That's right, 12 more weeks to gloriously authentic sushi and sashimi sets, quirky sub-cultures, beautiful shrines and gardens, rich Japanese history and cute merchandise in cute packaging. And hopefully snow! :D 

I don't really have much to research on anymore because I've completed my itinerary planning for Tokyo about two months ago ha ha ha ha ha can you tell that I am very ghairah..........

First day je dah nak pergi makan BBQ meat tsk tsk tsk dasar PBG

Anyway, we're booking our day trip tickets to Mount Fuji and Lake Ashi by this weekend and then we'll have to wait for the first week of December because that is when sumo tournament tickets will go on sale. Everything else like travel insurance and restaurant reservations can wait till end of this year.

We've stocked up on some items for cold weather recently too; mostly heat packs, thick socks and gloves. Not really sure if we'll need thermal wear or winter boots (we're planning on wearing our regular sneakers) so we'll only decide on that once we're in Tokyo...? Takut membazir pulak if it turns out we can survive without them, especially laki aku yang ada darah keturunan polar bear la kan.

We checked the weather forecast for Tokyo in January and it seems like the temperatures will range between 2° to 10°!!!!! Buat susah susah je kita pergi Jepun during winter, puas hati masuk aisbox je terus.

NYC Planning (Part 2)

Hello kawan kawan! Best tak dapat enjoy during the long weekend baru baru ni???

It was a very good holiday break for Saliheen and I because in between hosting friends, cooking sessions and going out to the mall, we used the extra time to sort out some of our NYC holiday-related stuff :D I first wrote about going to NYC here.

Accommodation

We took the plunge and booked a room at one of our shortlisted hotels last week!!!

We were fine with a Mini room initially but booked a Queen room in the end because price difference is less than S$20. The Queen room ada queen sized bed and a little more space, tapi tetap tak change the fact that the rooms in this hotel are crazy small but unfortunately standard for mid-range accommodation in NYC :/

But issokey, because our hotel is right smack in Times Square and very accessible to a lot of places (did I mention that we will be 5 minutes walk away from Sephora Times Square R.I.P MY BANK ACCOUNT) so kita happy gila dapat a room in this hotel. Will only blog more about it when we come back, hopefully it's as good as their reviews on TripAdvisor and Agoda.

Itinerary

Bet you're not surprised that I already have a draft itinerary up and running on an Excel worksheet!!!!! Hehehe. Right now I'm trying to work our itinerary around the places of attraction that we can access with the New York Pass since we're planning to purchase one for each of us before we head to NYC!

Fact: The New York Pass was one of the things that convinced me it wouldn't be too tough to move around NYC on our own :D

We also wanted to visit Niagara Falls and the famous theme park in Coney Island (Luna Park) but it'll take us approximately 10 hours to take a train out to Niagara Falls and it'll be a 1 hour train ride to the theme park so we're scrapping those plans for now. 1 hour train ride to the theme park is still doable lah but only if kita rajin bila dah kat NYC.

One other thing that we might consider doing in NYC kalau kita rajin is to attend a basketball game! And itu pun kalau ada tickets for a game in NYC by the time we want to book. I looked it up and tickets are not out yet for May, tapi I sempat 'chui' harga for front row seats for a typical basketball game in NYC macam yang Jay Z and Beyonce selalu duduk at tu. You all guess lah berapa the harga????????????????????????

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USD3000 per freaking seat eh. 

Thanks eh. Baru nak berangan duduk sebelah Beyonce eh. Taik hidung Beyonce pun aku tak dapat eh kalau dah masuk USD3000 per person.

Weather

Of course it doesn't matter what our itinerary is, if the weather does not cooperate!!! We'll be there during late spring/summer and I'm hoping it'll still be chilly so we can play around with scarfs and double layers and thicker material when dressing up. Hehe. Penting k part nak dress up ni because how can we not attempt to take #ootds when we're in one of the coolest cities in this freaking universe kan?!

I checked for a rough guide online and apparently it should be between 19°C to 21°C during our travel period? I'm still quite worried because the weather in NYC has gone a little wonkerz; NYC is currently frozen all over even though it's almost the end of February already. Is that supposed to be normal, guys?!

Naturally Saliheen the polar bear bertopengkan manusia will be more than happy to have cold weather and thinks the colder the better, but I wouldn't want us to be stuck in the bad kind of cold weather where it's almost suicide to be out and places of attraction are closed because of weather concerns! Especially places like the Empire State Building Observation Deck and the Top of the Rock :/

Food

Saliheen and I are not ~super~ strict with food when we are overseas but we do try as much as possible to get halal food and when we can't, we settle for bread, seafood and veg anywhere else.

Right now I've compiled a list of over 70 halal eateries and food carts which are within walking distance to our hotel in Times Square and the places of attractions that we will be at! This is all thanks to Zabihah.com - who knew halal food can be so easily found in NYC?!?! And cheap!

We can even choose different styles ranging from American to Chinese to Thai to Pakistani to the more familiar Singaporean/Malaysian and Indonesian (why would I want to east SG/MY/INDO food in NYC though lol) and of course there's Turkish, Indian, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food choices. Am especially looking forward to the beef and rice platter from the crazy popular Halal Guys because I want to know what is up! with! all! that! hype!

Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA)

We didn't even know we had to apply for ESTA if we travel to USA at first tau!!!!! Alhamdullilah, luck was on our side because we went to IKEA over the weekend and terserempak dengan another couple friend who will be going to NYC for their upcoming honeymoon. It was dorang yang told us about it so thank you SO much Nad and Shahdan!!! ❤

You see, we naturally assumed we didn't have to apply for any kind of visa since we hold Singaporean passports (complacent lah tu) and well, technically, memang we don't have to lah... it's just that we still need to apply for ESTA which is some sort of a waiver from having to apply for visa but is still a form of authorization to gain admission into the USA.

Aaanyway, we submitted our ESTA applications last Saturday and when I checked this morning, our applications are already approved!

This does not guarantee our admission into the USA because it still depends on the customs officer in JFK airport but I really, really, really hope we won't get into any difficulty or issues at the airport. Bismillah, bismillah, bismillah!