A late travel/Christmas/New Year’s blog!

Hi everyone! Sorry this is so late, but after I finished my vacation, I had such low energy, it was difficult to take time and organize photos and put my thoughts together. But, as we say in English, “Better late than never!”

So in the first week of December, I went to Chicago and Boston to visit my friend. We didn’t have special destinations in mind, just a chance to relax and visit our favourite restaurants!

Chicago was snowy and dry. It was cold, like my hometown, but not as wet, so it was a nicer winter feeling.

We were staying in Chicago for a few days, so we checked into our hotel first. There was a mixup, and we ended up in the “Premier” rooms, which sounded very luxurious. But it just seemed like a slightly bigger, regular room.

The view was nice, though!

The first thing we had to do after we unpacked was get some famous Chicago-style deep dish pizza! On the way to the restaurant, several places had trees nicely-lit with Christmas lights.

(Sorry for the blurry photos!)

When the pizza arrived, it looked fantastic!

It was soooo cheesy! I love cheese, but honestly, the pizza wasn’t so good. The bread was very thick, and there was way too much! And the sauce was really disappointing. I think if the sauce were different, it could have saved it. I hope I can try deep dish pizza again from a different restaurant!

The next restaurant we went to was Denny’s. I’ve seen Denny’s in Japan, but the menu there is totally different from American Denny’s! It’s a breakfast food chain in North America! We have Denny’s here, but I prefer the “authentic” experience in America. It’s not good-quality food at all, but it’s tasty if you like different breakfast foods!

I had a VERY sweet cinnamon caramel pancake (on the left). It was so delicious, it tasted like a big cinnamon bun!

Next was a pasta chain called Olive Garden. Very famous, and it exists in Canada, but my local one closed when I was a child, so I always get hungry when I hear my American friends talk about it!

These are very salty, garlic breadsticks. They’re “endless”, so if you eat them, you just ask for more and they deliver more to your table, no extra cost!

I ordered my favourite pasta, fettuccine alfredo, with chicken! It was just as delicious as I remembered!

Next, we went to Boston. The restaurant we wanted to try was all-you-can-eat Japanese food, so I was excited!

On the way, we walked through one of the nice parks in the city, and spent some time with the squirrels. They were so friendly!

Don’t do this! Their claws are VERY sharp, and if I made a mistake, it could have cut my finger open easily! (But he was soooooo cute!!!) I didn’t even have any food to give him (but he certainly thought I did!)

We arrived at the restaurant, and I was happy to learn it was very similar to a local restaurant here in my hometown. It’s very Western-style Japanese food, so some of you might be surprised about the appearance! But it was quite tasty, and the gyouza was excellent!

We also saw an interesting drone show in Boston after we ate! It was the first time I saw one, so it was interesting to see. It might be a nice alternative to fireworks; fireworks are loud and scare animals, but drones are pretty quiet, and can create complicated, moving images.

I was very happy to eat at all these restaurants, but of course, it was super expensive. So we spent a lot of time at my friend’s house playing board games.

My friend also wanted to play minigolf… I’m not a big fan of it, but I still had a nice time!

(I think this picture’s angle makes me look super fat, haha!)

On the last weekend of my trip, I felt an annoying scratchiness in my throat. I was worried it might be covid, but luckily, it didn’t seem like it!

So, after lots of good food and good times with my friends, I was ready to go home! A donut and a frappucino were my breakfast on my last day!

Unfortunately, a snow storm in my home town completely destroyed my traveling plans. My flights were canceled and rescheduled to a very insane schedule. I’d need to stay in Boston for 1 more day (I couldn’t, I had lessons I needed to teach!) and then fly to Ottawa and stay overnight there for ANOTHER day (I can’t afford a hotel!). It took a lot of discussion with airline staff, a lot of stress, and a lot of waiting in lines, but I eventually managed to get home 1 day late (instead of 2 days late.)

Unfortunately, with all the stress, my cold, and now a very painful ear because of the changing air pressure, I forgot my coat on one of the planes (it was tucked under the chair in front of me, which I never do!)

The coat isn’t so bad (it was old, I didn’t care about it), but inside one of the pockets was a neck-warmer that was sent to me by a dear student. I really liked the neck-warmer, so I was quite upset. It had a lot of sentimental value.

I also had to stay overnight in one airport. Here was my bed!

Of course, I didn’t get much sleep!

So despite the miserable trip home, I had a great time in the US with my friends. I’m not sure when I can go again, but this year I need to focus on saving money and exercising. I hope my hiking this summer will be easier with some extra muscle and stamina!

Do any of you have New Year’s resolutions?