Tag: black girls travel

Coffee Break, travel

Spending One Day In New York

India
If you only had one day to spend in New York what would you do? Would you go to the Empire State Building, see the Statue of Liberty, stroll through Central Park, or maybe enjoy a show on Broadway. There’s so much to see in New York that only having one day is not enough at all, but of course you have to do something, so what do you do?
New York City Streets
For us we only had a few hours. Literally an afternoon in New York City. It’s been years since I’ve been to New York, but I didn’t feel like I had to do some of the big attractions. There are tons of tours on Trip Advisor and Expedia if you’re trying to find some, but they all leave in the morning, which is why we didn’t end up taking any because we were arriving mid afternoon. My mom and I settled for a stroll the Central Park, which is huge, and I still don’t understand what makes it iconic, but it is, so we stopped by. Being from Atlanta we have Piedmont Park, which is our giant park that I don’t believe has an ice rink in it and does not have the MET, but it does have the Botanical Gardens and a dog park that my dog likes to play in.
Inside Central Park
On our way there we stopped by “Famous Amadeus Pizza” and had an amazing slice of New York pizza. It was literally SO GOOD. If you’re in Manhattan definitely stop by there.
Amazing pizza at Famous Amadeus Pizza
What I didn’t like about being in the park were all of the people trying to get you to ride basically a rickshaw ride through the park because that was something we did not want to do. They were everywhere and they wouldn’t let you breathe. It was probably my fault for having my camera in my hand, so I looked like a tourist, but honestly a park is a park is a park. I just wanted to enjoy the green space. It’s one of the reasons that I remain down south because we are not short of trees and greenery anywhere in the city.  We did not walk the entire park because I’m pretty sure you could do that for days and still not see everything, but we felt like we saw enough. If you’re looking to take wedding pictures there you would not be alone. We saw 4 bridal parties in the park alone all trying to be in the same spaces.
NYC is known for its subway system
Next we took a stroll down 5th Avenue so we could pretend like we have money and can shop at some of the stores that are there. I can definitely shop at the MAC store that’s on 5th Avenue, but I definitely wasn’t going to have breakfast at Tiffany’s.
A shopper’s paradise
After getting some well deserved rest after flying all day and then walking miles around the city we were able to take in a show as the saying goes. We saw The Lion King and it was FABULOUS!! Oh my goodness I can go see that again and again and again. The costumes were amazing and the way they made the safari come to life was absolutely phenomenal. I liked the original songs that were done to fill the production out and of course I sang along to my childhood favorites. I can’t wait for it to come back around to Atlanta and I know I will be seeing it again. There are so many productions going on you have to pick something because that is its own experience.
Seeing The Lion King on Broadway was amazing!
We stayed at the Marriott Marquis in Manhattan and it was wonderful. We were so high up we could see a lot of Times Square. Oh yeah, the location was fantastic. We were very central to anything that we wanted to see and we barely had to leave the hotel to go see The Lion King. I will say that if you want to go to their rotating restaurant “The View” book a dinner reservation in advance or get ready to wait in line to go be in the lounge to see what it’s all about. We did not get to do this, but I’m not sure we were missing much other than the views of the river going around Manhattan, but it’s something you can do in the hotel if you really want a birds eye view of the city.
View from our hotel room
We enjoyed our time in New York because it felt like its own separate vacation instead of a one night stay. We felt like we experienced New York City, but we definitely could have used a couple of more days to see it all, but New York City is way too expensive for all of that lol. I’m glad we got to do it and we had fun exploring! Have you ever been to NYC? What are some of your favorite places to go or activities to do? I need a reason to go back, and BEA and BookCon are not it lol. Let me know in the comments! Until next time,
Keep turning the Pages
India
Coffee Break, travel

Harlow Haven, Juliette, Camera Bag

India

I did a thing. I bought another camera bag by Harlow Haven, the Juliette. Probably my last camera bag for a little bit, but I bought it. I was able to catch this bag on sale for less than $100, which made it a steal for me to grab it. I had been eyeing this bag for awhile because it looks like a purse, obviously how I love all of my bags to look like, but instead of  a casual purse it’s a more “formal” purse of sorts. The Juliette comes in both tan and black and of course I bought it in tan because I don’t know how to buy a bag in any other color.

 

Harlow Haven, Juliette in Tan

 

As I opened the box I immediately fell in love with the size of the bag. It is big enough without being one of those “dump bag purses” where you lose all of your stuff in them. The color is a nice soft tan and the material is feels like more of a synthetic material even though they classify it as a vegan leather.

The outside has pockets that can easily fit your small camera gear or travel things ranging from external hard drives to kindles and everything that you can think of. It has a flap pocket on the front and two magnetic closure pockets on the back. The pockets on the back easily fit my iPad pro 9.7″ with a bulky case and pencil with no problems.

 

On the inside there are more pockets and even places to put cards, so you can travel walletless if you’re looking for a little less bulk. There are clear divider pockets, so you can slide batteries, extra memory cards, and my favorite chapstick in the pockets. There’s also a back zippered pocket, so you can store things like cash, your passport, or any small items that you want to keep track of. It is actually a pretty large pocket and fits my phone, iPhone X, with ease.

Lots of card inserts, so you can go walletless!

This bag does come with a removable insert, and this is the part that I don’t like. The bag is so big, but this insert is so small. It doesn’t fill up the space in the bag, and so you would have to put things around it to try and keep it still, so your gear doesn’t move around too much when you’re walking or running around your location.

The insert is too small for the bag

 

This bag is definitely big enough to fit your DSLR camera with a couple of extra lenses. Maybe a DSLR camera with a lens and an external flash. It is definitely a bag that can fit a lot of things. If you have a smaller set up like a mirrorless camera then you can fit a lot of your gear into it no problems.

I have an unboxing video up on my Youtube Channel now where you can see even more details! I hope you enjoy. Tell me about your camera set up and what you carry your equipment in. Until next time,

Keep turning the Pages,

India

 

 

Some of the things I can fit in my bag! So much more can fit in there
Coffee Break

We’re headed to Bali!!

India

My mom and I are headed to Bali and I could not be more excited for this trip!! We are going with a company called Craftours that does a lot of excursions centering around the crafts of where they are. They are the same group of people that we went to China. I’ll be vlogging during the trip, and more updates will come on to my BookTube channel before they come on here probably…sorry. I don’t mean to neglect my blog, but sometimes it happens. So, make sure to subscribe to my channel!! Check out our first day on our way to LA!

 

Until next time,

Keep Turning the Pages

India