If you’re a regular reader of this site, you may be familiar with my love/hate relationship with heights. Of course I appreciate the views that come with being high up in the air (like of Florence, New York City, or Bruges), but I also have some concerns when I think I could fall and hurt myself (like off of elephants, boats, or trapeze platforms).
As I mentioned in my Dylan’s Candy Bar post, Kat and I were there to stock up for a “long journey” for #21 on my 28 Things. The “long journey” was actually just a trip to Roosevelt Island, but we were leaving *our* island, and for us in the bitter cold, that was a big deal.
As incredible as our first tour with Phuket Sail Tours was, I think the next day was even better. This is probably because it involved two of my new favorite things, 1) animal experiences, and 2) doing things I didn’t think I could do.
One of the main reasons to go to Thailand (aside from elephants and temples) is of course the beautiful beaches of the south. Katie and I are total beach babes so we wanted to take time to relax on the beaches of Thailand. We went to Karón in Phuket and spent two days basically just relaxing and reading and enjoying the sunsets. But we decided to be more active (or active in general), the next two days. We took two speedboat tours with Phuket Sails Tours in order to easily tour some of the most beautiful beaches in the world.
I feel a little badly for Staten Island. It doesn’t exactly have the best reputation, recently perpetuated further by the world of reality television. As someone who grew up in NJ, I understand how annoying it is to have people think that all of NJ is big hair, muscles, and garbage, (although my muscles these days are looking good) and I would like to redeem Staten Island of all of the above a little bit. One of the most fun summer nights I’ve had this year was indeed in this borough off of the island of Manhattan.
One of the top things on my NYC To-Do list (not to be confused with my Holiday To-Do List in NYC for 2010, my 26 things to do before I turn 26 list, or my rappers I’d like to face in a freestyle battle list) was to do an Ellis Island / Statue of Liberty trip which I finally got to do on this absolutely gorgeous Sunday! I know most people probably did this on school trips when they were in elementary school, but I grew up just two hours too far from the city for that. My sister tells me that I actually have been to Lady Lib but I just don’t believe her as I have no recollection of this NYC trip.
This morning, I found an article in the NY Times that made me decide to reminisce about my trip to Coney Island this past summer. “Coney Island Loses Longtime Boardwalk Vendors” discusses how nine businesses on the Coney Island boardwalk, some that could be considered staples, are being forced to shut down. On our trip, we had been to Beer Island, taken pictures of Paul’s Daughter (in honor of our friend Paul), and made fun of Shoot the Freak (yes, this is actually a game on the boardwalk which involves a man running around a course with a shield and mask while children shoot paintballs at him…)
10 miles behind me 