Currently sitting in Helsinki airport eating my $10 pringles and waiting for my flight which is not for another 12 hours. A bit late with this one but this is my trip to New York seven weeks ago! (Probably lots of spelling mistakes don't judge I am super tired).
Rochelle and I made the decision to catch a 17 hour bus ride from Chicago to New York (instant regret). The trip was the bus ride from hell which included a crazy driver, a police invasion searching for a runaway criminal, a dog on the bus, a sick man who was lying in the aisle with a blue leg and a 2am stop at a KFC in Cleveland. Never. Again. I think I lost half my brain cells in that 17 hour period. The only positive of this bus trip was that we met a girl travelling solo through America who was from Adelaide and went to the University of Adelaide. CRAZY. What are the chances of that. We formed a trio and all suffered through the trip together.
We made it to New York City around midday. As soon as I walked out of the bus station I was surrounded by thousands of people, lights and buildings. It looked just like the movies.
We stayed in a hostel in Brooklyn which was the worst- they had no roof on the dorm rooms and you could hear literally EVERYTHING. It felt like year 8 camp all over again except we were stuck with 50 year old ladies attempting to make it into the acting world (you won't make it stop trying). The only postivie of staying here was that it was right next to the subway line. And speaking of the subway- literally the most confusing thing in the world. You would think for a city with millions of tourists they would make the subway line simpler-it is legit like a jigsaw puzzle.
On the first day we headed into the city. Rochelle had a concert so Sarah (who we met on the bus) and I visited Times Square and the Rockefeller centre. Incredible views!
The next day Rochelle and I headed to Central Park. It was incredibly beautiful and everywhere you would look you could recognise a scene from a movie or TV show. We went to Olive Garden for dinner which has UNLIMITED breadsticks and soup!!!! I would seriously buy a ticket back to America just to eat those breadsticks again. We shoved a good handful of breadsticks in our bags and headed to Chicago on Broadway!
The next day involved a LOT of walking. We visited the library of New York, Grand Central Station, The United Nations (incredibly inspiring) and went to a New York Yankees game.
The following day we visited the 9/11 museum and memorial- incredibly moving and sad. There were people taking selfies in front of the monument who I seriously wanted to punch in the face. We strolled around the city and found a funky side alley cafe. Then visited the Museum of modern art (which has free entry for Friday evenings). Some of the art was seriously weird, e.g a video of sonic the hedgehog projected onto a screen?? Art plz.
On our last day in New York we visited Central Park again. I rented a bike and got lost, by the time I took the bike back I had been gone four hours and had to pay $40. Worth it? Of course! I also lost Rochelle but found her lining up for a row boat ride. We hopped on the row boat and we were both hopeless at steering. Eventually we got the rhythm of it and rowed around the lake a few times and saw a proposal- super cute!
Leaving New York was another stressful journey. Anyone who knows me and has travelled with me will know that I lose anything and everything and leave things to the last minute. I was running late for my bus to New Jersey and Rochelle and I had to run through New York City with all my luggage. To add to the stress of this, it was Dominican Republic day and all the main streets were blocked of for a parade. This meant we had to go underground and through the subway terminals to get to the bus station in 10 minutes. I made the bus by 1 minute and seriously felt like I was on the Amazing Race. Thankyou and sorrry to Rochelle who had to put with me!
New York was so much fun and I am glad I went, but would I go back? Probably not. Way to crazy, way too many people and kinda dirty. Chicago is definitely the place to go!
