jasonkyashi.com » Vacation

J0027 starbucks addict

jasonkidd — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 05:15:31 +0000

while waiting for our flight home from hk 2 days ago (obviously this is already different vacation from post J0026, i just didn’t have the time, nor drive to write this past few weeks), i found this chinese (hong kongesian? hehe) woman holding a tall, red starbucks coffee, which naturally had me looking around for the coffeeshop at the airport. leaving kyashi to tend to the birthday greetings she received (yey for free airport wifi!), i went around and around, up and down the vicinity, only to return to the lounge empty-handed.

as we left for our gate, i thought, there probably is a starbucks coffee shop near the gate, given how filipinos love to drink coffee (of course, part of my assumption was that, most if not all cebu pacific flights are routed through that gate). true enough, a few stores from gate 49 stood the stall! got my fix, got to spend hk coins that burdens my wallet, too bad they don’t have a sticker promo else i might have already been an owner of a chinese planner! :p

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a week ago i got my second random (nga ba) starbucks receipt giving a tall beverage free after i answer a survey from www.mystarbucksvisit-ph.com. given how much coffee i buy from them, i should have had more than 2 free drinks by now! nevertheless, a free drink is a free drink, so yey, hurrah for free starbucks drink!

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speaking of coffee count, this morning i’ve just received my second 2009 planner, meaning i’ve collected 32 stickers since the promo’s start around nov. 4 (actually 31 stickers, since the first sticker was free). given say, 5 of those stickers came from my “coffee-mates”, that’s 26 cups consumed by me. 26 cups in 23 days…

gimme more free drinks!

J0026 day one at las vegas

jasonkidd — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:00:45 +0000

we arrived at vegas on schedule, and ate joann fetched us at the airport. even from there, slot machines litter the place already! we took the shuutle to the polo towers (easily the smallest hotel in the vicinity), and tried to settled for the night.

joyce and i decided to still wander around that night to buy dinner, and we landed into this foodcourt where she bought subway and i ate wendys. no wonder americans are big, the somewhat regular burger i ordered was triple-layered. obviously, some of it went straight to the trash bin.

we decided to take some pictures already, so mgm grand, and the new york new york area were made backdrops that night. we then took the long route around mgm grand (unintenionally), and got back to our internet-less hotel.

our official first day was spent the same way non-gambling tourists do when visiting vegas, wandering around the vegas strip, taking snapshots after snapshots of the hotels. flamingo, caesar’s palace, harrahs, mirage, miracle mile, and others, we visited, inside and out. casinos are everywhere in the area that i could not identify one hotel from the next! we tried to visit all free shows available, unfortunately most of them are closed (the lion habitat at mgm grand is under maintenance, start trek experience has ended since september 1, stratosphere rides were closed due to rains). we also went to the freemonte experience (yes, that’s the street name), and saw the old vegas neon shows.
we ate fatburger for breakfast, mcdo for lunch, and i had panda express for dinner. i got a taste of starbucks mocha frappucino vegas style. we got to ride the monorail and the bus. we were out of the hotel hours before lunch and got back past midnight.

pics will be uploaded at the multiply site when i get the time. although i’m not in most of the pictures, ending up being the official photographer.

J0025 at los angeles international airport

jasonkidd — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 23:15:26 +0000

1730 local time. we are now waiting for the boarding call for our connecting flight to las vegas! nothing big happened from when we lined up to board the us flight from seoul. oh, except for joyce being stopped at the inspection and got her shoes, clothes, and whole body scanned for the presence of who knows what! ) then when we got to our plane seats, she got excited because the likes of little panda, forbidden kingdom are going to be shown as in-flight video, only to find out that our seat type only shows iron man, indiana jones, movies that she already saw! ) plus her remote control was stuck on its place, while mine was easily retracted from its compartment! )

anyway, having a book to read, i proposed that we exchange seats. while reading the book, trying to sleep, and eating korean sambapp bulgogi properly, i tried to think of the immigration interview we will be facing (oh, i also managed to see a japanese movie starring who i thought initially to be itou misaki but she turned out to be another actress, who i’ve also seen before).

we got interviewed by this guy (mexican) named meneses, and thankfully the whole process lasted no more than 10 mins! after a little blooper with the automated check in machine, we find ourselves where we are now, munching on a regular cheeseburger from mcdonalds.

we’re back in america!

J0024 at incheon international airport

jasonkidd — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 09:00:52 +0000

my three week vacation has officially started!

joyce and i have deplaned in the south korean city of seoul 30 minutes ago. joyce just bought a sandwich and 2 cans of coke (what else?), using my credit card (7300 won! converter says its 306 pesos) we are now waiting for the boarding time of our connecting flight to los angeles, which is 1 hour from now (departure is 20:20, local time).

my sister said that the airport is just like what she sees in the koreanovelas (as it should!). i think it looks like centennial terminal 2. the only diifference is that the people here have chinkier eyes, hehe.

the flight to los angeles will take 11 hours, and then it will be time to face immigration and the expected questions on why we are travelling to the us of a only now that our visas are about to expire.

joyce just went off to explore the airport. i guess i’ll think of that problem later. want to see what there is to see in this airport, too!