Sydney Bridge Climb

On one of my last days in Australia I was in the city of Sydney and I decided to do the Sydney Bridge Climb which is a must for anyone who visits Sydney. You literally walk on the Harbour Bridge in Sydney. There is one company who doesn't the Bridge Climb the website can be found here. I decided to do the night regular bridge climb but signed up so that I could see sunset from the bridge it cost $188AUD per person. I am afraid of heights, they tell you to inform your guide so I was placed near the front. Almost halfway up the bridge we were having stunning views the steps are easy and you stop a lot, mostly to take pictures. 

I am getting ahead of myself, first you go upstairs and wait for your group to be called, when they are you move to another room where you have to sign a waiver, as well as they make sure you have any medical problems...I have asthma so I gave them my inhaler for the guide to carry just in case. We then moved to the changing area and they handed us our outfits to wear they are essentially jump suits. They tell us not to wear anything but our undergarments after we are dressed we take our stuff and put it into lockers. Then our instructor comes and gets us we are a group of about 10-15. They bring us to these U-Shaped coral where we get our equipment....the belt that tethers you to the bridge we also get attached with jackets attached to our belts near our bums. It was amusing. Then once we are geared we do a practice run so we can learn how to climb up and down the latter to get to different levels as well as learn how to move while we are attached to something. 

Then we head out get the last pee break and drink break and we are off it is a 2.5-3hour climb. About half-way up the bridge it started pouring rain and it was windy and if I was scared before I defiantly was when it was raining sideways...finally we get to the top and take a group picture and we start heading down when it stopped raining...we start slowly walking down since we are on metal and it was just raining. 

I know it sounds a little traumatic cause it was raining but it fine and really worthwhile I would do it again I just hope it wouldn't rain again... :)

-Tanya

I know your wondering does she have twitter? Of Course I do please follow me! @TanyaNeshat

Day Trip to New York, NY

I live in the Washington, DC area and if you are from this area you know there are many ways to get to NY but the newest and most popular is the $50 roundtrip bus. My aunt and uncle who are from Los Angeles were visiting New York however they really only had one day free and I needed to be back to classes but I decided to go up for the day to visit them and tourist around with them a little. We have metro here but, LA doesn't really have a metro so I was able to help them learn to navigate the Metro System.

The Bus ride I took was at 5am leaving from Bethesda, MD luckily the bus wasn't full so I got the whole back row to myself and passed out for the 5 hour Journey. I woke up right when we were driving into NY as shown in the picture below.

When I got to NY I visited for a big but then we headed to the metro for our day our First stop was of course The Empire State Building. We got tickets that cost $22 each and took some great pictures which you can see below. 

After we hit the Empire State Building we are total nerds so we really wanted to go to the Nintendo Store and we also needed to eat so we went to Five Guys Burgers and Fries and then hit the Nintendo Store.

Since we were right by it we walked to the Rockefeller Center where NBC Studios. However it was under construction as they were putting the Ice Rink in I beleive. 

After this we were very tired but we decided we really needed to hit Centeral Park however no one really wanted to walk it. We decided to hire a peddle car driver for 3 of us it was $70 and it was like 30-45min ride so that was a great price for all 3 of us and he peddled us around to all the major spots in central park even let us stop and took our pictures. 

After this we decided to head back to their hotel the Marriott Marquis and after visiting for a little more I needed to head back to the 6pm bus, so I walked to the bus area and grabbed Starbucks food for the bus ride. The bus back was full but I had pre downloaded a  movie I wanted to see which was good because the bus internet was horrible. I got back around 11pm and that my friends was my day trip to New York, NY

If you have any questions please feel free to message me or put up a comment!

-Tanya 

I know your wondering does she have twitter? Of Course I do please follow me! @TanyaNeshat

Mutianyu - The Great Wall of China

When I was last in Beijing I was visiting my mom who lives there at the moment and we decided to visit the Great Wall of China at Mutianyu now I have to say this was a great visit for me and I highly recommend a place to stay called the Brickyard Inn it was originally a glazed Brickyard but now its a small boutique hotel where every room faces the Great wall. All of the rooms are the same and they are open concept, literally everything including the toilet. When we arrived in the early morning they didn't have our room ready but they locked our bags away and let us have some of the delicious breakfast buffet. Now Brickyard also owns a restaurant called The Schoolhouse which used to actually be the Mutianyu Schoolhouse. It is a western style restaurant and they also own a shuttle service that takes you from the hotel to the wall to the restaurant. 

On our first day we went to the wall you have to buy tickets to take a sky rail up.

Once we were on the wall there was a lot of walking involved and I don't know if I thought it was flat but I didn't bring my tennis shoes from Beijing only my FitFlops which was a mistake because the soonest down point is from Tower 14 to tower six its is a LONG Walk this is a map with the trails and we are not hikers so no trails for us we took the sky rail up and the Toboggan down.

Here is a map of the area from The Schoolhouse you can see the trails. 

Here are some pictures from our walk on the wall...my legs were shaking tword the end. 

After this we decided to walk down to the Schoolhouse you will pass many pushy vendors just remember this the only way they make money you can find some cool cheap things here as well as really nice expensive things. When we got to the SchoolHouse we had a lovely lunch and headed back to our hotel...we stayed a few days at Mutianyu but its really up to you we decided to go back because when we first arrived it was cloudy and on our second trip is was sunny which made for better pictures :) I hope you visits Mutianyu it is only about an hour outside of Beijing!

Also on a side note they have a beautiful glass working shop at The Schoolhouse I got an amazing Vase their but they also have these wineglasses that make music notes you can view demonstrations twice a day when they make the pieces. I got to watch my vase being made so I have pictures of it being made which is really cool. I would recommend seeing the free show.

If you have any questions please feel free to message me or leave a comment. 

-Tanya

I know your wondering does she have twitter? Of Course I do please follow me! @TanyaNeshat

Day 4 Disney World - Animal Kingdom

This is Day 4 of my 4day/3night trip to Walt Disney World Orlando

Today we went to the Animal Kingdom which is open 9a-8p with extra magic from 8a-9a

Again we were up really earlier in the morning however what I recommend is to pack the night before so you can go straight to the Resort Airline Checkin Center they say up to 3 hours before but we defiantly checked in way before that because the checkin counter is only open until 1pm. If you can't you should put your bags into the bag holding area and any valuables can be left at the front desk they will give you your own personal safety deposit box which my Macbook air could fit into it as well as everything else I didn't want to leave in my bags. I was able to leave everything and head back into the park. 

So now we were headed to the Animal Kingdom for our final day and I was so tired I really recommend a break I wasn't able to do a ton of time at Animal Kingdom. However we went in and went straight to Dinosaur for Fast passes and then to the Expedition Everest by far my Favorite ride...I personally dislike Dinosaur it is VERY SCARY I kept my eyes closed like the whole time...We then headed to the Safari and we are lucky we went when we did because when we were on the ride it got stopped for 20 minutes because there was a rhino in the track area so it was nice because we got to watch the giraffes run around.

After that I really couldn't do too much more so we slowly bummed around the park until we needed to head back to the hotel for our scheduled pickup time for Magical Express Back to MCO to head home.

Now thats the end of my 4day/3night trip to Disney World in Orlando I truly recommend at least a week...there is so much to do...but it all depends on who you are and what your priorities are we are 24 year old Females and we just wanted to hit the rides. 

If you have any questions please leave comments or send me a message and I will answer to the best of my abilities.

-Tanya

I know your wondering does she have twitter? Of Course I do please follow me! @TanyaNeshat

Day 3 Disney World - Epcot

This is day 3 of my 4day/3night trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando

Today we went to Epcot which is open 9a-9p with extra magic from 8a-9a

Now these extra magic hours are kind of a pain you only get an hour before the park is open to non-Disney resort guests...the hardest rides to get on are Soarin', test track, and Mission:Space. The Sea's with Nemo and Friends also usually takes some time...so first we walked to Soarin' got passes...went to Test Track and since Soarin' time was on we also got Fast Passes for Test Track...then we went on Spaceship Earth which probably wasn't that smart since we were both hungry and made us really dizzy. We then went on Soarin' then back over to Test Track...I really don't think Test Track is worth the long 2hr wait it gets...After those rides we decided to hit the Epcot ball which has the ride which is always fast and relaxing and fun, we went to see Captain EO which was awesome! Living with the Land was next, along with Ellens Energy Adventure. After that we decided to go to head over to the World Showcase since we hit all the rides in Future World however if you have kids they have an awesome Character Meet and Greet that is a must! 

On our way into the World Showcase there were many different showings of the Epcot International Flower Show which is held there between March and May. 

Now we had a lot of fun going around the parks and hitting the different rides and shows in each of the pavilions however the park closes at 9pm so we had to use our time efficiantly. Here are some of our picks around the park.

After a certain point in time we decided to head to dinner which we had reservations for but we decided to head there earlier expecting to wait but after 10 minutes our table was ready and we got really lucky because we got to be put in a semi private room with only two tables. We went to Tappan Edo the Japanese Steak House it was amazing and it was only 1 dining point and it was as good as any 2 dining point places. They even gave us some Fun hats just like our chef because it was our birthdays! 

When were done with dinner we walked around the world until we were able to find a good view of the water where we could sit down so we could see the Illuminations light show on the water...we were somewhere near the Africa station its not official but there is a Africa area...We had to sit and wait a while to be in a good wait zone but we were pretty much done and tired from our last 3 days...if we had more time today would have been a good day off :) 

After the show we were completely pooped and headed back to our hotel...

This was not a detailed schedule of our day just a general idea you really have to be instinctual but its always smart to hit the long wait rides during extra magic hours when there aren't as many guests in the park. If you have any questions please leave a comment or send me a message.

-Tanya

I know your wondering does she have twitter? Of Course I do please follow me! @TanyaNeshat

Day 2 Disney World - Hollywood Studios

This is day 2 of my 4Day/3night stay at Walt Disney World in Orlando

Today we hit the Hollywood Studios which is open from 9a-10p but extra magic 10p-1a

Since we had extra magic hours and we awake until 4am on our shuttle way back from the Magic Kingdom we ended up sleeping in a little bit. However this really hindered us in that we really didn't get to see all the shows we would have liked like Indiana Jones and Beauty and the Beast. If you have kids it would also be good to go earlier if you want to do Jedi Training Camp, Pixel Pals Countdown to Fun! There are many other entertainment things at Hollywood studios however, these attractions weren't our priority so we decided to sleep for a little longer. 

The first place we headed was to the Rockin' Roll Roller coaster for Fast Passes for later in the day. It used to be you could go outside the hours listed on the fast pass as long as it was later but apparently new rules state it has to be within the 1 hour period or the fast pass is void. Since Rockin' Roll RollerCoaster is right next to Tower of Terror, we decided to check the wait time for Tower of Terror, it was listed for 20 minutes so we headed there next. 

We followed a similar situation to the way we worked the Magic Kingdom we knew we would have the extra magic hours so we decided to only hit rides that had a short wait time. One fun thing if you have kids in the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set its a play area so you can have time to rest as an adult we went to take some fun pictures like this one with a Giant Ant.

Now the Honey, I Shrunk the Audience is in a dead end area of the park so we decided to do the other things in that area, my friend Kami wanted to see the Lights, Motor, Action extreme stunt show and we were close to the last showing but had about an hour to kill so we decided to do the Studio Backlot tour...As we were walking up the Disney Employee's saw our its my birthday pins and asked us if we wanted to be in the show. Of course we said yes and so we got to work on the movie sets Kami was the Captain and I was the Deck Crew during a "attack" on our Navy Ships...it was a lot of fun and they edited the footage together so that it actually looked like we were in a movie this was a demonstration of how movies work for the audience. After that we followed the audience to the line for the actually movie ride...it said the wait would be 20 mins but it was more like a half hour...however we were inside a building with real movie props for everyone to look at. The ride is very fun you go through one stunt and then you drive pass the bigger props such as planes used in pearl harbor movie and then through a tunnel where you can see actual costumes being made if it is during the week. As you get off the ride you get to see real costumes from some of the best movies. 

After the movie ride we headed over to the Light, Motor, Action Stunt show. I had seen it previously but as Kami hasn't and she really enjoyed it. On our way back toward our restaurant we stopped and say the Muppets 3D show and then since it was by our restaurant we went on Star Tours again we found out there are 3 beginnings and 2 middles and 3 endings to possibly get so we rode it multiple times throughout the day. 

For Dinner we decided to go to the Sci-Fi Dine-in Theatre unfortunately they were running 20 minutes behind on reservations and our waitress was also quite slow but very nice... I ordered a buyer that had a 2 hotdogs on it. It was called a Picnic Burger or something cannot recall since we were in a rush we ordered then asked for the check so we could leave as soon as we were done eating so we could get good seats for the Fantasmic Show.

We pretty much ran to go see the Fantasmic Showing but we got excellent seats in the back in the middle but that was because there was only two of us if you have a big group you really need to arrive earlier so that you get the best seats WARNING if you don't want to get WET don't sit close to the front...its a SOAK ZONE....The show however is NOT TO MISS it is the best show in all of the parks.

After Fantasmic we hit all the long rides and at the very end of the night even though it said it was an hour wait we risked the Toy Story Mania ride and luckily for us it was really only 20 minutes we considered leaving the line a bunch of time because we wanted to hit the Rockin' Roll Roller coaster for a 2nd time but we decided to just wait and were rewarded with the short wait. Plus Mr. Potato Head kept us entertained. 

We still had like 10 minutes left before extra magic hours were over and as long as your in line when the hours are over you get to ride so we RAN over to the Rockin' Roll Roller coaster and got rewarded with one last ride on it! It was a really good day and we hit everything that we wanted to hit as well as many rides more than once!!

I didn't list our exact schedule but email me or write a comment if you wan to know more or have any questions.

-Tanya

I know your wondering does she have twitter? Of Course I do please follow me! @TanyaNeshat