First, I present to you the first instalment of the NYC 2012 blogs – a collection of some of my favourite memories and places: The Best of NYC 2012!
It’s honestly a little hard to wrap my head around writing about my NYC trip in July because it was just THAT amazing. Let me put this a bit more into perspective for you – you know that question that people ALWAYS ask.. “if you had all the money in the world, where would you travel to?” Ever since I could remember, my answer was always New York Freakin City. It was the trip I had always dreamed of going on. To wake up in the city that never sleeps (found out it actually DOES sleep, btw), to stroll through central park, to shop on 5th Avenue, and most of all, to watch musicals on Broadway. I’m happy to say we pretty much completed all of those things and made my childhood dreams come true, plus so much more! Now, excuse the next few long posts while I try to summarize my amazing experience in words and also become the stereo typical “went to nyc and fell in love with the city” tourist. Because honestly, I really, really did.
Arriving in the City: Our first memory of NYC was definitely not a very pleasant one, unfortunately. Due to the fact that we were probably too overly excited to be in the big city to remember that we probably should’ve mapped our way to my sister’s apartment a little bit better. Long story short, we spent our first couple of HOURS in NYC frantically trekking up and down the streets with our massive luggages, trying to find a train station that, in the end, turned out to be a block away from where we were originally. Looking back at our adventure may be a bit humorous now, and surely makes for a great anecdote, but omg were we sweaty and tired at the end of it. The food and shower that followed was heaven.
Over Stimulation in Time Square: Sure, we’ve all seen photos of Time Square – the big billboards, bright lights and hoards of people trying to meander their way through other hoards of people. But really, no picture will prepare you for the real thing. It felt like my brain was on fire. Especially coming from a city like Vancouver, where the most lights you’ll see flashing at you is when the club is trying to give you a seizure with their strobe lights, Time Square was seriously an overload for all senses. Standing there, in the middle of it all during the darker hours of the night is when you really feel like you’re in the city that never sleeps. Once you’ve given your body some time to adjust to everything, and you take a moment to soak it all in, it really is a sight to behold.
Napping in Central Park: Yep. You read that right. I mean, Patricia and I were in New York for 12 days, so we had plenty of time to do all of the usual things a tourist should do. We visited all of the landmarks, shopped the famous 5th Avenue, visited all of the famous museums, etc. So, naturally, about mid way into our trip, we were a little exhausted from being on the go all the time. That morning, we had decided to tour the massive MET, which we were told was going to take up an entire day in itself. Sidenote: did you know that The MET entrance fee is actually by donation? When you arrive at the desk, you’ll notice that the staff will word their question “That will be $25, is that okay?” Which, if you’re a tourist like most people who visit the MET are, you would automatically pay. But you can actually give them whatever amount you feel like! So, Patricia and I just told them $10 for the both of us and we got our entrance pins just like everyone else :). ANYWAYS.. we spent a few hours in the museum getting really lost and really tired. We even missed a couple of galleries, which we had only realized after we left, BUT THE PLACE IS MASSIVE, OK? After the museum, we found ourselves in Central Park, and it was such a gorgeous day that we decided to sit down, listen to some music and people watch. Then, one thing led to another and we were both passed out on the grass with our shoes off to the side. Best. Nap. Ever. Needless to say, we were refreshed for the rest of the day. Napping in Central Park? Highly Recommended.
SoHo = DANGER: We did a lot of shopping this trip, as you’ll soon see in future NYC themed blogs. But no amount of shopping frenzy and plastic swiping compared to the damage that was done in SoHo. First of all, we both fell in love with the area. The architecture and feel of SoHo was basically Gastown (Vancouver) on hipster crack. Second of all, there were so many streets of amazing boutiques as well as many, MANY stores we all know and love. I seriously had to have a lot of self control in order to not buy out the whole place. SoHo was definitely my personal favourite area of New York – not only to shop but to just simply be in, however it was definitely not my bank account’s favourite.
Apples of the Big Apple: I know, I know. I’m a huge dork and I tour the Apple stores of the places I travel to. But, come on! This was New York! The 5th Avenue Apple Store is basically our mothership outside of Cupertino. John, our friend and co worker met up with us in the beginning of the trip and was with us for a lot of the stores, and honestly, the way that the Apple stores were constructed in some of the major cities around the world is kind of awesome. Take the Grand Central Station Apple Store, for example. IT HAS NO DOORS! I mean, yes, I’m sure there are doors here and there within the place, but you literally walk up the famous stairs of that one side of Grand Central, and bam. You’re in the Apple store. Coming from a city where all of our stores are simply in malls, it was rather mind blowing. Okay, I won’t bore you with all the details of every store as I’m sure you get the idea. Ending of nerd paragraph now.
Going on up – Empire State Building: This was definitely one of the more tourist-y things we did while in New York. We not only went up to the usual 86th floor observation deck of the Empire State Building, but we went all the way to the 102nd floor! For someone who has pretty bad vertigo, it was quite the adventure. We got to see a 360 degree view of the city on a relatively clear day while we pushed past other tourists and made space for ourselves to take some pretty epic photos. Was it worth it to go all the way of to floor 102? Maybe not, as it was relatively small and it was an enclosed deck so all of our photos came back with a reflection from the windows; but it was something I’m glad I did at least once in my life. The next time I go back though, I’d definitely go the 86th floor again as I’d want to see the city at night :)
Breakfast at Tiffany’s: This may be another dork moment, but whatever. You’ve read this far anyway, no point turning back now!
Obviously being able to walk along the famous 5th Avenue was a journey within itself, but the thing I was secretly most excited for was just being in the city where most major movie moments happen. Being the massive nerd I am, I purposely brought my Audrey Hepburn tank specifically for the moment where I would find myself in front of the Tiffany’s on 5th Avenue. Oh gosh, I can feel the judging eyes reading this already. This paragraph is seriously #TinaWays at its finest. Either way. It happened. And it was damn cool.
Singing in the Rain…Not: Most of our days in NYC were filled with sunshine and heat, others with massive down pours and thunder. One day I’ll always remember is the day that we were stranded in FAO Schwarz for a couple of hours. Now, usually, I welcome the idea of being stranded in a place of stuffed animals, an abundance of candy and a giant piano, but we were already in there shopping for a fair bit and it didn’t start down pouring until after we tried to leave. After a while, even massive teddy bears lose their novelty, and we were starting to accumulate a disgusting amount of candy consumption. We then did the thing we knew best – get stranded in a place with free Wi-Fi. Thankfully, the 5th Avenue Apple store was only a few steps away (hello again, mothership), but those seemingly FEW steps left us completely drenched from the rain in a matter of seconds. At the very least, we had the internet to entertain us now, along with charging docks for our phones, so all was manageable as we waited out the rain. The rain tried to dampen our adventures a couple more times after that, but we eventually got smart and bought an umbrella. One thing I will say though, is that the thunder in New York is SO MUCH WORSE than the thunder in Vancouver… :(. Thankfully I had Patricia as my thunder buddy.
ERMAHGERD, MUSICALS: This is where it gets freaking exciting, guys. At least for me. All my life, I’ve been a fan of musicals. I try and catch as many that come to Vancouver as I can, but a childhood dream of mine was always to be able to watch a musical on Broadway, in New York. The best case scenario of this dream was to see the original cast of RENT on Broadway, but seeing how the musical wasn’t on Broadway anymore, and how most of the cast have moved on to being in motion pictures and prime time tv, I knew that that would be difficult at best. However, I did get the next best thing. I watched my other favourite music, Wicked, on Broadway, and was able to catch a production of RENT Off-Broadway. Even as I type this, I’m jittering with post-event excitement. The entire time that we were preparing to see Wicked, Patricia thought I was going to die of hyper-ventilation. She kept saying that she had never seen me like that, not even when it came to puppies – and that’s saying something. BUT OMG. IT WAS FREAKING AMAZING. There may have been tears – for both musicals. There may have been screams of excitement before and after. There also may have been the requirement of alcohol to calm my nerves (which, btw, came in a Wicked sippy cup. Awesome). But most of all, my dreams definitely came true :).
People of New York <3: I guess this instalment will have to end on a sappy note, because honestly, New York wouldn’t have been as amazing if it weren’t for the person I travelled with, the sister that housed me, and the friends I got to see again. With John we toured the stores of the company that brought us all together; With David I got to rekindle my love for Animal Crossing and Nintendo DS (lol); With Sophia I wined and dined in all sorts of fancy and took part in the New York night life; With Justine I (unwillingly) gained a sister, toured NYU and stuffed our faces with delicious dessert; With my sister I had a roof over my head when the thunder scared the living shits out of me and furthered my skills in putting together ikea furniture; With Jon I devoured massive macaroons amongst many other LAST MINUTE treats that we had to get before leaving the city; and finally, with my travel buddy, Patricia Grace Cordero (never giving up a chance to full name her), I frolicked my now favourite city, made dreams come true, fought off mosquitos, made memories to last a life time and woke up everyday for 12 days to the same damn face <3.
This trip was truly amazing in all shapes and forms. Thank you for reading this long post and I hope you’ll stay tuned for future instalments of NYC 2012!
<3 Tina
#TinaWays 