On the 16th Feb 2018 I found out I was going to NYC!

It was a big surprise and I had no clue about it but I had always said I wanted to go for my 21st birthday. When I opened the silver box it was full of surprises including the booking reference for flights dated 20th September – 26th September 2018.

Day 1

We arrived in NYC quite late at night but that didn’t matter as the city was alive! We dropped our bags in our hotel and went straight out. It was just unreal!

This picture was taken randomly and only once while we were walking and it’s one of my favourite pictures of the whole trip.

This picture was the very first time I seen Times Square with my own eyes and it lived up to every expectation. This was taken at about 11 o clock at night but as I stood in the middle of all the colours and lights it felt more like midday.

Day 2

This day was all about the Empire State Building. We went to the very top of the viewing platform and it was one of the best experiences! The view was indescribable; you see it on films and pictures every day and when it’s in front of you it just doesn’t seem real.

The Empire State was right by our hotel so we had the best view all the time. For the rest of the day we went to see Central Park. The park is absolutely huge so we knew we would have to go back and spend a whole other day just going around it.

Day 3

This was the busiest day! We got up really early and went to Top of the Rock which I would recommend as it gets really busy the later you go. We didn’t have to queue for long and the viewing points weren’t too overcrowded. I preferred this view to the Empire State only because you could see the Empire State Building which looked amazing!

In the afternoon we went to Central Park and rented boats on the lake. This was my favourite part of the whole trip as it was so hot and everything was so pretty. We went right round the lake and even saw turtles in the water.

Strawberry fields is in Central Park and was high on my list of things to do. We visited the John Lennon memorial were buskers stood all around belting out Beatles anthems.

The World History Museum is the BEST museum I’ve ever been to and is so worth going even if it’s something you’re a bit hesitant about! To me it will always be the museum that comes to life. It’s right next to the park which is the reason we went and I’m glad we did.

Day 4

The reason we were able to do so much every day was because of the hop on hop off bus tours which took us around the city. We seen Wall Street and decided to get off so we could board the Staten island ferry.

Be sure to stand on the left side of the ferry for the best views. They were amazing, you get to see a skyline view of the city, the Brooklyn bridge and also got to pass the Statue of Liberty. We decided that just passing the statue was enough for us but you can get a separate ferry to Liberty island.

When we got to Staten island we decided we had too much to do to wait around for a return ferry so if you run through the terminal quick enough you can take the same boat back which I would recommend doing if you’ve got a busy schedule.

We then went into Greenwich village which has the best cafe’s and restaurants including a cafe under the ‘Friends’ apartment block which I was a fan of.

Day 5

The last day in NYC was spent at the 9\11 memorial and museum. This was such an emotional day. We spent about three hours in the museum before we went to the world trade centre. We waited until it was dark so we could see all the lights in the buildings. I would definitely recommend doing this because the views are unreal.

Below there is a quick time-lapse I took.

https://videos.files.wordpress.com/7F1gzBz8/img_3920.mov

New York City is the best place I have ever been and I would go back tomorrow! If I had to sum it up…