Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
North America > New York City
New York New York!
Even though our bodies had now been rested and rejuvenated, our travel bugged minds didn't know what to think… we were certainly sad to be saying goodbye to the Florida sunshine and the lovely house we were staying at. Another scheduled flight meant 2 weeks closer to our adventure coming to an end. And a 4hr plane journey meant another 240 minutes away from South America. But who were we kidding, we were heading to New York baby! A final destination that couldn't be any more opposite than what we'd been experiencing in the past 2.5 months, and a completely different cultural experience to say the least. Nick and I were in New York City this time last year and loved it so much, we chose to end our travels here. Guilty as charged: pure indulgence.
After lugging our bags around South America, New York City was a breeze, even during rush hour on the subway. Simply sitting on the underground gave us an insight to what was in store - everyone has the latest mobile phone attached to their ear, 9 out of 10 passengers are tied up to an Ipod and it was easy to see that these beautiful new yorkers spend a little more than 10 minutes getting ready in the morning. It's amazing how quickly your mind changes from thinking, "I have a lot more clothes than the average traveller", to feeling like you got dressed in the dark and are in desperate need of a new, bigger, designer wardrobe...!!!
Our first night in the city was spent at The Jane Hotel. It's a brand new hostel that has been renovated to match the theme of a ship, the décor is made up of rich colours and wood that surround port holes, Ipod docking stations and flat screen TV's - just some more things to add to the list that differentiates the two countries that share a name: South and North America. It was at this hostel that the survivors of the Titanic were bought to and stayed… but as plush as this all sounds, The Jane only offers single bed rooms that are so small you couldn't even swing a mouse, let alone a cat in. Our bags alone filled the floor space and we were soon agreeing to the number one rule of "keeping the feet away from the face" as we realised the only way we're going to get any zzz's here will be by using the old-school technique of top 'n tail.
The next ten days however, were spent at a beautiful little guest house in our favourite part of NYC. Our room held a kitchenette, bathroom and even a patio garden and was soon being referred to as "our apartment". For our last few nights we booked up at a little guest house not far from "our apartment".
We were really lucky with the weather here, everyday bringing sunshine and although it wasn't unusual for there to be a bit of rain each afternoon, the temperature remained high and a quick coffee later, the sun was back on form - perfect for a couple of travellers who were on a small budget and were more than happy to spend hours upon hours sitting in the sun!! Having already done the 'touristy' stuff we were looking forward to living like New Yorkers; our days were spent walking around and exploring the city: China Town, The Meat Packing District, Financial District, Soho, Upper East Side, Greenwich village and Broadway - relaxing in central parc - film festivals - picnics - cinema - celeb spotting - eating amazing food - being entertained by the millions of things going on in the local parks - zoo - jazz bars - gay pride - stumbling across photo shoots and film sets… to name a few… and we would take our time with all of it. Soaking every second up.
Broadway has something very magical about it, enticing us in the same way Disney World did. This is definitely one of our guilty pleasures… whether it's the advertisement abundance, the thousands of people filling the streets or the views looking like something from a movie, this street is very addictive! Our favourite place however, is definitely Greenwich Village. This place is too cool for school; café and bars opening up onto the streets, beautiful roads that almost always lead to a peaceful park and the most amazing houses. Greenwich Village is next door to China Town, Soho and the Meat Packing district, all of which are joint second in our list of favourite places in New York.
Although we didn't do many activities, the city served itself to us on a silver platter. As I mentioned before, we would spend minutes, hours and days swallowing up each building, each park, each shop and anything else that would appear mundane to the average local. To us, it was the perfect entertainment, and every day would bring the same thought, "we could definitely live here"…
XXX
- comments