Wanderlust

Places I have been to, and I want to be at

Both Universal Parks in 1 day – Yes, you can do it! :D

Travel Stories, Wanderlust

 

While most people visit Florida for the Disney magic; if you are a thrill-seeker, there’s seriously no place like Universal – Islands of Adventure and Studios. If you have 2 days to spend in Orlando, definitely plan 1 day for each park, to experience both parks in entirety. If you had to choose only ONE park (they’re a bit pricey at 114$ per day), I would probably recommend Universal Islands of Adventure, over Universal Studios, although Universal has very smartly dispersed some of their best rides to both the parks.

However, if you only had 1 day and literally wanted to get the best of both worlds, I would recommend the 2-park 1-day ticket (180$ for the day, which is cheaper than spending 228$) and experience the best attractions from BOTH the parks.

IDEALLY, you should plan on spending more time on the theme parks so that you can take in all the creativity and also pace out the rides, but if you are short on time, the brut-force way that I am recommending below should work for you; provided you follow some of the ground rules 😉

  1. Off-season visit – Try and visit mid-week and slightly off-season (late Feb/early March and September are some of the best times)
  2. Start early – And by early, we mean that if the park opens at 9am, be at the entry gates at 8:30. If you’ve purchased early-access pass, then be there at 7:45am. You can seize the day if you get there early, but we did just fine starting at regular hours.
  3. Single-rider lines – this was our BEST discovery aka time-saving hack at Universal so far. We could do 90 percent of the popular rides in under 10 mins wait, just ‘cause we chose to ride singularly. Other than some special rides that you may wanna do with friends/family, choose the single rider lanes and you’ll save SO much of the soul-killing wait time, that you’ll thank me later. I mean, you would anyways be too busy experiencing the ride irrespective of who is in the next seat, so might as save on those wait times right?
  4. Plan ahead – If you don’t want to roam about like a lost puppy, read about the different rides, download the park map and decide which rides you want to not miss and target to do them first. Your energy will drop as the day passes(especially if you are unlucky to get Florida heat on your visit), so best to get them while you are in it.
  5. With the 2-park 1 day ticket, you can shuffle back and forth between parks as many times as you needed, but I’d recommend not shuffling more than once or twice, oto save unnecessary commuting times (which will also tire you).
  6. Bring your own food – Carry a compact backpack with your water bottle and quick snacks, to not waste too much time in food lines (trust me, they are LONGGG); we’d eat our packed lunch and then do ice-creams and butter-beer when the food-stalls were not busy.
  7. Clothing – This one is up to you, but if you plan to do the water rides, wear light-weight and dry-fit clothing so that you can dry easily after.

Okay, now that you are committed to doing the 2-park one day thing, here’s the itinerary we have tried and tested and recommend to all the thrill-seekers 🙂 Here are some of the attractions to not miss.

 

Must do attractions and rides at Universal’s Islands of Adventure:

  1. Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey at Hogsmeade – You Have. To. Do. it. Period. I don’t want to spill much on this, as you MUST experience the ride and the village, to know why the whole world is raving about it. The design and the tech behind this, is some of the best you’d see on any roller-coaster/VR experience in the world.
    After you’re done with the main ride, you’ll see another ride in Hogsmeade (Flight of the hippogryph)– which is totally not worth the queue, so skip that one.
  2. The River adventure at Jurassic Park – fun ride for all ages and thrill-levels. Plus, dinosaurs, so this one is quite fun.
  3. Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls – Prepare to get drenched!! This one is a must do for water-slide lovers.
  4. The amazing Spiderman VR ride – Another good VR experience, and if you are Marvel fan, this one is not to be missed
  5. Doctor Doom’s Fear fall – I didn’t go on this one, as I don’t care for free falls too much, but it is guaranteed to give you a heart-in-your-mouth experience. If you are into the free-falling experience, go for it.
  6. The Incredible Hulk roller coaster – One of the most loved rollercoasters at Universal, this is not for the faint hearted, but if you are a roller-coaster junkie like me, you’ll be jumping with joy after its’ done, and will probably do this more than once.

Must do attractions and rides at Universal Studios:

  1. Wizarding world of Harry Potter – Diagon alley – another VR adventure that you shouldn’t miss. If you have the 2-park one day pass, just take the train from Hogwarts (in Universal’s Islands of Adventure) to King Cross Station (in Universal Studios) to do this ride.
  2. The Simpsons – Homer and fam will make you chuckle and take you through a fun ride, just like they always do. A VR experience I thoroughly loved.
  3. The Mummy Returns – If you had to do ONE ride in Universal studios – this one is it! Wait times can be long, so be smart and take the single-rider line here.
  4. Transformers – I don’t care for Transformers and the likes, but I did this one for the hubs and it was a pretty good VR experience, but if up to me, I’d skip this one.
  5. Hollywood rip-ride rockit – It has a 90 deg ascend and an almost 90 deg drop; definitely not for anyone with vertigo or speed issues. This one (just like the Incredible Hulk) will get the adrenaline soaring!

Now, I have given you the must-do rides, but the order you approach it with, is of crucial importance, if you intend on doing them all in 1 day.  To get the most bank for your buck, here’s the order I’d recommend using your 2-park 1 day ticket.

  1. Be at the gates at 8:30am OR if you can attain the early-access pass, be there at 7:45 (for 8am entry) and once in, first hit Harry Potter and the Forbidden journey ride at Hogsmeade – this one is the most popular and gets REAL BUSY after the crowds roll in. Wait times are as little as 5 mins, early in the morning, but can be as long or longer than 100 mins, later in the day.
  2. From here, I’d recommend moving onto Universal Studios – Since you have the 2-park 1 day pass, you can take the train from Hogsmeade. (You can also walk out of the park and enter through the regular gateways).
  3. If you took the train from Hogsmeade, you should first do the Harry Potter ride at Diagon Alley (since the train stops there anyway) followed by the Simpsons, Mummy Returns, Transformers (if you are into it), and then the Hollywood Rip-tide.
  4. Remember to do single-rider lines for the crowded rides; that’ll help you wrap up Universal Studios in about 2 hrs, so you can head back to Islands of Adventure.
  5. Take the Hogwarts Express back into Universal Islands of adventure, and head over to The river adventure at Jurassic Park,  the Amazing Spiderman and the King Kong ride (if time permits).
  6. While the sun is hot (and if you are carrying change of clothes or easy-dry clothing), do the Ripsaw Falls, you ought to love this one, albeit it’ll leave you fully soaked.
  7. Last but not the least, do the Incredible Hulk ride – don’t even look at the wait times, if you like roller coasters, you gotta do it. This one closes at 6pm, so make sure you enter the line atleast 10 mins before 6.

A few things to note and remember –

  1. Afternoons are the busiest time in the park and you’ll run into long lines even when riding single-rider lanes, so chill in the cafes, take a nap on the benches or several sit-outs, before jumping onto the next batch of rides.
  2.  A lot of rides close at 6pm, so make sure to plan your evening rides.
  3. If you aren’t dead tired by 6:30pm, head back over to Universal Studios for the Mardi Gras experience. It’s a parade+street food+ music/dance extravaganza and Universal knows how to put up a good show.
  4. The above itinerary can only work if you don’t have very young kids or senior adults in your group. This is for the committed fellas, who are out to suck out everything they can from their day in the park. It’s for those who don’t care if they sleep for 2-days-straight after, but are high as a kite from the exhilaration and the anticipation of the rides!

Although the itinerary recommended above may look like a military regime to some, remember to relax and pace it out, NBD if you miss a ride or two. If you are only burning out from the running around, all the money spent will seem a waste, so take the time to just sit and sip on those delicious butter beers, gorge on pizzas and ice creams and pass some lazy moments during the busy hours in the park and get your rides on after 😉

 

Olympic National Park – 3 days in the PNW gem!

Travel Stories, Wanderlust

Olympic National Park – 3 day itinerary


The diversity of terrain this park offered gave me the feels of visiting 3 national parks in 3 days. Very few places can boast of the amount of beauty and variety that ONP packs in it’s generous million acres, and there’s no reason to miss it, when exploring the beautiful pacific north west!

The gem of the Pacific Northwest, Olympic National Park  (ONP) is blessed with an eco-diversity like few others. Traveling east-to-west in the million acre park, you’ll go through glacier-capped ranges, deep blue lakes, rainforests and the rugged pacific coastline, all wrapped into an awe-inspiring wilderness package.

Where to stay?

Given how big ONP is, you would much rather stay in different parts of the park and explore that area, rather than make long drives each day.

We spent 2 out of our 3 nights in Port Angeles, and ended up wasting atleast 2 hrs each day going in and out of the park, which wasn’t the best use of our little time there.  Port Angeles is definitely a great option for the eastern/central sides of the park, but as you move towards the pacific coast, best to find hotels/airbnbs closer to the western side. We spent out last night inside the park in the Sol duc area in a tiny cabin, which was my first tiny-cabin experience (more on that later).

What to do?

Thanks to it’s immense diversity, ONP caters to all kinds of travelers – the hikers of course have a ton of short/long hikes to do, and the relaxers or travelers w/ kids can take swims or kayaks on the lake, go dipping in Sol Duc hot springs, or take short waterfall hikes, which ONP has no dearth of.
While we couldn’t do any long-ish hikes in 3 days, we touched every terrain the park has to offer and here’s what we did over our 3 days there.
Here are some short and quick hikes –

  1. Marymere Falls –
    • Easy/moderate
    • 1.7 miles round trip
    • Small waterfall at the end
  2. Sol Duc Falls –
    • Easy/moderate
    • 1.6 miles round trip
    • Beautiful gushing waterfallasy/moderate trail
  3. Hurricane Hill Trail –
    • Easy 3 miles hike
    • Only open in summer
    • One of the most gorgeous views of the glacier-capped Hurricane ridge/ranges.
    • For non-hikers – If you don’t fancy a hike, you can drive right up the visitor center and get a panoramic view of the Olympic range.

All of these hikes are easy/moderate and have tree-cover throughout so even on super hot days, hikers won’t have to fret about sun-burn et al.

The bang for your buck

Apart from these short hikes, we also hiked the Mt. Storm King trail, which really was the king of hikes (and views), on this trip. Once in a while, you discover a total ‘pataakha'(firecracker) hike that quite literally takes your breath away, and this one did exactly that for me. Whenever there are ropes at the end to reach the summit, my excitement is at double-espresso levels. In this case, we didn’t know about the rope-ascending part, which was a fun, although kinda scary surprise. I wasn’t this nervous even when climbing the ropes at Half dome, but this one got me.
At about 3.8 miles round-trip, this is a difficult trail and isn’t for young kids or the elderly. Even after deeming ourselves moderately fit, we were panting for breath right from the base of the hike; but the steep climb and the ropes were the selling-points for me, and would be for anyone with an adventurous-hiker bone.
Once you have navigated the pull-your-ass-up-the-rope route, you have to climb a narrow boulder (major caution advised here), you’ll reach the summit of the hike and get some of the best views of Lake Crescent, so try not to miss it.

Hoh Rainforest
If you are visiting ONP, you better not come back without visiting this paradise of a place. It’s hard to imagine a lush green wonderland, so close to the otherwise cold and dry Pacific coast. Average annual rainfall of ~150 inches has carpeted the entire forest with ferns and mosses and dense tree create a velvety canopy, making it a sight like no other. Located on the western side of the Olympic Peninsula, Hoh Rainforest is more than a 2 hr drive from Port Angeles, so your best bet is to camp or stay in the La Push area, making La Push beach and the rainforest easily accessible, or at the Hoh Campground, if you intend on spending more time.  There are several short hikes you could take in the rainforest, but here are some you shouldn’t miss and can easily do within a day –

  1. Hall of Mosses Trail 
    • 1 mile loop, easy and accessible to strollers/wheelchairs
    • Beautiful scenery throughout
  2. Hoh River Trail
    • 32 mile train, but we turned around 3-4 miles after hitting the river crossing.
    • Easy trail but some parts may not be stroller friendly.
    • Towering trees, vegetation beautiful scenery all around
  3. Spruce Nature Trail
    • 1.4 mile loop, easy
    • River crossing and lush green riverside meadows.

Here are some pictures that’ll be worth a 1000 words –

Hurricane Ridge 

There’s no better and more accessible spot to view the beautiful glacier-capped Hurricane ranges or Mt Olympus (on a clear day) than this! You can either just drive up to the Hurricane ridge visitor center or go further and take the easy 3-miler Hurricane hill trail, which starts close to the Hurricane Ridge parking lot.  The views from this place were breathtaking, to say the least. Being there just before sunset, gave us picture-perfect lighting, glistening the tree and mountain tops and the rolling fog was cherry on top!

Tiny cabin in a forest
One of my most notable experiences about this trip was my first stay in a tiny cabin. A warm comfy bed, a tiny outdoor kitchen and shower – just the bare minimums but oh so lovely it was! Surrounded by trees from all sides, it seemed like our own private haven! Also, major kudos to our Airbnb host for stocking the cabin up with books and board games, what is one to do in a jungle after dark, amirite? P.S: no wifi or network here, so be prepared to be fully cut off from the world!

If glamping isn’t your thing, then there are few campgrounds that are open all your round, but if visiting in summer, make sure to reserve!

Other notes and tips

While a lot of people also recommended beaches on the Pacific side of the park, we didn’t spend too much time on the coastline, given that we have seen some of the best the Pacific coastline has to offer, in Oregon and California. But if you absolutely wanted to, this blog gives a pretty comprehensive list to choose from.
Not to end this on a sour note, but food is very dear to me and I had to help readers plan better, hence putting this out here – If there was one thing slightly disappointing about ONP, it was the scarcity of food/restaurant options inside the park. Yes, Port Angeles or Forks may have a few decent restaurants, but there are very few notable or reasonably priced options inside the park. We always preferred coming back to Port Angeles for dinners, even if we were hungry hikers.  So, try eating in the town before heading in or carry food along if you are a picky eater.

Red, hot and gorgeous Sedona

Travel Stories, Wanderlust

Is it possible to be eating your burrito bowl or sipping on a Starbucks and getting views like these, unobstructed? If you are in Sedona, the answer is YES!

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This red rock heaven is a perfect little paradise blessed with a constant backdrop of the towering red rock mountains, warm weather, golden sunsets, and most importantly (for me)  – it’s a hiker’s paradise!

We spent 3 days in mid-May, when the sun was a little forgiving and winter had already left the party, leaving behind the perfect late-Spring weather. Our trip was a lil-bit-a-everything – some hiking, lots of chilling in quiet cafes, walking around town, and eating every meal to the warm Sedona breeze and nature’s red rock show. Here’s how we planned/spent our 3 days –

We flew into Phoenix mid-week, spent the night at one of the airport hotels and started the drive to Sedona at around 8:30am, after breakfast. It’s only a 2 hour drive, so you can get there by lunch, unless you make a stop for the Montezuma Castle Monument, which I hear is a good piece of history, if you have some time to spend there. We did not venture there and headed straight into town and had lunch at hidden Italian place, which was aptly named ‘Hideaway House’ – great food, views and cocktails. We weren’t even too hungry when we got there, but licked off their Pizza (topped with goat cheese and dates) within mins. The views like from every restaurant/cafe in Sedona, were gorgeous.

Post lunch, we drove to the Coconino Forest Visitor center and collected the area map to get an idea of trails in the Oak Creek Canyons.

Day 1, hike 1 – West Fork Oak Creek Canyon trail – We had about 3-4 hours mid-afternoon and wanted a covered hike. So we decided to do the West Fork Oak Creek trail, which is a 7 mile (out and back) trail with 13 stream crossings. The best part about the hike, apart from the obvious stream crossings, is that the trail is fully shaded, with lush greens everywhere. You’ll forget that you’re in the middle of a rocky/desert-y landscape. I mean, look at this -:

The river/stream flow wasn’t too strong in May, so the waters were only ankle deep at most crossings, except for one place where you could cool yourself off in this cool little swimhole!

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After 13 crossings, the marked trail ends at the base of the canyon with the beautiful river to cool your tired feet at.

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Few things to note – Parking is limited and $10 per car (even if you have a National Park pass), so plan to be there early or late afternoon, when the early hikers start leaving. Also, carry enough cash, as almost every hiking base/tourist attraction in Sedona WILL charge you around $10 for parking, which isn’t even valid for a day (when in most places, these passes work for a week), which was a disappointment.

It took us about 2.5 hrs to do the 7 mile trail (w/ stops for pictures and hanging out in the swimholes). A 20mins drive later, we were back in Sedona eating dinner at a Thai food place, before heading to Airport Mesa for one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve seen. Please note that the sunset vista point gets very crowded and it’ll be hard to crop those floating heads out of pictures later, so get there 15-20 mins early and grab a good spot. Another thing to note – like everywhere else in Sedona, they’ll charge you 5$ for parking here.

Day 2 – Devil’s Bridge

We decided to conquer the trail which reserves it’s best views for last. It’s only 4.4 miles and there are 3 options to get to Devil’s bridge – all leading to the base of the ‘stairs’ leading to the bridge. The ‘easy’ trail is kinda boring( in my opinion), as there are no views and no shade, until you get to the last 1.8 miles where the stairs to the bridge begin. The ‘moderate’ trail begins at the Mescal trailhead (so make sure you park there, not at the Dry Creek Trailhead parking  lot). The ‘difficult’ trail starts at the Dry Creek trailhead and isn’t too difficult if you are even moderately fit. We are in our early 30s and not in our best shapes, but could easily do the ‘difficult’ route. So, unless you are with very young kids or don’t hike at all, I’d recommend taking the moderate/difficult, as those routes are far more interesting, than the ‘easy’ route.  Just like any other place in Sedona, parking here is tight and paid, so be prepared for battling it.
Carrying a cap/hat/sunscreen/water are must when doing this hike, as the trails aren’t fully shaded, so dehydration will tire you, if not the the trail length/difficulty. We completed the hike in 3 hrs, with about 45 mins spent at the top for pictures and resting. Now, technical/logistical details aside, I must say the end to this trail, i.e. bridge, was the highlight of our entire trip and a makes it a must-do hike when in Sedona! I’ll let the pictures here do the talking 🙂

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We would’ve loved a foot massage or some Spa time after completing this hike, but instead relaxed at a nice Asian restaurant and then strolled around in uptown Sedona. In the evening, we drove to the Crescent moon picnic area to watch the sun set on the Cathedral Rock. We saw the colors change from a bright yellow to a beautiful blood orange and caught it’s reflections in the river, at the foot of Cathedral rock. This vista point was only a 2-3 min walk from the Crescent moon picnic area’s parking lot (not to mention, there’s a 10$ parking fee, which isn’t valid for multiple days).

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Day 3 – Cathedral Rock

I love the kind of mountains/trails that give you the most bang for your buck by being challenging to climb/tread, gain elevations quickly and don’t take up all day to give you the most rewarding views that it can! The Cathedral rock hike checks almost all of the boxes of my ideal hike 🙂 Even if you are remotely tickled by the idea of rock-scrambling, this is an absolute must-do when in Sedona. The best part is the hike is only about 1.2 miles (from the Back-o-beyond parking lot) and gains 500 ft very quickly. It took 25 mins to get to the top and 20 mins down, with 20 mins at the top taking in the views (and pictures, of course) 🙂  The rock scrambling is a tonne of fun and  was very therapeutic to my scramble-loving soul. We did this hike in the morning, but a lot of blogs/pages recommend doing it in late-afternoon/evening as the sun is behind the rock, making the trail fully shaded. Also, the sunset views from the top are one of the best in Sedona, and something one must witness. Here are some pictures from our morning hike –

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Working my way through the rock scrambles

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Spot a human in this picture. Hint: tiny blue dot on the right 😀

Since we had 3 days, we got ample time to relax and unwind and do only one hike each day. But if you’re going for a shorter duration, I’d recommend doing at least the Devil’s Bridge trail, the Cathedral rock trail and catching the sunset from Airport mesa. Or if you are simply stopping over enroute Grand Canyons, just take a patio table on one of their uptown cafe/restaurant, and let the the majestic red rocks mesmerize you with it’s dance of lights and shadows at sunset; you won’t regret it!