New York + New Jersey = October 15-19, 2015
From the time we left Utah the early morning on October 15, 2015, I had major anxiety. I had a few cases of bad luck (car accident last week and someone stealing my card information) leading up to this trip, which was a free trip from my work (Thank you SH!) but honestly, once I got on the plane, I was so excited. The last time I went to New York was in 2008. The last time I had a trip planned to New York was 3-4 years ago. I didn't end up going because my anxiety was so bad that I panicked just thinking about my flight and being that far from home. I hated and regretted the fact that had to cancel my flight BUT it was what I had to do at the time. I was not in the right place to travel at that time. But now.....now I was ready. I still had anxiety but it was more of an excitement! I took my little sister who is 15 years old and her and I just wanted to have a sister trip. So we did. My goal was to do things that I didn't get the chance to do in 2008. The first night we got here - our plane arrived almost one hour early! We paid way too much for the taxi to the airport ($63 Ah!) and just spent the day in our hotel. We were surrounded by absolutely nothing. There was a sports bar a small walk away but was never busy and a gas station down the street that we never went to. We just took it easy and the weather was perfect. The next day, Friday, we woke up and went to Time Square for the day. We were gone from 10am-8pm. Let me tell you. I have never been so exhausted in my life but we had SO much fun! We did so much shopping within just a few hours. I spent way more than I should have but how can you resist when Forever 21 and H&M are four stories?
We got a little lost but mainly walked from one place to another. I was also amazed at how close NY was from our hotel in Jersey. It was about a ten minute drive. We took the bus to save some money. I didn't think it was dirty at all and the ride was short. Time Square was more magical the first time I was there - especially since I first saw it at night when it was all lit up. But being there a second time was still amazing. We were there during the day and walked from one side of Time Square to the other. Before I went and spent all my money, we stopped by Carlos' Bakery. They have one right in Time Square which was seriously so cool. Inside they had the TV show playing and they had you take a number and called you up one at a time. We tried the Cannoli's since that is what they are known for. Amazing. That was the biggest treat I let myself have during this trip. I was still trying to focus on my weight and losing weight while on vacation. We walked it off and some. We were going to go to this ballet theater so Alexis could take some pictures in front of it but we decided to go the Museum of Modern Art instead (MOMA). I would strongly recommend NOT going to a museum after spending hours upon hours walking Time Square BUT this was one of my favorite things we did there. It was so cool to see six floors worth of artwork including Andy Warhol and Picasso. Whether it was sculptures, paintings, or artwork, it was all there. We ended up paying to go in (Fridays after 4pm is free) since we got done shopping a little early but it was so worth it. They do let you take still photography which was the best part. I got some really cool pictures of the artwork.
We were exhausted so we went home around 8pm. That was our busiest day - and the most fun we had. Saturday we decided we wanted to go to the 9/11 Museum and see the rebuilt of the Twin Towers. When we were in NY in 2008, we saw Ground Zero so I was looking forward to seeing the new towers. Talk about bad luck though. The buses don't travel that far so we had planned to take a bus to Port Authority (by Time Square in NY) and then hop on the subway since that will take us right to the towers. I remember so clearly in 2008, getting off the subway and having Ground Zero be right there. I also remember a sign showing the year the new towers would be complete. As ridiculous as this sounds, it took us three hours to figure out the subway. The "E" train was closed on weekends (due to construction) and that was the one that took us straight to the towers. We could have taken the "A" or "C" train but they were taking the "F" route. Talk about confusing! So we tried taking the subway....and then another one....and from there decided we should just go to Chelsea Market first since that was on our list of things to do anyway. The Market was really really cool. They had a lot of restaurants inside with fresh meat, deli, fish, etc. I had this ham and cheese sandwich and Alexis had soup. Then we went into this Flea Market type building and it had different vendors selling jewelry, artwork, photographs, and mostly hand-made products. Although we didn't buy anything, it was really really cool.. They had a few bookstores and the whole Market was full of Halloween decorations. It was a really fun time. Afterwards, we just decided to go home. It was around 4pm and we were tired of trying to figure out how to get to the 9/11 memorial so we didn't end up going :( That is one thing that I would like to do in the near future. I wanted to go home and sleep so I could stay up watching my Utes. Unfortunately, I fell asleep around 1am....just one quarter short of watching them win :( It was great waking up knowing that they won though :)
Sunday morning I was really looking forward to going to the New York Jets game. I have never been to an NFL game and I love the BYU and Utes games. It was just as fun as I imagined it to be! The stadium was HUGE, the TV's were HUGE, there were so many people, it was awesome. The only downside, it was FREEZING cold. It was 48 degrees + freezing wind! We made the most of it but three hours in the freezing cold was tough. I went in and bought a Jets hoodie and spent $95 on it just because of how cold I was. It is pretty comfortable though. Jets won and the crowd was awesome, even from up top :) Once the game ended, we headed home around 5pm and just took it easy the rest of the night. We had planned our trip out before we left and knew exactly what we wanted to do and on what day. If we were surrounded by shops or restaurants, I would have gone out and stayed out longer. Since taxi's were expensive and the subway and bus route was confusing at times, it was best to stay in. I had initially planned on working out but with all the walking that we did and keeping track of calories the entire time (which was hard being surrounded by such yummy food!), I am happy to report that I did not gain a single pound! I am so proud of myself. It has taken weeks to lose five pounds so just to gain that back - I was not going to let that happen! I had so much fun and so grateful for the opportunity to go. I can't wait to go back. Recommendation and list for next time:
-9/11 Museum and Tower
-Museum of Modern Art (They are always changing and adding artwork!)
-Using an UBER to and from the airport! (We used one to the airport and it was WAY cheaper than a taxi)
-Using an UBER to take us around downtown Newark
-Move to Jersey due to all the hot men
That is all.
X0x0
We got a little lost but mainly walked from one place to another. I was also amazed at how close NY was from our hotel in Jersey. It was about a ten minute drive. We took the bus to save some money. I didn't think it was dirty at all and the ride was short. Time Square was more magical the first time I was there - especially since I first saw it at night when it was all lit up. But being there a second time was still amazing. We were there during the day and walked from one side of Time Square to the other. Before I went and spent all my money, we stopped by Carlos' Bakery. They have one right in Time Square which was seriously so cool. Inside they had the TV show playing and they had you take a number and called you up one at a time. We tried the Cannoli's since that is what they are known for. Amazing. That was the biggest treat I let myself have during this trip. I was still trying to focus on my weight and losing weight while on vacation. We walked it off and some. We were going to go to this ballet theater so Alexis could take some pictures in front of it but we decided to go the Museum of Modern Art instead (MOMA). I would strongly recommend NOT going to a museum after spending hours upon hours walking Time Square BUT this was one of my favorite things we did there. It was so cool to see six floors worth of artwork including Andy Warhol and Picasso. Whether it was sculptures, paintings, or artwork, it was all there. We ended up paying to go in (Fridays after 4pm is free) since we got done shopping a little early but it was so worth it. They do let you take still photography which was the best part. I got some really cool pictures of the artwork.
We were exhausted so we went home around 8pm. That was our busiest day - and the most fun we had. Saturday we decided we wanted to go to the 9/11 Museum and see the rebuilt of the Twin Towers. When we were in NY in 2008, we saw Ground Zero so I was looking forward to seeing the new towers. Talk about bad luck though. The buses don't travel that far so we had planned to take a bus to Port Authority (by Time Square in NY) and then hop on the subway since that will take us right to the towers. I remember so clearly in 2008, getting off the subway and having Ground Zero be right there. I also remember a sign showing the year the new towers would be complete. As ridiculous as this sounds, it took us three hours to figure out the subway. The "E" train was closed on weekends (due to construction) and that was the one that took us straight to the towers. We could have taken the "A" or "C" train but they were taking the "F" route. Talk about confusing! So we tried taking the subway....and then another one....and from there decided we should just go to Chelsea Market first since that was on our list of things to do anyway. The Market was really really cool. They had a lot of restaurants inside with fresh meat, deli, fish, etc. I had this ham and cheese sandwich and Alexis had soup. Then we went into this Flea Market type building and it had different vendors selling jewelry, artwork, photographs, and mostly hand-made products. Although we didn't buy anything, it was really really cool.. They had a few bookstores and the whole Market was full of Halloween decorations. It was a really fun time. Afterwards, we just decided to go home. It was around 4pm and we were tired of trying to figure out how to get to the 9/11 memorial so we didn't end up going :( That is one thing that I would like to do in the near future. I wanted to go home and sleep so I could stay up watching my Utes. Unfortunately, I fell asleep around 1am....just one quarter short of watching them win :( It was great waking up knowing that they won though :)
Sunday morning I was really looking forward to going to the New York Jets game. I have never been to an NFL game and I love the BYU and Utes games. It was just as fun as I imagined it to be! The stadium was HUGE, the TV's were HUGE, there were so many people, it was awesome. The only downside, it was FREEZING cold. It was 48 degrees + freezing wind! We made the most of it but three hours in the freezing cold was tough. I went in and bought a Jets hoodie and spent $95 on it just because of how cold I was. It is pretty comfortable though. Jets won and the crowd was awesome, even from up top :) Once the game ended, we headed home around 5pm and just took it easy the rest of the night. We had planned our trip out before we left and knew exactly what we wanted to do and on what day. If we were surrounded by shops or restaurants, I would have gone out and stayed out longer. Since taxi's were expensive and the subway and bus route was confusing at times, it was best to stay in. I had initially planned on working out but with all the walking that we did and keeping track of calories the entire time (which was hard being surrounded by such yummy food!), I am happy to report that I did not gain a single pound! I am so proud of myself. It has taken weeks to lose five pounds so just to gain that back - I was not going to let that happen! I had so much fun and so grateful for the opportunity to go. I can't wait to go back. Recommendation and list for next time:
-9/11 Museum and Tower
-Museum of Modern Art (They are always changing and adding artwork!)
-Using an UBER to and from the airport! (We used one to the airport and it was WAY cheaper than a taxi)
-Using an UBER to take us around downtown Newark
-Move to Jersey due to all the hot men
That is all.
X0x0
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