28 novembra, 2015

Trip USA - New York

A tak sme sa dostali na koniec nášho neskutočného dobrodružstva. Posledné miesto, ktoré sme navštívili, a zároveň druhé, ktoré som si najviac vychutnala, bol neskutočný NEW YORK.
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And so we got to our last part of this amazing adventure. Last place as well as the second one I enjoyed the most - incredible NEW YORK.


Aby som bola úprimná, z tohto miesta som mala aj najväčší strach, lebo ešte dva dni pred príjazdom sme spolu s kamarátom nemali zabookované žiadne ubytovanie. A tak sme sa dali na couchsurfing. Bolo to prvýkrát, čo som niečo podobné vyskúšala. A poviem vám, bola to zaujímavá skúsenosť!
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To be honest, I was the most scared of this place, simply because me and my friend we didn´t have any accomodation booked even two days before arrival. So we decided to join couchsurfing. It was the first time I´ve tried something like this and let me tell you, it got pretty interesting really quickly.


Vyberať si ubytovanie mierne opití v hoteli v Las Vegas tiež nie je najbezpečnejšia možnosť, no keď ste v núdzi, vezmete hocičo. A tak sme aj spravili. Na našu žiadosť sa ozval jeden starší pán žijúci priamo pri Central Parku. Nechceli sme tomu takmer ani uveriť, ale nemali sme inú možnosť. 
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Try to find an accommodation while you´re kind of tipsy in hotel in Las Vegas is not the safest option you can go with. But when you´re desperate, you´ll take anything. And that´s exactly what we did. One older man living right next to the Central Park accepted our request. We didn´t even wanted to believe it, but we didn´t have much of a choice.


Keď sme z Las Vegas doleteli do Philadelphie, zavolali sme mu, či môžeme teda skutočne prísť. Tváril sa prekvapene, no súhlasil... s tým, že vo Philly sa nachádza jeden Market, z ktorého by sme mu mohli doniesť mlieko!!! Ak nám toto, ako dôkaz zvláštnosti tohto pána, nestačilo, tak sme sa o tom presvedčili hneď po príchode do jeho bytu.
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When we took off the plane from Las Vegas to Philadelphia, we called him, just to be sure we can come. He was kind of surprised, but then all he wanted to know was if we can bring him fresh milk from local market in Philly!!! Quite odd request. If this was not an alarm clock to our decision, we surely got to know his weirdness right when we entered his apartment.


Pár metrov štvorcových, ja, môj kamarát, mačka a ďalších 5 turistov ubytovaných v jeho priestoroch. Celý čas sme sa čudovali, prečo to robí, nič z toho nemá. Ak ste oboznámení s fungovaním couchsurfingu, viete, o čom hovorím. A tak nás ubytoval na jeden matrac, ktorý sa nachádzal nad jeho kuchynkou. Nám to, samozrejme, nevadilo, veď aj tak sme tam chceli len prespať. Tak sme si tam nechali veci a pobrali sa spoznávať krásy New Yorku.
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5 square meters, me, my friend and 5 other tourists crushing on his "couch". All this time we just wondered why is he doing this. We still don´t know. If you know how couchsurfing works, you know, than you let total strangers sleep at your place in exchange for a dinner or something or nothing. We were sleeping on one matrass placed above his tiny kitchen. We didn´t mind tho, all we wanted there, was just to sleep. So we left our stuff there and went to explore beauties of New York.


Kúpili sme si týždenný lístok na metro - aj tak zdanlivo jednoduchá záležitosť sa ale zmenila na dobrodružstvo. A to práve vtedy, keď sme zistili, že nám naše 30-dolárové kartičky prestali po pár použitiach fungovať a turnikety v metre sme museli preskakovať aj s hrozbou problému s políciou.
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We bought a weekly ticket for the subway - and so seemingly simple matter has turned into an adventure right when we found out that our 30 dollar subway cards ceased to function after couple using and we had to jump over the turnstiles in the subway even with the threat of problems with police.



Po dvoch týždňoch úbohej stravy som tu konečne natrafila na viac vegánskych možností, čo som si aj patrične užívala. Užili sme si tu skutočne všetko, Times Square, Mannhattan, Central Park, The Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty (tú iba z diaľky), Hudson river, Chinatown (túto časť sme si až tak neužili. Videli sme ale čínsky pohreb!), boli sme dokonca aj na pláži, doteraz ale nevieme ako sa volala.
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After two weeks of a poor diet, here I finally came across more vegan options, which I also enjoyed properly. We enjoyed everything here, Times Square, Manhattan, Central Park, The Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty (just from far away, but still), Hudson River, Chinatown (we didn´t quite enjoy this part, but we saw Chinese funeral!) we were even on the beach, but we still don´t know the name of it.



Počasie nám vyšlo, bolo horúco a my sme sa ocitli v centre všetkých klišé amerických filmov, v ktorých si ľudia idú ráno zabehať do Central Parku, cez deň žijú zaneprázdnený biznis život a večer idú na luxusnú večeru či pohár vína.
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The weather was great, it was hot and we found ourselves in the center of all the clichés of American movies where people go jogging in the morning in Central Park, during the day they live busy business life and in the evening they go to a fancy dinner or have a glass of wine.







Najobľúbenejšou časťou tohto neskutočného mesta bol pre mňa Brooklyn Bridge. Neviem prečo, nebolo to nič špeciálne a predsa ma to uchvátilo úplne najviac. Uchvátili ma, samozrejme, aj iné miesta, napr. skvelý dizajn a myšlienka, ktorá stála za nápadom fontány, ktorá nikdy netečie nahor - memoriál na počesť dvojičiek.
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Most enjoyable part of New York was most definitely The Brooklyn Bridge. I don´t even know why. There was nothing that special about it, but it was just captivating. And I was also captivated by other things, for example the design and thought behind World Trade Center memorial - fountain that never goes up.





Svoj posledný deň v New Yorku a zároveň v AMERIKE som si užila po svojom. Ráno som si privstala, kúpila som si raňajky a išla som si sadnúť do Central Parku. Nadýchla som sa a pozorovala život okolo. A poviem vám, bol to najsureálnejší pocit, aký som kedy zažila.
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Last day in New York and in AMERICA I enjoyed like I wanted. I woke up earlier in the morning, went to buy me some breakfast and went to sit in the Central Park. I took a breath and explored life around me. And let me tell you, it was the most surreal feeling in my life.


Je 8 hodín ráno, sedím na lavičke v Central Parku NY, ako keby sa nič nedialo, vychutnávam si raňajky a svet sa ďalej točí. Ani vo sne by mi nenapadlo, že niečo tak jednoduché bude zážitkom, ktorý tak silno utkvie v mojej pamäti. Asi som si uvedomila, že sa blíži koniec, no tiež som si uvedomila, že nič nie je nemožné. Ak máš sen, snívaj, pracuj a raz sa stane skutočnosťou!
GOODBYE AMERICA!!!
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It´s 8 a.m., I´m sitting on a bench in Central Park, New York, like nothing is happening, enjoying my breakfast and the world is still spinning. Not even in my dream would I see myself enjoying this simple, odd experience, which got stuck in my mind forever. I guess I knew it was over and also that everything is possible. If you have a dream, dream on, work hard and once it becomes a reality!
GOODBYE AMERICA!!!

01 októbra, 2015

Trip USA - Las Vegas

Po nie tak veľmi slnečnom, ale o to horúcejšom Los Angeles nás čakalo ešte väčšie peklo. Teda aspoň čo sa počasia týka. Mali sme namierené doslova do púšte. Kde inde ako do samotného Las Vegas!
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After not so sunny, but very hot Los Angeles  even bigger hell was waiting for us. At least when the weather is concerned. We headed straight to the desert. To the one and only Las Vegas!


Do Vegas sme sa dostali prostredníctvom jedného čínskeho zájazdu. A tak sme sa my štyria - asi najbelšia skupinka cestujúca po Amerike, a ďalších 40 Ázijcov vybrali do mesta, ktoré nikdy nespí.
Po niekoľkohodinovej ceste v autobuse sme sa mohli konečne ubytovať. A bývali sme teda v riadnom "baráku". Priamo v najvyššej budove Las Vegas v hoteli Stratosphere.
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We got to Vegas through one Chinese tour. So, four of us - probably the whitest group of people traveling the States - and 40 Asians went to the city that never sleeps. After couple of hours in the bus we were finally able to check-in to our hotel. And we were living in the best one. Right in the tallest building in Las Vegas - Stratosphere hotel.





Musím povedať, že som sa tu cítila skutočne ako na dovolenke. Cez deň si oddychujete, večer sa vyobliekate a idete do ulíc. Do ulíc, ktoré vás lákajú tisícimi svetlami, množstvom ľudí, hudbou a životom, ktorý si bežne neužívate v takej miere. Tu sme ale boli vo Vegas. Čakali na nás kasína, hracie stroje, noc žiarivejšia než celé dni a vôľa užiť si to naplno.
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I have to say that I really felt like I´m on holiday at this point of our trip. You relax during the day, you dress up in the evening and go to the streets. The streets that attract you with thousands of lights, a lot of people, music and life that we usually don´t enjoy to the full. But here we were in Vegas. Casinos were waiting for us, slot machines and night more radiant than the whole day.


Prvú noc sme sa teda vybrali do kasín. Povedala som si, že obetujem pár dolárov. Inak by sa mi ani nerátalo, že som vo Vegas vôbec bola. A hneď som mala aj šťastie. Sadla som si za prvý stroj a rozhodla sa, že tam vhodím dolár. Spočiatku ani nefungoval, no keď som potiahla za páku druhý raz, vyhrala som 5 dolárov. Šťastie som už nešla ďalej pokúšať a odišla som s pocitom, že som vyhrala v jednom z najväčších a najznámejších kasín v Las Vegas - v Ceasar Palace.
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We then went to casinos the first night. I told myself that I´m willing to spend a few dollars. Otherwise, I would not even feel like I was in Vegas. And I was lucky immediately. I tried the first slot machine and decided to put one dollar there. Although it did not work at first, when I pulled the lever a second time I won $ 5. I didn´t try my luck for the second time and I left with the feeling that I won in one of the largest and most famous casinos in Las Vegas - The Ceasar Palace.




Na ďalší deň sme mali namierené do Grand Canyonu. Na túto časť som sa osobne tešila úplne najviac. Lebo som vedela, že príroda nás jednoducho nemôže sklamať. A nesklamala. Výhľady, na ktoré sa môžete pozerať celé hodiny. Nebezpečné skaly, na ktoré sa ale odvážite ísť, lebo čo by človek neurobil pre perfektnú fotku?
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The next day we headed to the Grand Canyon. I enjoyed this part of the journey the most. Because I knew for sure that the nature can´t fail us. And it didn´t. Views, which you can watch for hours. Dangerous rocks, which you are willing to climb, because what one wouldn´t do for the perfect picture?





Taktiež sme navštívili priehradu Hoover dam, ktorú sa mi ale nepodarilo odfotiť.
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We´ve also visited Hoover dam, but unfortunately I was not able to take a good picture of it.



Ako sa hovorí, čo sa stalo vo Vegas, zostane tam. Nám sa síce nič podobné ako vo filme Hangover nestalo, no mali sme jeden večer, ktorý sa niesol v znamení kapitána (ak viete, čo myslím). Potom sme sa dlhé hodiny rozprávali, zabávali a možno sme sa dozvedeli aj to, čo sme v skutočnosti vedieť nechceli. 
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As they say, what happened in Vegas stays there. Although nothing like Hangover movie didn´t happen to us we had one honest (understand drunk) evening when we talked for hours enjoying ourselves and maybe we learned what we actually didn´t want to know at all.



V tejto horúčave sme strávili ešte jeden deň a neskoro v noci sme mali naplánovaný let do Philadelphie. Ušetrili sme tak za ubytovanie, no vôbec sme sa nevyspali. Takto sa teda začala posledná časť nášho tripu.
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We spent one more day in this heat and we had a scheduled flight to Philadelphia later that night. We have saved some money for accommodation, but we didn´t sleep at all. Thus began the last part of our trip.

Welcome to New York!

Keep wining!
Love, Em