Beautiful Portland USA 1 – flight and hotel

Due to BlytheCon 2011 which happened last monday on the 20th June 2011, I had the chance to experience beautiful Portland in USA! Heartfelt thanks to the lovely Blythe people who made this trip possible! :)

It was my first time in Portland and I wasn’t sure what to expect, except I hear great things about it from people who visited it before :) I was very lucky that I had Jade (bluestarbaby on flickr/bluestardolls blog)  who was able to take me around to places she had been to, and she was awesome to room and share food with :P

We claimed airmiles for our tickets, but the times were a bit weird, we had to get up super early to catch our flight >_<

I had to fill up a form to get a USA visa — thankfully it lasts for a couple years so I don’t have to do it again if I travel within the period… These pictures are taken after we checked in our luggage, we had to pay $20 each way for our check in ^^; We were amused to see a “Christmas” shop!

Sneaking in a Blythe shot :P

or 2?

Jade is a good photographer(bluestarbaby on flickr/bluestardolls blog), I enjoy her photos ^o^ I’m looking forward to see her photos when she get back lol (She’s away on a family trip at the moment :3)

We took a small plane which meant it take a lot less time to have everyone on board ^o^ The ride itself was about an hour plus-ish, we were so excited we kinda chatted all the way to Portland, hopefully we did not disturb the other travelers. ^^;

ittekimasu!

A morning flight is good I guess, the view was stunning!

Photos did not do the view justice!

I believe the mountain is Mt. Baker?

Below is a crater, not sure which it is ^^;

Check in luggage checked out

Cool revolving door allow luggage and bikes to come out touchless ^^

The Max light rail station is outside the airport to our right when we exited. :3

We bought our tickets before we left the airport thru the revolving doors… it cost $2.05 usd to get to the station we need ^^

The really neat thing about this transit system is that within a certain part of the city, you get to ride for free!

It took about an hour (a bit less probably) to reach our stop.

We were lucky we arrived on a nice day! I took some pictures thru the windows.

After we arrived to our stop, we started walking towards Ace Hotel Portland.

We were surprised to see some street vendors as we walk along. ^^

After walking for a little bit, we reached our hotel! We were lucky our room was ready when we arrived so we could check in as we got there ^o^!

Tadaima!

Bright, nice and clean room on the 4th floor ^o^ we did not dare to sleep on the top bunk tho!  We were very lucky to have this room, as apparently our other friends who are staying at Ace did not have such a colourful and relatively quiet room! :)

One thing I want to take note/remember: We found a slip of paper which showed some pricing of the items in the room, and next to water, was blank we felt unsure so I called the front desk (at about 1 am), we were told by someone (forgot to get the name) that water was free, BUT when we checked out we were told by the lady at the front desk that bottled water wasn’t free o_o; but she waived the cost of the bottled water we drank over the 5 days, I hope they get that clarified/resolved with their staffing ^^;/

We do not have our own bathroom, but we are sharing a bathroom with a couple other rooms in the same floor :) It’s a little cheaper than the regular room as we were on a budget :P

I slept under the bunk bed, and Jade slept next to the window ^^ The bedside lamp was made such that it won’t disturb the others, which was perfect if we slept at different times.

The stairways on the top floor has some really cool mural art, we were so distracted on the first day that we joking said we’ll never get out of the hotel as there are so many photo opportunities! We had a little trouble trying to get on the free wifi in Ace at our room tho…

Funny sign in the elevator :P

One of the shared bathrooms ^^ This bathroom was huge! I could do a cartwheel inside I think lol! It is also kept rather clean throughout our stay :)

Had to wait a while for the water to heat up lol, I would suggest before jumping in, turn the water to the hottest and wait, when it warms up, turn it down to the temperature you like before stepping in ^^; (let’s say I learnt from experience LOL)

(to be con’t)