It’s 2018, I performed particularly well at work the previous year which put me in a position to arrange a trip to New York for myself and my sons.
The Big Apple was definitely on the top of my travel wish list (at that point in my life) I thought it was the epitome of travel being able to visit New York. I wasn’t disappointed, it was everything I had imagined it to be.
I remember coming out of our hotel one morning and seeing an NYPD Police Officer and smiling to myself at how familiar that was even though I hadn’t seen one in real life before.
We visited all the tourist spots, we felt the Empire State Building sway, cut through the historic atmosphere on Ellis Island, absorbed the majestic energy of the Statue of Liberty and felt the constant buzz of Times Square.
The 9/11 memorial was sombre, a fitting tribute to the people it was built to remember. The museum brought that tragedy to life, with artefacts, audio and visual moments of that devastating day that in some instances was extremely hard to witness.
New York is grittier than I had expected it to be, the feeling when walking the streets felt familiar due to my home town being London. Stumbling around the city without a plan proved to be an interesting way to experience it, and as a result we came across an absolute gem of an American diner just off the main tourist path, ‘Georgio’s’ which served the best pancakes and waffles that I’ve ever tasted!
If you haven’t been it’s must, if you’ve been I’m certain you’ll return, it truly is the city that doesn’t sleep and offers everything you expect, want and need!
New York was just the beginning, on my return home I started creating a list of the places I wanted to see, next stop Italy. Rome to be precise…
Kelly Unpacks... 