(Pre) California Checklist

Only 18 days into the new year and I'm already breaking my resolution to blog more hahahaha why do I even try anymore.......

Aaaaanyway, besides making fun of my own uncommitted blogging ass, I just wanted to come on here and squeal out loud that we're exactly 2 weeks away to our next US trip! 17 hours of flight, baby! Ready to burn some serious ass, baby! Woohoo! 

So far, we've pretty much settled these items on our checklist:

1) Finalized our itinerary

Quite happy with our itinerary for San Francisco and Los Angeles! And yes, after much painful deliberation, we decided it didn't make sense to take an additional 6-hour flight out to NYC to lepaskan rindu. Oh well. Hopefully our 1.5 hours flight out to San Francisco will make up for it; we've never been there before so that's something new and exciting.

2) Booked accommodation

Saliheen was open to consider Airbnb this time round (who is this new person?!) but we couldn't find anything we were comfortable with / met our criteria so we've booked hotel accommodation via Agoda. And as always, we've chosen accommodation that is right smack in the middle of (tourist attraction) action because #convenience heh heh.

3) Booked flight to San Francisco

We booked our flight to San Francisco via Virgin America! Paid extra for their Power Trip Package upgrade: we actually wanted the Plans Change Pass over anything else, just in case our SQ flight from Singapore to Los Angeles gets delayed and we need to change to a later flight to San Francisco. The other perks like priority boarding, checked baggage and seat selection are welcome, of course, considering this is a budget flight. 

4) Booked a rental car

We were debating whether to drive a rental car or just whack Uber all over LA for the longest time but we finally put our foot down and decided to #yolo. Wish us luck! Saliheen and I fight the most whenever we are in a car trying to figure out directions so I have NO idea what we're thinking

5) Booked tickets for Alcatraz Island Tour

Decided we are too chicken to go for their night tour so we booked the first ferry out to Alcatraz Island i.e. 8.45am hahahahaha wish us luck again pls hopefully tido tak terlajak!

6) Updated ESTA application

Found out we don't need to re-apply for ESTA (required for Singaporeans to travel to USA) since our last application (for our trip to NYC) is still valid up till 21 February 2017 (lucky!). Read more about ESTA application here. 

7) Booked tickets to go to The Broad museum

Last minute addition to our itinerary! Happened to watch a Youtube video about the newly opened Broad museum and we like some of the exhibits so we're heading that way. We usually buy museum tickets off the counter (but remember don't do that in Russia because their signs are confusing and their counter staff are dicks hahahahaha) but tickets to the Broad museum run out fast (we couldn't get tickets for a weekend date) so we went online and booked tickets (free admission for a limited time) for a Thursday (our last full day in LA)

Other travel-related things left to do, which we'll try to settle by this weekend:

🔺 Purchase travel insurance

🔺 Admin stuff like e-register with MFA and reserve wifi router

🔺 Book Ultimate Hollywood Tours tickets

🔺 Print out all documents

🔺 Start compartmentalizing so easier to pack luggage the following weekend

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Oh and yeah, before I forget, curating my to-buy list for Sephora DUH.