This year, the boyfriend and I ventured to New York for our vacation spot. I have not been in the states since I was about two when my parents thought it would be a bright idea to bring me to Disney Land. I was pretty stoked, because New York is definitely one of the many “must visit” cities on my list. Besides, there really isn’t anyone else I would rather travel with than my better half! We are both travel newbies so we ended up over-packing our luggage. We had one checked bag, two carry-on suitcases, my purse and a backpack stuffed inside one of those carry-ons. You may ask how two people can bring that much crap; well, I admit to the title of travel newbie very seriously, and this is proof hehe. I brought along two pocket sized travel guides with me. They had pull-out maps and a list of suggested things to do and places to eat. I didn’t use them as much as I had hoped. Mostly because in between lugging the DSLR around, and taking pictures with that and my iPhone, I really didn’t bother to flip the guide book often. We ended up just going with the flow, walked around the whole city, and just had a small tentative daily plan.
We landed at LaGardia airport and the cab ride to our hotel was ~$40. We booked a room at Econo Lodge Time Square. As the location suggest, we are a few minutes walk from Time Square. The hotel itself was not big at all. It was a very small room that probably can’t fit more than one large suitcase. We put our two small ones inside the closet that they had and stuffed our big one in the gap between the closet and the bed to open up walking space. The bathroom had a bathtub which is frankly surprising given the size of the room. There is a small vanity area: a table, a chair, and a mirror. That’s pretty much it. It was a cozy little room and we got used to it pretty quick considering how we only spend time in there to sleep at night. The one complaint I have, however, is their A/C unit. It spat droplets of water out along with some little black specs that I have no idea what it is whenever the A/C is on. I was wondering why the night stand and what ever was on it would always get wet (luckily we never put any of our stuff there so it was mostly just the hotel’s telephone and remotes). Overall, the staff there was nice, the place was clean, and it came with continental breakfast every morning. Oh, and they have USB charger slots! Didn’t need to use our USB wall plug at all. Enough about the dwelling place though.
We checked into our hotel at around four in the afternoon and didn’t leave the room until around six. So the first night, we simply just walked around Time Square and settled for Bubba Gump for dinner. The wait wasn’t all too long. Roughly 40 minutes on a Sunday night. We spent the night just getting to know the area. The streets worked basically the same as everywhere: it gets smaller/bigger as you go up/down. I was pretty ecstatic to be in Time Square. When the sun went down it got even more impressive. It’s exactly as you see in the movies with all the bright lights just illuminating the place. Unfortunately, there was quite a bit of construction so sections of the sidewalks were closed off and it made the walking area very cramped. New York really does remind me of Hong Kong, but with less pollution, so all the people, and the slow-walking, and the clusters did not bother me. Most of the food trucks that dominate this area is halal food and roasted nuts. The retailers though, are all at LEAST two floors high. I have never seen a Disney Store as grand as the one in Time Square. I couldn’t believe my eyes! It’s like a shop-a-holic’s dream come true. Toys R Us had tons of things we did not have in Canada and not to mention they had three floors. What. The. Heck. Yeah, I definitely reinforce my childish side way too much at this age. I was more into looking at toys, stuffies, and cute things. Another noticeable stop in Time Square that night is the M&M store. They had floors and floors of M&M chocolates and related merchandise. I bought a few colored M&M character coin pouches: one for me and one as a souvenir. I didn’t bother getting any of the regular milk chocolate because they are literally the same flavor as back home but in a bajillion colors (seriously every color you can imagine). The ones that I did get are the crispy M&Ms, birthday cake M&Ms, and candy corn M&Ms because they are different. They were stored in dispensers and if you want it customized with words you definitely can. But that’s too much of a novelty for me. We got back to the hotel around 11-ish and called it a night. What I loved about New York is the fact that you can start your day around noon-ish and can still be out until midnight. The boyfriend and I are not morning people.
We got up around noon and the first thought in our head was to grab a bite. We saw a Shake Shack near our hotel the night before so we definitely wanted to know what the hype is about. The weather isn’t as nice today; the sun was a bit shy and instead of tank tops and shorts, we had to wear pants and a thin sweater. Shake Shack’s line was literally out the door but the wait wasn’t long, with it being a fast food place and what not. I really liked what I got; it’s definitely more unique than your typical McDonald’s but it was definitely not something I would rave about. I would definitely recommend to those who have never tried though! It just seems like the perfect tourist thing to do :) After that, we walked all the way to the Bryant Park area. Note that the whole trip was basically by foot for us, minus the last day when we did get the chance to take the subway. We basically navigated the good old fashion way with using a map and just basically wandering in a direction that caught our attention. A friend of mine back home recommended me to go to a bookstore called Kinokuniya for some stationary, Japanese books and toys, and other Japanese stuff. For a planner addict like me I had to check it out! I ended up buying quite a bit.
Today was mostly just being a tourist for us, honestly. Some of the highlighted places we went to is the New York Public Library, Grand Central station, and Nintendo World. There were honestly so many stores around that I don’t even quite remember where we went to. For dinner, we stopped by this Korean place nearby called New York Kimchi. Their sides were endless (I love kimchi :9) and the dishes were good and inexpensive. It may not have seemed like we did a lot but the sight-seeing is just indescribable. I wish I could do it justice by writing a blog post about it but it’s not nearly enough. Walking made up most of the day but to be honest, there is never a street corner that didn’t look like it’s full of history so we were amazed by the scenery alone.
Today we got fed up with not having data so we went to T-Mobile and just got a cheap 1GB LTE data plan. Thus, the ease of navigation was born! Wahaha. Today’s plans consisted of roaming around the Upper West Side area. But first things first is always lunch. The night before, I was flipping through the pocket guide and came across this ramen place called Totto Ramen. It was near the hotel so we figured why not; we don’t have any decent ramen places at home any way. The place itself was small and easy to miss if you don’t look hard. It was embedded in a quieter street and it’s a cozy hole in the ground but PACKED with people. We wrote our names down for a table and only waited ~15 minutes, even with a few small groups in front of us. I am a very simple person so to conclude, I really liked their ramen. I can tell the different between Totto’s ramen and the ones at home. They definitely taste better but that’s not something you realize unless you try out others. I love noodle soup so I try ramen every chance I get. This one is a pass! We also wanted to go to at least one museum so we chose the Museom of Modern Art (MoMA). It was interesting to say the least. I bought a honeydew leather notebook at the gift shop though!
While walking to Central Park, I saw a Uniqlo (Japanese retailer) so I had to go in. I remember going in Hong Kong and they had tons of cute graphics tees. Yes, I did end up buying a few cool tees here too :) We also walked by those luxury brand retailers (Rolex, Louis Vuitton, etc.) but I was more intrigued by the fancy building they were in more than the retailer itself. I definitely don’t have that kind of money to spend. When we got to Central Park the sun was starting to set so the park had a nice glow to it. It’s a really big park. They had beach volleyball courts, a dog park, baseball diamonds, and just endless grass areas with trees. The small zoo inside the park was closed by the time we got there so we didn’t get to go through that. After Central Park, we ventured to the Upper West side area because we wanted to go to Century 21, which is essentially a department store with brand names that are less than half the original retail price. I didn’t find anything though, because I am so petite. I can barely find women’s shoes in size five there. We caved afterwards and took the subway back to the midtown area because our feet hurt so much from all the walking. We ventured into Koreatown for dinner and tried out this Korean place called New Wonjo and then got bubble tea, popsicle, and pastries from Tous Le Jours. They had castella cake and I couldn’t resist. They are probably one of my favorite pastry of all time.
Our plan today was to go to Wall Street and also to try out a place called Balthazar for brunch that have been recommended to us by people we knew and also the guide books. It’s a European place and the atmosphere was just very nice. It was quite windy today; completely different than when we first got to New York. I actually had to wear a jacket today. We took the subway to SoHo/Chinatown area; ended up having to buy three tickets because the first one I bought didn’t let me through the gates for some reason. After Wall Street we went to the ferry docks where you can see the Brooklyn bridge and what’s across :) Trained back to Bryant Park area because I wanted to go to Kinokuniya one more time. There was a Rangers game so Bryant Park was filled with tents and Ranger themed set-ups. There was a huge screen at the park for people to watch the game. We were going to head to dinner after that but we saw a small booth that sold fresh baked waffles called Wafels & Dinges. We got a plain one because we planned on saving it for later but we ended up eating it all right there. For dinner we went to a spot near our hotel because again, our poor feet. It’s called Ippodu and it was once again mainly ramen!
Our last day wasn't all too interesting. On the bright side we finally got to try the continental breakfast at the hotel and it actually wasn't bad! After that we just took a taxi back to LaGuardia and began our long journey back home. It was definitely an experience, going to New York. As mentioned, it really is like Hong Kong, but it's an entirely different experience. I've been very inspired by this trip and it's the best graduation present ever. If I had zero obligations back home this trip may have almost convinced me to pack my shit and move to a big city.
