Writings and Travels of Lina Em
As winter finally sheds its fickle grip over New York, we finally made our first exploration trip outside of the city that didn’t involve running. Getting out of the city doesn’t require a car or hundreds of dollars for the tolls. It just needs making it to the MetroNorth on time, which runs every hour off-peak on the weekend.
Continue reading “Touring Boscobel and Main Street, Cold Spring”
It’s been over 10 years since I’ve lived in New York and living in Queens, I pass by Roosevelt Island stop many a times but I never stopped myself to actually explore the island. My morning runs along Astoria’s East River front, I can see the lighthouse and a beautiful domed building and I told myself, I’d like to visit that island. As the Spring finally begins to behave properly, I took the first beautiful weekend to visit Roosevelt Island.
To start off, I’ve never seen Highlander (the movie), but I hear is great so it will be on my list of movies to watch before visiting the Highlands.
But I’m so stoked about my trip to Scotland, mostly because my experiences of Scotland have been through novels. Understandably, I won’t be finding hot Scottish men with brogues and kilts (oh, I so hope I see some).
Continue reading “Prepping for My Highland Experience”
Boxing Day, which is typically a British holiday in which you open Christmas gifts, arrived quite warmly, cool breeze and partly cloudy weather. It is a rest day but we are invited to have lunch at an ex-UNEP employee’s home near Karura Forest.
Continue reading “Tempura Shrimp & Vegetables”
I’ve never been an early morning riser. 7AM is the most I can manage. How does one manage intend to wake up to get to a National Park at 630AM?
Well, one doesn’t.
Continue reading “Roaming Nairobi National Park”
The Rift Valley is best seen in Kenya, so says the hotel guide. For this part of the trip, bookings were made at Lake Elmenteita Serena Lodge. It is a “hut/tent” style of lodge, designed to be the ultimate form of African “glamping”. Located on the conservancy of Baron Delamare, purchased in 1845, the hotel chain, Serena (owned by a famous Indian), opened its first lodging in 2011.
Continue reading “Glamping at Lake Elmenteita”
They say honesty is key to telling a story. A good story.
The truth is, I’ve never had any desire to visit Kenya, let alone Africa. Maybe Morocco or Egypt but not so much Africa. The savannahs never really called to me the way lush rainforest did.
But I find myself in Kenya, nonetheless, and I decided to make the most out of the opportunity.
Despite being well traveled and organized, I am always aflustered the day of travel. The house has to be cleaned spotless before departure, the dog sent to camp and the cat prepared meals in advanced. It’s a time consuming process and with only half a day to prepare, I somehow made it and arrived at the airport. Of course, without my phone cable. Why does Apple make their phone cables differ for various devices? Money, most likely.
The last full day in Montreux greeted us with another gloomy morning. However, the cloud eventually parted by early afternoon, offering a warm respite over the snowy Alps.
I had a dream earlier that my boyfriend’s mother was asking us to go on a boat tour. I woke up telling him that. So it was funny that during breakfast, his mother offers the suggestion.
Using the Riviera card, you can book a Splendour of the Alps cruise tour on Lake Geneva, which is a 2 hour ride. There is also an option for a 4 hour ride with lunch being served, which is 90 CHF per person. The Riviera card will give you half price off. Of course, try to board 2nd class tickets to avoid overcharge. You’ll still get a good view of the towns.
Continue reading “Switzerland Day 4: Retrospection”
It was pouring rain as dawn slowly woke the town, gray clouds swirling the mountain top, the blue sea was green and dark, waves slightly rougher than the day before. Since rain came and went throughout the day, I tried not to make too many plans, allowing the weather to dictate what we would see and do.
Continue reading “Switzerland Day 3: Old Montreux And Reunion at Monte Rosa”
When I was a child, I was in an accident that rendered me bedridden for a good 4 months. It was the most boring experience time of my time. It was a time before internet surfing, cell phones, and my parents were much too poor to buy me a hand held device game (considering the fact they were paying medical bills—I was quite an ungrateful child). But for lack of entertainment, I grew to enjoy reading (library books became my best friends since friends were not allowed to visit), watching PBS from morning through afternoon until home tutoring in evening, and playing jigsaw puzzles. I played puzzles day in and day out. We had about 3 boxes of puzzles I played. Sometimes I would play puzzles upside down to challenge myself. My mother got sick of watching me play puzzles and taped them up and hung them on the wall at one point.
Continue reading “Switzerland Day 2: Château de Chillon”