We usually travel overseas at least five times during any particular year. At least one of those trips would a long one and generally far away from our native Sri Lanka. On these occasions we base ourselves in a central location and do our travels from there. One such location we recently used is Long Island, New York. During this trip we visited; Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands, Bermuda and Manhattan New York. This time we stayed with very close friends where we had a really great time. Another one of our favorite central locations is London, England.
This post is to give everyone a feel of what it is to stay a few days in a suburban residential area, and the endless possibilities it affords for one to have a good time.
Daily Life
Our morning routine is usually to get up late, go for a nice relaxing walk around the neighborhood if we feel like it, and have a hearty home cooked breakfast!! Most of the suburban residential areas in the USA have walkways on the sides of streets. Walking around admiring beautiful houses and immaculate gardens, observing how families get started for the day with kids going to school etc. can be so relaxing!!!
As a rule, we do not shop on our travels, except for some small items we generally get for folks back home. However, whenever we base ourselves somewhere, we take the opportunity to do some extensive shopping. When in the USA, we do a great deal of clothes shopping, as well as getting stuff that are hard to come by back home. Another rule of ours is that we always travel as light as possible. Hence, when we do shop, we ship everything back home in boxes. You will be surprised to hear that shipping costs are not that high. It usually takes 1 to 2 months to receive a shipment.
Much of our time was spent relaxing and doing nothing. We really deserved a break after some hectic travel just before getting there. However, we did quite a few fun things with our friends. Let me tell you about some of them.
Wine Tasting
Over the years we have seen most of the many attractions throughout Manhattan and its vicinity. This time around we visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The sheer size of the Statue of Liberty and its beauty, situated strategically at the mouth of the great Hudson River is truly awesome. Hearing about the hardships endured by the early poor immigrants to the USA and getting to know the process they went through once they got to Ellis Island was so amazing and educational to the two of us.
US Open
I am an occasional golfer and a golf enthusiast. The US Open was held at the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Long Island whilst we were there. My friend and I decided to go and witness one of the practice sessions and had a really memorable time. We were up close with a number of the top players such as Tiger Woods, the World Number One Justin Johnson, Rory McElroy, current Masters Champion Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth amongst others. The crowning moment was when we saw my all-time favorite, the legendary Jack Nicklaus!!! I will remember this day forever!!!
Driving Around
We spent another day driving around checking out some really beautiful houses in the Hamptons and then going to Montauk Point in the eastern end of Long Island where we visited a famous light house. After that we took a ferry ride to Shelter Island which is right in the middle of the Long Island Sound and enjoyed a pint or two of beer and a super lunch at a little wayside café before heading back home.
Hanging Out
The evenings were the most enjoyable – spending some quality times with our friends, having drinks, eating some sumptuous food and chatting away until quite late. We also dined out on a couple of occasions.
All in all a great place to visit. We will definitely be back!!!
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