New York Trip Summary

If you've seen the pictures on FB, you know that Josh and I went to New York for the first time.  I am just now rested up enough to post this because, shew!  It was an exhausting trip.  We did a bus trip that left from here at 6:00PM on Friday, got to New York about 6:30AM on Saturday, and left New York at 11:45 that night.  Talk about a whirlwind!

I have been trying to go to NYC since my high school graduation.  My parents gave me money for the intended trip as my graduation present.  Over and over I planned trips and over and over they fell through.  It took eight years, but I finally got there!  Because it was such a chore to actually get to the city, I was determined to see as much as possible while I was there.  People kept telling me that I wouldn't be able to see very much in that brief amount of time.  Ha, I say, ha!  They underestimate me!  While we certainly didn't see everything, that would take years, we saw most of the popular tourist destinations.  Here was our itinerary.  I worked on it for a long time to get it as streamlined as possible.

7:30-Arrive in Times Square

7:30-8:30-Breakfast/Stand in Awe/Act all Touristy/Get Broadway Tickets

8:30-9:00-Walk to Central Park

9:00-11:00-Central Park

  South End:

  Zoo?

  Carousel

   Mall and Literary Walk

    Chess and Checker House

     Wisteria Pergola

11:45-Lunch-Hot Dog Cart

11:45-12:30-Travel via Subway

12:30-2:00-Chinatown

2:30-4:30-Ride ferry to Staten Island

5:00-5:30-Dinner @ Lombardi's

5:45-6:15-Grand Central Station

6:45-7:15-Carnegie Deli for Cheesecake

7:30-11:00-Theater

11:30-44^th St for loading on bus

We stuck to the itinerary pretty well.  Because we got there earlier, we had more time in the park which was one of my favorite things.  It was cool to see all the park locations that are frequent movie backgrounds.  We also didn't stay in Chinatown very long so we had time to add Rockefeller Center after Grand Central Terminal (no one calls it Station anymore?  Who knew?) and Madison Ave after the park.  Madison Ave never made my first or second tier lists of things to see, but we wandered over there by chance and it was neat to see all the upscale stores.  I did see a Valentino dress that I practically drooled over.  Of course, if I had drooled on it, I would have had to PAY for it and that would have been crazy expensive.

The pros of the trip:  We got to see so much and I checked a box on my bucket list.  I know now that I made the right choice not to go to NY for grad school.  I had filled out an application to a graduate school there, but at the last minute changed my mind.  I've often wondered how my life would have been different if I had gone there, but now I can say that I'm very very glad with the choice that I made and where it led me.  Living in New York is very much not for me.  It was the perfect amount of time for us since we don't want to be gone from Cordie for that long  Finally, it was pretty much the cheapest way to go

The cons of the trip:  Exhaustion!!  We rode a bus for 26 hours in a 42 hour span.  We also walked 14 miles on the day we were there.  Josh had blisters before we even left Central Park.  I was expecting to feel about NYC the same way that I feel about London.  When I went to London it was some odd combination of like I was coming home and going to Narnia at the same time.  New York was not at all the same feeling.  It was much dirtier and more depressing than London.  

I would still like to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade because I'm obsessed with it, but otherwise I don't feel like I have to go back.  I saw what I wanted to see.  Good trip!  I suggest it!