Taking my favorite long walk in BK.

My cousin Claire sent me a text this afternoon to see if I wanted to take a walk with her to Park Slope and get some sushi. Walking to Park Slope (Washington to Eastern Parkway to Union and then 7th Ave) is my favorite long walk in Brooklyn. The atmosphere and scenes are comforting to my senses. This walk was especially great today -- 70 degrees YUP!

I was delighted to see that the trees in front of the Brooklyn Museum were fully blossomed. What a wonderful sight!




I love colors so I dressed for the occasion. I'm wearing two fun shirts. A long sleeved Berksha shirt that I got from Spain many years ago layered with my brand new Indaba Arts t-shirt. This t-shirt was created by the dynamic duo couple Ibi and Joseph Zoboi. I got a sneak peak of the their summer line (t-shirts, earrings, skirts, carvings and more...they are off the CHAIN!!! Save up and indulge in special creations by artists.

I love to support local artists. When I buy from local artist, I know that the product that I bought was made with LOVE. I also know exactly who my money is going to and I walk away with a unique gift.

Well back to my walk. On my way up 7th Avenue my eyes were immediately drawn to a table filled with some beautiful and colorful glass rings... I didn't plan on spending any money but I had to buy one. It will be perfect for summer...

The jewelry was created by a woman named Cecilia, her company is called Fusing Colors.





Finally, we got to what I thought was EDO a Sushi Restaurant in Park Slope. To my surprise I saw a newly renovated Japanese Restaurant called Shin Ju. It's a very nice looking place and they make my favorite sushi, Inari Maki. My cuz bought the Crispy Tuna Roll, I didn't get anything, wasn't really hungry.



On our way back, I smiled as my eyes gazed at the kids lined up waiting to buys some ices, people sitting on the benches, the dudes skateboarding in front of the Museum..I was filled with the warmth of happiness as I was reminded that summer is near. :-)

My hotel room at the Hilton.

My hotel room is the perfect size and very comfortable.




This is what I see when I look out of my window.

On the Amsterdam Train

Cozy ride to the city...

From Schipol Airport to the city.

One cool thing about traveling to Amsterdam is that the train fare from the airport to the city is very reasonable. It took us about 10 minutes to get to the Amsterdam Hilton. The fare was only 2.80 EU. Great!




It costs .50 Euros to use the bathroom! There was also a fee to use the bathroom in the train stations in Ghana. Interesting...

In the airport...

Despite the airplane drama earlier, check out went pretty smooth. Customs was a breeze.

The lines were not too long...it went by quickly.

No baggage drama. Our luggage came out on time and in tact.

Plane Drama...just plain plane drama.

Del from NYC to Detroit..

We had a connecting flight - NYC to Detroit - Detroit to Amsterdam. I knew something was strange when it was 4:00 PM and we were still waiting to board the plane that was supposed to depart at 4:17 PM. "Just wait here until we tell you to go down," this is what airport security told us. We did not get on the plane until 4:35 PM. The plane didn't take off until around 5:45 PM. I would have been fine with this if our connecting flight in Detroit wasn't leaving at 7:15 PM.

Our plane landed in Detroit at exactly 7:15 PM and we had to run to catch our next plane. When we got to the boarding area, the signs were changed, and the doors were locked. The plane was ready to leave. Luckily, the pilot was notified that a few passengers were just arriving and ready to board. Yeeesh!!! Thank goodness we made it.

It was a cool flight. I watched Slum Dog Millionare and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.



For dinner I had curried chick peas and spinach accompanied by rice with golden raisins. It was a pretty good meal for an airplane dinner.



I slept for a little while but just couldn't get that cozy in the 7 hour flight.
I caught my last good sleep just about an half hour before landing.

Sitting in the JFK airport.

This past February, I thoroughly searched the internet looking for flights to Amsterdam. One of my best friends Kristen once said to me that she planned on traveling outside of the country at least once a year. I thought that was a great goal and made it one of my own. Spring Break in Amsterdam would be beautiful. My first trip was in February, and although it was in the 40's, it was wonderful. My February trip made me fantasize about a warm Amsterdam.



I was deeply hurt after searching the web thoroughly and only finding tickets for over 800. bucks to Amsterdam + Europe in general. Even tickets to the Caribbean were very high. At this point I had to face the reality that I just may not travel this year, well at least not for Spring Break.

Towards the end of February,on the 27th to be exact, I decided to search for tickets again. Although I am not a student, started by searching the student travel website. To my surprise I saw ticket from NYC to Amsterdam for 456 round trip on KLM. Since I am not a student, I searched the North Western/KLM website and found the same tickets. I immediately asked my husband if he wanted to go, "hell yeah" was his response. Without too much thought we booked the tickets. We got two tickets for 912.72 all taxes and fees included. I thought that was a super deal!!!

Now I'm sitting in JFK awaiting my next flight. Just caught a cool deal at BOINGO for internet connection. So, I will be blogging this trip.

I'm certain that I did not forget anything.

Cameras - check.
Batteries - check
Chargers - check
Memory - check
Card Reader- check

Oh and clothes and toothbrush, toothpaste, all of the good stuff too. :-)

Can't wait to see what the Amsterdam Hilton looks like. I hear that it is in a posh neighborhood.

Signing off for now...blogging again soon!