2015 Travel Year In Review

Well, it's the last day of 2015, and we've had another amazing year. Click here for the 2014 recap.

Since my father's an Asian math nerd, according to his excel spreadsheet, I have:

1. Flown approximately 33,825 miles this year (vs. 51,422 last year)
2. Taken 23 flight segments (vs. 26 last year) with only 2 longer than 8 hours
3. Flown out of 14 airports (vs. 16 last year)
4. On 2 different airlines (vs. 6 last year)
5. Traveled to 4 foreign countries (vs. 6 last year)
6. Earned United Silver status

The biggest takeaways were that we really decided to stay "local" this year oftentimes driving instead of flying. Further, unlike 2013 and 2014, we only left the country a few times in 2015. Once was a spring break to Cancun. Then we had our annual trip to visit extended family Israel (stopping in Belgium on the way home). The other was our early Christmas trip to Costa Rica a few weeks ago.

On the hotel side, we have:

1. Stayed 52 nights in hotels this year
2. Across 20 different cities
3. In 14 unique hotel brands

Our most frequent brand was Westin (18 nights across Orlando, suburban Chicago, Cancun, Kansas City and Scottsdale). We re-qualified for Starwood Platinum status, and matched to Hyatt Diamond and Hilton Diamond statuses for 2016. And we didn't realize until just now that this year we went to see baseball games at the stadiums for each of the World Series teams, the Kansas City Royals and the New York Mets.

 So as we close out the year, here's a photo snapshot of our favorite lapchild adventures this year.

That 70's Vacation - Garbage Plates

Years ago, my father's college roommate told him about these "magical" meals called Garbage Plates from his hometown of Rochester, NY.

To put it bluntly, the Rochester garbage plates were the kind of late night diner food that caters to cheap college students, truck drivers and degenerates.

According to Wikipedia, a Garbage Plate is "a combination of two selections of cheeseburger, hamburger, red hots, white hots, Italian sausage, chicken tender, fish (haddock), fried ham, grilled cheese, or eggs; and two sides of either home fries, French fries, baked beans, or macaroni salad. On top of that are the options of mustard and onions, and Nick's proprietary hot sauce, a sauce with spices and slowly simmered ground beef. The dish is served with Italian bread and butter on the side. Health.com named the Garbage Plate the fattiest food in the state of New York."

So to order a proper Garbage Plate, you first pick the main protein (i.e., cheeseburger) and two sides (i.e., fries and macaroni salad). Then the plate is covered in "hot sauce" which is similar to ground beef chili meat that you find on a Skyline Chili Dog. You add ketchup and/or buffalo wing sauce and go to town.

My father had been thinking about this "local delicacy" for years, but just never found himself in that part of Upstate Western NY. So it was his plan to drive into Rochester on our way to Niagara Falls on the Friday before Labor Day.

However, as we passed the Rochester area along I-90 West, my father looked in the rear view mirror and saw my mother and me passed out in the back. Not wanting to wake us up just to take us to a random dive restaurant, he kept driving towards Niagara Falls where we'd spend Friday night. Instead, he planned to stop by on the drive back home to NYC on Monday.

Unfortunately, he forgot that Monday was Labor Day and many businesses would be closed for the holiday. Plus, given the type of restaurants that serve Garbage Plates, they didn't exactly have real time updates on their company websites.

He would have called, but (a) we were in Canada so phone calls would be expensive and (b) the hotel had horrible in-room wifi, so Skype was out out well. So then he took to Twitter.

After finding the Twitter handles, he first tweeted to the original Garbage Plate restaurant, Nick Tahou's. Unfortunately, they were closed for Labor Day.

Then he tried Dogtown. Also closed.

But on the third try, he found Steve T's Hots. Apparently, Steve T was the 2nd location of Nick Tahou's but after a family dispute, they separated. Of course, there's nothing proprietary about fast food meat with fries and sauce, so they had as authentic a garbage plate as anywhere else.

Not only was Steve T active online and social media, but they were open 24/7 including Labor Day!

So my father's dream was preserved and we had an ambitious (if not dangerous) plan to have a 10AM breakfast at Steve T Hots (2260 Lyell Ave, Rochester, NY 14606) and hope that it didn't have ramifications on his stomach for the 6 hour drive back to Manhattan.

We left Niagara Falls around 9AM and made it to Rochester in just under an hour. Located on a relatively commercial street, Steve T was a standalone building on the corner with a small parking lot upfront. It was pretty much as we'd expected.

We were one of three other cars, and we walked in knowing exactly what we wanted to order. My father would have a garbage plate, while my mother wanted a regular egg sandwich and a hot dog for little old me.

It was staffed by just one man who took your order, grilled up your food and operated the register. My father correctly suspected they weren't going to take credit cards, so he came prepared with cash. The menu seemed large, but it was all just different versions of a Garbage Plate.

My father (almost drooling) placed his order, trying his hardest to sound like a local and not a fanboy who dreamt about this meal for 15 years: "Give me a cheeseburger plate with mac salad and fries, extra everything."

Made to order, the food came out in about 10 minutes and my father did his best to maintain composure while he took a photo before devouring his long-awaited feast.

As my mother says, my father has never looked so happy.

That 70's Vacation - Niagara-On-The-Lake

A lesser known "secret" destination near Niagara Falls is called Niagara-On-The-Lake (NOTL), a charming little town 30 minutes north of the Falls surrounded by vineyards.

Of course, with my father driving, getting anywhere can be quite an adventure.

Since we had a car, we decided to drive up to NOTL. It seemed simple enough - just drive north on Stanley Avenue until we reached Route 405 where we'd head towards the US bridge, then turn north along the river.

Well, we were fine on Stanley Avenue, but then as we approached Route 405, my father mis-read the GPS map and actually go ONTO the highway, instead of the small access road alongside it. Look closely as the map below.

As a result, we ended up on a one way (no exit) highway towards the Queenston Lewiston Bridge - the one BACK TO AMERICA. Normally, it wouldn't have been a big deal, but we left our passports at our hotel!

Even though we made a U-Turn before actually getting onto the bridge (staying on Canadian soil), we still had to go back through Canadian Immigration.

Apologizing profusely, my father explained to the Immigration officer that we had gotten onto the 405 on our way to NOTL. "Didn't you see the signs?" he asked my pathetic father.

"No, I was just following our GPS."

After rolling his eyes, he took our driver's licenses and punched a few things into his computer. It must have checked out as we were permitted back into Canada.

Eventually, we found the small access road and then made it to NOTL with just 20 minutes before our 12:30PM lunch reservation at Treadwell Farm to Table Restaurant. As we drove along the main road entering the downtown area, we noticed how colorfully decorated the street was with beautiful floral arrangements.

As we struggled to find street parking, my father told my mother and me to head to the restaurant as he would continue to search for parking. My mother was given the street address (114 Queen Street), and we separated from my father. Normally, this divide and conquer plan wouldn't have been an issue, except that we were without our cell phone data plans to access the internet or our GPS maps.

My father eventually found parking down by the Lake. He then walked back past the NOTL park, towards Queen Street where all the shops and cafes were located. He hustled past tourists and eventually found a sign for Treadwell.

Fortunately, he arrived in time to keep our lunch reservation. Unfortunately, he had beaten my mother and me there. We were nowhere to be found! While my father took his seat, he started to worry if my mother would find the restaurant without the help of her iPhone data plan.

Of course, my mother and I eventually showed up, and were able to enjoy the best meal we had on our trip and definitely the best service we've possibly ever had.

The brunch menu was so amazing. For an appetizer, my parents and I enjoyed a charcuterie plate with local cured meats, fresh greens and crispy pork skins.

My parents ordered me the Smoked Bacon Pancake, which my mother agreed was one of the most delicious things we've ever had.

My father had an East Coast Lobster “Club” on Duck Fat Fried Bread.

My mother enjoyed her Crispy Skin North Atlantic Mackerel Filet with Fingerling Potato Salad.

But the best part (for me anyway), was our amazing server who was so professionally trained. First, she brought me some crayons and coloring books as she took our opening drink order. A nice touch, but nothing out of the ordinary in my limited experience. But after our entrees were cleared, she then offered me a trip to the kitchen where I could meet the dessert chefs and receive a complimentary scoop of sorbet! I told my father to tip her very well.