It's been a little while since I last posted and I apologise for that! I've been struggling with ideas on what to write about. I was going to write about New York the moment I booked it two weeks ago, but I actually booked New York to surprise my dad, so by blogging about it, it would have kinda given it away...
Since I can remember, the ultimate dream was to go to New York. It's everything I love about the world. Big buildings, bright lights, amazing scenes... Not so much the rude New Yorkers. My dad was travelling America for the month and his last stop was going to be New York and I was gutted that he was going to go to the place I've always wanted to go and me not be there.
Whilst at work one day I literally just thought to myself, "fuck it... I'm going to go". So with the trusty app, Skyscanner, I searched for flights and found a (cheap-ish) one for £350 with a connecting flight to Switzerland. Luckily the time to stay in Switzerland was only 2 hours, so it wasn't too much into my travelling time.
The build up to going was pretty nerve wracking. I've never been on a plane alone before and I'm not actually the best of flyers either. I was lucky enough to get a window seat on the way there, no good it done because the plane was proper uncomfortable, but the food wasn't too bad.
On Sunday 16th, I was up at 3am (only having 2 hours sleep due to a You Me At Six gig the day before - amazing show btw) and in the taxi by 4am, heading towards Heathrow Terminal 2. The plane departed at 7am and with the connecting flight, I landed in New York around 2pm. I was lucky enough to have a friend who lived in Brooklyn and so I stayed there with her and spent the days hunting down and spending time with my dad.
My dad flew in around 7pm and got to his hotel for 9pm, which is where I then surprised him, only to get the response, "What are you doing here?!". It was only a brief surprise as from there I went back with Helaena and told dad I'd start New York with him properly the next day.
I wont spoil much about the sights because it is very much a thing for you to go out, explore and enjoy for yourselves, but if I had to give you two places that I found the most amazing of them all, that would be Ground Zero and the Rockefeller. The Rockefeller is the best out of that and the Empire State because you can actually see the Empire State from the Rockefeller!
It was the most amazing short time I had there and I SOMEHOW managed to squeeze everything in that I could possibly want to do. It was almost like a dream being up the top of the Rockefeller and looking at everything that I had been waiting to see for the longest time possible. Spending the evenings with Helaena and talking about Gossip Girl just made me be even more excited to be in the city.
We hunted down 'The Empire' hotel and went to the top to drink cocktails - very chuck bass.
To summarise my time in the 'Big Apple', it was an absolutely insane and amazing trip that I can't believe I even had the balls to do alone. Even the subway was awesome! Not as good as the underground... Ours is a little easier to understand, I think.
Here's a couple of tips/warnings that I feel would be handy for you to keep in mind whilst you're out there:
- New Yorkers are pretty god damn rude - it is a rarity that someone will be nice to you unless they hear you talk.
- The water in the toilet is really high up. If you get drunk and are sick in the toilet... Expect splash back.
- The doors for the toilet are tiny and you can easily see round them with the gaps they have everywhere, so expect to be seen.
- Look both ways when crossing the road because it is easy to forget that they drive on the wrong side of the road
- My Google maps was my saviour. I was lucky enough to have free data roaming and saved a crazy £2,800 because of this.
- If you're on the network '3', you will also get free data roaming - well done you for choosing a great mobile network.
- More money is better than no money. Bring loads.
I definitely plan to go back there (hopefully next year) and this time actually spend a long time out there and bring far more money than I did this time. It is a worth it place to go. Things almost don't seem real... The buildings look far to big and you just wonder how such places are built or even exist. I must say, however, that in my personal opinion, the Statue of Liberty was a tad disappointing and if you were running low on time, I'd say that push that to the bottom of the list - she really isn't that big at all.
And Helaena, if you are reading this... Thank you so much for all the help you gave me, all the places you showed me and for giving me a place to stay. You're absolute amazing and I hope you enjoy the rest of the time you have out there! I look forwards to seeing you back in England *inserts massive love heart*.
New York, we will meet again.
No comments:
Post a Comment