I’m currently writing this on a packed tube wondering if I should go all the way to Heathrow airport.
Day One in the Big Apple
I woke up the next day at 3am because clearly I don’t know how to cope with jet lag. I’m so used to my 9-5 routine that when I’m taken out of it my body goes out of sync like a bad iTunes update.
Anyway, after laying in bed for a few hours and scrolling through my social media, it was time to get ready and grab some brunch. Our friends who landed a few hours after us were staying in a hotel in Times Square so it only made sense for us to hail a taxi and head down and meet them. Hailing a taxi in New York is much easier than TV makes out to be, you pretty much just have to stick your hand out or wave to catch a driver’s attention.
The weather somewhat resembled the greyness of London, making me feel more at home than ever and wanting to make the most of my first day. What I love most about the US is how big everything is – London is miniscule by comparison. Staring out the window of the cab and looking up at the daunting skyscrapers really amplified how tiny you are in the big city.
After meeting up with our other friends, we walked on down to Times Square in search of food. My first thought when seeing Times Square was how much bigger it was in real life than I’d seen in the movies. Not gonna lie, my eyes darted straight towards Sephora and I mentally bookmarked it as I knew we’d be getting re-acquainted later on in the trip. As much as I like clothes, make-up excites me so much more these days and the prospect of returning home with a brand new face made me even happier.
We spoke to a few guys selling bus tour tickets and asked for their recommendations for breakfast and a few of them mentioned Junior’s which was literally around the corner. This was actually on my ‘NY to do list’ so I couldn’t wait to see what the fuss was all about:
You know when you order food and you think you’re hungrier than you are and then you remember the portions are much bigger in America? Yes. That happened.
LOOK AT THIS CLUB SANDWICH/LOAF OF BREAD:
Seriously – it could feed a whole club on a night out and there would still be leftovers for days. But the Junior’s fuss was definitely worth it – it was SO good! I washed it down with a Cosmopolitan, a la Sex and the City and left the restaurant feeling slightly more merry than usual. My only regret was not sampling some of the cheesecake which Junior’s are famed for… all the more reason to go back though!
Solo exploring
I knew my first day in New York I wanted to go exploring on my own so I opted for this instead of joining the other girls who were heading to Woodbury Common. As much I love a bargain, I always find that outlet shopping centres make me question as to whether I really want the item in the first place. I always think that if I ever really wanted something I would have bought it by now. My quest was to come home with a new face, not a new wardrobe!
Once alone, I quickly browsed Forever 21, MAC, Footlocker and finally Sephora. I purchased a hydrating face-mask I planned on using before going out that night as winter really ruined my skin this year. I also grabbed the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Definer in medium brown and the Kat Von D Tattoo Liner in ‘Trooper’. My key was get stuff I’d actually use rather than products that didn’t fit into my usual everyday make-up look.
After leaving Sephora, the weather took a turn for the worse and I wondered just how long before my dinky umbrella was going to break. I couldn’t believe how strong the winds were and perhaps this wasn’t the day to wear a fur coat to explore. This kind of weather would most likely put me off going out in London but as I was only in NY for a little while I really wanted to make the most of it.
Getting lost is all part of the fun
I didn’t really have a plan in mind for my day alone, other than I just wanted to walk and walk some more (which I’d soon regret later). I needed to get my bearings, so I quickly mapped out where I was with the Citymapper app so at least I had some semblance of direction.
Whilst on my travels, I dipped in an out of shops in the hope that the rain would ease off and I suddenly found myself in Zara. I travelled 3,000 miles to come to Zara, so I quickly browsed and left… and before I knew it I was on Fifth Avenue. Home to shops on the luxury side of life, I couldn’t wait to peruse all the glamorous window displays in the hope that those things will be in my walk-in wardrobe one day… A girl can dream right?
After a while, the weather started to ease off and I found myself in the NBA store buying both team’s T-shirts for the game we were going to on the Friday. If you can’t pick a team, you might as well support both! But it was interesting to see how much basketball is a part of the American culture, or sport in general.
I then walked a little more and discovered the impressive Rockerfeller centre, beautiful Saint Patrick’s Church and the hotel I’ve dreamed about staying in, The St. Regis. One thing I do love most about doing things on my own is that I’m on my own schedule and if I want to linger a little longer than normal somewhere, I don’t need to worry about catching up to someone.
TAXI!
After a while, tiredness caught up with me, as well as being absolutely soaked, so I managed to walk back to my hotel by following the handy directions from the Citymapper app. I felt like a true New Yorker at this point, because not at one point had I succumb to a taxi to take my wary feet to my destination.
I reached my hotel around 5pm, and couldn’t wait to put on my robe and take a nap. It is crazy how much just plain-old walking can tire one out in another city or country. I think it’s a case of that I spend so much time at a desk and mainly in bed at the weekend that when I do actually go for a walk it tires me out much quicker than a normal person? On top of that, when you’re in another city or country, sleep pretty much becomes obsolete as you’re part jet-lagged and part ‘I must stay up and experience everything’. But I highly recommend afternoon naps to beat this problem, but the hardest part is waking up and forcing yourself to go out…
Aces
On that note, as it was our first night out in NYC, we got glammed up, grabbed a taxi and headed on down to the trendy Meatpacking District… Which from watching re-runs of Sex and the City, I had built up to be NYC’s answer to Hoxton… How wrong I was, or perhaps Tuesday nights aren’t as popping as they should be in New York, but the Meatpacking district was pretty dead that night. Debating where to go, we jumped in a taxi to Aces Stripclub in Queen’s which was a first for us all. However, this is where the blog must end as we ended up going back the following night for a little bout of debauchery.
Stay tuned!
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Kat (@femenish) says
I’d love to go to NYC, and this makes me so jealous that you’ve gone! It sounds like you had a really great time!