Eventually, I’m going to get around to start posting the SECRETS OF CARRY-ON TRAVEL series that I’ve been thinking about. You probably know that I don’t check bags; it’s all carry-on, all the time. (Well, except for when I went to Barcelona earlier this year. That was a nightmare. Flying the day after someone tries to blow up a plane is not something I recommend. Carry-ons were banned so we were forced to check luggage, much to my dismay and frustration.)

But anyway, that’s not what I wanted to write about! While in NYC, I tried out 3floz.com, a company that delivers mini toiletries. I wanted to try it in NYC because since the company is based in NYC, they offer same-day courier service. I ordered a bunch of stuff (including the Spa Week kit) while I was sitting around at YYZ, and it was waiting for me in my hotel room in NYC in a cute little box. It came with a TSA-friendly ziploc bag and a bunch of free samples. I was very happy, because how cool is it to get to your hotel and have pretty toiletries all ready and waiting?

3floz.com is awesome if you use higher-end products and don’t want to cart them along with you, or if you just want to try out some fancy stuff on your vacation. Or maybe you just have an obsessive love for all things mini-sized. (Not that I do or anything. Nope. Not at all.)

For the more drugstore-variety toiletries, there’s also Suite Arrival. (Maybe I’ll try them out next time?)

Anything that makes carry-on travel easier and/or more accessible gets a thumbs up from me.

I haven’t meant to neglect you, blog. Especially since I’ve barely just started keeping a blog in the first place!

I just got back from a trip to NYC. I had an amazing time and I got to hang out with some of my favourite people in the world — friends from NYC, London, and Florida. There’s something especially awesome about visiting cities you’ve been to many times before. No expectations. No pressure to do or see anything. Basically we just hung out, ate, and shopped.

Highlights included:

(Ahem. Sorry for the iPhone photos. My camera was a casualty of my last-minute packing strategy.)

Shake Shack: Amazing veggie burger. I didn’t take photos, but seriously, just google “Shake Shack veggie burger” to view some deliciousness. FRIED MUSHROOM AND MELTY CHEESE ON A BUN! Thanks to Wes for telling me to eat here.

EN Japanese Brasserie: The handmade tofu is so, so good. I’m biased because I love tofu, but even the tofu haters in the group were scooping this stuff up. ALSO, Yoko Ono was sitting at the next table over. If Yoko approves, it has to be decent Japanese food, right?

15 East: There’s something you should probably know about me. My dining choices are almost exclusively Asian. If restaurant-choosing is left up to me, I will pretty much always pick an Asian restaurant*. This place was nice fancy Japanese. I had the seaweed tasting, which was really cool. (Eleven kinds of seaweed!) If you ever go here, get the tako yawarakani appetizer. YUM. I’ve never had octopus with a texture like that. It was utterly un-chewy and tender. Lastly, I had the tuna flight, which was five different kinds of tuna sushi. Like wine, it’s interesting to taste a bunch of different kinds of the same thing. Especially when the thing is buttery perfect tuna. Sigh.

* This didn’t work so well in Paris. Sushi in Paris was a bad idea.

Centro Vinoteca: Truffled deviled eggs. That is all.

Madame Geneva: Why don’t we have bars like this in Toronto? You have to walk through a HIDDEN DOOR in a restaurant to get here! It’s probably a big fire hazard! The drinks are really good!

We went to a bunch of other bars but I can’t tell you about them because I don’t remember any of them. They served alcohol. I drank it. The end.

Vynl: The kitschy diner chain I always seem to find myself at in NYC. The food is surprisingly good. We were there for brunch this time, and I had the crab cake benedict. It was probably my second favourite eggs benedict of all time. (Number one? The lobster benedict at the Wynn in Las Vegas.)

Okay, am I writing about food and drinks too much? THIS IS NOT A FOOD BLOG.

What about shopping? I bought a new bag. The Marc by Marc Jacobs Hillier, a bag I’ve wanted for awhile. I have kind of an ridiculous obsession with MBMJ bags. I have a lot of them. (I mean, I’m not anywhere close to the Purse Forum people with their 28349238492348234 bags, but you know. How many bags does one person need? A lot, apparently.)

One of my favourite stores is Uniqlo. The only one in North America! Uniqlo is everywhere in London and Tokyo (including in a subway station), and I wish they’d come to Canada. Clearly, I wear a lot of black.

The best part of the trip was just getting to hang out with my favourite people. This a hotel room balcony at the Hudson Hotel. (It’s crazy — the balcony was huge and probably just as big as the room itself.) The boyfriend and I stayed at the 6 Columbus down the street. They gave us a free upgrade and I definitely liked this hotel better than the Thompson hotel we stayed at in DC.

I was sad to leave, but happy to get a random upgrade at the gate at EWR on Air Canada. A super short flight, but still nice, of course. Unfortunately, the flight was really bumpy (well, that’s not the unfortunate part — I love turbulence!) so there was no drink service in economy and no cheese plate for me! Tragic!

I need to go to NYC more often. I miss it already!

(Next week: San Francisco. The week after: Chicago.)