October 20, 2016 - Remembering Old Pay Telephones & Welcoming New Free Wi-Fi Kiosks in NYC AND LONDON

Elisa's Daily Scoop
NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: NOT SURE YET

New Free Wi-Fi Kiosks

Good day!  

How is your week going?  Mine has been pretty good - I have to say, starting from the weekend, through the beginning of the week, there's been many things going on - but all good!

Yesterday I went on a shopping excursion with Kelsey.  She had received gift cards for her birthday last month and we both thought it was high time we spent them! lol.

And that's precisely what we did!

But before we hit the stores, we made our way to the mall's new food court.  Famished, we both couldn't eat fast enough.  

I got a falafel salad from Moaz Vegetarian and Kelsey ordered her usual chicken nuggets and fries from Wendy's. 

Once our tanks were full, it was time to do some shopping damage at a few of Kelsey's favorite stores - Justice, Nordstrom and JC Penney.

Heading up the escalator towards the food court (c)travelincousins.com

(c)travelincousins.com

Moaz Vegetarian Salad Toppers (c)travelincousins.com

Mall Selfie - Mommy & Kelsey (c)travelincousins.com

Trying on her new boots (c)travelincousins.com

New black boots (c)travelincousins.com

After some heavy-duty shopping, we headed for some much-deserved sweets!! 

Kelsey was stoked for mini cupcakes at Baked by Melissa.  These mini delights are absolutely adorable!!

I treated myself to a "Muscle Builder" smoothie with vanilla frozen yogurt, strawberries, banana and peanut butter. YUM!!

Kelsey with her prized Baked by Melissa trio of mini cupcakes (c)travelincousins.com

Trio of mini Cupcakes!! (c)travelincousins.com

At Bananas Smoothie Bar (c)travelincousins.com

"Muscle Builder" Smoothie

Eating Away!! (c)travelincousins.com

Empty Container! (c)travelincousins.com

Today, is going to be another shopping day.

The girls need a bunch of stuff for their Halloween Show at the barn next weekend.

We'll be making a number of stops today to get costume materials for both the kids and the horses, so we'll be visiting AC Moore and Joanne's Fabric Store.

Additionally, Gianna has her first 7th Grade dance and pre-dance party prior to it.

So, part of our shopping excursion today includes a trip to DSW Shoe Warehouse to find shoes for her new dress!

I already cooked dinner so we can just eat peacefully when we get home later.


SAYING GOODBYE TO THE OLD AND WELCOMING THE NEW ON THROWBACK THURSDAY

Old Pay phone kiosks (rootzwiki.com)

Who remembers pay phones - well it wasn't that long ago that they lined the streets of New York and every other city around the world.

Ah - an era gone by.  But, what about all the old pay phone kiosks - what happened to them?

Well, a few years ago, the city of New York said they were going to take those old kiosks and turn the in to Wi-Fi Hotspots.

According to the NYC Mayor's office, that plan is being put into action and becoming a reality.

Back in January (2016), the city officially launched the LinkNYC program that began replacing thousands of dilapidated pay-phone kiosks with Wi-Fi hotspots.

LinkNYC are nine-foot-tall towers being used as hotspots offering free Wi-Fi, the fastest in the world at one gigabit. It's 100 times faster than most public Wi-Fi.

New Wi-Fi kiosks in NYC converted from old pay-phone kiosks (wnyc.org)

(link.nyc.com)

The city started testing 14 of these hotspots along Third Avenue with 500 hotspots across the city by July and the plan is to have 7,500 of the old booths across the five boroughs converted into hotspots providing fast, free WiFi service by the year 2025.

The new kiosks include free Wi-Fi, domestic calling, charging ports, a 911 button, and a tablet to access the web.

Each Wi-Fi hotspot will cover about a 150-foot radius and offer super-fast, one-gigabit-per-second service.    

Althought many people have Wi-Fi service on their devices, these hotspots are meant to assist those that have limited service and for tourists visiting our fair city!
​
Boy how things have changed!!  To see a list of NYC  Free WiFi Hotspots, CLICK HERE.

I feel old!!

Have a wonderful Day!!

-E
xoxo

Tanya's Daily Scoop
NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: 2 DAYS

Theme color for the day is RED

HELLO FOLKS!

​I'm happy to announce that I did indeed finish unpacking and that I am pretty much packed for this next trip to lovely Mendocino. 

I also am super thrilled to have a new manicure and to be donning a great fall color!

And after getting my manicure, Dave and I headed to the mall. We had seen a pair of shoes online that we both figured I needed in my shoe collection!

Since the price was right I had called ahead to have them placed on hold, they had my size, and so we headed on over to pick them up!

Credit: windsorstore.com

Honestly, what girl couldn't use a pair of Red Hot Patent Pumps?!

However, you might say that I am kinda swimming in shoe boxes these days and I think I might be in need of a shoe closet...

Credit: Stilettomeup.xyz

If only...right?!

Anyhow, how funny is it that Elisa is chatting about pay phones. I was just having a conversation with my mom about pay phones just yesterday!
And since the use of personal cell phones that have taken over there really is hardly a need and that you barely ever see them around anymore.

However when you are outside of the city and/or outside the country, you definitely still see the presence of good 'ol  pay phones. However, I'm not quite sure the kids these days would even know how to use them.

I actually got a kick out of some of the random locations that I've spotted the famous RED London telephone boxes in London of course, but then also just about everywhere and anywhere while traveling throughout the Outer Hebrides of Scotland and other off the beaten path locations!

London (c)travelincousins.com

Off the beaten path in the UK (c)travelincousins.com

Off the beaten path in the UK (c)travelincousins.com

And as Elisa has mentioned that NYC is transforming the old pay phone booths to free wifi booths - it seems that they are slightly behind the times, since London has had these in use for years now.
​Funny how within that country (the UK) they use both the old school famous telephone boxes both for phones and for free wifi!  ​

Iconic London (c)travelincousins.com

New age London (c)travelincousins.com

We even found a mock-up RED telephone box while exploring Universal Studios in Orlando just last week.

Universal Studios in Orlando (c)travelincousins.com

​And btw my kiddos are both pretty stoked about our upcoming Spring trip to London!

Universal Studios in Orlando (c)travelincousins.com

Now how about a wee bit of Mendocino and San Francisco TBT (Throwback Thursday) fun in pics...

Mendocino 2009 (c)travelincousins.com

San Francisco 2010 (c)travelincousins.com

San Francisco 2011 (c)travelincousins.com

San Francisco 2012 (c)travelincousins.com

Related reading:
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How many tries before you can ride a Zeppelin?

Mendocino 2013 (c)travelincousins.com

Mendocino 2014 (c)travelincousins.com

San Francisco 2015 (c)travelincousins.com

Well folks that's about it for today.
I hope that you've enjoyed my tiny little trip down memory lane in Mendocino and San Francisco. Perhaps it got you amped about my next trip which will take us back up to lovely Mendocino!

Until tomorrow,
​-T