The Bub in the Belly

I mentioned that there was a Part 2 to my birthday celebration. Well, our little "staycation" last weekend was actually the teaser for a bigger and longer holiday, which is going to be ... drum roll please ...

We're going to NEW YORK CITY!

Did I say that loud enough? No? WE'RE OFF TO NEW YORK CITY, BABY! WOO HOO!!

Ahem.

It all began when Richard suggested that, for my birthday, we take a short holiday overseas, three days and two nights somewhere nearby. Problem was, we couldn't decide on a suitable destination. I'd just got back from Bali, we'd just gone to Chiangmai a few months back and we couldn't imagine that Ryan would enjoy Hong Kong and Bangkok very much at his age. We then talked about taking a few days off around Labour Day, perhaps make it a five day vacation, which meant the Maldives or Australia was possible. We were quite keen on that actually. Richard applied for two days' leave and we spent the next few days discussing possible destinations.

After a few days of ding-donging around, we were not getting anywhere (pun intended). I asked Richard to take a further two days of leave for that week and he did, which meant that we now had a stretch of 9 days to go somewhere. We were now thinking - Europe!

Another few days went by and still no progress on our target destination. We wanted a destination where we could enjoy both child-centred activities as well as grown-up activities. People were telling me that I could consider France because, apart from the grown-up stuff, there was a Disneyland. However, Ryan isn't familiar with the Disney characters and he is still too small for most of the rides. I started thinking about the characters whom Ryan knows of and, of course, ELMO was the answer!

It was an epiphany! I don't know why I didn't think of it before. I immediately searched online for Sesame Street theme parks and I found one, called Sesame Place, in Pennsylvania, about 1.5 hours drive from New York City. (I didn't realise it at the time but there are actually a few more around the world - check out this list.)

I immediately sent an SMS to Richard: "There is a Sesame Street theme park about 1.5 hours from New York City."

His reply was: "Huh then must go oredi".

And that settled it!

Over the next two weeks, we bought our plane tickets, applied for our visas which included a short over-the-counter interview at the US Embassy, checked the exchange rate (very favourable!), checked the weather, got an International Driver's Licence, all the while dreaming of Ryan having dinner with Elmo. At the last minute, Richard announced that we were still going to celebrate my birthday weekend and that's how we ended up in Resorts World Sentosa last weekend. So yes, we've been busy busy busy!

Now all you lovelies who have been to New York countless times may think, what's the big deal. Well, to explain, I have never been to New York or anywhere in the USA and I have always said that I will never be able to make it to the USA simply because I can't imagine being stuck in the plane for 24 hours. The long travel time far outweighs any motivation to be there. Now, for the sake of my son, I am determined to get him within hugging distance of his beloved Elmo, and no long haul flight is gonna stop me. You could say it was a life-changing moment for me.

We fly into New York City on Saturday morning (30 April) and we plan to go straight to Pennsylvania and spend about two to three days there, which includes one day for Sesame Place and another day for the Please Touch Museum. After that, it will be New York! New York! all the way. If you lovelies have any suggestions on where to go or where to stay in New York City (or Pennsylvania) or what to see/do/eat (or what not to see/do/eat), please feel free to pass them to me!

Can you tell I'm excited? No? NEW YORK CITY, HERE WE COME!!