“What to do in Queens?”

The beautiful Unisphare at Flushing Madows in Queens

My wife asked me exactly this question when we were in New York last time. We were just here for a stopover. We arrived late at night in La Guardia and had to be at JFK at 2 p.m. for our flight to Europe. So I decided not to book a hotel in Manhattan but between both airports so that the ways with our massive luggage we had would be short. In my eyes it was not worth to spend money on taxi rides and expensive hotels in Manhattan if we had just 3 hours in the morning to do something. So I chose a hotel near Jamaica station close to the Airtrain to JFK and with a good connection to the metro, saving on the hotel rate which is much lower than in downtown Manhattan and saving at least two hours of time compared to take a taxi to get to Manhattan and back.

Because we saved those two hours of time on taxi rides we had five hours in Queens instead of three hours in Manhattan before we had to go to the airport and my wife still didn’t understand why we where here and not in Manhattan. I didn’t care about any sightseeing program in Queens before we arrived. I was sure that we would find something to do in Queens in our guide books or travel apps on the iPhone or iPad. But there was nearly nothing. And everything we found in the books was not on the map because all maps ended at Long Island. So I had really no answer to her question “What to do in Queens” and so I was in a really uncomfortable position. May the force be with me and so we took the few spots we had found and left the hotel to discover Queens. And what should I say: It was amazing! After the five hours were over and we were back in the hotel to pick up our luggage even my wife was really happy with my decision to stay in Queens. But what did we do? 

Looks like Asia: Main Street in Flushing, Queens, NYC

Out of one book we had the information that there is a huge Chinatown in Queens which is NYC biggest and compared to the one in Manhattan still authentic and not only a tourist trap and market for cheap t-shirts and faked watches and handbags. So we took the Q44 bus from Jamaica station and started our trip through Queens. First we passed some rude areas were I would not advice to stroll around after it is dark but than we came to really nice areas with authentic neighbourhoods on Main Street and had an uncommon feeling in New York: Not to sit in a bus with 99% of other tourists but with real New Yorkers. We passed an area with mostly jewish neighbourhood with lots of kosher markets, restaurants and cafes. And the only reason why we didn’t leave the bus to look around here was that it was quite early on Sunday morning and the shops were still closed. Just a few minutes later we arrived at Chinatown (Metro: Flushing Main Street). My wife and I are both huge fans of Asia and we loved the place from the first second. All shops and all products, the smell, the food, the people and the whole sight were just as in Asia. There was an amazing variety of Asian products in the shops and supermarkets that were even selling durians. We really felt like in Asia. At this time I felt for the first time that my wife might be glad at the end of the day that we stayed in Queens. This feeling got stronger when we found an Asian style bakery were we bought some Chinese style baked buns. One of the my wife’s favourites and really hard to find outside Asia and when she said they tasted like the ones we had in Kota Kinabalu (Malaysia), I was sure that the day would be great.

Perfect for a picnic or just to relax: Flushing Madows, NYC

After our stroll through Chinatown we walked down the Roosevelt Ave to Flushing Madows. The way was not that nice except of the crappy bridge we passed which we liked for some reason, humming the theme melody from “King of Queens”. But it also be a good alternative to take the metro line 7 or the LIRR for one station to Mets – Willets Point station. As we arrived at the park we first had a look towards the new stadium of the New York Mets Baseball team before we entered the park. On the right you will first see the famous Tennis Stadium of Flushing Meadows where the US Open takes place each year in xy. Then we walked through the nice alleys of huge trees and with nice meadows where many families picnicked, played ball or just relaxed. Finally we went to the great sculpture Unisphere. We were both really impressed by this sculpture and the shining metal of the sculpture matched the deep blue sky on that day perfectly. Afterwards we enjoyed ourselves at the park, took a rest and had a great picnic. So we were ready for the last part of this stroll across Queens. By a short taxi ride we went to the Queens Center, a large shopping mall at Queens Boulevard/59^th Ave. Here we took the chance to do the last shopping. I really needed some new Adidas Samba trainers J. And after that our walk through Queens was over. We took a taxi to our hotel, picked up our stuff and went to JFK by the airtrain. After some really good sandwiches and drinks at the Senator Lounge we enjoyed a good and safe trip back to Europe with Lufthansa. 

Airfield view fron the Lufthansa Senator Lounge at JFK

Saving in New York City

NYC by night

Every time I am in NYC I always have not enough: Not enough time, not enough money, not enough energy, not enough of anything in this awesome city. So I am always happy if I find a way to save time, money, energy or anything else in New York. So this blog should help you to save when you are in NYC.

The first thing is always the trouble to find a place to stay in NYC. It is always far too expensive. So if you need to save on the hotel you should take some time and try out the possibilities of Priceline. If you are from the US it might be nothing new to you but for everyone else it is. At Priceline are you able to choose one or more parts of the city and the stars the hotel should have and giving a bid how much you would pay for this hotel. Within seconds you will get a respond if there is any hotel which is accepting your bid. If there is one the hotel is immediately booked for you, if not you are able to extend your search (more areas, less stars, higher bid). The whole process is described in several forums. Priceline is only available for US citizens. How you will be able to book at www.priceline.com if you are not US citizen: Just google it. 

Wallstreet

As an example: On our last trip to NYC we got a 4 star hotel near the Wall Street in downtown Manhattan for 130$ per night instead of 195$ per night as it was on all booking sides. So we saved 33% and had more money for shopping.

And here we are at the second matter where you have great possibilities to save: Shopping! The recommendation you will find in each guide book is to use the outlet shops and centre. This is of course true - and if you visit Century 21 in downtown Manhattan and see the flood of tourists carrying lots of huge Century 21 shopping bags out of the shop you will agree. A not so well-know advice is that it is also possible to save money in the worlds most famous department store Macy’s. Macy’s is a must do for every tourist in NYC and every woman wants to buy something in here at least to get one of these nice and famous Macy’s shopping bags with the red star. Here you can save money as a foreign tourist. The deal is 10% saving on all your shopping which is not too bad for Macy’s I think. All you have to do is visit the customer service at the gallery, show your passport and you will get a coupon which entitles you to a 10% discount on all your shopping at Macy’s for the next month. Very easy and a good deal!

MoMA: Modern art and nice architecture

After a shopping tour a must do is sightseeing! Museums, parks, theatres and much more are waiting for you. A very smart idea is to visit the websites of the attractions you want to visit. Often you are able to pre-book tickets and so you are able to save time and money or often both. Just two examples out of many: The hop-on-hop-off bus company Gray line offers a lot of different routs and tours through NYC. On all tours you can save 5$ per person if you pre-book on the website. You will get a voucher by mail which is valid for one year. These voucher you have to exchange for a ticket at their ticket office near the Times Square. A good advice is to change the ticket not in the morning because the queues are very long. At noon or later there is no one waiting so you save time. Important is that you also don’t loose travel time for example for a 48 hours ticket for all loops if you show up at noon or later. The ticket is exactly 48 hours valid and not two calendar days so you are able to travel the same duration as if you have to wait and queue up in the morning. The second example is the MoMA. Here you pay 22.50$ instead of 25$ for the entrance of an adult. The smart thing is, that you print your ticket at home. So you are allowed to pass the whole queue (and when we arrived it was a looooooooooooooong queue) and proceed directly to the entrance. I guess so it took us just 2 minutes to get in instead of 45 minutes without a pre-booked ticket – by even saving 5$ at the same time! So just think about what you want so see in NYC and save time and money by pre-book your tickets.

Amazing Time Square by night

An activity were you are not able to save money by pre-booking are Broadway musicals (although travelzoo.com sometimes has some pretty good deals, too. But if you are not keen on seeing a special musical you are also able to save here. At the Times Square there is a ticket box which sells available musical tickets for the same day every day. The savings here are often 40% or more on the original ticket price and often you have a chose between many different musicals. Please check the operating hours of this office. Because of the first come first serve principle, the best tickets are available just after the opening and so it is good to show up early. For those who still can not or are not willing to pay the prices for the shows Ellen´s Stardust Diner at the 52^nd at Broadway might be a good place. Here do they serve typical American cuisine like burgers and sandwiches. The clou is that the servers are singing all the time. They are all actors (or to-be actors) from Broadway who do not have any assignments at this time. So you can dine here at affordable prices and listen to several musical and other songs from professional singers. Really great and I think something special. This is a really good tip especially for your first evening in NYC, in case you are jetlagged – this is a dinner place that does keep you awake :)

My last one enables you to save really a lot of time. You are able to see whole NYC exactly in one hour. You are asking yourself how that is possible. I have the solution. The Marriott Marquis hotel at the Times Square has a revolving bar and restaurant in the 42nd floor. You will get there by express elevator and normally you will not need a reservation. The nice staff guides you to your table and it doesn’t matter if you will chose the dinner buffet, just the nice dessert buffet (with a chocolate dwell and lots of fresh fruits, cakes and cheese) or only a drink: Whole NYC and parts of Jersey will pass your table behind the window within one hour. This experience is not the cheapest but it is worth to do and a nice ending for a beautiful day in the city that never sleeps.

Travelling with the AAirpass

I travel a lot as you know. This week I would like to introduce Steven Rothstein and Jacques Vroom. They are travelling even more than me. They bought an AAirpass from American Airlines and are now allowed to fly for free their whole life. And these flights are not in economy and not in business class. They are in first class. And with their flights they are even earn miles to book flights and upgrades for their families and friends. What they do with this special AAirpass, how much they paid and much more tells this Seattle Times article.  

From Aalborg to Skagen

“What shall we do in Aalborg?” was my wife’s reaction as I explained the travel route I chose for our trip to the north of Denmark. For a while we are living in Copenhagen and so we try not only to discover the main spots in the whole world but also take our time to discover the beautiful sides beside the main paths within our host country Denmark. So my wife had the plan to visit the northernmost city of Denmark Skagen. Skagens distict Grenen is the northernmost part of Denmark. Here you can find a beach where the North Sea and the Baltic Sea meet each other. This should be the final destination of our trip. But I start at the beginning.
So my wife was not happy with my decision to start the trip in Aalborg but I thought it will be worth to see the fourth biggest city of Denmark if we are around. And we were not disappointed. Actually far from it and so the mood of my wife were getting better and better and as we had to leave she wanted to come back. But I start at the beginning.

Jens Bang´s House: The most beautiful house of Denmark

Aalborg is a really pretty city at the Limfjord with a really charming inner city. We felt really welcome here. One of the first things we recognized was the many pubs in the city. Especially in the Jomfru Ane Gade you can find lots of restaurants and cafes in the daytime which turns to nightclubs and discotheques at night. That is the reason why the Danes call it "The longest Bar in Denmark". No surprise: You can find the biggest Danish distillery in Aalborg which produces the famous Aalborger Aquavit and the Gammeldansk. Of cause it is possible to visit the distillery. But not only in the field of leisure, Aalborg inspired us. There is so much different to see and everything is fitting together so well. Especially I like the composing around the Østerågade. First you can see the nice cityhall beside the Jens Bang's House, which is voted as the most beautiful house in whole Denmark. A few steps further you pass the beautiful Jørgen Olufsens House before you are arriving the impressing waterfront at the Limfjord. I have rarely seen a waterfront where the change from a former industrial use to the new public use is done so well. Because of this the city is really turning its face to the Limfjord. Here you will find nice restaurants and bars in old but renovated buildings, a really nice promenade and lots of spare time activities for example a well designed open air pool in the fjord in the summer. A few meters down the promenade you reach the next highlight.

Aalborghus Castle from 1550

The Utzon Centre, an art, architecture and design centre. It is a tribute from the city to its famous son Jørn Utzon who was the architect of the opera in Sydney and of cause also of the Utzon Centre. You just have to cross the street and you reach the old Aalborghus Castle which was built in 1550 by King Christian III. and is now used by the government. As you might have noticed we have been stoked by Aalborg and we will definitely come back, maybe to visit the famous Aalborg Carnival. It takes place each year in the week 21 in the end of May and it is the biggest Carnival in Scandinavia.
But as I told you before we are on our way to Skagen and we had some kilometres to drive. But of cause didn´t I take the fastest but the most interesting way and so after a short drive we reached the beautiful town of Hals where the Limfjord is meeting the Baltic Sea. The town is more or less important because there is a ferry over the fjord and some use it as a short cut on their way north or south bound. And so the harbour is also the most interesting spot in the town where you will find some restaurants and a marina. I decided to visit Hals because it is the southern end of a very wanted coastline to spend holidays in Denmark. And the beach of Bisnap a few kilometres north of Hals was voted as the best beach in Denmark. We followed the road to the north further on in direction of our destination Skagen.

Nice sandy dunes and beaches in Sæby

The lovely church of Sæby

On our way to our next stage finish Sæby we are passing beautiful seaside villages like Voerså with lovely red and white painted fisher houses at the harbour and the possibility to rent canoes or pedal boats for a ride on the small river through the village. But we are now heading Sæby with the white sculpture Fruen fra Havet at the entry of the harbour. A really good view on the harbour and the Fruen fra Havet do you have from the nice restaurant Frank´s. We enjoyed here the really good fish and seafood buffet, the good bread and a really good service. After this rest we had new power to discover the harbour and the rest of this little town. The harbour with the marina is very nice and is just a few steps away from the nice sandy beach. I the area of the streets Algade and Strandgade the houses in are nearly all traditionally yellow painted. Some of them are nearly 500 years old. This makes a really nice Scandinavian street view. Just beside you will find the white painted church near the harbour. We enjoyed it here pretty much.

The silted church: Today only the tower is visible

North Sea beach at Gammel Skagen

Afterwards we drove to the city of Frederikshavn. The city is a traditional base of the Danish navy and an important harbour for the traffic to Sweden and Norway. We were not able to find any attractions which seem to be interesting to us and so we got after a short break back on road to our destination Skagen. So if you don’t need to: Don’t stop here!
But just before we reached Skagen we turned right to see one of the main attractions of Skagen, the silted church. The church was built in the second half of the 14th century. In the early 17th century there started a large sand drift in the region. The citizens were fighting against the sand for years but finally they were not able to safe the church. So in 1795 the church was closed by the Danish king. Today is only the tower of the former church which was later used as a seamark visible.
Afterwards we visited Gammel Skagen, which means old Skagen. But this place does not seem anyway old to us. It seems to be a typical weekend house area for the more upper class but very nice. Here at the North Sea side of Denmark the beach and the sea were very impressive for us. The waves are much higher and the sea seems to be wilder. We liked the place pretty much but we had to go on to Skagen. Here we first went to the harbour. He you will see the centre of the Danish fish industry. It is really impressive how big the modern fishing boats or should I say swimming fish plants are. Really amazing! This made me really a bit scared. So I was glad as we found some smaller fishing boats. Those who are hungry will find lots of fish restaurants in the old pack houses at the harbour. We were not and so we first went into the city centre, which does not flashed us anyway. But the architecture and the atmosphere in the small residential areas around did. We found really nice little houses, made of wood and with lots of stories to tell. Here can you breeze old sailor adventures in the air. We enjoyed it a lot. And so the disappointment about the city centre was gone and we made the last few kilometres to Skagen Grenen where the Baltic Sea and the North Sea have their rendezvous. And this place is really amazing with its large dunes, nice beaches and a terrific view on both seas. Fantastic! Really strange is, that the water of the North and the Baltic seas have different colours and you can see where it mixes up.

Look over the dunes of Grenen to the Lighthouse

We sit down in the sand, opened a bottle of wine and watched the sunset at a really perfect destination! Forget about New York, the Maldives, Thailand and all the other dream destinations. In this moment this most northern tip of Denmark was the perfect place to be!

Sandy Beaches at Denmarks top

Aalborgs city hall

View from Aalborgs waterfront into the city

The ferry in Hals

Fisherboats in the harbour of Sæby

Housing area between the harbour and the city centre of Skagen

Beach at the North Sea side of Gammel Skagen

Kuching: Orang-utans and nearly the best mattress in the world in Borneo

Amazing beach in the Bako national park in Malaysia

My favourite mattress in the world is the one we have at home. It is always a pleasure to sleep here and is a reason way I do not miss travelling so much when I am at home. But there is another mattress I fell in love with. And that one I found last year at the Pullman Hotel in Kuching/Malaysia. 
My wife and I had just 10 days for a quick vacation and decided to flight to Southeast Asia, because we are so in love with it and we had never been to Borneo. So I made my way from Hamburg, my wife came from Hong Kong and we were excited to discover the foreign world of Borneo. When I thought of Borneo before, I thought of jungle, exotic people, jungle, jungle, jungle, orang-utans, jungle and jungle. And then we arrived at the new Kuching airport: Fully air-conditioned, officers at the passport control asking for your passport in perfect English and the cab-driver driving us along the highway to the newly built Pullman Hotel. I was not really disappointed about that, but a little bit disaffected. Even Borneo seems to be not wild and full of secrets anymore. But that was just my first thought. Soon I was really fascinated by Kuching.

Pullman in Kuching

The bed with my second favourite mattress

It started on the taxi ride to the hotel and as we arrived at the Pullman I felt really happy and welcomed by a different Kuching and Borneo than I had expected. But it felt good.

The Pullman in Kuching is really a nice hotel and even if it is of course not one of the most luxurious hotels in the world, it is one of the hotels were I felt most like home. Hotel experts will answer that it is not a real five star hotel and objectively they might be right. I think it is a European 4 star and the rates are often like a European 2 star. But I don’t mind at all: I had one of my best hotel experiences in my life.

It started with a free upgrade to a junior suite at the check in. I like those surprises and as we entered the room even more. The room was really big, with a walk-in cupboard and a really nice bathroom with shower and a bathtub overlooking the whole city and the river from the 12th floor. Really nice! After enjoying the room we started to discover the city. We just went downhill to the river and by chance we just arrived at the promenade shortly before the last rivercruise started. So we bought some water and some fresh fruit and hopped on the boat. The tour took 2 hours and was maybe a little bit too long but it was nice to be on the river and get a first view of the sights. Afterwards we strolled down the promenade and tried some of the local delicacies from the street kitchens. Back in the hotel we fell asleep, because we had to get up early for our tour to the Bako National Park. 

Amazing views, ...

... nice beaches, ...

... and more nice beaches! - In the Bako national park!

So we got up early and that was really hard because I fell in love. Not only with my wife but also with this nice bed in the Pullman with a perfect mattress and a amazing view over the city of Kuching, the river and the hills around. Perfect! But finally I made it and so we catched the local bus to Bako Bazaar. Even when we do not have much time we always try to travel with local busses and trains. We think it is the best way to get a real insights to a city or a country. Yes the bus did not have a proper air condition and yes we would have enough money to take a taxi or a private transfer, but that is for me not fun because everyone can do that. After about 90 minutes we arrived at the harbour of Bako Bazaar. Here you have to pay the entry fee to the park (10 RM= 2 €= 2,6$) and you will be grouped with some others because you have to charter a boat from the fishermen to get into the park (50 RM=10€= 13$ return for a boat with up to 6 people). After we arrived in the park we had a drink in the only and really basic restaurant. Here you will also find a ranger station and some simple bungalows for an overnight stay. They are pretty basic but wanted so if you want to spend the night there do make a reservation.

The harbour of Bako Bazaar

After our drink we had to decide for one of the many tracks in the park. It is really important to sign you and your track into the book at the ranger station and of course sign out when you are back. It is always possible that you get lost or injured  and so it is possible to send a search party if you will not come back on time. We went for one of the shortest and were pretty happy with it. It is really exhausting to hike first uphill in the jungle, then over a dry and hot high plateau and then in a dry river bed even if it is only one kilometre or two. The description said: 1 hour per km and we first made fun of it. But finally it was true. First we followed the really beautiful wooden way at the coast line before we turned into the jungle and even if you know that you are not far out in the jungle you get a good feeling for it. It is also possible to do the tour with a guide. I am sure you will learn a lot and see things we were just passing by. But we decided this time to do the trip on our own. Sometimes it is good to do things together as a couple without help. In the jungle the clime is suddenly very humid even if you are just a few steps from the coast line and you will need a lot of water. Even more then we expected. We had about 3 litres with us and soon we learned that it will be not enough. The way was much longer and took much more time than we expected. And on our way we had some small crisis because sometimes we thought we got lost and the water became fewer and fewer. But finally we arrived at a really beautiful bay and took a bath in the warm sea. Even if it was not refreshing because the water was too warm we enjoyed it much. But we were not able to solve the water problem we had. 90 minutes back through the hot jungle with just a sip of water? Impossible! Luckily we met fishermen at the beach who took us back to the ranger station. And we were really lucky because so we had the chance to see the park with its jungle, beaches and the rocks that remembered us of Halong bay in Vietnam. So we went again to the little restaurant and had as many drinks as we wanted. Of course we signed out at the ranger station and then we took a boat back to Bako Bazaar and the public bus to Kuching.

After a shower and a nap in the hotel we went to the Filipino restaurant “Pinoy”. Due to the reason that a tropical rain started it was not that crowded. But I had great spare ribs and some cold Carlsberg. Afterwards we went to the Lime Tree Hotel. At the beautiful rooftop bar we had some great Lime Tree mojitos and a nice Lime cheesecake for dessert and were thinking about our two days in Kuching. We were pretty happy with it and but until now we didn’t see any orang-utans. But that changed the next day as you will read in part two next week. 

View over Kuching from the Pullman

Large and luxury bathroom with shower and bathtube

  

The bathtube was decorated with roses

Coastline between sea and jungle

The wooden parth guides you to the jungle

Beware of the roots!

Jungle from the seaside

The view over the sea as a reward for the hart hiking tour

Rocks like in a small Halong bay

And a nice lonely beach to relax

More Halong bay feeling...

,,, more beaches!

Always amazing! Do visit Bako!