Adventure to San Francisco and Los Angeles (5 June to 17 June 2025)

5 June 2024 

This school holidays, we are flying to US! Kinda excited over this trip as we will be doing a road trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles! And we will be going to Disneyland! The tickets cost a bomb though. It costs me USD588 for 3 of us with express pass. Oh well, since we don’t have enough time, I guess we should just get express pass. 

We had Prata for breakfast then we slowly made our way back to Senja. We had kinda packed our stuff yesterday so today we just needed to organise the stuff and put inside the luggage. We bought 2 packets of 出前一丁 and 1 packet of Korean noodles + our coffee. I guess we have quite a bit of comfort food. 

We left around 10.15am and we met a friendly taxi driver who wishes us 一路顺风, 路途愉快!. The airport is relatively quiet to our surprise given that it is school holidays. Checking in is a breeze and then we went for lunch. We chose Andes for lunch since Lexuan wants root beer float. She tried the grilled salmon and she got eat too! She also ate fries and onion rings. 

Then it’s time to enter the departure hall! Lexuan cannot use the e gate so we had to queue at the human counter. Luckily, the queue is short. Then we walked to Gate D46. Seems like there isn’t much to shop at Terminal 1. 

So we waited near Gate D46. Soon, we can enter and Lexuan changed into long pants. The flight isn’t full so we got to board quite fast, we are sitting at seat 60 A to C and this is our first time trying StarLux. 

Lexuan got Starlux 玩具气球 for toy. They served us rice crackers as snacks which is not too bad. Lexuan had spaghetti for kid’s meal which is not bad too. For us, we had pork with white rice. By now, we still have 3 hours to go! 

I slept for a while before I spent some time watching Inside Out. 

We touched down about 6.36pm. It’s a long walk to the transfer area. The staff told us we need to go level 3 and there’s more shops at level 3. And I saw my favourite Sanrio! So happy! I bought the ice cream from Sanrio. The ice cream is not nice though. 

Jianhui walked a bit further to reccee for restaurant. We settled at beef noodles and glad that Lexuan likes it too! Then we went to find McDonald’s at level 4. The funny thing is, a lot of food is sold out at McDonald’s here. Haha. We stayed until 10pm then we walked back to our Gate B9. And I managed to shop at Sanrio again! I bought a cute pompompurin neck pillow. 

There are no toilets near gate B9 so we had to walk a bit further to go toilet. By now at 11pm, we were feeling so sleepy. Only my girl is so energetic. They gave us each a free gift, coaster. We boarded the plane around 11.30pm. 

I was sleepy when on board. But they started serving food at 1am. The beef rice was good though. I don’t usually like flight meal but this is good. 

So about 1.30am, we started sleeping. I managed to sleep until 6.30am (still SGT). With this, still got 4hrs to go. 

I continued to watch Detective Conan which is very exciting as usual. But only got 4 short episodes. 

I also watched the Hong Kong movie about crypto which is not bad. Time seems to pass faster. Lexuan kept on asking us to play the spot the differences too which we had to resort to taking photos to pass some levels. It’s not a good idea to play this when you are feeling so tired. 

We touched down about SGT 10.50am which is San Francisco US 7.50pm. Time to sleep again! 

It looks so bright when we touching down until Lexuan says it is morning. Haha. Luckily the queue at custom is not that long so we could collect our luggage within 45 minutes. And our luggage touched down safely with us! Haha. 

Then we pushed our luggage to departure hall to look for the hotel shuttle. We just missed one bus but luckily we didn’t have to wait too long. 

By 9.20pm, we are at our hotel, Aloft. It looks new and clean. Love the vibes at the lobby too and it has many board games to keep the guests entertained. It even has a pool table and old school video games. It’s not too bad on level 1. I must say it’s quite convenient since we can push trolley right to our door step. 

Lexuan is hungry so I went to buy noodles form Yokei express. The ramen is sold out and I could only order Taiwan beef noodle. But it is spicy. So ended up we still have to cook Maggie Mee for Lexuan. She enjoyed her Maggie Mee so much . Then we went to downstairs bar, wxyz for beer. Lexuan was happy to play the board games and learning pool from Jianhui. 

And now we are still on 5 June 2024 in San Francisco! It has been a long day. Hope we can sleep well later. We slept around US 1am. 

6 June 2024 

We woke up at 5am. I had quite a good sleep. Was surprised that I could still sleep despite that I slept quite a lot on the plane earlier on. 

We washed up and then we walked over to the Starbucks at Westin. We ordered bacon sandwich, sausage egg sandwich, cake pop, hot mocha and chocolate milk. The damage is USD34. Think our USD100/day budget is not going to work. 

We had a stroll at the Bayfront park and it feels good. We found another Starbucks at Marriott. Then we walked back to our hotel, Aloft. 

Aloft is more family friendly and there are many games for us to play. Lexuan loves the candy land and she also enjoys playing pool with her daddy. Who knows she will be as good as her daddy? 

We took the hotel shuttle back to the international airport to take air train to the rental car centre. Hertz is at level 1 with the longest queue. Luckily we didn’t have to wait long to get the car. This time round, Jianhui and Lexuan won the bet. It’s a black car. I chose blue and silver. 

Then we drove to Foster City for McDonald’s. The coke got no gas so we changed to Fanta grape. Apparently, there is free refill for drinks. After a quick lunch, we drove to Target for grocery shopping. This Target is huge and the toys section is interesting too! We bought scented squishmallow blind bags. Our damage is about USD80+ for snacks, drinks, water, etc. We also bought scented squishmallow blind bags! Lexuan is so lucky! She got the squishmallow that she wants. 

We drove back to our hotel which is about 15 minutes away. By now, I am feeling sleepy. I guess we are still jet lag. We walked over to buy Lexuan the pink drink from Starbucks that she has been asking for since morning. 

True enough, i went back to nap. It was a good sleep for me. Jianhui and Lexuan also took nap. I guess we are still following Singapore timing. 

About 6pm, we drove to Magic Mointain for Lexuan to play playground. It costs us USD5 to park our car inside and the strange thing, there is only our car inside. I guess the rest must have parked somewhere with free parking. The playground is quite fun and big. 

Then we went to New England Lobster Market & Eatery for Lobster! We ordered lobster, lobster corn soup, Modelo beer and sprite! It’s yummy! The damage is USD105. 

After dinner, it was a short drive back to our hotel. Lexuan wanted to play her candy land board game again so we played 2 rounds before going back to rooms.

Jianhui is still hungry so we went to eat pizza at wxyz lounge. But the pizza is not nice and it is spicy. Lexuan managed to eat a bit though. 

Then we went back to room to rest. We slept around 10.30pm. 

Other than waking up a few times in the night to go toilet and drink water, it’s quite a good sleep. Lexuan was sleepwalking and doing a lot of random stuff this morning. 

7 June 2024 

We woke up at 6.30am today. We had Nutella bread for breakfast + kopi gao Siew dai. 

Then we drove to half moon bay. The weather looks foggy. We stopped by at McDonald’s for the toilet before heading to Francis Bay. Feeling under dressed for the weather. We paid USD10 for the parking but we spent only 10 minutes there as it was just too cold. Lexuan saw a spider and wanted to leave immediately. 

Then we stopped by 7-11 to buy slurpee. 7-11 here got more variety of slurpee to choose. Lexuan chose Coca Cola. Then we drove back to our hotel. 

We started packing our stuff for check out. We checked out at 12pm sharp. 

Then we drove to somewhere nearby Bullshead express for Japanese food. We are the only customers when we first came. We ordered chicken teriyaki and chicken udon. It’s not bad. Lexuan likes the udon and it has a lot of vegetables which is good for me. 

Now it is about 20 degrees Celsius which is not too cold or hot. But when the wind blows, it gets quite cold. 

We went to Party City and it is a huge place for party stuff! So happy! Anyway, I am just here to look for Amongus. I can only find 1 though. Then we went to find coffee and ended up at a cafe. When waiting for the drink, I realize Party City had over charged me USD19.80 for something I didn’t buy. So we went back Party city to get refund. Luckily it was a smooth process to do so. 

Then we drove to our next accommodation - La Luna Inn. It’s a short distance but super jam somehow. It was supposed to be a half an hour drive, ended up to be 50 mins drive. We reached about 3.45pm.

We rested a while before we drove to the starting point of Jianhui’s race. It’s windy and the water is cold! We all got wet because of the waves and got our slippers all dirty. We had to use water to wash our feet and slippers. Haha. So we drove back to wash up. 

Then we walked around to find dinner! We went to Delarosa Marina which seems reasonably priced and it’s crowded (meaning food must be good). True enough, the food is nice! We had Margherita pizza (USD16) and chicken skewers (USD18). Both are good. The oatmeal stout tasted just like the one we had at Brewerkz. Total

Damage = USD56. 

Then we went to Duper Super Burger! The burgers look good! We had the soft serve which is damn good too! It cost us USD28. Then we walked back and it’s so cold walking back. Didn’t expect the weather to be so cold. Definitely we needed to equip ourselves with more clothes tomorrow. 

We slept around 10pm today. 

8 June 2024 

We woke up around 7am today. We had Nutella bread and coffee. Lexuan was sleeping so soundly that she slept until 8am. 

Around 9am+ then we slowly walked to find cafe. We found Preet’s coffee and tea. It’s a cheaper version of Starbucks. 3 breads + mocha + hot chocolate USD17 which is much cheaper that Starbucks. Then we walked back to our hotel. 

Jianhui got ready to collect race pack while Lexuan and I relaxed in the room. Somehow, I am feeling sleepy. I slept for a while before Lexuan set alarm to wake me up to cook noodles for her. Jianhui told me that there’s a long queue there. 

He’s back around 1pm+. I also cooked noodles for him. Then we walked to nearby supermarket to buy Lexuan mini melt ice cream. This girl really watched too much YouTube and always has funny ideas. 

We drove to Fisherman wharf but we cannot find any place to park. So we ended up going in circles then we drove back. 

We went to Wago sushi for Japanese food. We ordered bento (chicken teriyaki + salmon teriyaki), California deluxe, strawberry mochi. The food is nice! Lexuan also like her strawberry sparkling drink. 

After this, we went back to Duper super to get our favourite softee! It’s so good. Jianhui ordered the mini burger too! Then we happily walked back to the room. 

We were so full so ended up we didn’t eat the burger. 

We slept around 9am. 

9 June 2024

Today is race day - Escape to Alcatraz! Swim 2.4km, Bike 28km, Run 13km

Jianhui woke up at 3am and I was up too while lying on my bed. He left around 4am and I continued to sleep. 

I set alarm at 6am just in case I overslept. I had kopi O kosong and Nutella bread. Lexuan also woke up at 6.30am. 

We left around 7am and walked towards Marina green. I must say Lexuan is a good girl as she didn’t complain walking. From the app, Jianhui started the swim at 7.08am. 

Around 7.46am, we saw Jianhui out from the swim. It was a long walk/run to the transition area. Then we walked to the bike course to wait for Jianhui. After seeing him cycling past us then we slowly walked back to the hotel. 

So glad that Lexuan didn’t complain much as we walked back. We relaxed in the room for a while before we get ready to the finishing line. We stopped by Starbucks to buy her lemonade berry drink  then we walked over to Marina Green. We are still early so we waited in the shade first. The tracker seemed to have problems or rather my network has issue so there is delay in loading the timing for Jianhui. But at least we are early so we definitely won’t miss him. 

About 11.30am then we walked over to the finishing line viewing area. It has a good view of the athletes. Then we saw Jianhui running in! I am so proud of this man! He has once again done something most people would not have done! It’s totally crazy for anybody to swim 2.4km in such cold waters for sure! He’s always so focused in achieving something and he will make sure he will complete it. The weather is so cold today, seriously I have no idea how he did it. 

We waited for him at the merchandise store while he went to collect his race bags and return bike. Then we went to Duper Super for our burger and softee! It is definitely our favourite place here! It’s so good! The strawberry milkshake is so good too! 

Then we walked back with happy tummies! 

I was feeling sleepy so I took a nap too. Around 4pm+ then we went to take bus 28 to Fisherman’s Wharf. It cost us USD5 for a day pass for an adult and Lexuan is free. It’s quite convenient given that the bus is just in front of our hotel. It’s also a short 15 mins bus ride to the place. 

Pier 39 is crowded with tourists and a lot of shops for souvenirs. Haha. I went to my favourite hard rock and as usual, I spent a bomb there. The shirts cost average USD38. My total damage at Hard Rock is USD176. Then we walked around and there are many shops but we didn’t really go inside to shop. The magnets are cute with doughnut, cupcake, bananas design. There is a mini funfair and Lexuan is happy to take the carrousel. It’s good that there are restrooms here. 

Then, we saw Build a bear shop! Lexuan is so excited as she always wanted to build a bear! We took a while to choose the bear and finally convinced Lexuan to choose the San Francisco bear. This cost me USD67! Scary man. 

It’s getting late so we wanted to find a restaurant to eat. We found one with not much crowd and just ordered Fish & chips and clam chowder soup. The battered fish is so small and not nice. The soup’s sourdough bread is not nice too. No wonder this restaurant doesn’t have much crowd. 

We quickly walked over to the bus stop to take the bus 28 back. Managed to make it back at 8.20pm. This must be one of our most happening night in US.

10 June 2024 

Good morning! Can’t believe that it’s already going to be end of Monday for Singapore as I am typing this. 

Lexuan woke up feeling grumpy and she kept on complaining she doesn’t want to go on long car ride. What happens to my sweet little girl yesterday? 

We walked to Coffee Roastery for breakfast. The egg sausage muffin with cheese is not bad. Croissant is the usual croissant. Then we also ordered New York crumb which is not that nice. Too sweet to our liking. 

Then we walked back for a while before we drove out to Golden Gate Bridge. Today is still foggy here unlike the clear blue sky we had when we were here in 2018. Lexuan was complaining as usual and wanted to go back hotel. 

We stopped by our favourite Super Duper burger restaurant. We bought 1 swirl, 1 vanilla, 1 strawberry, 1 chocolate (which they gave us vanilla instead and 1 cookie & cream milk shake! It’s crazy I know. #fatdieus 

Then we drove back to our room for final packing. 

We checked out at 12pm. First thing to do will be to pump petrol before our long road trip. It will be about 400+ miles to LA! Doing our first 146 miles today!

The first stop is Apple Park Visitor Center! So excited to be here as I am a great Apple fan! We managed to get a parking lot. It’s feeling hotter over here for sure. They lent us an iPad then we can see the Apple office on the iPad. Lexuan is amazed by this and had a great time playing with it. 

Then it is shopping time! I want to buy the t shirts! Haha. So cool to wear an Apple shirt. It cost USD40 per shirt. There are many Apple staff there. In fact, I must say there are more staff than customers. I understand from the staff that there was a developer event (Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference WWDC 2024) so that’s why today there are more people. A Chinese guy actually asked if I am here for the developer event. Do I look like one? Haha. Definitely feeling honored to look like one though. Lexuan was happily playing with iPad and she totally loves it! She is asking me for one. Definitely not a good idea to expose her to Apple. 

Think we probably spent too much time over here and we got to move on to our next stop. We set at Target to replenish our food and snacks for this trip. Target is an interesting place for shopping (for clothes, toys, cards, pet stuff) but we always don’t have enough time. I brought Lexuan to the toy’s section and she’s so happy she got Ryan’s World surprise egg. We quickly got some stuff and went to the restrooms then we continued our journey. 

We stopped over at In-N-Out for lunch/dinner. We bought double double burger combo (set) and cheese burger. Not too bad! 

Then we continued another 45mins mountainside drive. We finally reached Big Sur Lodge at around 6.10pm. Big Sur, the Pacific Coast of Central California and famous for its scenic views. 

This place has no WIFI. We have limited network. But I guess it is good to rest and relax at such place. Lexuan is very sad as she cannot watch YouTube but I guess it is good for her. 

I cooked Maggie Mee for Jianhui and Lexuan before we continued to party with chips. 

Today is a cold day to sleep. Seems like I must say La Luna and Aloft have been very warm place to stay until we are here. 

11 June 2024 

I had a good sleep as I only woke up 2-3 times for toilet? I woke up around 7am+.

Then we had breakfast and coffee. We left the room around 8.40am. It is a foggy morning and the temperate is round 12 degrees Celsius. More mountain roads to go. 

While showering Lexuan, I notice that her left arm has 2 swollen bites. She told me she got it from Singapore which is weird as I have been showering her everyday but I didn’t see it. And her face also started to have small rashes. My poor little girl. Hope the rashes go away soon. 

Then we reached Mcway Waterfall in about 20mins drive. There is restroom for visitors. It is a short walk to the waterfall from parking. It is very foggy so we can’t really see the waterfall. 

On our way back, the weather seems better with sunlight and blue sky. Hope this weather remains and we will have a beautiful scenic car trip to our next stop. 

Then we stopped by the most beautiful shell station in mountain. It’s a small and nice petrol station decorated with lots of flowers. 

We went back to our room for a while to do the rest of the packing then we checked out at 11am. Today will be a long 173 miles to our next stop. 

The weather started as clear blue sky but as we move on, it gets foggy again with outside temperature as 14 degrees Celsius. Lexuan fell asleep once we started driving. 

We reached Domino’s Pizza and Lexuan is happy that we can eat pizza! She loves pizza, especially Domino’s Pizza. I bought M size pizza and it is so big! Should have bought S instead. Then we went to Carl’s Jr to eat burger and pizza. Jianhui ordered their Double burger and he said it’s nice. Seems like this trip we are going to eat all the US fast food restaurants. Haha. In Us, we can fill up the drinks ourselves, so it is for you to choose. Lexuan rated Carl’s JR as the best burger place. 

Our next stop is King City’s Starbucks. Lexuan ordered her favourite summer berry lemonade while we drank iced latte. It’s so hot here at 30 degrees Celsius, so it’s good to have a good cold refreshing drink. We drove past Paso Robles which is a popular place for winery. 

Then we continued another 45mins drive to Grocery Outlet. I was falling asleep by now, so the coffee definitely does not seem to help. It’s hot here at 30 degrees Celsius too. Even the toilets have a pin pad so we got to ask the staff to help us open the toilet. 

Then it’s the final 25 miles away to our hotel, Hampton Inn Morro Bay which will takes us about 30 minutes. And we finally reached our next hotel at 4.30pm. And suddenly the temperature drops to 20+ degrees Celsius. Foggy but not too cold. I can survive outside with a cardigan.

It looks new and decent, with a partial view of the Morro Rock. Not too bad but sadly today weather is not good to see the  rock with clear blue sky. We packed our essentials in the recycle bag so we didn’t have to bring the whole luggage out. 

About 6pm, we drove out to the parking near the Morro Rock. Can’t see much due to the weather. It looks like a dinosaur lying down actually to me.

Then we drove to the coastal area to find restaurant to eat. We decided on Morro Grill. It has a nice view of Morro Rock but today weather is just not good. I am feeling cold sitting outside. The staff is nice enough to on the heater for me. We ordered ribs and kid’s meal (chicken strips + French fries + chocolate milk). The chocolate milk is nice! Oh ya, we love modelo beer here! The chicken strips are too tough and hard. 

About 7.10pm, we drove back. It’s a good thing that it’s only a short 5 minutes drive and we would reach our hotel. Time to rest and relax the whole night. Lexuan is happy to have her wifi here. Haha. 

My poor girl, Lexuan still have rashes on her face. So poor thing. Hope she gets better tomorrow. 

Somehow I didn’t sleep well tonight. Kept on waking up, and half asleep. 

12 June 2024 

Lexuan’s rashes seem worse and it is all over her face now. She complains that the bite on her left arm is very itchy. Other than that, she is active.

We had our breakfast at the hotel downstairs. I had the banana muffin which is not bad. Lexuan had cornflakes with milk and yoghurt.  

Then we drove to the nearby Urgent Care. It is empty and so we didn’t have to wait for long. The doctor had a short chat with us then that’s it. Allergic reaction. The damage is USD165. He wrote us a note to get the medicine from the pharmacy nearby. So we drove across the road to Rite Aid. We got the medicine from the shelf. Medicine cost USD28. 

We went back to the room for lexuan to take the medicine and apply the anti itch cream. 

We checked out around 11am and went to Dockside Restaurant for lunch! We ordered the oysters, grilled fish and linguini with white wine. Not too bad the food! Lexuan had her 3 scoops of ice cream too! And now we finally have clear blue sky! 

We went closer to take photo of Morro Rock. It’s funny that I have been taking numerous photos of the rock since yesterday. 

We drove around Morro Bay before driving to our next destination. Lexuan fell asleep the moment we were in the car. Today we will be driving about 160km to Mason Beach Inn. 

First stop is Party City to get Among Us place! Yeah! And the best part is, the shop beside it is Five Below which is one shop that I wanna go! Party City is really a very nice place to shop for toys, party stuff, costumes and balloons! The variety of balloons are amazing! If only they have such big Party City in Singapore. So happy to find 10 Among Us here too! I bought 5 initially but on 2nd thought, I decided to get all 10! (Because Jianhui also encouraged me just to get all 10!) I also got one cute melody Squishmallow! I am a happy girl! 

Then we drove to Dinosaur caves park, playground for Lexuan! It’s a nice estate and there are many kids at the playground! The houses here are like Singapore’s flat in which the houses in one project will look the same. We played around 50 minutes here. I must say this playground is very fun! 

So we continued our journey another 44 miles to our next stop, McDonald’s at Buellton. Jianhui ordered triple cheeseburger but actually it looks quite small too compared to the burgers from Carl’s JR, etc. There is a tablet with games each the table so this keeps Lexuan entertained. 

And now, we are left with 44 miles to Mason Beach Inn at Santa Barbara! Let’s go! For the past few days, we have been driving on the highway 101 South. We are almost there to Los Angeles! And it is clear blue sky now! 

We reached Mason Beach Inn around 5pm. Checking in is a breeze and it seems to be a party inn. They offer us free welcome drinks (alcohol can drink) on arrival. The room is clear and new! 

Then we went downtstairs to play Lexuan’s neon chalk which we bought from Party City. Today will be Maggie Mee night! 

We slept around 9pm tonight. 

13 June 2024

It’s Thursday! Seems like our trip is coming to an end soon! Time flies when you are having fun. Lots of sleep and rest time. 

We went to Chad’s Cafe for breakfast. They served us a basket full of small muffins! This is enough for us for sure. We ordered 2 mains and the portion is huge. We concluded we just don’t like Pinto beans. Haha. We had 2 big mugs of Americano too. 

Then we went back to the room. Today we are driving to Los Angeles with a couple of stops along the way. 

We checked out around 10.30am. First stop is McDonald’s for toilet break which is about 33 miles away which we reached about 30 minutes. 

The toilets need password so we decided to go Walmart. This Walmart is huge and looks good for shopping. A pity we are rushing for time so we just bought water. Lexuan wanted to buy boba smoothie so I bought water melon smoothie for her. This smoothie cost me USD6. Lexuan’s face rashes seems better which is a relief to me. Hope she will totally recover tomorrow. 

We drove for another 45mins to Malibu Park Playground. This playground is new with the theme of fireman, sheriff and lifeguard. It has supermarket too which is so happy. And most importantly, we can use the restrooms. At this moment, the sun is finally out and it gets a bit warm. 

After playing for a while at the playground, we went to Whole Foods market. We decided to eat their cai pen where we can choose the food we want and pay it based on weight. There is salad, hot food, hot soup, fresh greens and olives (but who eat olives buffet?). Lexuan loves the fish and our total damage for food is USD20. We also bought the watermelon which cost us USD6, definitely the most expensive watermelon we have eaten. It is refreshing and nice though so I guess it’s money well spent.

After this, we quickly continued our journey. Got to pump petrol first. So, pumping petrol at chevron is more convenient and faster as we can pay by card. 

It’s only 19 miles but it is going to take us 50 minutes, so you can imagine that there is a jam. 

To our horror, after we stopped at the McDonald’s, the journey to our hotel is 2hrs when it’s only about 33 miles! Looking at the clock, it’s 3pm+ so I guess it’s knocking off time and most people are getting out of the city? It was mad jam making our way to our Suncoast Park Hotel. ETA 5.30pm. It was a crazy long drive to our hotel. 

We finally reached at 5.30pm. We were just too happy to check in. We are staying at room 242… this whole trip we have been staying at level 1, level 2 with the highest at level 3 at La Luna. We saw the pool right outside our room and Lexuan wants to go swimming. The weather looks hot and so I am on for it too! We had a great time in the pool.

Then we went back around 7pm+. We decided to have our dinner in the room. 

At 9.30pm, we could see the fireworks from our room! It’s so beautiful and really lots of fireworks! Lexuan is happy too! 

We slept around 10pm. 

14 June 2024 

It’s Disneyland day today! I was really excited! With the genie+ (lighting pass), the total damage is SGD800! Somehow I bought the most expensive tier (tier 4) tickets. 

We were all good to go at 8am and managed to get Uber quite quickly too! We cleared the security check and then we were in! They also took photos of us to make sure if we re enter it’s the same persons. 

And of course, we got to buy head bands first! We bought 2 and it cost me USD30 each.

As per what I had planned, we went to the Tomorrowland first. So, with genie+ you has to reserve the time slot using the app.

At any point of the time, you can only make 1 booking so you had to plan and make the booking. 

We started with Buzz light year Astro blasters where you got to shoot the aliens? Then we went Autopia. Lexuan got to drive with Jianhui. It’s quite fun! Today I am like a single rider. Then we took the Space Mountain which is like Lexuan’s first thrill ride! It’s dark and even I think it is scary. She’s so brave! 

Then we bought churros and Lexuan loves it! She ate 2 churros. Each churro cost USD5 okay! We also bought popcorn but the popcorn isn’t very nice. 

Then we walked over to Fantasyland. We took the King Arthur Carrousel which doesn’t need lighting pass. Then we took it’s a small world ride and it’s very nice! It is like bringing us to different parts of the world and it’s relatively a long ride compared to what we have at USS! It’s air con somemore! 

Then we also used the lighting pass for 

Matterhorn Bobsleds ride. This is fun! My head band nearly flew off that I got to take it off and use my legs to kiap haha. 

After this, we went Red Rose Taverne for lunch. We bought cheese burger and chicken burger. The chicken burger is nicer. 

We walked over to Mickey’s Toontown for Roger Rabbit’s car toon spin. It’s not bad too! Too bad we can’t make a booking for the Mickey & Minnie’s runaway railway. 

So we walked over to Frontierland for Big Thunder Mountain railroad. This is my favourite ride! Very fun and nice! 3 of us could sit together too! 

By now, it’s 1pm and Lexuan is getting tired. She kept on saying she wants to go back hotel. We bought ice cream for her to

Motivate her to walk faster. The park

Is getting crowded too.

I asked jianhui and Lexuan to sit at the pink cafe there while I quickly do some shopping at the shops along Main Street. I guess I am not a big Disney fan so there isn’t much for me to buy. Having said that, I had already spent quite a bit on the headbands, food, some toys. Oh yes, I bought ratatouille shoulder toy! It’s too cute. And I realized this is smaller and yet more expensive than Inside Out 2 Envy. 

Then we took Uber back to our hotel to rest. We were so thirsty that we got a lot of ice and drank cups of coke while snacking on Doritos. I dont dare to weigh myself back in Singapore for sure. 

Then we got ready to go back to Disneyland at 4.30pm, just nice for the parade at 5.30pm. We walked around before finding a shady place to sit down to wait for the parade. 

I really love the parade as the performers all looked like they are enjoying themselves! It was definitely worth coming back for this. 

We took the carrousel ride again since the waiting time is 5 minutes. 

Then we went to take

Millennium Falcon: Smugglers run which I had booked before the parade. This ride is so cool where we got to enter the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon. And I got to be pilot after Lexuan has volunteered herself and backed out shortly after. Jianhui and Lexuan are the gunners. Love this ride as I got to be the pilot to control the Millennium falcon. Crashed a couple of times though but we still made it back in one piece. 

We wanted to take the It’s a small world ride but it is closed when we reached there. 

We slowly walked to the exit. I did last

minute shopping then we left. It was a beautiful and fun day for sure. 

We walked over to Denny’s which is just opposite Disneyland. We ordered Bacon avocado cheese burger with additional patty (USD1.50). The burger is huge which makes it hard to eat. We ordered kid’s meal mac & cheese with 3 pancakes as sides. We also ordered kid’s Oreo milk shake and chocolate milk shake. The milk shake is nice! We were surprised that the bill is only USD28! Apparently the kids eats for free! In fact, the kid’s meal is only USD5.79.

We got Uber back to our hotel at around 8.35pm. Happy to be back in hotel after a long day. 

We showered and got ready for our free fireworks show in our room. It’s amazing and the fireworks lasted for at least 10 minutes. Lexuan is so cute as she kept on saying it’s so beautiful while I am trying to record. 

Overall, it’s an enjoyable day today! 

As a summary, these are the rides we took and ranking them based on my preferences: 

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - 3 of us got to sit together and it’s fun!

Millennium Falcon: Smugglers run - We got to team up to fly a falcon! And I am the pilot who is so busy throughout trying not to crash 

Autopia - We got to drive the car along the tracks. 

Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters - Shooting is fun as usual 

Space mountain - Indoor Thrill ride and it’s dark! Got to mention this got to be Lexuan’s first thrill ride! 

Matterhorn Bobsleds - Another thrill ride 

It’s a small small world - Indoor boat ride showing places all over the world 

Roger Rabbit’s car toon spin - Spinning rides but still fun! 

King Arthur Carrousel - Merry go round is always Lexuan’s favourite 

So fast our trip is coming to an end! Our last night in LA! 

15 June 2024

I had quite a good sleep last night! Early in the morning, we checked the Google map to see how’s traffic. Traffic is good, meaning people are still sleeping. 

We ate breakfast in the room then we left for car ride to Hollywood sign. 

As we were diving, the traffic seems to get more jam.

We reached the Griffith park around 10am. We had to queue to pay USD10 for the parking fee. We finally saw the Hollywood sign from far. It’s a nice scenery place and somehow it reminds us of Greece. 

To our surprise, we came upon the Griffith Observatory - nice place for public astronomy where we learn about the plants and meteoroids. The exhibit is interesting and air con. I read from the guide that this Griffith Observatory and the Greek Theatre is donated by the late Griffith J. Griffith. 

By now, there are many more cars and slightly more jam back as the travelling hours is 1hr and 5mins now. 

We stopped over at KFC for lunch! The fried chicken is not bad! It’s way too much food though. We have 8 pieces of chicken parts, fries, big bowl of corn and 4 biscuits. We da bao the corn and biscuits back to hotel/ 

Then it’s a short 5 mins drive back to our hotel. Then we went swimming! It’s so sunny with no shade but this Lexuan wants to sleep! We swarm for about an hour. Lexuan loves the swimming pool here as the pool is her is not shallow or deep. This gives her the confidence to learn swimming

Then we went back to shower and relax in the room.

We checked out around 5pm and made our way to the airport.. Our flight is at 0050 but knowing the traffic here, we decided to go to the airport earlier just in case. ETA at airport: 1814. 

This pretty much sums up our trip in California. Overall, I love this place so much and this reminds me of 张清芳’s song.. (California 的阳光). It gives us a positive vibe and relaxing mood. And the songs they play on radio (Hits 1 station) is good too. Listening to the song Expresso x number of times as they play it on repeated mode. The sun here is really sunny though it gets foggy along coastal areas. Los Angeles to my surprise is so warm and sunny. I feel that I have gotten one tone darker in Los Angeles. And to be here at LA’s Disneyland Park is like a dream comes true to me. Not exactly a Disney fan but Disneyland is always magical and the happiest place on earth. I am happy to share this beautiful memories with my family. Lexuan is saying that next time she is coming back with my boyfriend and kid + Jianhui & me. Haha. 

We made it to the airport at 6.30pm. Jianhui dropped us off with the luggage while he went to return the car. Jianhui took the shuttle bus back and was stuck in the jam too. Eventually he alighted and walked to Terminal B (Tom Bradley). By now it’s 7.30pm. We waited till 8pm to check in. At 8pm, there was already a long queue at the check in counter. Luckily we got it done around 8.40pm. We had a quick sandwich which is surprisingly nice and Lexuan likes it too. It cost us USD16. 

Then we went to clear custom and it was a long queue. Plus the security check, we were only done at 10pm. Good thing that we came to the airport early. 

We ate Border Grill which is good but no customer service at all. At least the food is good. We ate the chicken quesadillas. Yummy but a bit spicy. 

Jianhui wanted to buy coffee from Starbucks but the one nearer to our gate has a long queue. He tried walking to the further one but it is closing at 11pm. So he ended up with no coffee. 

Somehow, time passed by quite quickly. I was feeling sleepy by now as usual. I was glad that we could board first as family. So we started boarding at 0010. 

I fell asleep around 1am but woke up at 2am for supper. Lexuan also fell asleep without me asking her to sleep. 

The food is not bad. I love that they always serve fresh fruits to us. Jianhui had Thai which is a little spicy while I had chicken. I didn’t try Lexuan’s kid meal. 

After supper, I watched the Chinese movie, Death notice before sleeping. Not a bad movie to watch on flight. 

Then I had quite a good sleep till 7am+. Lexuan woke up around this time too. 

I also watched a Korean movie, Single in Seoul by Lee Dong-Wook who is so handsome. The movie is not bad. 

Then I watched Crazy Rich Asians which I skipped through a couple of the scenes. After watching so many movies and sleeping, we still have 4hrs to go. Think I will need to take a nap and another movie to pass time. So I watch the movie, Fall which is very exciting. 

Then it’s breakfast time at around 12pm (US timing). The porridge is nice so I recommend porridge if you are taking Starlux. 2hrs+ to go! 

I watched a Taiwanese movie - Marry my dead body. A comical and touching movie. I cried a bit during the movie. 

17 June 2024 

Then we have reached Taiwan! And it’s 6.40am on 17 June 2024

We touched down at the same gate we boarded the plane when we fly to San Francisco! We walked past the Kungfu express again and since it’s open, we decided to buy snacks and bubble tea. Sadly, the bubble tea is not available so I only had my favourite 炸鸡排 and fried drumstick for Jianhui. Lexuan likes the chicken! 

Then I went Sanrio for some last minute shopping and also bought pineapple cakes before we walked go Gate D9 which is quite far away. 

It’s a short transit time so by the time we were there, it’s almost boarding time. Our flight time is SGT 8.10am. 

We are back to SGT now.

And the time, I watched a Korean movie, Brave Citizen. The flight time is so long that I had watched so many movies. The second movie I watched is a Taiwanese movie, After School. 

The beef with rice was really good. And I must say the fresh fruits and yoghurt are good too! 

Lexuan took an hour nap while I didn’t take any nap. So I was feeling so stoned when we touched down. 

Collecting baggage is a breeze. To our surprise, my family is here to fetch us! So happy to see them! ❤️❤️

Then we took cab home. I am trying very hard not to sleep while Jianhui was happily napping. 

All in all, it was a great family trip with lot of sun and fun. All these memories are so precious which I will keep for life. I’m glad that Lexuan had enjoyed herself too! We all came back one tone darker with a round tummy thanks to all the yummy burgers we had in California. 

The only problem is the jet lag. Coming back from US always makes me feel like shit. I feel so tired that I started to have headache. 

Definitely aiming to sleep after dinner. 

Good night! 

A summary of what we like and don’t like: 

What Lexuan likes about this trip 

Disneyland rides 

Starbucks’ drinks 

Aloft’s board games 

Build a bear where we bought lulu home 

Target because it has a lot of toys she saw on YouTube 

Party city for amongus 

Playground 

Like her kids

What Lexuan doesn’t like about this trip 

The long flight 

Allergic reaction 

Smelly toilet in Suncoast Park 

What Jianhui likes about this trip 

Starlux toilet 

San Francisco’s weather and race site

Car trip 

Music 

American burger 

What Jianhui doesn’t like about this trip

Jam 

What I like about this trip 

Transit at Taiwan and I get to buy Sanrio stuff 

The mood at Escape to Alcatraz triathlon race

Softee from Duper Super 

Party City for the amongus 

Disneyland 

Car trip 

What I don’t like about this trip 

Long flight 

Lexuan getting allergic reaction 

Jam in Los Angeles 

My preference for the hotels we stayed 

Aloft 

La Luna 

Big Sur Lodge 

Hampton Inn Morro Bay 

Mason Beach Inn

Suncoast Hotel 

(Lexuan would rate it differently as she loves the swimming pool at Suncoast hotel)