Review of Essence Cafe - Beach Rotana Abu Dhabi

I've been craving sweets all week and today I am fully satisfied! I went to the Essence Cafe for afternoon tea. We sat in the lobby area as I really enjoyed the natural light but they have ample seats in the cafe area. There are menus on all the lobby tables for browsing. We started looking through it and I was pretty set on having the afternoon tea set. My hubby already had a full lunch so he opted for dessert and coffee. We ordered from our server, I believe we had 2 different servers who came by at different intervals.  The set does take a maximum of 30 minutes to prepare which the server will tell you when you do order it. For us it took maybe 15-20 minutes, the wait did not seem very long at all.
After ordering, our server came with welcome drinks. It was a pleasant surprise and it made the wait seem less long. The drink was a fruity mock tail.. Tasted like Sprite. Then came out drinks. I ordered a black tea. It came with a full pot. And my hubbys coffee also came with a full pot. Neither of us finished our pots. The black tea I ordered I preferred it to be more rich and bold but this one was a bit light. As well there was no strainer in the pot so I did get some leaves. Nonetheless the China it came in was beautiful.
I was impressed when the main afternoon set came. It came in a large 3 tier afternoon set besutifully presented. Each item came in a pair and there were at least 11 items.  in total 22 items for 1 person was more than enough! each item was so delicately made. I wanted to eat it all but I was super full to my stomach I cannot imagine this full set is for only 1 person. Ensure you have at least 2 people for 1 set for afternoon tea at this place. The set came with 4 types of sandwiches - asparagus, salmon, salami, egg. It comes with scone, a strawberry cake and a brownie and the top layer has macarons, a cone pastry, a pudding and a blueberry tart.
These definitely will change overtime by the cafe.
Some of the noteworthy items are the macarons- covered in gold flakes. And the strawberry/raspberry cake also have gold flakes dusted on top. The asparagus sand which was great and the scones come with clotted cream and jam. Service was impeccable and the price was great too. It's 139AED for the full set including the drink. Really this set serves 2 people tho!

Lifestyle - How to overcome Mono and Tonsilities

This is probably the worse I've felt in my life. This disease lasts a week and longer and will take some time until you are fully recovered. This is a personal diary of my week:

Day 1
Felt like I was going to get sick with a sore throat
Got huge headaches and fever during the day.
Still had appetite and was hungry at dinner time.

Day 2
Throat got a bit worse with it being a little bit hard to swallow.
Headaches and fever
Felt really fatigue and could not get up. Stayed in bed and slept all day
Should of of gotten a lemon yogurt bubble tea, made my throat worse.
Ate some mash potatoes with pork, not much appetite

Day 3
Very high fever. Sweating a lot but have chills
Throat got worse and it was getting swollen.
Could not get out of bed, very fatigue, was going to faint when had to take the dog outside.
Should not of ate a mussel, shrimp and scoop of fried rice
Not much appetite

Day 4
Fever again during the day. The tongsilities impacting my breathing so I got some antibiotics. They don't seem to help. Vomitted in the morning and at night... Nothing in my
Stomach so a lot of disgusting bitter acids came out
Ate congee with egg, not much appetite had 1-2 scoops for the day
Ate green tea Ice cream which was good

Day 5
Did not sleeping during the whole day. Took a few walk around house slowly
Vomit in morning and night. Fever during the day with chills
Congee with egg, 1-2 scoops
Ate some apple sauce did not fancy
Ate some diced apples.

Day 6
Woke up feeling nauseous but did not vomit. Feeling hungry so ate a bit of Apple
Very painful swallowing
Fever and headache mild

Day 7/8
Started going to work (work from home), waking up in the morning, limited speaking. mild headache
rested from 5pm onwards in bed

Day 9
Able to keep up for the full day, limited activities, stayed at home
limited energy

Day 10 and beyond
Began to perform everyday activities, started eating probiotics to build up immune system again

Los Angeles, USA - 5 Day Itinerary

This  was my iternary for LA. Split it up into different regions where the attractions were closest to each other. I used TRIPOMATIC.COM which displays the distance between each attraction and suggested time to spend at that location.

I went for a 6 day, 5 night trip with my girlfriends. Booked a 2 bedroom place via airbnb.com

DAY 1 - ARRIVAL AT 1030AM
- from the LAX airport we picked up our rental car at DOLLAR (sign up for the DOLLAR EXPRESS to bypass the extremely long line up)
- then we drove to our AIRBNB to drop off our luggage and freshen up for the day
- 1st stop was the Farmers Market (park here if you can and get free validation if you purchase from a vendor at the FM)
- The Grove was conveniently in same location - you can get validated parking at NORDSTORM but only for 1 hour
- we walked from the grove to LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) where we took photos with the URBAN LIGHTS

DAY 2 - DOWNTOWN LA
- We parked at Pershing Square - early bird special before 11AM check their website for updated rates
- From the square we walked to the GRAMMY MUSEUM
- from the GM we walked to GRAND CENTRAL MARKET where we lined up for EGGSLUT (1 hour line up)
- after lunch we took an LAFREETOUR.COM  we reserved beforehand. There was around 15 people in our tour and we met right across the GCM at ANGELS FLIGHT RAILWAY. The tourguide took us all around DOWNTOWN LA and we learned the history of many buildings. This tour was 2 HOURS LONG. Our last stop was at the LA CENTRAL LIBRARY
- from the library we walked back to PERSHING SQUARE where there was a festival occuring
- we drove to KOREATOWN and found FREE street parking (FREE OF WEEKENDS)
- walked to CHOCOLATECHAIR for some NITROGEN CEREAL (super cool!) and visited DAISO JAPAN
- Drove to LA CINEMA (an outdoor cinema/food truck festival) We bought out tickets via GROUPON. The Cinema is located on MCMANUS AVE, once we got there there was no street parking allowed and it directed us to park at the nearby public transit station.  on GOOGLEMAPS it does not know the walking trails, it said it took 25 mins to walk so we took LYFT.
On the way home we followed the walking trail everyone else was taking and it only took 10 minutes.

DAY 3 - SANTA MONICA
- use CARPOOL LANES it was a life saver when in traffic hour
- drove to SANTA MONICA PIER - we found $5 parking at the CIVIC CENTER only 5-10 mins walk to the PIER. PLENTY of parking there
- walked to SUSHI NOWIZAWA and got the TRUST ME combo. No lines there but we arrived a bit after 1pm.
- enjoyed the BOARDWALK; lots of vendors, beautiful views there
- went to the BEACH
- 3rd STREET PROMENADE; great shopping and atmosphere
- DROVE to VENICE BEACH  found a parking spot at SAN JUAN and ABOTT $8 VALET parking
- walked to VENICE BEACH from there  around 15 minutes walk
- found the VENICE CANALS
- walked on ABOTT street to grab ice cream at SALT AND STRAW
- drove to IN N OUT 5 minutes down the street on ABOTT

DAY 4 - HOLLYWOOD
- parked at the DOLBY THEATRE $15 all day parking
- walked down hollywood blvd, there was a premiere happening that day ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS so people were camping out on the street for good views
- we booked a CELEBRITY HOUSE TOUR via GROUPON. We were directed to a sketchy small shop and they directed us to the open top tour bus parked across from the original wax musum. Our driver was Johnny K and he took us to houses of Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, Beyonce, PlayBoy, Arnold S, John Stamos, etc. We didnt get to see any celebrities come out of their houses or anything. The Tour was a bit boring. It lasted 2 hours. We also went on top of a hill to take photos of the hollywood sign. The tour also went down RODEO DRIVE where we saw beautiful luxury cars parked on the side.
- After the Tour we went to Lunch at POKINOMETRY in the same plaza as the DOLBY THEATRE
- we went to see the CHINESE THEATRE, HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME
- visted some souvenir shops all alongside the street
- Then we drove to GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY - FREE PARKING - closed on MONDAYS tho and we walked the trail to the HOLLYWOOD SIGN
it is a 1 hour hike up to the sign and 45 minutes to come down. pls be advised no shade and no water stations.

DAY 5 - BURBANK
- left the house at 7AM anticipating traffic, got to WARNER BROTHERS STUDIO for 8:15AM
our tour time is at 9AM. We got CONAN tickets that same day and wondered if we could just park at the CONAN Parking lot and walk to the Warner Studio. YES you can park at CONAN Parking lot anytime, BUT it is around 25 min walk to the Warner Studio - GOOGLEMAPS will tell you it is 10 by taking the WARNER BLVD STREET DOWN but guests are not allowed in through there.
- arrived to the WARNER BROTHER STUDIO PARKING LOT - $10 FLAT FEE although there is street parking available free! just need to read the signs. and they are usually all taken by 9am from employees.
- WARNER BROTHER STUDIO TOUR was amazing! got to take photos at the friends set, went to to the live set of Pretty Little Liars where they were transforming the set to rose wood high school. Got to see other movies where to used the same set but just redressed the buildings. walked through those buildings and streets (usually it is closed off to tours) The interactive tour was great too! We bought this through GROUPON for only $49
- DOG HAUS for lunch
- then we went off to the CONAN SHOW (you can read my CONAN review in a previous post)
- Drove to CHEESECAKE FACTORY for dinner

DAY 6 - DEPARTURE
- AIRBNB to LAX

Los Angeles, USA - CONAN Show Review

I recently went to L.A. and scored some free tickets to the CONAN show. You can get them free via teamcoco.com best of all they are FREE! However the catch is that they are not guaranteed.

Went with my friends (group of 3). Ensure you print out the tickets before hand and get there early!
There is free Conan parking in their Gate 8 parking lot. No visitor pass required. The ticket says you can get free parking after 11am but in reality you can go much earlier if you wanted to. The Gate remains open. On the ticket the check in says 3:30pm but when we got there for 12:45pm there was already plenty of people in front of us. The check in area is almost all full and we were lined up at the end. Luckily the ticket holders came in shortly and we didn't have to wait very long. There is a set jury clearance you have to get through first. No trouble there, we brought in snacks, water. The only thing they mentioned to us was not to bring out our cameras.

At around 1 o clock the ticket holders gave us our number which was #30 with wristbands and we were free to leave the waiting area until 3:45pm. We saw other people's numbers run up until 66 or so.

We then went to grab some food at Fog Haus. There is a lengthy line using lunchtime but after 2pm the restaurant started to empty. We still had an hour and half to kill so we went to a nearby target and ultra for some snacks and shopping.

Finally we headed back to CoNan gate 8. Back through security and was placed in the line according to our number. We were then escorted 8 blocks through the Warner studios to a waiting line outside similar to those they set up for attraction rides at the theme parks. Waited there for 15 mins... They showed some funny clips of the Conan show which entertained everyone.

Then we got escorted to the studio and was given a chocolate (small size). They directed us to our seats and it was a bit chilly in the studio. We waited while they seated everyone else. Shortly after an MC came in and the band. We cheered loudly and he walked us through the house rules. Such as no photography. Laugh and applause when instructed and enjoy ourselves. There was some audience participation.. If you were loud you got a Conan t shirt. As well the Mc chosen a few
People from the audience and made them stand on the stage. I was one of them. By the end of the spiel he made us all dance in a dancing competition. Luckily everyone got a t-shirt and got fun laughs from that. Then Conan came on and it was super organized. He was super funny and flawless. There were very short breaks in between the guests and I was very impressed at how fast the crew members worked.

Overhead they have monitors where you can see clips they were showing and of Conan when he was doing his interviews. I'm sure they still have to do some
Edits to it but it was very good and professional from everything I saw.

The show went by very fast. By the end CoNan came on again to sing his song. He is a very good singer. Unfortunately he didn't stay very long after that and once he was gone the crew had directed everyone to leave he studio. They escorted us back to the parking and we talked amongst ourselves how great the show was.

Florida, USA - Timeshare Presentation Review

Before booking my timeshare presentation i read countless reviews on other people's experience. Many of them were not so pleasant so I was super skeptical! To my surprise, my experience in Orlando was wonderful!

I looked through many sites before booking the one I wanted to go with. I tried getawaydealz as well as orlandotouristinformationbureau.com. The reason I went with OTIB was because they had CSC centre that was easy to reach and their rep was very friendly who answered all my questions. 

I submitted my form online and they contacted me to review the process and for payment. I was VERY skeptical of this but was so curious about timeshares as a potential investment. The package I went with was $169 for a 3 night, 4 day stay in orlando with $200 credit after the presentation. 

It was essentially a free stay at the hotel and more! 

There were other packages as well that were more expensive, but the quality of the room you would get was a lot better. 

After my confirmation email, I was provided a confirmation number. I then called the hotel [Calpyso Cay] that they placed me in to talk to the front desk to confirm that they did indeed have a reservation in my name.  The front desk was friendly and did confirm this for me which reassured my booking. 

We arrived at Calpyso Cay and checked into the welcome center. The ladies at the front desk were welcoming and friendly. We did have to pay resort fees there of $15 per night, but I believe that is standard at all resorts and this was communicated to me before.  1 thing that did not go as planned was the timeshare presentation time, on the form that I submitted I requested the presentation to be as early as possible (8AM) but instead i got a 12:30PM time. The ladies at the front desk told me that I would have to reschedule it with the tour office, which was not opened at the time of the check in. This was quite frustrating. The next day I visited the tour office early [tried calling, but no one asnwers!] and asked them to change my time, unfortunately they could not do this and i was stuck with a 12:30PM time. In retrospect I would call ahead before my vacation to the tour office to ensure I had an early timeshare presentation time. 

The room we were provided was at the Calpyso Inn. It was a bit old but it was good enough for us since it was basically free. I asked the front desk and they did say regular price is $115 per night.  We gotten a 1 bedroom SUITE so it was quite nice to get a separate living room, and a fridge and microwave. They also served free hot breakfast in the mornings. Also free parking and free shuttles to the themeparks. However, we took the shuttle once and it took us 3x as much time as if we had driven. We had opted for Uber and Lyft rides after that which was not too costly. 

The resort is very family friendly, we enjoyed our time by the pools, hot tubs and played mini-putt. They also offered free luggage storage which was great for us since our flight was not until 8PM on our day of departure. 

As for the timeshare presentation, it was located beside the welcome center. They had a nice seating area with drinks and coffees and few snacks. Andrew was our salesman and he was very enjoyable to talk to. We sat down among 5 other groups at a open concept room with monitors at each desk. It was a calming environment as it was open and did not feel locked up.  He went through some pictures of his life. Then asked us a series of questions about our travel preferences. After that he went through the timeshare offerings and the tools that can be purchased. We asked a few questions and was cooperative with answering all his questions. We were honest about our visit and had told him about the tour package we were offered and that we were looking forward to getting the $200 credit after the presentation. Then we went for a quick walk around the resort and to a villa. It was quite nice in the villa, 3 bedroom, kitchen is stocked, would be a nice place to live for sure. 

We went back to the office and he did already make us aware of the process and that his boss would talk to us and try to give us a deal. When his boss came to talk to us the deal was cut from $25K to $15K to own a timeshare for 2 weeks. He went through different financial plans with us and asked us if this was feasible. We just told him honestly that it was not something for us since our travel plans dont usually stay in resorts. He understood and said OK and we were on our way. It was quick and painless.  The whole presentation and discussion took us 90 minutes [ and it could be longer too if you arnt cooperative]. I feel that it could be even shorter if we did not ask as many questions lol. Andrew walked us to the check out desk where we got our $200 credit in the form of a visa gift card. We redeemed it right away for universal studio tickets. 

This was my first timeshare presentation and I was SO skeptical but really it felt like there was no pressure to buy. It really helped that we got matched with Andrew tho, he was understanding of our situation. And we were able to learn more about this investment option. I would sign up for timeshare tours again! 

Home - How to Put up Wallpaper

I am in love with my new wallpaper! It revamped my bedroom, giving it a modern and classy look. This project costed me $28 for the wallpaper and around $10 for the supplies. My hubby and I hung it together and took 2.5 hours to cover our wall around 3m by 3m. 

The supplies needed is 

Wallpaper

Adhesive 

Level

Adhesive Brush 

Smoother(s) 

The Adhesive I bought was the type that was clear and required no mixing with water. It was a lot cleaner to work with and this amount was just enough for  our 3m by 3m wall. It was around $6.99 at Home Depot. 

Adhesive brush was used to apply the adhesive to the wall. We had to make sure we applied a thick layer to the wall as thin layers dried too fast. This was around $3.95 at Home Depot. The only thing I did not like was that this shape brush does not fit very good with the adhesive container I purchased (above) 

I purchased 2 types of smoothers. The top one with felt was around $4 and the yellow flat smoother was less than $2 at Home Depot. In my opinion the yellow flat smoother was the better one to work with as it was easiest to use and make creases for the ends. 

The wallpaper I purchased was a design from Grahamandbrown.com however, i purchased them from Homesense. I was able to get a good deal on them because the packaging was open and some of the paper at the end was damaged so I asked for a discount at HomeSense. (1 roll at $9 and 1 roll at $16, last roll was at $23 but i was able to return it since only 2 rolls was required for the 3m by 3m wall) 

It was alot easier if you have 2 people to work on this project. these were the steps we took. 

Using a ladder we placed the wallpaper at the top and measured accordingly to what we needed. We had to ensure we left extra space at the top and bottom in case. We applied the adhesive by brushing the glue from the top to the bottom. 

Then we hung the wallpaper and used the smoother to brush out the bubbles. The hardest part was matching up the patterns to ensure there were no creases in between the strips. For some of them it took a few tries for us to match up the pattern correctly. 

Lastly, we used an exacto knife to cut off the ends at the ceiling and floor.