After a short 8-hour flight I finally touched down in the best city in the world the big apple, customs took about 1.5hrs to pass through and my bag was on the other end. I hopped into a cab and got dropped off at my hotel I was staying close to Chelsea and Hudson Yards, check in was easy and the staff we’re super nice. I got up to my room I was surprised it was on the 24th floor, and I got upgraded to a midtown suite, holy moly it was huge, by the time I got there it was nearly midnight so I went to sleep fast, the suite featured a bathroom straight off the doorway and coat closet, big lounge room with midtown views, the bedroom had a an American king with bathrobes and another big tv and the ensuite bathroom had a soak in bathtub shower combo and beautiful vanity, unfortunately I only got to stay here one night.
The next morning after a good sleep in I packed some of my bag and decided to have a relaxing bath before I had to check out, however I was only in the bath for about 10 minutes until I heard the fire alarms going off, as I was relaxing I thought the alarm was coming from fire trucks down stairs in the streets but the sound never went away so I got up and as I walked into the bedroom there was a light flashing red, I then ran around the room trying to find something decent to put on and to evacuate, I found a robe and ran to the door however once I got there a person standing in the hallway said it was a false alarm and they turned the alarms off, it really scared me. I called reception to ask them if I could get a late check out due to the disruption of the alarm and they happily gave me another hour, so I hopped back into the bath and relaxed a bit more. Later at checkout when I asked what the alarm was all about, they said that someone did it as a prank on our level, the only thing going through my mind when the alarm was going off was I would have to run down 50 flights of stairs, and to pull a prank that stupid in a city that had a major terror attack is horrendous. I really hope they got fined for that.
After checking out I left my bags at the hotel and headed to the Samsung store to try and find a watch strap because in London it broke the Samsung store was right near the highline so I walked the highline back to Hudson yards, I found that the highline was one of the coolest things to do in NYC, what a creative place to hang out in see some of the sights without passing cars, the weather that day was so hot around about 35c/95f so any chance to find a cool spot to sit under a small tree I took.
The end of the high line is at the vessel, Hudson yards has a big shopping mall with boutique shops and it’s also home to The Edge a new viewing platform with a glass bottom, it also has a restaurant and bar, it was on my things to do list, for lunch I got shake shack. I headed back outside and booked the attraction for the edge called The City Climb, you climb on the outside of the building it’s a 45 degree-angled staircase and 1,200 feet above the ground, the cost was $185 usd so around $300 aud.
After booking the attraction I headed back to the hotel to get my bag and go check in to my hostel, I decided to walk instead of taking the subway or a taxi it was only a 1 mile walk straight, although I struggled a lot with my suitcase, I tripped over trash I tripped over my own suitcase, the wheels kept screwing up, I was annoyed, however I finally got found it, the hostel was on the 3rd floor and there was an elevator , I checked in and my room had 4 bunk beds with females only, I unfortunately got the top bunk which I will always hate, I put my stuff into a locker provided. After setting up my cords for later that night I booked a City Harbour Lights Cruise so when the time was right I decided to walk to the wharf, I hopped on the boat and got a seat inside until I realised the views would all be better outside so I nicely nudged myself between two nice women that were happy to move over a couple inches both way to make way for me, the cruise departed at 6pm, there was good commentary about the sights I chose the left side of the bow and had the entire Manhattan skyline all the way, the boat first went towards New Jersey and then turned around, went back under the iconic Brooklyn bridge, just as the sun starting setting the city was perfectly shadowed and we headed to stop at the statue of liberty just as the sunset colours were fading into darkness, being an avid photographer I learnt a couple skills on my Samsung phone to try and not allow light in and when someone saw me taking a photo like I do they asked if I could take the photo for them like what I did, afterwards a whole bunch of people just handed me their phones and I took the photos of the statue for them, I really hope it turned out for them. The boat started again and we left the statue of liberty behind on our side of the boat we got views of Brooklyn and again NJ, the whole boat ride was about 2.5 hours, after it got back to the wharf I headed back to my hostel and got some dinner next door, while eating I met a really lovely girl from Latvia and we became friends, we talked for ages and decided that we would spend the whole day together the next day.
Day 2, I set my alarm early because I didn’t want to be late for my new friend, I got ready and we left to go try and find a coffee place, we found one and walked to central park to have our coffees, we then walked to the big fountain in the middle and my friend met a busker under the grand staircase and she asked if she could sing with him, she has the voice of an angel I was blown away and the acoustics under the stairs made it even better, she then wanted to go to the natural history museum so we spent the morning inside, by the time we had finished it was lunch time so we had lunch downstairs in the cafeteria, it wasn’t great and it was both one of our regrets because if we stepped outside we could have eaten for way less, after the museum I wanted to go the red stairs in times square to get some cheap tickets to see Chicago my friend said that she loved the theatre and we put our money together and got tickets. After getting tickets we headed to St Pauls Cathedral and then shopping for a new outfit for the musical because I had nothing fancy to wear so I headed into H&M and found the nearest dress and purchased it, once leaving we had to take a cab back to our hostel to get ready, since the theatre was only a couple of blocks away it didn’t take long to walk, it was at The Ambassador’s Theatre.
The show was incredible I was just on the edge of my seats all night because of excitement.
After the show we met up with another girl from our hostel and had a slice of pizza and headed for a bar, we went to a Spanish style bar very close to our hostel and danced all night until about 2:30 am.
Day 3, I had to say goodbye to my new friend, however we got to do some things before, she went back to central park and sang one last song with the same busker this time it was Shallows, it was beautiful, after some singing, we headed back to the hostel to grab her bags because it was time for her to leave. I walked her to grand central station. We said our goodbyes and I headed out into times square, I wanted to get another hop on hop off bus so I found a person selling them and I purchased a 48 hour pass, included in the 48 hour pass was a night tour and a day cruise. I spent the rest of the afternoon on the bus then got off once it fully went around Manhattan, I got back off at Times SQ and went window shopping, for dinner I went to wholefoods to get a salad.
Day 4 wasn’t the best day, as I was fully ready to go out, I went to grab onto a small pole which I thought was supported and it came out of its attachment and I fell onto my back really bad, straight away I knew I had broken my ribs I was in so much pain and it truly winded me. The entire day I contemplated going to the ER, however I was scared and alone in the city and I didn’t end up going, (biggest regret) I took a photo of it and then went about the rest of the day in serious pain, I went on another bus and headed down to the river to get on the sightseeing boat, same good views as the night tour.
Once I got off the boat I hopped on another bus and went to the Whitney Museum, probably one of the most amazing museums I have seen, and to top it off they had a rooftop deck with views overlooking uptown. I headed back to my hostel for the night, and had to do the night tour to Brooklyn and New Jersey, by that time the pain had gotten worse but I still went on, every single time the bus stopped or went over a bump my back hit the seat and it made me cringe, the night tour was really enjoyable and it was good to see the city at night and NU too, after the tour finished I headed back and went to sleep.
Day 5 I still had time left on my hop on hop off group, so I got the first bus and got off at city hall to go walk on the Brooklyn bridge, but before I went on the walk, I noticed filming happening so I watched that until they finished, it was a tv show called FBI, it was so cool to see how they filmed one little part, once they wrapped I walked to the start of the bridge.
Walking along the Brooklyn bridge was surreal, and such a fun thing to do, it was boiling hot that day, it was already mid 90’s or mind 30’s, so I found shade in the highest point of the bridge, once I was on the other side of the bridge I wanted to see DUMBO (down under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), usually a hot spot of tourist that take pics in front of it, however when I went there I had it all alone and didn’t get that good shot.
After dumbo I headed for Brooklyn bridge park, a really nice area they refurbished in 2021, I sat in pier 3 where it overlooks Manhattan with the financial district side, I sat around that area for a long time taking some photos of the skyline, listening to the light waves crash along the rocks, just dreaming of the day to call it home one day. I left pier 3 and just walked towards the bridge and around all the waterfront and ended up on a really nice trail on the inside called “The Greenway” I found some really good, shaded trees to stop for some time to take a break from the sun, after walking I wandered around to find some lunch and stumbled across another shake Shak and ordered a meal however unfortunately I think I stole someone else’s order because they kept yelling out my name mid-way through the burger so I just slid down and hoped no one would notice me.
After the burger I did the walk back to Manhattan this time it was even hotter I was so exhausted, on the Manhattan side of the bridge as I was walking back there was food markets in this undercover area, after the walk I headed to city hall park to rest and people watched, after resting I walked through Chinatown and east village and stumbled upon Gramercy Park. What a dream that would be to live around that area and especially being allowed in the park, Gramercy park is the only one of 2 private parks in the city, only those around the park pay an annual fee to have a key to the park, unfortunately I didn’t meet anyone that could get me in however I took some photos and sat outside and did some more people watch, a lot of people had dogs, the owners were so friendly. I headed back to my hostel and went to sleep.
Day 6 was the shortest day, I slept in until 11:30, it was already nearly in the 100’s high 30’s, I grabbed some fries and headed into central park, I climbed onto the rocks close to the playground, I was then joined by a cute squirrel, I fed him some of my fries and he was so happy he kept coming back for some more until some annoying children scared it away. After lunch I walked around central park a lot, I found the “Friends” inspired fountain, I took some good photos of the city backdrops, I stumbled upon the famous bow bridge, however it was too busy so I waited for a small little spot right on the water, I saw so many people rowing from the Loeb Boathouse, boats are $15 per hour with a $20 deposit.
Later that afternoon/night I got to finally go do “The City Climb” in Hudson yards. I had been looking forward doing this for 6 months so I couldn’t wait. It all starts in the gift shop, this is where you can pre-purchase time slots for the edge platform, I waited in line however if you already have “The City Climb” tickets you can cut all the lines, you have to go through a detector like at the airport and then they take you to a special room, once in the room the person that is taking care of you hangs around, you have to sign paperwork and then you are ready to go. You then get into a private lift to take you up to the viewing platform but away from the public side, they give you a safety suit and you have a locker to store your phone and other valuables, once you are dressed you get an individual person to put a harness on, at that point I was a bit worried with my sore ribs, I didn’t mention it to them otherwise I think I would’ve been unfit to do it. After getting the harness on another person tightens everything, you have about 6 people checking the harness to make sure it’s up to the safety standards, which is reassuring because you are about to climb on the outside of a big building, after tightening they used zip ties to make it extra secure, the pain when zip tying on top of my broken rib, ouch.
After they secure you all in you go into another lift and go up another 2 levels and again they make sure everything is all secure and tight, they give you a two way puller that drags along with you and attaches you to the railings, I wasn’t so scared however once we opened the doors to walk towards the staircase on the outside of the building we had to demonstrate that our harness was working and we had to lean forwards over the building, but we couldn’t stop there we had to start climbing the 45-degree incline, there were 161 steps in total, the stairs were very steep and tall, while climbing the stairs the harness started dragging and pulling my back upwards motion I was in so much pain I thought I wasn’t going to make it up all of them.
The top is a 1,271-foot high-point, once up the top we got to spend around 45 minutes savouring the panoramic views of Manhattan, once the entire group was on the level, everyone leaned forward at the same time to look down and we also leant backwards, then we got our individual shots, it was a bit daunting to lean off the edge however the staff and everyone in the group are all encouraging each other that it made it a lot easier, after getting individual photos we got to take a couple group shots and then just hang out for a while, the staff even let us stay up there longer because we were the last group up, instead of walking down the same stairs our group used the emergency stairs to walk back down to the locker area, the staff took our harnesses and suits off and got all our belongings out of the lockers, afterwards we got a medal and then we said our goodbyes.
Day 7 was the hottest day, I decided I wanted to go to a beach and just get some fresh air and cool down, I decided on Coney Island, of course I didn’t have a beach towel with me so I went quickly to target and found the cheapest one I could find, on the way back from the shops I had realization, time felt like it stopped and everything went into slow motion and I realised how accustomed I had become of this city already and this city is where I will hopefully come back and live one day.
I got the D train to Coney Island, I think I caught the slowest one because it took about an hour, however once I got out I saw the big amusement park and found the beach shortly after, I put my towel down right near the flags so I could remember where I was and relaxed the rest of the day, I went and got some lunch and after lunch it started to get really hot so I went for a swim, the water was nice and fresh but still a little warmth in it, once I got out I decided to have a nice afternoon nap and went to sleep for 2.5 hours, after waking up I went for another quick swim and decided to call it a day, unfortunately I hopped on a bad train carriage because it didn’t have any air-con so it was hot, however when I got back I had a Popeyes chicken sandwich and it made up for it.
Day 8 it was time to leave this amazing city behind, I had a super early flight out of Newark so I had to leave at around 5:30, getting a cab was a breeze. I headed inside it took ages to find my airline, I flew Alaskan, going through security was super-fast, I was excited coming to this airport because I heard they had a really big upgrade but unfortunately I had to be in the boring old part, I had a quick nap and then boarded my flight, I was super lucky because my row was the only row empty and got the 3 seats to myself, the service was nice, there was no inflight entertainment which is always a bummer but I had a really good nap and woke up in sunny Los Angeles.
Hotel – Crown Plaza HY36 Midtown Manhattan – 5/5 it was a fantastic hotel, the upgrade was amazing, the bed was even more amazing, the only thing the reception staff need to be more welcoming they seemed a little boring.
Hostel – Nap York Sleep Station – Central Park 8th Av – 4/5 – I stayed in a 4-bed female only dorm.
The room wasn’t the same of the photos which was disappointing, the check in process was easy, the room was comfortable, and it had an ensuite inside, the staff didn’t help tall when I broke my rib, they weren’t helpful of where the best hospital was, they just shrugged it off, even though it was the hostels negligence, they need better training in medical emergencies. The location was great, very close to Columbus circle and central park.
Rebwithacause 