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Tuesday 23 January 2018

Travel to USA (Hollywood) : Tips & Tricks - Preparation

Haii korang..berbunga-bunga kembang setaman hati I bila nak taip entry ni sebab I is sangat sangat suka and teruja untuk berblogging pasal travelling..and kalau lah ada pekerjaan yang memerlukan I travel ke merata ceruk dunia secara free of charge..Oh yes I am at your disposal!! haha (berangan tu tak salah tau)
 
fyi, we will be travelling to US this coming Feb 2018 and seriously I can't wait for that day to come walaupun kadang-kadang hati rasa cuak sebab flight semua lama-lama oiii..KL - Narita, Japan (6 hours) and Narita, Japan - Los Angeles (9 hours) tambah-tambah route Narita, Japan - Los Angeles kena lintas Lautan Pasifik semata-mata for like 9 hours???..hoii seram sejuk akuu ni
 
Okay lupakan pasal laut..seriously aku fobia laut haha let me start the story first about my preparation prior to the trip. With me as a travel planner, everything is well planned earlier coz I hate kelibut di tempat orang
 
Why US? - aah la kenapa eh nak pegi US? Sebab nak jumpa Donald Trump? ermm tak taakk..sebenarnya sebab I love to explore new place with new people. Sebelum ni dah 2x ke UK / Wales and dah macam familiar with the area and the people and jangan cakap akak tak payung ASEAN countries ya sebab I've visited Thailand, Indonesia, Phillipines and etc as well..tahun ni je repeat Bali again..so kali ni rasa macam why not we explore the other continent which is US? US ni macam unik sikit in term of people and environment. Lagi rasa macam membuak-buak nak pergi bila I search online for reference actually not many Malaysian yang blogging about travel to US. I tau ramai yang dah travel ke US lagi awal dari I tapi tak semuanya diceritakan secara detail dalam blog sampaikan kalau I search pasal travel ke US je banyak blog from Indonesia yang cerita in detail..alaaa I is tak paham sangat language Indonesian nihh..and perhaps I find it a bit difficult to get a reference on how to apply US visa as a Malaysian family when I want to start the visa application last time till I find my time to write about it so that hopefully it will benefit others too..;) Maybe in term of cost wise yes it is a bit on high side, but early planning with the help of Skyscanner, nothing is possible ok ;)
 
Like what my husband said - never across his mind to travel to US and to me, with proper planning and must have money too either you go on budget traveller or "have-have" traveller ;p, we can actually travel to every places in the world
 
Flight
 
After rounds and rounds of scan langit via Skyscanner looking for the cheap tickets, yeah finally I've decided to choose ANA (Air Nippon Airways), a largest airline from Japan. Actualy in a row ada few more airlines that offer a slightly cheaper rates than ANA like Eva Air, Philippines Airlines & China Southern Airline but looking at the ranking, I feel a bit safer to go with the Japanese..I do trust Japanese in term of quality in everything..please drive us safely baby! hihi

5 years in a row (including 2017), ANA is ranked as a 5-star airline by Skytrax and they have the world best staff service award for 2017.

If last time had a chance to experience Airbus A380 (double deck) plane for Dubai / Abu Dhabi - London route, now we will have a chance to try Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane for KL - Tokyo route..yeay!
 
Flight cost for 3 pax : RM 9,700++, so roughly per adult = RM 3,500 and child = RM 2,700
 
The trick is - book flight as early as 6 months earlier haha. Harga yang kitorang dapat ni actually 5 months earlier.
 
Boleh lawati website ANA at http://www.ana.co.jp untuk latest info berkenaan flight ticket, promo and etc
 
Accommodation
 
We will actually cover 3 areas - Los Angeles, Las Vegas & Arizona.
 
Accommodation is a bit tricky knowing that it is not cheap to get a hotel / apartment that have my preferred criteria - close to almost everything + perfectly located at town ;p. This is my first time to use Airbnb for Los Angeles. I've booked 2 different units of Airbnb (both are studio suite) and hopefully the house is a home sweet home as advertised. The hotel rate and Airbnb rate almost equivalent as I choose Airbnb at town area mainly near tourist attractions, so roughly per night RM 700 - RM 800 and both Airbnb come with 1 x queen bed, 1 x single bed, 1 x sofa bed, dining table, kitchen, WIFI, TV with Netflix and etc, Laundry, Free Parking, Coffee Maker & Cereal available in fridge..so what else you want? I am more than happy to have this Airbnb complete with all necessary items required during the stay..so choose wisely!
 
Important Note : Choose a home that do not allow pet inside okay
 
Nak booking Airbnb jugak? Sila lah visit Airbnb website and choose your preferred location..easy peasy!
 
For Las Vegas, I invest more by made a booking to stay at Trump International Hotel. The hotel is superb even though located just the end of the famous street called The Strip. I choose Trump International Hotel coz I want to say "Hi" to Donald Trump kalau jumpa lah haha..just joking! Actually, the reason is because of their tagline :
 
"The Trump International Hotel™ Las Vegas is a sophisticated, non-smoking and non-gaming, luxury hotel situated high above The Strip, steps away from the best of Las Vegas shopping, yet removed enough to be considered a family-friendly hotel"
 
 and I just want to have a feel of how it is look like to stay at one of the luxurious hotel in Las Vegas - I've seen the room preview in Youtube - all is gold looking! and the added advantage is that this hotel do not have casino at the lobby - so a good environment for kids. Roughly per night cost us RM 1,000.00 and we stay here for 3 days 2 nights.
 
Nak try book Trump International Hotel macam kitorang, boleh visit the hotel website at https://www.trumphotels.com/las-vegas
 
For Arizona - we do not have any plan to stay here as I only booked a day trip to Arizona from Las Vegas for a Grand Canyon Tour (West Rim). The tour is a 1 day tour worth USD 310.00 c/w coach bus, free breakfast, free BBQ lunch and yang penting, dalam bas ada WIFI and toilet. Along the way, the tour will stop at Lake Mead / Hoover Dam. I minat nak buat tour ni sebab terpengaruh scene dalam video klip Britney - I'm not a Girl Not Yet a Woman. Ada dua tempat involve dalam klip video tu - Grand Canyon & Antelope Canyon, tapi dek kekangan masa and distance between these 2 places, yang paling sesuai buat Grand Canyon Tour aje.
 
Tour ni kitorang book via GC Tours and the website is at https://gc.tours/
 
Places of Interest
 
1. Hollywood area : Griffith Observatory, Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, Kodak Theatre, Hollywood
                                 Walk of Fame, LACMA, Lake of Hollywood and etc....
 
2. Santa Monica : Santa Monica Pier, Pacific Park, The Third Promenade, Santa Monica Beach and
                             etc...
 
3. Universal Studio Hollywood
 
4. Citadel Premium Outlet & Dessert Hills Premium Outlet
 
5. Las Vegas : The Strip, Fashion Mall, Bellagio Dancing Waters, Fermont Streets, Grand Bazaar and
                        etc...
 
Transportation

Will make use of UBER / LYFT coz most of the places dekat-dekat aje. Until this trip we still find that driving can be a little bit hassle as we do not familiar with driving on left side plus at some places like Las Vegas, the parking rate is damn expensive and also we try to minimize the problem of to look for a parking whenever we want to make a stop haha. Maybe later on when Aqeil dah besar we can try again option to drive while travelling. Movement between Los Angeles and Las Vegas is via Megabus. The trick is - book as early as 1 month before the trip to get the seat at a cheaper rate.

Food

I'm awaiting reply from US Embassy if processed food contain meat / chicken is allowed contoh macam Pek Brahim, Serunding and etc..maklumlah mulut Melayu memang tak kuasalah nak makan fish & chips, kebab je sepanjang dok sana..boleh menitik air liur aku terkenang masakan Melayu time sejuk-sejuk winter tuh

Actually ada few halal restaurant around Hollywood area hasil I search via yelp.com and so far insyallah tak kebuluran lah hihi

Rasanya, dah takde lagi nak mengomel pasal persiapan ni. Kalau ada yang memasang angan-angan untuk ke US but still hati berbelah bagi macam nak tak nak or takut-takut, come on!! you go girls!! There's nothing to afraid of coz I believe out of million of Americans there, only 1% of them is racist / anti Islam while the other 99% are ok and just live like a normal people like we do here...do not afraid of travelling coz when we travel, we learn a lot from there.

Till then, salam kasih sayang muahhh..muahh..nanti dah start trip, I hapdet lagi yaaa..

 

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