I went to New York about 12 years ago with my family, I’ve recently been wanting to go again. My brother and his fiancé (Jason and Jasmin) were planning a trip there and invited me along. So this one’s not a solo adventure but I thought I’d blog about it anyway. So here’s a day to day look at what we got up to in the big apple…..
Monday 20th May
Being booked on a 8:00am flight seemed like a good idea in theory before realising we’d have to be at the airport for about 5:00am. So 3:00am Monday morning we were all up and ready to leave the house, all of us running on about 2 hours sleep. But no one was grumpy, we were all in high spirits, ready to embark on our American adventure. The drive to the airport was smooth (not much traffic at that unholy time) until we got there and couldn’t find the right car park, at this point Jason was getting a little bit grumpy. We eventually found it and jumped on the bus to the terminal….we missed our stop (Jason got a little bit more grumpy). So not off to a good start. But we got to the correct terminal, checked in and got through security with just about enough time to have a cup of tea and some breakfast.
Fast forward through 7 hours of sleeping, watching films and falling asleep while watching films. We landed safely at Newark airport in New Jersey (or as Jason and I like to call it “The Land of The Boss”). From there we got the train to Pennsylvania Station, New York (a.k.a Penn Station to those who know it personally).
We stepped out of the station into the (boiling hot) sunshine and got an eyeful of tall skyscrapers, yellow taxis and hundreds of people. We started making our way to the apartment we had booked. The more we walked the more we felt the 28 degree heat, nice weather but not the right weather for lugging suitcases around in. I was pleased with the sunshine but wasn’t expecting it to be that hot (I packed 3 pairs of skinny jeans!). After about 16 hours of travelling we got to the apartment excited, tired and slightly sweaty. The apartment was small (the kitchen was basically a cupboard with a sink and a kettle in it) but it had everything we needed so we were happy with it. We had some rest, freshened up and went out looking for somewhere to eat.
After walking around for about 10 minutes we came across a rooftop bar that had decent food for a decent price, looked like we’d found a winner, we went inside and they were playing LA Woman by The Doors, definitely found a winner. Jason and I filled up on Pizza while Jasmin enjoyed a stir fry as we watched busy New Yorkers and loud fire trucks passing by outside. We then ventured up to the rooftop for another drink. This round was on me, as I was ordering the barmaid asked where I was from and said she liked my accent. Only in America would someone say that about an Essex accent. That was probably the most expensive round I’ve ever bought ($35?!), I had my usual (JD & coke) and as I took a sip I realised why it was so expensive. It turns out they don’t do the single/double system over there they just give you half and half. We had our drinks while admiring the sunset, well the reflection of the sunset in a tall building across the street.
By this point we were all pretty tired so we decided to bring our first evening in New York to an end. We went back to the apartment and were all in bed, asleep by 10:00pm (3:00am back home).
It's All Happening 
I loved your blog, you did so much in such a short time.. you rock! I have been to new York once and would go back again in a heartbeat.
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