Photo of the Week: Las Vegas

Mirage Resort, Las Vegas

Visiting the Statue of Liberty

One of the nice things about living in New York City is that out of town friends often visit, giving a reason to see the sights of NYC.  A friend from my last Contiki tour was here in April and she wanted to see the Statue of Liberty.  Since I was last there in the mid-90's, I was happy to go.

My friend booked the tickets herself back in December and ticketed time slots were already starting to get sold out.  And forget about tickets to the crown, I believe that is a 6 month wait!  We had tickets for 11:00 (everything earlier was sold out for the pedistal) for security.  I believe tickets were $13 each.

We arrived at exactly 11:00 and the line for security was quite long.  There were 3 lines, those with bought same day untimed tickets (longest line), pre-purchased timed tickets and people with New York Pass, which was the fastest line.  Actually the line was so fast that I would encourage anyone going to see the Statue of Liberty to look into this pass, it does have many other benefits besides skipping the line so there may be value to anyone who doesn't have a lot of time in New York City but wants to see a lot. 

We waited on line for at least an hour to get to security, which is similar to airport secruity, minus the nudoscopes.  You had to take off belts, shoes, jackets, etc.  I will say that the security was a little inconsistent.  Everyone went through metal detectors, and so did all bags, but it seemed like some lines you had to take your shoes off but on others you didn't.  Just like at the airport you can get lucky and have a quick moving line, or you can get stuck on the line with all the rookies and it can take a while.  This is done inside a temporary type of building that isn't quite big enough to process as many people as they have coming through. 

After you go through security you wait for the boat, boats come every 30 minutes and in spite of arriving at 11:00 we did not get on a boat until 12:30.  I think this had to do with there not being enough security lines to process people, but also once you go through secruity and you're waiting for the next boat, the area is not big enough and I think it backs up into the security area which stops or slows down the screening.  Of course the waiting area that we were in was kinda roomy with no one encouraging us to move towards the front of the area to make more room. 

My point?  The security process needs some tweaking so plan a lot of time into your day. 

The boat only took a few minutes (and wasn't really crowded), but there isn't a ton of seating onboard.  But there is a snack bar with food and drink. 

At the Statue of Libery you disembark the boat and are free to walk around the island as much as you want.  There is a gift shop and a snack bar on the island too.  If you want to go into the Statue you will need tickets that allow access.  You will also need to go through security screening again, though there was no line here.  Inside is a museum and the original torch, you can learn all about the Statue of Liberty, of course if you didn't plan your day well then you wont have much time for this section.  Inside you can climb the 192 steps to the pedistal.  I'll be honest, I'm not sure it was worth the work.  You get a nicer view of New York City, but a terrible view of lady liberty as you're just looking up her skirt and there's nothing to see there.  And the stairs killed both our legs, my legs were spasming, making it hard to walk up or down stairs for a while after.  I've climbed to the tops of many things and never had this problem.  If you choose to climb to the top of the crown you'll need to climb another 162 steps. 

After we finished on the island we waited online for the ferry which goes on to Ellis Island and then back to New York City.  We were short on time so we did not get off at Ellis Island.  I have been there in the past and it's nice to see if you have the time, but I don't think it's a must see. 

Overall I enjoyed going to see the Statue of Liberty, the Island is well cared for and offers great views of New York City.  This is a once (or twice) in a lifetime activity so plan accordingly.  Plan to spend a lot of time there, just bring your camera and some money and hope it's a nice day!

Photo of the Week: Scotland

St. Andrews Cathedral, St. Andrews, Scotland

EBook Review: The Visa Book

I recently had an opportunity to review The Visa Book by Christine at Almost Fearless.  This is a super handy Ebook for Americans who do a lot of traveling.  The book has information for Americans on Visa and visitation rules for pretty much every country in the world.  Going to Spain - no Visa required since it's part of the Schengen Agreement.  If you're visiting 1 country you don't need this book, everything in the book is available online.  But, if you're frequently visiting several countries a year, or planning a long extensive trip, this book will save you a lot of time and energy, which may be worth more then $10.

Quick facts:  

• 253 pages
• pdf instant download
• covers over 200 countries and territories  
• Only for US citizens (although there may be Australian and European versions in the future)  
• New editions will be produced every year
• Does not cover long term residency visas, work visas or education visas (in other words, this is for tourist visas only)
• Cost is $10

60% of the countries of world do not require a visa for American passport holders.  But which ones?  Online information about visa rules are often incorrect and outdated -- and almost never cite their source.  The Visa Book gives you all the rules in one place, perfect for planning your round-the-world trip or brainstorming about your next vacation.  The best part?  We directly quote and link to the Department of State and Embassy website (when available) so you can double-check our data!  The Visa Book

Photo of the Week: Rhode Island

From the coast in Newport, Rhode Island

Trips and Changes

Well I'm very excited to announce that I have booked my cruise.  I will be sailing on NCL's Epic through the Western Mediterranean!  I will be flying to and from Barcelona on Delta and will have 1 day before the cruise and 2 days after the cruise to enjoy Barcelona.

But I will be making a change to the blog for the next few months.  I will be taking an exam at work in the fall and need to spend the next few months studying.  That means I need to spend a little less time on the blog.  So, I will continue with my Monday photo of the week and then do 1 other post during the week.  I could even miss a week, but I will return!

No good plan goes unpunished

I planned to go to Ireland in May, I was going to visit with one of my tourmates from my Egypt tour.  After talking about it, my Mom decided she wanted to come with me too.  Not so bad, except that she now needs a hip replacement and is having it done 2 weeks before I was planning on going.  I think you can see the problem here.

So I was on to plan B, picking a plan B.  Hmmmm, Paris in Spring sounds lovely.  I could go to Disneyland Paris, the D-Day sites.  What could be better???  Somewhere with cheaper airfare.  I know airfare is up these days and I was bordering on the Summer season, but $1500 seems obscene.

So what the heck could Plan C be???  A lot of the other places I've been thinking about are more like 2 full weeks plus types of trips.  Then I had a thought, what is the Norwegian Epic doing?  With those solo cabin rooms it could be perfect.  It might just be perfect.  The week I was looking at the ship is sailing out of Barcelona on a 7 day cruise through Italy and some little island off of Spain.  And the airfare is well under $1000.  I think we have a winner.  But stay tuned, things are changing quickly!

Photo of the Week: Washington DC

From Washington DC, Cherry Blossoms!  Ahhh, Spring...

The Pencil Museum

On Contiki's UK tours there is a stop in the English Lake District.  During this stop they offer some activities - kayaking and doing rope courses.  Normally I might be interested in doing something like this, but since my leg was still a little sore from surgery over the summer I didn't think I would be able to do this.  It rained anyway so I was better off.  Instead our driver drove us into the town of Kesik, where we visited the Pencil Museum. 

My bus buddy, Stephanie, mentioned this when she saw it in her Rick Steves book and it became a bit of a joke so we had to go.  I'm not going to tell you that this was the best museum I have ever been to, it was not.  But we had fun there as a group.  We saw a video on pencils, and saw the worlds largest pencil!  What more could you want?  It was actually a pretty good museum for something that had become a joke to us.  We were even given free pencils with our tour.  My only complaint?  The museum shop was expensive, it offered a lot of fancy pencil sets.  I wanted a little something for my nephews, they ended up with pencil sharpeners...

Worth mentioning is that the people who did do the kayaking and rope courses did have a good time, even in the rain.

Hadrian's Wall

Hadrian's Wall is a famous Roman Fortification in Northern England and I got to visit it on my Contiki tour.  Most of it is in ruins, there is the outline of the walls of the fort, but few actual walls.  So, you can see how it was laid out. 

One thing that was not in the brochure was that Hadrian's Wall is at the top of a hill, it makes sense, but isn't necessarily expected.  It's a big hill too, and I got some great pictures of sheep walking up the hill (I was walking they were grazing).  Once at the top of the hill you have to purchase tickets for 4.50 pound, which considering we only had about 20 minutes to explore the actual fort I thought was a bit pricey.  Once I went in and started to explore the winds really picked up.  I was reminded of one of the things I hate about skiing - the cold wind makes my ears hurt.  I explored the grounds a bit but didn't stay too long as my ears simply hurt too much.

The fort is much larger then I thought it would be and it's a fort.  Hearing it called Hadrian's Wall I expected it to be more of just a wall then a fort.  Perhaps I should have researched it a bit before I went.  But the site was well cared for and had many postings telling you which area of the fort you were looking at.  While you can see the wall from where the road is, you will only see the wall, you will not see the remains of what the fort looked like and how it was set up.  They do seem to offer tours, or at least someone does, if you're really into roman history I think that would be better then just walking around the fort, which I think is fine for the casual visitor.

Hadrian's Wall is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is the type of attraction that might be on peoples bucket lists.  While it was not one my favorite things I've seen (I have been to the pyramids, my standards are high), I'm glad that I went.  Even when I saw people from my tour relaxing and having hot chocolates at the bottom of the hill I felt like they had missed something, not that I had wasted my time.

Just a reminder that you can find me on Twitter @Travelingiraffe (note there is only 1 "G")

Photo of the Week: Egypt

From Luxor Egypt, a gas station for donkeys????