Monica for Levi's (that's her only favourite brand I think!), while I decided to spend my time at Manhatten myself.

I took the shuttle down to Manhatten beach and walked by the little stores I missed the other time. It was a sunny Sunday so the beach was really crowded. People were suntanning, cycling, chilling and surfing while I had my pathetic museli bar. LOL. Yes, and I had some unintentional shopping done. I bought a dress from this store and spoke to the Korean woman in there, it was amazing how easy it was to talk to a stranger in America.

Then I waited for the shuttle with a bunch of friendly old ladies to head to the village for some more shopping. I found myself in a mega drugstore and of course had to leave with a few bottles of nail polish, ahhh my little indulgence. I also found a Target store and took a long walk there, it was an interesting first visit. It was like a huge Primark! LOL. Everything was so affordable and I bought some souvenirs and cheap undergarments! By then, I was starving, so I headed to the nearest fastfood place and bought myself a taco before I continued more shopping.

I went back to Sephora and a few stores to get things I missed the first time! Then it was about 5pm when I was waiting to catch the shuttle to the next stop to get the Samsung Tab (bad Angela got me tempted with her kindle and iPad purchase), I saw many people staring up at the sky. There was an eclipse and it was glaring, I couldn't see it clearly until after a while, it showed up.

My fault for writing this a year later!! Haha. I can't recall why I didn't manage to get my Tab that day, was it sold out or the store closed earlier that day. I was so disappointed. But I still headed back to meet Syndy for dinner. After a bit of coaxing, I managed to convince her to go for an In and Out burger with me! As usual, I went to La Quinta where an excellent staff assisted me with directions, he even printed out the bus timing for me (to and fro). Super kind filipino guy! After waiting for the bus for ages, we finally got on and it took about 15-20 minutes before we found it.

I read about the secret menu (animal style) somewhere and we decided to give it a go (haha) even without an idea what it really was. We were so hungry and everything tasted brilliant. The fries which Angela said tasted like cardboard even tasted good to us! We noticed many shops around this area, one of them was Staples.

Later that evening, we had our complimentary drinks at the hotel bar (but Syndy had orange juice!). I told Syndy how I didn't manage to get my Tab, and it was then she mentioned Staples might be an electronic store! I had no idea what made me so determined to get one, I made myself woke up early the next morning to make another trip down just to get it. That morning, Syndy was leaving for her flight, so I gave her a big hug before running out for my Tab mission.

And right on. It was an electronic store but they ran out of stock. I was almost in a panic as I had an afternoon flight and I worried I wouldn't make it back in time. The staff was kind enough to reserve one at the next nearest store and I just needed to find my way there. She even printed me a map of the store location. So I really tried my luck and took a bus headed for the airport. The store was at the Airport Boulevard. I trusted my instincts, alighted and then asked around for the Staples store. Fortunately, it wasn't far, and I really found it. I was grinning from ear to ear the moment I bought it! Till today, I feel my Tab has been under-utilised but I have been watching a lot more movies on it these days :)

I passed by another In and Out Burger on my way back to the hotel but I just couldn't down another of the same after the night before. When I got back, I bought myself a Happy Meal from McDonalds downstairs! LOL. It was just a happy ending to my holiday. Then I packed up, took the shuttle and tipped the driver.

My mood was at its peak, so even food on the plane on the way back home were superb. Not to mention, I was given a mini Ben & Jerry ice cream! I remember I sat to this Thai guy and we chatted for a bit, he was studying in USA and going back to Bangkok for holiday but unfortunately we didn't keep in touch.

Bye Bye America, till next time!