This is officially my last city blog post, and it’s been written from my bedroom at home – also 3 weeks late, but better late then never right?! It’s crazy how fast 4 those months flew by but more on that in another post (once I get around to it).
New York City is one of those places that has been on my bucket list forever. It is such an iconic city and I absolutely loved it. I think its one of those places where you could go back time and time again without getting bored. When I suggested to two of my best friends from high school that we do a New York trip in 2023 (it was about November 2022 at this point) it felt like something that wouldn’t actually end up happening. Plot twist, it did, and it was the best way to end my 4 months of travel!
I definitely spent more money here compared to what I had allowed myself to spend anywhere else, this was partially because things were expensive, and the NZD -> USD exchange rate is bad, but also because I had a little money left so why not splurge. We had a hotel room to the three of us, and that was so exciting! After 4-months in hostel dorm rooms it was so nice to have a space that I could spread out in, I didn’t have to lock up all of my belongings every time I took my eyes off them. It was also really fun to be reunited with familiar friends after so long, I think New York is definitely a city to visit with friends.
With only 7 nights and 6 full days in the city our itinerary was pretty packed, we did not want to miss out on anything. Especially as our visit coincidentally fell in the last week of November, so not only were all their Christmas decorations going up and markets opening, but it meant we also got to experience Thanksgiving in America. So to start strong, day one was full of walking. We visited Times Square, first during the day and then again at night (more likely around 4pm, since it was dark by 3pm everyday). It was definitely more impressive at night, and while it was really cool and iconic to see, it was packed with tourists, so it wasn’t really somewhere you spend a lot of time at. Next was a walk through Central Park. Now people always said it was big, but holy moly I didn’t realise just HOW big. You could walk for hours, and just keep going. Or run a different route through the park everyday. I must say, I loved seeing the squirrels. This wasn’t just in America but across Europe/UK too, they’re so cute. After lunch at a little burger place where we got extremely confused about how to tip, and how much is expected, we made our way to the Roosevelt Tramway. This is a public transport tram that goes from Manhattan to Roosevelt Island. It was recommended on TikTok for the cheap views, which were cool but the tram was absolutely packed and as we arrived on the island it started raining, so we just took the tram back. It’s probably also important to note that it was cold. Like really cold. I had to invest in some warmer winter clothes. Then the day after we left the city they saw their first snow of the winter.
Day two was a big one! We started off the morning iceskating at the Rockefeller Centre. Probably the most famous (and expensive) outdoor iceskating rink in New York. To my dismay, the Rockefeller Tree was up, but surrounded in scaffolding in preparation for the lighting ceremony a week later. However, it really was a dream come true to experience these winter Christmas vibes. In the afternoon we travelled out to New Jersey. As a belated 21st present for my friend (Happy Birthday Ella!!) we had booked a doorless helicopter ride over the city at sunset. It was freezing, but absolutely stunning regardless! This was one of those once in a lifetime experiences, and it was well worth the steep price tag. Trying to get back to the hotel afterwards turned into a little bit of a drama as a train broke down on the railway tracks across the road, and so all our Ubers kept cancelling as they couldn’t get to us, but eventually one found a way to re-route. New York traffic was something else though. It was insane, so much tooting.
As kiwi’s, we truly had no idea what to do or expect for Thanksgiving. But some Americans I had met throughout my travels recommended the Macy’s Day Thanksgiving Parade. So at 6am we were up and on our way to find a piece of sidewalk to watch the parade from. I knew it was a big event, but I didn’t quite expect it to be of the scale it was. It was chaos trying to find open streets and access to viewing points, then we waited for hours for the parade to start and reach us. It was a long and cold morning, but the cheeriness and passion from the American’s towards thanksgiving was so wholesome. Between the parade and thanksgiving itself, as well as some larger scale protests, the city was chaotic and difficult to move around all day, there were just people everywhere. However, we did take our first subway (underground/metro) which was an experience in itself. During my time in Europe I used an extensive array of public transport, but none of those experiences came close to having a homeless man actively piss all through the subway carriage in front of so many innocent bystanders. It was far from pleasant. But the subway took us to Brooklyn Bridge, which we took a leisurely stroll across. With the city so busy, the bridge was packed, but it was pretty anyway.
After some research, we purchased New York City Passes. These are essentially a pass that lasts an allocated amount of time, 1, 2, 3, 7 days, and covers your entry to most major NYC attractions. In hindsight, we probably wouldn’t purchase these again. We did save money using them, but they were difficult to use as you had to book some time slots in advance online, and others you had to turn up, and then they wouldn’t let you in until the next available time slot which was at least 2hrs later. We brought 1-day passes, so we raced around the city ticking off most of the observatories, starting with a cruise to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. While we had seen this area from the air, it was cool to see up-close. We chose not to get off the boat and explore the islands as we knew we would be stretched for time, but you could get off and pay to go up the Statue of Liberty, or explore Ellis Island. The security protocols to get on this boat were crazy, in NZ you could get on a flight to Australia easier than it was to get on the boat. We then moved on to the 9/11 memorial, we had intended to visit the museum too, but the next entry time wasn’t for another 3hrs so we had to skip it.
Onto the One World Trade Centre we went, where we took the elevator up to the 102nd (top) floor which is an indoor observatory. The views over New York were stunning, and we had a great day for it. From here we visited the Empire State Building which was actually just a block away from our hotel. We took the elevator to the 80th floor, where you switch to a second elevator to go up to the 86th floor which allows access to an open air observatory. Unfortunately, it was really busy when we arrived at the second elevator, and we had the option to wait in line for half an hour, or take the stairs up 6 floors. We took the stairs, but boy were we puffed when we made it to floor 86. There were a few more stairs then we were expecting. While the views were similar to the One World Observatory, it was cool to be able to view them from outside, although arguably the skyline was less impressive from the Empire State Building as you couldn’t see the Empire State Building itself. After this, we pre-booked a sunset time slot up the Rockefeller Building and then squeezed in some lunch. Watching the sunset over the city and behind the Empire State Building from the Rockefeller building was just stunning! The outdoor viewing deck was packed, and it got colder and colder, but it was such an awesome core memory. All these observatories are to an extent the same, you’re pretty much seeing the same things but from different angles, so we really didn’t need to do all of them. Whad originally been planning to visit the Edge observatory as well, but we had seen enough.
It was the day after Black Friday, but plenty of sales were still taking place so we went shopping! Three small town, rural girls took on shopping in NYC! The most annoying thing was that we were wearing so many layers out and about, that trying clothes on took forever. Still, it was plenty of fun. My (historically) white sneakers that were over 3 years old and had been well worn across Europe were binned as I finally replaced them. The variety of items was so much more extensive compared to in NZ. After a morning of shopping, we visited a few Christmas markets, once again they were busy as, but just so cute. Then in the evening, we viewed some of the Christmas lights across the city! I was so in love with the commitment to Christmas, especially considering it wasn’t even December.
Our final day in New York was dedicated to an NFL game. Our seats were in the far top corner of the stadium, and it was the New York Giants vs New England Patriots, which are both crappy teams, but we were there for the vibes, and they provided! We took the bus out to the stadium where we were met with carparks full of passionate fans, many of whom had camped out overnight in their vehicles. It was basically a huge party in the parking lot outside the stadium at 10am. There were gazebos, bbq’s, games, even dj’s, and everyone was offering us beer. It felt so authentically American. It was similar inside the stadium, the American pride was very clear during the national anthem, and an American flag quite literally the size of the field was rolled out. It was an incredible atmosphere. The game we attended was a special tribute to service persons, and the way EVERYONE got behind acknowledging all the service people was so impressive. We knew nothing about NFL before attending, and honestly, I can’t say I understand much more now. It’s such a slow game, 60min of gameplay takes over 3hrs. And compared to rugby union, it just lacked as a sport. However, the atmosphere and vibes absolutely made up for that! It was a great ending to our week long trip.
Before arriving in New York, I wasn’t sure how I would like “America” as a whole, especially after I had had an awful layover in San Francisco on my way to Europe. But from what I experienced, I enjoyed it a lot, I’m not disregarding the widespread issues the country has, but the pride they have as American’s for their country is unmatched. Not to mention, everything looks just like the movies. The streets, cars, people, it all looks identical to the way we see it on tv. Between meeting Americans throughout my travels, and firsthand visiting the country, I will admit my perception of the people and place has changed – positively. I will definitely be back.
~ Nikita’s Nomadic Notes
Nikita’s Nomadic Notes 