Hello, again! We're writing this from Cancún, Mexico, where we've recently landed for the third time in our two-and-a-half year long travel history! We'll be here for at least two more weeks, before heading to Playa del Carmen for another (or a few more) week(s). But more about that later - let's start from where we last left off...

It's been roughly a month since our last post, and a lot of things have happened to say the least. As the title of this post implies, we've been touring the United States for about a month's time, visiting sunny Orlando, amazing New York, crazy Las Vegas and last but not least, the spectacular Grand Canyon. Ideally, we would have carried out this trip by car, visited a whole lot more cities and stayed for a longer time. However, being budget travellers, we only did as much as we could of the short time and restrained financial means we had at our disposal. At the end of the day, it was a wonderful trip and we got to visit four of the United States, which we are very happy about.

Orlando

Upon leaving Bogotá, we landed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on the evening of March 26. Our first stop was for four days in an apartment near Winter Park, Orlando, so we first had to endure a three-hour bus ride from Fort Lauderdale to Orlando. The ride went pretty well, although it was delayed by an hour or so because of the traffic in Miami, which on the other hand was good for us since we were delayed by more than two hours at the airport, due to the unusually slow (even by US standards) immigration process.

 We finally arrived at our apartment, which was a really nice one, at an affordable rate. Once again, we're so grateful to have found AirBNB, and wholeheartedly recommend it to all you travellers out there! You can easily find whole apartments, rooms or even shared rooms all over the world, and filter your search by price, amenities, location, accomodation type, etc, etc. Anyway, we found this neat little place with a kitchen, en-suite and bedroom, with the only flaw being that there was no supermarkets or even convenience stores anywhere near, which in Florida is pretty bad, since distances between places are far, and most restaurants serve only fat-laden foods. Thus, we'd definitely recommend you to rent a car, wherever you're staying in Orlando, to avoid having to blow both your budget and your health at the same time.

 Not too much happened during our time here, except for the hurricane warning on the third day. Luckily, there never was any actual hurricane, but we were glued to the news reports the whole day.

Don't bother about downtown Orlando. Sure, there are a few restaurants and cool bars there, but there's nothing much to see or do there, as compared to the entertainment outside town, namely the theme parks. It doesn't have to cost that much, either. Universal CityWalk is totally free, and provides a great night out, for families, lovers and friends alike.

We started our night here with drinks at (the world's biggest?) Hard Rock Café...

...and rounded it off with dinner at the Jamaican/Caribbean restaurant Bob Marley. Having dinner to live reggae music is an experience everyone should try at least once. Amazing!

Main course

Coconut cake dessert. Yum!

 

Four days passed, and we decided to extend our stay in Orlando for another four, staying at Hampton Inn, near Florida Mall, one of the best shopping malls we've ever been to, if not the best.

We were very happy with the hotel. The location isn't ideal for vacationers, but we found it convienient to have easy access (a five-minute walk) to Florida Mall, and the bus connections there. The rooms were clean, spacious enough and had desirable amenities such as a microwave, free wi-fi and ice bucket. Coffee was provided 24/7, free of charge at the front desk. The breakfast was similar to what other Orlando hotels in this class offer, and decent enough for us. No variety to talk about, though.

The pool was dirty and by our standards totally unusable. There was enough dining and shopping options in the area to keep most short-time leisure travellers happy. The gym facilities were decent and the staff were polite, but provided no spectacular service.

For us, Hampton Inn is a solid hotel, recommended for shorter stays in Orlando. And once again, having your own car can really be to your favor. Even if you don't stay at Hampton, don't forget to visit Florida Mall!

Now the adventure really took off. We had booked a week in the city that never sleeps, and flew there in the morning of April 3rd. Once again, we found a budget-friendly rental through AirBNB. As it was located in New Jersey, and the neighborhood of Teaneck, we were lucky to have a hostess who drove us to Manhattan almost every day, although there were decent bus connections as well.

Our week in NYC was fantastic, and except for the first day, we were blessed with the weather. Although it being pretty cold, we got significantly more sunshine than rain. You've probably heard all the advices a thousand times, so we'll just tell you the one we found most useful:

To see the Statue of Liberty, go with the Staten Island Ferry. It's totally free, in comparison to the tourist trap Statue Cruises, who charge a terrifying 18$.

Another advice from us is don't buy any "New York card" or anything of the sort, that gives you access to 580 sights for a 100 bucks or so. We decided not to do it, mainly because of the time limit; you don't want to squeeze everything in in just one or two days, which is how long the card is valid. You'll also feel the pressure of doing as much as possible, since you've paid a ridiculous amount of money. We much prefer getting a city map and a subway card, and then just walk around, occasionally stopping at interesting places we find along the way. Many of the main attractions are free, such as Central Park and the aforementioned Staten Island Ferry. Here are a few photos we snapped during the week - we hope you find some of them inspirational!

View from Empire State Building

Rockefeller Center

The infamous bar from "Sex & the City"

Cruising to Staten Island

We even got the chance to see our fellow Swedes, The Sounds, play live in Brooklyn! And awesome they were.

Now, we'd like to share with y'all some recommendations when it comes to eating and drinking in New York City. Since we only stayed for a week, we hardly tried even 0,001% of the city's restaurants, but out of those we did try, here's our favorites:

 Located at 16 W 29th St (btwn Broadway & 5th Ave), this The Breslin was hands down our favorite restaurant in NYC. The quality of the gastropub's food is excellent, and they have very interesting wine and drink menus as well. Tip: try the lamb burger.

On 139 N 6th St (btwn Bedford & Berry St.) in Brooklyn, you'll find this amazing Hawaiian restaurant and bar. It's awesome for both food and drinks! They nail the Hawaiian feeling with sand floors, tropical fish tanks and surf music. Tip: try the Hawaiian burger.

Yeah, it's not one restaurant, but the whole district is full of amazing restaurants which will keep you satisfied for weeks. We only got to try a few, but if there's any restaurant to avoid here, it'd be Taormina. The service was sub-par, and the food wasn't any better. So indulge at the other restaurants in the area instead!

We can also recommend Martinique Café next to Radisson Martinique on Broadway for coffee, tea or drinks. A great spot for breakfast is Red Flame Diner at 67 W 44th St #1.

If you happen to be on the Jersey side, try Vasilli's Taverna at Queen Anne Road - one of the best Greek restaurants we've ever eaten at - and Amarone at Cedar Lane, another delicious Italian restaurant!

Anyway, NYC is a city of which you can never get tired. There's an incredible array of things to see and do. We're hoping to return soon for a longer stay. Keep reading next post, in which we'll tell you about our visit to Las Vegas and Grand Canyon!