Dreaming of New York City - Day 7 and 8

All good trip will come to an end. I was quite reluctant for that very day especially on the load of shopping both of us had. Really wondering how we would survive that.

Day 7:

It was New Years Eve and he had so much planned because it was our last night in New York. The plan was quite messy until we had to sit down and plan on the getting around. We got out early without the need of breakfast. Somehow we were just excited to be celebrating the New Year in New York.

Our first stop was to walk across Brooklyn Bridge from the Manhattan side. We took the subway Line 6 to Brooklyn Bridge. There was an elevated pedestrian walk from the common road with an excellent view of the Manhattan skyline. Since we were walking from Manhattan side, we had to turn around regularly to spectate the view. I was able to see the Statue of Liberty from a far. I didn't really fancy of going over to Liberty Island just to see the Statue. Looking at it from a far with a photo was sufficient enough for me.

Once we were on the Brooklyn side, we made our way towards Dumbo before Hakimbo bringing me to an awesome street with an gorgeous view of Manhattan Bridge with the Empire State building in view between it two pillars. I also managed to get a new bag from Brooklyn Industries, which had a similar function of the bag I intended to get from Head Porter in Japan.

After a quick fill from Shake Shack since we had little breakfast, we moved on to Dumbo to get a closer yet far look on the Statue of Liberty. The view of the pier with wooden pilons made the coast very rustic. Next, I wanted to check Jane's Carousel which was in park in between of Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. For 3 USD, you get to ride the carousel for about 10mins. People would ride it but I didn't really felt like it even though it was considered cheap.

By then, we were famished and Hakimbo wanted to bring me to the diner he loved so much while he was staying in Brooklyn. We had to walk a distance to High Street station from Dumbo and had to transfer at the next station to get to 36th Street. The Sunset Park Diner and Donut is situated in between the 39th Street and 4th Avenue of Brooklyn. The diner was quite homely with a wide range of donuts and bagels. I think that was why he loved the place. I've been craving to try American's mac and Cheese. I ordered one only to be told later that they ran out of the macaroni, and whether they would replace it with pasta. I ended having cream pasta as my lunch, which Hakim made bearable by donating some of his sausage.

Our next itinerary was to catch the sunset at Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center by 1630hrs. We actually went to Top of the Rock on Monday during the super clear day but the only time to enter was at 1800 which was already dark. We had to buy an advance ticket for 32 USD for Thursday with a specific timing just to catch a good view of the city.

We reached Rockefeller around 1520 and our ticket was at 1545. Thankfully there wasn't a long queue for entering the building. The lift took us up to the 68th floor and there were 3 floors of observation deck and divided by the uptown and downtown view. The view of downtown was more spectacular than the uptown due to the various high rises. Uptown was more of a barren land of Central Park.

Downtown

Uptown

Since we were there at 1545hrs, we had to wait for 1630hrs for the sunset. The day got cloudier when we arrived so there wasn't much view of the sun. We overheard a photographer that he was waiting for the city light up at 1730hrs, so Hakimbo decided we should stay on waiting for the light up. He almost froze himself waiting as he was mostly fashionably attired. I've been wearing my new jacket I've bought from H&M for the past few days because it was conveniently kept me warm and dry throughout the different temperatures. We had to wait indoors to keep ourselves warm and only got to spectate the light up when everyone cheered outside. The light up was earlier than expected.

After a quick snaps, we rushed out to pack our luggages before heading out for the New Year Countdown. We had a few considerations on where to celebrate and Times Square was definitely out as the queue to get into the are was massively crazy. People actually queued up at 12pm to get in.

While heading back to the apartment, we were discussing where we should head for the celebration. Hakimbo recommended to go Dumbo and see the fireworks across the river but I recalled someone telling me that there wasn't much fireworks in New York. It seems very similar to my New Year celebration in Seoul the previous year. Seems like only Singapore has a single massive location for a spectacular fireworks. W just realized that the roof access to the apartment has a spectacular view around the city and wouldn't have much trouble getting back after the celebration.

So after a painstaking attempt on our luggages and a nice shower, we made our way up to the roof. There were a few groups of people, probably the tenants and their friend, hanging around the roof. We were there 30 mins before the new year and gotten a pretty good spot, the whole roof top as everyone escaped from the freezing weather.

The clock struck 12am and there were bits and pieces of firework around the city. It was quite a small scale firework but nice still. Everyone on the rooftop exchanged their well wishes, even to the roof tops across. It was really nice to see the connectivity of the people of New York.
We headed back into the apartment 15mins past midnight and went straight to bed.

Day 8:

The only thing left was for me was to check out the Flatiron building which was just a few blocks away from the apartment. We left rather early after completing out packing. We walked up to Flatiron and took some pictures.

Almost similar to Christmas, most shops were closed and/or will open at a later timing. We walked up to 34th Street and all shops were closed. We backed down to Madison Square Garden where Flatiron Building was situated to have our last Shake Shack Meal. It was pure pleasure having Shake Shack.

We made our way back to the apartment to collect our luggages and managed to share a cab with one of the tenants sister. Well, I was thrilled to save half of the taxi fare. Once at the airport, one of my luggage was overweight by 3kg that I had to be one of those that had to rearrange the luggage. Luckily I knew what to remove and put on my carry-on, they were mostly chocolates.

The flight to Beijing wasn't as bad as the flight to New York. We were seated by the exit so definitely a lot of leg room. I managed to catch a lot of shows and managed to read a lot of my e-Comics.

When we arrived in Beijing, the transfer service was horrible. There was only 1 counter open to cater the many transferring passengers. The line snaked so long that some of the people in queue had to catch their connecting flight within the hour. They might not know that there are 2 counters to go through before catching the connecting flight. Ours was a 6hr layover.

After almost 1.5hrs clearing the transfer, we got out and rushed for the toilet. We had our fill at Starbucks before lounging at the waiting area where I started my Day1 and 2 blog entry. Once we got on flight, I managed to sleep in intervals, trying to combat jetlag. Apparently I got out fine, sleeping on my usual sleeping timing even at home, back to work felling fresh but I noticed that I tend to sleep earlier than normal for the next few days. Well, different people battle jet lag differently.

My fist American experience didn't really start out well as I was overwhelm by the sights and sound but I grew accustomed after a few days. I still wasn't sure on the tipping practice but I may just try it next time when I go over to the states. So far, I had a great time, shopping especially but the exchange rate plus taxes were a killer at almost 1.52 to Singapore dollar.

Not to forget, I had a great time with my best bud, the self proclaimed New York native. It was sure great that we travelled together, even with all the hiccups. Till the next travel in 2016.

Dreaming of New York City - Day 5 and 6

Now who could believe it, it was the hottest winter in New York City. Rightfully, it should be freezing cold but the temperature has been within 10°C. Most of the days were cloudy and some of the days were rainy. 

Day 5:

It was forecasted to be the next rainy day so our plan was to stay indoors and the best was to go to the museums. Though technically, we would still be wet queueing up in the long line outside most, if not all the museums.

After our dinner at iHop which was fantastic, we made our way by the 6-train to 77th street and walked a couple of blocks uptown to the Metropolitan Museum of Arts.

Honestly, I love museums when I know what was being exhibited. I didn't really had any research done for the museums in NYC so I just went with the flow. Though I did told Hakimbo that I would like to visit the one featured in the movie "Night at the Museum". He assured me that it would be next museum after Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET). Both museums are basically within the same street separated by Central Park.

The queue for MET started even before we reached the building vicinity and realised that there were multiple queues. Apparently there were a couple of entrances to MET and it was a brilliant idea for the management to open it all. Thankfully we got the entrance nearest to the queue we started.

For less than an hour wait in the non-drenching rain, we finally entered the building. The entrance fee cost 25 USD but Hakimbo managed a cheat. Most of the museums will accept donations of any amount and they will provide a compliment entrance. The only requirement is the postal code of residence. Lucky for us, we stayed via AirBnb and we had a postal code ready. We donated 1 USD each and got our entrance pass like any other paying customer. What a daylight robbery.

We entered via the south wing near the Greek and Roman exhibits. Boy was there lots of ruptured dicks and boobs. I'm not one who came prepared for MET and my Hakimbo was the one who lead us here. He wanted to check out the Temple of Dendur, an Egyptian tomb nestled in the North section of the museum. It was really a great sight to behold under the natural light.

I was quite fascinated with most of the exhibits that we walked passed. Since we did not had any agenda beside the Temple of Dendur, I've utilized the map of the museum to check out the Arms and Armor exhibition. I don't really know why I wanted to see it but I do enjoy looking at the intricate details of medieval armours.

Paying or in this case donating 1 USD for the entrance of the museum, it wasn't really a waste to miss out the remaining of the exhibitions. I would rummaged through the dense crowd and made my worth if I were to pay the full cover charge. So we left the place and proceeded to "Night at the Museum" American Museum of Natural History.

The AMNH is located across Central Park from MET so a visit to Central Park was met. The distance was only a few blocks away but the walk was quite picturesque. Due to winter, there wasn't much greenery and it was rather brownish. The rain made the area wet but still magnificent. There are a quite a considerable amount of passer-by presumably walking from both museums.

Once we got out of the park, we saw the long queue into the building but noticed that it was moving rather promptly. Within 20 minutes were already in the building but there was another snaking queue for the admission purchase. The admission cost 22 USD for general admission but we used the donation trick of 1 USD again. AMNH however had some sections that were not covered in the general admission hence we only managed those general exhibits.

The exhibits in AMNH were more to my interest ranging from all sorts. Most probably I knew them from the movie itself but the layout of the museum was more vast than the movie itself. I didn't really expected that.

We visited the Mammal Hall in search of Dexter the mischievous monkey, the Fossil Hall to search for Rexy the Tyrannosaurus skeleton, and the various Halls of Human Origins and Culture hoping to find all the other characters from the movie. I've only managed to find Rexy and the Easter Island Moai, the famous "Where is my Gum Gum, Dum Dum?" character at the very far end of the museum.

Our last stop exhibit of the museum was to the Hall of Ocean Life where we could lie down on the floor underneath a huge hanging whale replica. It was a great place for a quick recharge after our endless walk around both museums and Central Park.

We rested about 30 minutes and left AMNH for a late lunch at Shake Shack across the street at the west wing of AMNH. As always, there was a long queue but we waited anyway.

The least expected was that we are done for the day at 1700hrs and do not have any other itinerary. Hakimbo was very persistent that I should do something that I wanted to do so I brought him to check out Midtown Comics at Times Square. Luckily the store was not directly in Times Square so we managed to stay away from the crowd.

Midtown Comics was really a comic geek heaven. There were tons of great buys and I almost went crazy. Thankfully I converted to e-Comics which saved me a lot of money and physical space. I was more interested with the toys in store but ended up quite disappointed. Mainly a good thing too as I streamlined my collection to only Star Wars Black Series and Transformers Masterpiece which they did not carry. I however managed to find the Bandai SHF figure stands which I find a steal at 11 USD that I bought 2. Just for that, I was one happy geek.

It was still too early to returned back so we diverted to 14th Street for yet another Urban Outfitter which Hakimbo still managed to grab something else. It was quite a walking distance back to the apartment and it was along another comics store, Forbidden Planet. They had similar things I found at Midtown Comics if not lesser.

We ended returning to the apartment earlier than usual but we knew we could use the extra sleep .

Day 6

A new morning and our breakfast was the $1 pizza. We didn't really had much itinerary planned that day except for going back to Bleecker Street for the missed out Junior Marc, the Tram ride from Roosevelt Island and went separate ways to do our own things before meeting back for dinner.

We walked while munching our pizza to Greenwich, which was about 15 mins from our apartment. We managed to use a different route and detoured to Washington Square for a quick snap and check in. Ok, it more like a multiple jump shots and a check-in.

We continued along the street until we reached Little Marc. Once Hakimbo gotten the item, we walked back down Bleecker Street where I had to get my Magnolia Cupcakes again. Apparently, that very junction holds both our favourite shop, Book Marc and the original Magnolia Bakery.

Still can't think of any other agenda, I had to get my sister's order of Nespresso at Soho. On the way over, we had a stopover some shops and we did had a blast. We chanced upon John Varvatos Sample Sale where the prices are unbelievable. I got a pair of shoes at 90 USD where recommended selling price is at 800 USD. I also gotten a pair of bermudas at 15 USD, recommended price at 95 USD. We left the shop with bags load which we needed to drop off before heading to Roosevelt Island.

On the way back to the apartment, we had a lunch stop at Soho Park. While dining in by the window, Hakimbo almost "Merlion-ed" on me, trying to tell me that Jeremy Allen White, an actor from Shameless, just walked passed. I didn't really bother as I wasn't following the show.

After our stomachs were filled and dropped off the shopping bags, we made our way to Roosevelt Island via the F-train to Roosevelt Island. The tram ride is actually a common mode of transportation for the residence of the island but it became a tourist attraction. Thankfully, the ride is covered by the Metro card. We took the tram ride twice to return back to Roosevelt Island. We had to exit and go through the gantry again for the return ride.

We had planned a solo time for Hakimbo to meet his friend while I rush for things that I needed without dragging him around.

We parted ways in the train back to Manhattan. I was contemplating to go either Rockefella Center to revisit the Lego Store to get something once and for all, and to check out the GameStop store. I ended heading to Times Square instead to have a last check of Toys R Us and Disney Store.

That was the worst mistake of my life. It was the eve of New Year Eve and Times Square was packed with even more people due to the rehearsal for the part the day after. Not only that, it was also the very last day of operation for Toys R Us, so people were flocking into the empty in hopes for good deals. There was literally nothing good left for sale.

I managed to get a figure from Disney Store so my visit to Times Square wasn't wasteful. I then made my way to Rockefella Center to in search of the stores intended.

I got to know then that Hakimbo had a bad moment with the train he transferred to and didn't managed to meet his friend. He was hoping to regroup but realised that I really need the time alone to do my stuffs. I did indeed needed my time alone so that I won't dragged him along my search for toys and games.

I made my way to 34th Street where I went to two other GameStop stores and a Toys R Us express. I also managed to drop by Macy's and understand the big wooha about the place. Well, I did find it interesting for the ladies but there wasn't much stuffs for guys, most probably due to post Christmas sale.

By then, I got to know that Hakimbo was having a blast at the Urban Outfitter store across from where I was. We regrouped and made our way back to Union Square for our Halal Guys dinner take-out.

Day 6 was definitely an exhausting day but it was very fruitful. We bought tons of stuffs that we were happy about and I survived in New York on my own, even when it was a short period of time.

Dreaming of New York City - Day 3 and 4

I really can't believed that I woke up in New York City. It has always been a fantasy to be there.

Day 3:

Hakimbo needed to do his shopping errand nearby. As we have been waking up and getting out late, we’ve decided to go out earlier around 0900hrs. We realised that it was way too early as most shops opened after 1000hrs.

He brought me to SOHO to get breakfast at Dean & Deluca. It was definitely better than the one in Singapore and the toasted bagel with cream cheese was such a delight as he proclaimed. Again, he mentioned that we should share as he did not finished before and again I would eat it whole. There were so many bagels to choose from and I do not know what compelled me to choose garlic. All I know is that garlic would complement the cream cheese and I was correct. It was delicious.

We were along Broadway and there were tons of favourable shops and the first was H&M. I finally managed to get me the bomber jacket I have been hoping for. It ended being my only jacket I used from the day after as it was extremely comfortable and kept me warm. Screw fashion, I need to be comfortable and warm. We went in a couple of shops such as Urban Outfitters, Best Buys and Victoria’s Secret among others before heading to Bleecker St.

Bleecker St consists of many eateries and vintage looking stuffs. He brought me for a quick tea break at David’s Tea. To Hakimbo, it’s a cheaper equivalent to TWG with the various types of tea. I had to agree on that. The tea choices was tremendous.

His errand was basically to check out Book Marc and the other Marc Jacobs store. Just across Book Marc was Magnolia Bakery where it was stated to have the best cup cake ever. I’m not really crazy about cupcakes but love the red velvet ones from Marmalade Pantry. I bought the daily offering which was red velvet and vanilla with coconut frosting. Boy was it magnificent. The two would add up as great as Marmalade Pantry, if not better. If only I could bring it back to share with some of my friends. Oh well.

Another place that Hakimbo wanting me to try was Chipotle, a Mexican fast food that serves tacos and burritos. Since he knows what my palette is like, I trusted him to order me my lunch. He got me a chicken burrito. To be honest, it wasn’t that bad but I would have excluded the rice and baked beans to reduce the carbohydrate intake and not make me full easily.

Hakimbo had this obsession with Urban Outfitter especially for the additional 40% discount on the discounted items that he wanted to visit every store in Manhattan. We had to drop off our purchased earlier at the apartment and set out for his UO hunt. There was a UO store just a few blocks away and I ended getting books. We then took the subway over to Times Square for the next UO store.

Since we were at Times Square again, I decided to go into Toys R Us since they were closing down on 30^th Dec. It was quite a chaotic experience. The place was densely packed with people but with no stuffs on shelf. Since the store was closing down, they did not stock up ever since Christmas. I was fairly disappointed, as I didn’t get to feel the hype of shopping my stuffs there. However, I managed to get my niece’s items as a consolation.

Since I was upset with Toys R Us, we made our way to the Disney Store, a block away. Again, the place was packed and I didn’t managed to find any other items that I don’t already have.

After getting all that was needed, we made our way back by subway from Grand Central Terminal. During my NYC trip, I managed to chat with some visitors and shared our experiences. When asked where was their favourite NYC spot, some mentioned Grand Central Terminal and I finally understood why. No matter how busy the place was, you will experience some sort of serenity and tranquility being there. It brings out the romance that was hard to describe. We managed to take some jump shot and the surrounding actually brings out the picture. Too bad my jump shots were blurry but the background is still marvellous.

Before heading back to the apartment, we had the much talked about $1 Pizza. We had a store just across the street and it was quite tasty and feeling. The place however was a bad omen for Hakimbo as he had couple of bad lucks; major one was breaking his camera lens while getting chili flakes. Lucky he got over it.

Day 4

It was bright sunshiny day and Hakimbo decided to visit Top of the Rock. Since we were up earlier than normal, I decided to do a quick survey at K-Mart for my nephews and my toys but found none. I soon realised that the toy department was at the basement, which I only saw when I board the subway.

The queue to Rockefella Center was long that the entry time to Top of the Rock was only at 1800hrs. We were there at 1100hrs. We bought the ticket for the next forecasted clear day on Thursday to catch the sunset.  The ticket cost us 32 USD per person.

Even getting into some shops requires crowd control. I had to queue around Lego store, in search of my nephew's stuffs. Lucky the queue was fast as I was disappointed of unable to get what my nephew wants.

Since we didn’t get to go up and not having breakfast, we decided to get the next food hunt, lobster at Chelsea Market. We took the subway downtown and queue for our lobster. A 20lb lobster cost us 32 USD but the amount of flesh was sufficient for 2 pax, and the lobster was fresh and delightful. 

Since we were at Greenwich Village where the High Line was at, we decided to venture the numerous mile walk. I wasn't sure what attracted me to the High Line but I knew I like to walk, a lot. The High Line features mural paintings and elevated walkway on an abandoned railway track. For me, it was just a walk in the park but for Hakimbo was looking for some murals. He had targeted to catch a glimpse of specific mural but we didn't found it. We've retraced our steps back to the start on the streets and ventured the little amount of distance that we skipped. Sadly, we did not locate the sought after mural only to realise that the murals are seasonally changed.

The new One World Trade Center

As we were downtown, I decide to visit the 9/11 memorial site. We took the E-train down to World Trade Centre. For that moment, there was a huge traffic at the station, only to be explained by Hakimbo that the people are transiting to the station to get to the islands nearby. Apparently, not everyone was heading to the memorial centre. 

The whole area was quite solemn yet crowded. The 9/11 museum was definitely crowded with a snaking line. I'm not into the museum so I just wanted to see the 2 large pools where both towers once stood. 

Just across the street is the new One World Trade Center. Hakimbo asked whether I wanted to view the Charging Bull a few blocks away. I did not really fancy it as I saw similar bull statue in Singapore and Shanghai, so I gave it a miss.

By then, we were famished and I felt like something Italian. We took the same E-train up to Canal Street station and went to search for an authentic Italian restaurant in Little Italy. We had to walk past Chinatown which did not really look like any Chinatown that I've been too. It was not too Chinese enough. 

We had our meal at Paesano's and it was quite good and affordable. The place seems quite famous as there was a lot of guest on reservation. It was lucky that we managed to get a table for walk in.

On our way back, it started to rain however I noticed that the rain dropped was not being absorbed into the ground but bounced off when it hits. I then realised that the raindrop was frozen. It was hail and soon heard a curse from Hakim as it hits his face like someone throwing sand to his face. Even after taking the subway back, we exited the station into the hailstorm again. That was my second experience of hail, uncertain when I experienced it first.

We ended the day with grocery shopping at the K-Mart where I took a quick look at the toy section. I almost gotten me an exclusive figure but chose not to get it due to the box condition. Instead of the toy, I got myself tons of chocolates at discounted prices. That actually became a problem for me as I exceeded my baggage allowance on the return flight.

Dreaming of New York CIty - Day 1 and 2

Yet another dream came true, I finally got to visit NEW YORK CITY. What better time to go than Christmas to New Year. The original plan was a snowy getaway to Hokkaido Japan but after calculating the flight, accommodation and expenses, the total was exuberant. Lucky for a travel conscious best friend Hakimbo, he managed to source a great deal to New York via Air China for a much lower cost that the flight to Sapporo.

Day 1:

After a 6 hours flight to smoggy Beijing, 4 hours layover and a gruesome 13 hours flight, we’ve finally made it to John F Kennedy Airport without much hassle on flight. As this was my first US entry, I was held back due to the immigration code B10, which is a flag for a common name of wanted personnel. Luckily the officer was kind enough to explain the situation and made my detention an ease, which might also be due to the festivities of Christmas.

After almost an hour of hold up, I was reunited with my best friend at the baggage claim and we took the yellow cab over to Manhattan, which cost us 52 USD. Do bear in mind that there is a tax charge of 0.9% to the bill.  Something new to me was the tipping of 10% of total bill; hence we paid a total of 60 USD for our cab.

We rented a room via AirBnb at East Village for 140 SGD per night. The host, Alex was very accommodating and his place was very convenient to numerous eateries and subway stops. We had access to the roof, which has a magnificent view of the skyline. However, the room we rented was quite constrained with minimal floor space to open up our luggage and moving around.

Since we did not had any itinerary planned for the first day, we basically walked from East Village to Uptown, walking past Union Square to Grand Central Station and sideways to Times Square. Since it was Christmas day, majority of the stores were closed. It was practically a dead town except the people wandering around, presumably tourists like us. Christmas in New York had the same situation like Lunar New Year in Singapore where majority of the businesses were closed.

So looking for food was tedious as the places were either closed or packed to the brim. We had to get out of Times Square, which was madness to find a place to eat. Luckily Hakimbo was like a native New Yorker knew his way around. He brought me to search for a Halal fried chicken store, which was not that bad. We ended the day by walking back to the apartment before visiting the groceries to stock up on some munchies.

Times Square so crowded, EVERY FREAKING DAY!!!

Day 2:

It’s the day after Christmas and hoping to catch some great deals, something like Boxing Day Sale in the UK. After our brunch at a local diner, Kitchen Sink near the apartment, we made our way to the Port Authority to book a return coach to Woodbury Common Premium Outlet. The return ticket cost us 42 USD with a specific departure time and a return based on the available bus schedules. The coach ride took us an hour before arriving to the shopping mecca. I was too busy window-shopping for bulkier items on the first round to even take pictures or checked-in. After a second round and getting more stuffs, I ended getting a luggage to store all the damages. The luggage was a planned purchase, as I needed to replace my over-utilised American Tourister. I had to bid adieu once I return home. We had a late lunch at Shake Shack.

OMG!!! SHAKE SHACK is a bomb. The burgers are SOOOO GOOD. The beef patties are so juicy and tasty and their cheese fries are amazing. I was wondering why Hakimbo mentioned that we had to share the cheese fries as it was quite filling. I could SOOO complete it on my own. I then realised that having a double Shack, a cheese fries and a cup of shake couldn’t be devoured completely.

I still managed to shop for more items and was pondering how I would pack my luggage on packing day. That was a problem for another day.

Hauls from Woodbury Common Premium Outlet

We planned to leave the outlet and catch the returning coach at 1930hr but the queue was snaking along the road. We realised that everyone was hoping to catch the post Christmas sale. It took us 5 scheduled coaches until it was time for us to board, which was at 2130hr. The coach company realised that the queue was overwhelming to pick up based on schedule timing that they called in more coaches to pick up near 2200hrs.

Upon returning to Manhattan, I was already exhausted and had to bash through the Time Square crowd with a huge and heavy luggage in tow just to take the subway across the street.

Both of us knocked out once we returned back to the apartment with the luggage of goodies chucked away 1 corner.