Tampa Work Trip

It has been 9 months since I started my new journey here and as always, I'm more than happy to have the opportunity to travel for work. 4th work trip for the year brought me to Tampa, Florida for 3 weeks (Aug 16-Sept 3). Work was kinda monotonous but 4-day work weeks in Florida, I can't really complain...haha! 

Complimentary upgrade to first class for my flight to Tampa on the first week. =) Considering that I don't really fly much for work, I'm happy that I get to maintain my Silver (lowest Medallion status) for the next year. =P

Hello Sunshine State!

My suite for 3 weeks. Most people opted for another hotel but it was perfect for me. Spent most of my time on the study desk and fully utilized the fridge and microwave...lol!


Our office in Tampa.  

For the entire 3 weeks, I had most of my dinners at 2 restaurants...Sa Ri One Korean restaurant (5 min from the hotel) and the hotel's restaurant. The food at the Korean restaurant was good and authentic, that explains why I kept going back for more...haha! Two more reasons why I liked the hotel was because of its proximity to this Korean restaurant and the drink & appetizer voucher at the hotel's restaurant. =P

Kimchi dumplings, jjamppong (Korean spicy seafood noodle soup), bulgolgi pork, bibimbap, yaki mandu (fried dumplings), hameul pajeon (seafood pancake), japchae (stir-fried glass noodle), jajangmyeon (black bean sauce noodle)...Masisseoyo!

Food at the hotel's restaurant was decent but I enjoyed the free appetizer and drink. =P

Tomyum seafood soup, Malaysian char koay teow (not even close, more like Singapore noodles), and pineapple fried rice at Royal Thai Palace.

Sunset view for my flight back on Thursday evenings.

I can't leave Tampa without doing any sightseeing so on the last week, I decided to fly in earlier on Sunday (right after I finished my exam the day before), rented a car from Hertz and spent an afternoon driving around Tampa, St Petersburg, and Clearwater with 2 of my co-workers. 

First stop...the Plant Hall at Tampa University...a National Historic Landmark built in 1891...interesting architecture. When I sent hubby a photo of this building, he asked if I was visiting a mosque...lol!

Tampa riverwalk. To be honest, there's nothing much in downtown Tampa.

Made a trip to Westin Tampa Bay to find out what's so nice about this hotel that most people ditched the Sheraton and stayed here instead...haha! It's all for this view...lol! =P

Next stop...Albert Witted Park and the Dali art museum at St. Petersburg. No, this Dali museum has nothing to do with the town of Dali in Yunnan, China..it's the name of the artist Salvador Dali, which I have absolutely no clue about, pardon my ignorance. =P

St. Pete beach.

Our last stop for the day...Clearwater beach. Had dinner by the beach while waiting for the sunset but it started raining when we were eating so we thought we were out of luck for sunset.

Good thing about the rain in Florida, it comes and go quickly. So happy to see the sun!

Pretty cool that it's so cloudy and dark on one side but on the other side, the sky was still clear for sunset. =)

Goodbye Clearwater...thanks for a pretty sunset!

This is not photoshop, the sky was really so red and cloudy on our way back...kinda scary. All in all, it was a successful day of sightseeing and we pretty much saw all the nice places around this area in one afternoon...mission accomplished! =)