NYC Trip - First Day

At the Cracker Barrel stop

Our first day on the tour was a day of waiting, following rules, and getting to the destination.

Our day started at 7:45am when we left home to get to the pick-up place where we would catch the tour bus. We were a little early and so decided to take in some breakfast at the local Panera Bread. I'm actually glad that we joined another tour company for the trip. This particular trip was full. And all of us "tourists" filled three bus-load of tour buses.

Since this trip required crossing the border, we had to make sure that our passports and US visas were valid.

Our first stop of the day, was the Peace Bridge Duty-Free, before we crossed the US/Canada border. We did a bit of shopping at the place and found some good buys.

Fooling around with the merchandise :-)

After about 45 minutes of shopping, we were on our way. We got to the border at around noon and there was a bit of wait because of traffic going through. Seems like there are a lot of tours happening that week. After we stopped to check in at the border, the whole process was actually a breeze getting through. I suppose everyone had their documentations in order, us included.

Cracker Barrel from the outside

We were off and drove for a bit. Our tour guide decided that we should have at least one good sit-down meal and so we were taken to the Cracker Barrel Restaurant. The Cracker Barrel is a homey chain restaurant serving American comfort food and is situated in Williamsville, NY. It was a nice break from all the "sitting on the bus" since we've been at it since the morning.

And then we were back on the road. We drove a bit and by nightfall, we finally arrived at our destination. Our hotel in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

More about the hotel on the next post.