Tag: travel

Family Vacation | LA, Cruise & Vegas

Leave a comment

The rest of my family finally visited me after moving to LA for almost a year! Of course our first stop was Disneyland!

View this post on Instagram

Samson #squad . . . plus Matt. 😅 #TBT

A post shared by Jess Samson (@jann_bam) on

2016-05-21 19.13.42

Dinner at Blue Bayou2016-05-21 19.34.55

Slow-roasted Beef Strip Loin

2016-05-21 19.34.48

Royal Street Seafood Jambalaya

2016-05-21 20.55.45

World of Color Show at California Adventure

2016-05-21 21.23.22

The next day we were cruise bound, so of course I made Matt recreate my favorite movie!

 

Our first stop was Catalina Island

2016-05-23 09.55.45

And we trusted my dad to drive us around in a golf cart

2016-05-23 10.58.53-12016-05-23 10.58.182016-05-23 11.00.44-12016-05-23 12.13.04

Gelato from Scoops Ice Cream

2016-05-23 20.01.37-1

Birthday dinner on the cruise!

SECOND STOP – MEXICO

2016-05-24 11.08.54

13316816_2040121846212243_8330249455286218022_o2016-05-24 12.20.11

We basically ate a ton on the cruise. 😂

13319996_2040825182808576_6226505451225678580_n

2016-05-27 13.12.55

And when we finally landed I took my family to my favorite brunch place BeaBea’s before we headed to Vegas!

2016-05-28 13.18.17

13263702_2041352776089150_7382849461887579106_n

2016-05-28 15.03.07

Shut it down at the buffet at Caesar’s Palace

2016-05-29 11.54.46

And finally got to try Mon Ami Gabi

13321943_2041352886089139_2230526189345781495_n

And that wraps up the family vacation!

Advertisement

Eating through LAS/LAX

2 Comments

After a few hours in Vegas, we apparently rewarded ourselves with a sushi burrito.

 

And we managed to make room for oxtail chili cheese fries from Bachi Burger.

And finally crossed off Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles from the bucket list.

And waited for Egg Slut again (still so good).

And ate some In N Out along the way

And shared one last meal with Lane at Bea Bea’s

And found come comfort food at Toro Sushi Poke House

Kristine visited so we got lobster rolls at Knuckle & Claw

2016-03-27 11.37.26

Bloody Mary from Brick + Mortar

Donuts from Sidecar

2016-04-07 20.51.04

Tom kha soup from The Rustic Spoon

Up next – Coachella and then I think I’m all caught up!!!

A Long Weekend in Hawaii!

Leave a comment

I was lucky enough to go back to Hawaii to not only pick up the rest of my stuff, but to also do some of my favorite things while I was there!

2016-02-12 14.08.27.jpg

First stop: Ono Seafood for their half miso and half spicy tuna poke bowl!

I won a free voucher for Grondin when I still lived there so we put it to good use!

We also got cocoa puffs from Liliha Bakery because why not?

We then had my favorite chicken and waffles from The Nook

2016-02-13 12.52.00.jpg

And then we did the Pillboxes Hike in Lanikai

And rewarded ourselves with my favorite shave ice from Uncle Clay’s House of Pure Aloha

Matt treated me to probably the best meal of my life with the 8 course Valentine’s Day dinner at Chef Mavro

And we somehow managed to go to brunch at Orchids the next day

It was seriously AMAZING.

And hung out in Waikiki for the rest of the day.

And for one last meal we ate at my favorite brunch spot Cinnamon’s and had crab cakes eggs benedict, guava chiffon pancakes, and shoyu pork loco moco.

2016-02-15 12.37.52.jpg

 And then it was back to LA 😢

Day 5 in South Africa -Getting Good Use Out of the Selfie Stick

Leave a comment

We booked a tour that would take us around the coast/areas that the red bus didn’t cover. Below is a view of the 12 Apostles in South Africa.

2015-12-31 08.19.33-1.jpg

2015-12-31 08.19.44-1.jpg

2015-12-31 08.21.53.jpg

And then we were taken to places where we could take more fun selfies & see more pretty ocean.2015-12-31 09.10.37.jpg

2015-12-31 09.00.18-1.jpg

On the way to the Cape of Good Hope there are a ton of baboons.

2015-12-31 10.07.50.jpg

2015-12-31 10.13.18-1-1.jpg

It was a pretty foggy day.

2015-12-31 10.53.23-1.jpg

And then we went to Boulders Beach to see the penguins!

2015-12-31 12.17.30.jpg2015-12-31 12.17.44-12015-12-31 12.18.322015-12-31 12.19.292015-12-31 12.23.00-12015-12-31 12.28.23

And then we had lunch in Kalk Bay

2015-12-31 13.27.282015-12-31 13.45.17

I’ve never had so much hake fish in my life

2015-12-31 14.22.06

There’s a seal down there!2015-12-31 15.09.56.jpg

We then went wine tasting afterward and visited Bo Kaap afterward!

2015-12-31 16.34.30.jpg

2015-12-31 16.37.34.jpg

2015-12-31 16.46.30.jpg

Didn’t take too many other photos afterward, but we ended our last night in Cape Town over looking the entire city and watching the fireworks on New Year’s Eve!

2015-12-31 22.24.542016-01-01 00.00.59.jpg

And that finishes our trip and continent 5/7 to South Africa!

Day 4 in South Africa – Elephant Butt Selfies & Table Dancing During Dinner

Leave a comment

The safari was about 2 hours away, so we stopped at a rest stop – how fun are these Simba chips?!

2015-12-30 07.25.20

When you first arrive, you’re greeted with champagne & breakfast buffet (my kinda place ;))

2015-12-30 08.25.032015-12-30 08.40.14

And there are peacocks walking around during breakfast

2015-12-30 09.17.45-12015-12-30 09.18.50

Killing time before the safari

2015-12-30 09.21.36

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elephants!2015-12-30 10.26.36-12015-12-30 10.27.21-12015-12-30 10.30.53-1

2015-12-30 10.33.45

2015-12-30 11.09.58

2015-12-30 11.10.50-4

Rhino!

2015-12-30 11.12.22-12015-12-30 11.15.122015-12-30 11.18.18

And then we stopped for another champagne break 😅

2015-12-30 11.34.48

2015-12-30 11.35.252015-12-30 11.36.09

The lions were not having it.

2015-12-30 11.59.50-12015-12-30 12.02.042015-12-30 12.02.522015-12-30 12.04.322015-12-30 12.07.17

And then we saw some zebras & giraffes!

2015-12-30 12.14.182015-12-30 12.18.042015-12-30 12.22.102015-12-30 12.26.17

And then they fed us again afterward! Just in time as it started raining.

2015-12-30 13.25.00

We attempted to go to Table Mountain again, and I got a little grumpy so Matt got me an ice cream cone. He knows the perfect way to cheer me up.

2015-12-30 18.28.22-1

We had dinner at this really cool place called Stardust! We were able to snag last minute reservations and sat on scooters.

2015-12-30 19.44.232015-12-30 19.44.32-12015-12-30 19.49.42-12015-12-30 20.11.152015-12-30 21.22.002015-12-30 21.22.26-1

The food was delicious and we had such a fun time seeing all the different musical numbers! Oh, and seeing everyone start dancing on tables towards the end of the night.

Day 2 in South Africa – Robben Island, Kirstenbosch, & the Rest of the Red Bus Tour

Leave a comment

The next day we woke up bright and early to head over to Robben Island2015-12-28 09.33.322015-12-28 09.51.272015-12-28 09.58.37-1

Once you’re there, you’re lead on a tour by one of the ex-politcal prisoners who spent time there.
2015-12-28 10.24.09-1

Nelson Mandela’s jail cell

2015-12-28 10.35.56

2015-12-28 11.21.42

View from around the island

Matt somehow managed to deal with all the pictures I took.

2015-12-28 11.45.46.jpg

And because I like to jam pack our days with activities, I made us get on one of those hop on hop off tour buses.

2015-12-28 14.19.00.jpg2015-12-28 14.35.25

And we got off at Kirstenbosch since I really wanted to go on the tree canopy walkway

2015-12-28 15.01.432015-12-28 15.09.04

I was really excited to finally walk on that bridge!

2015-12-28 15.09.38-12015-12-28 15.13.072015-12-28 15.15.00-1-1

And we toured the gardens as well!

2015-12-28 15.23.512015-12-28 15.24.28

The bus was super nice to just sit down on and have them take you around the Cape Town area.

2015-12-28 16.51.03-12015-12-28 16.52.59

2015-12-28 16.47.58-1.jpg

And then we had a super delicious dinner at Kalfi’s Restaurant in Frranschoek. I had so much hake fish and shrimp when I was there. 😅

A Very Late Recap of Day 1 in Cape Town

Leave a comment

After a 19 hour flight from NYC, we finally arrived in Capetown, South Africa!

 

I was so excited to land in Cape Town I took these pictures that I didn’t know what I took pictures of on the taxi ride over.

2015-12-27 12.58.41

One of the menus at the food market at the waterfront

2015-12-27 15.51.32

The view from where we ate was really cool and we shared a kebab with a bunch of different meat on the stick (believe it or not there’s alligator and wild boar on there!)

2015-12-27 15.57.57

2015-12-27 15.57.462015-12-27 15.57.41

We also decided to ride that giant ferris wheel. And we put my selfie stick to good use.

2015-12-27 19.27.06-1.jpg2015-12-27 19.28.26-1.jpg

This was pretty much the view at 7pm!

2015-12-27 18.10.44.jpg

2015-12-27 18.16.55.jpg

2015-12-27 18.17.10.jpg

And I found my first elephant!

2015-12-27 16.47.35.jpg

 And we had this really epic dinner at Dash Restaurant

 

And that concludes day 1 in Cape Town!

 

December in LA

Leave a comment

A few of my friends from NY visited me last December and we jam packed their weekend here!

Holidays at The Grove

A ton of tacos at Mondo Taco

 

2015-12-06 16.44.09

2015-12-06 21.22.41

Fun times at Disney California Adventure

And had an epic breakfast at Bea Bea’s

I also treated Lane out for burgers on her birthday at Eden Burger Bar

2015-12-18 23.29.48

And Kristine randomly visited so we got $2 ice cream sandwiches from Diddy Riese

2015-12-20 13.44.222015-12-20 13.44.30

And we had an epic brunch at Granville Cafe

Up next – my trip to South Africa (finally!)

Somewhere in Between San Diego & Las Vegas

Leave a comment

Because my best friend and I were crazy last fall, we went to San Diego and Las Vegas in back-to-back weekends.

Our first mandatory stop was Oscar’s in Pacific Beach.

12106098_1635778783378654_787444363_n.jpg

And had to watch the sunset from the beach.

2015-10-24 17.45.32.jpg

And had late night carne asada fries.

11254735_1514173345570719_690518802_n.jpg

And somewhere in between the workweek I had more Olive & Thyme and tried their whipped ricotta cheese toast with pistachios and honey.

12063209_106644793031446_1375327582_n.jpg

The next weekend the girls and I shared an epic late night meal at Hash House a Go Go.

12132857_184081498598429_605820350_n.jpg

And somehow managed to eat breakfast the next morning.

2015-10-31 14.03.47

I also never get to have Filipino food anymore so a good “silog” breakfast was perfect.

2015-10-31 20.17.34

Hot n Juicy Crawfish wasn’t the best idea before a night out, but I regret nothing.

2015-10-31 23.48.52

And we actually dressed up for Halloween that year!

More LA adventures are up next!