Yes, NYC was last December. But better late than never (:
It was my first trip to NYC and anywhere in the United States in general. Super excited and looking forward to it. I think when we finally booked tickets to go, my heart sort of skipped a beat. Took a Delta flight there and made one stop at Narita. You know how long haul flights get.. the air is dry and you are constantly dehydrated. Half the time, I was debating to myself if I should be silly and wear a face mask to sleep but ended up just bugging the flight attendants for loads of water. HYDRATION IS KEY!
We landed at JFK and took a bus into town. The thing about the bus is that, it doesn't drop you directly at your hotel of choice. If you would rather not walk from their drop off points, I would suggest you drop somewhere midtown and get a hotel midtown. We alighted around Central Library (42nd street) and had to walk many many blocks to get to our hotel at 57th street. Not forgetting we were lugging our luggage in the midst of navigating. But fret not, if you are a frequent traveller (or an amateur one), NYC's navigation system is pretty straightforward. Just follow the streets and avenues and you will be fine.
Our hotel for the first half of our trip!
Hotels in NYC aren't cheap so be prepared to spend about $200 give or take on a decent hotel.
The room was pretty small I must say. The toilet, even smaller. For the same price, maybe an Airbnb place would be a much better option. #justsaying. It was clean nevertheless, but for a good amount of time, the tv was stalling and we couldn't watch anything on tv anyways. Bed was very very comfy though.
They provide light snacks and coffee on the 2nd floor of the hotel and there's like an area where you can do your work at. We spent the first night there, researching and buying tickets for our duration in NYC.
Guess where we went to for our first meal?
I'm pretty sure I've waited for this my whole life. #truestory
We had the Smoke Shack which essentially is a cheeseburger topped with all-natural applewood smoked bacon, chopped cherry pepper and Shack sauce. (I'm so dedicated to this post I went to google their menu lol) Also had the 'Shroom Burger which is a vegetarian option, comes with a crisp-fried portobello mushroom filled with melted muenster and cheddar cheeses, topped with lettuce, tomato and Shack sauce. We were so hungry we ordered a hotdog as well that comes w sage sausage, cheese fries, ice lemon tea and vanilla milkshake!!
So bloody happy I tell you!
Went to catch a broadway show after dinner! (which wasn't exactly the best idea but we'll get to that later) We managed to get pretty premium seats to Matilda because they were trying to fill up last minute seats. There are other ways to get cheap tickets for broadway shows under the TKTS discount booths so you can very easily google it and they show you in depth descriptions of shows w discounts.
Sorry, I side-tracked a bit. Anyways, the set was AMAZING. so GORGEOUS. I truly think that you need to watch broadway shows in NYC itself, even if you have already watched them in Singapore before, for the sets. These sets are in-built, permanent fixtures, so naturally, they are more gorgeous than the ones you have to ship from country to country whilst on tour because, speaking from an arts programming operational background, shipping is EFFING COSTLY. and they cannot exceed certain budgets if not you, as a watching audience, will have to fork out lots of money to catch the shows here.
The theatre was a good medium-sized theatre. I had the impression it would be like Esplanade's theatre which is massive. If you really wanna catch a show and are on a tight budget, highly recommend you probably pick a 2nd tier or even 3rd tier ticket will suffice. Our premium tickets got us seats on the 2nd tier around the front, which was really awesome and everything was so close. (THINK drama centre sort of theatre, except a lil smaller and the seats are more compact and angled more steeply. Sorry for being so technical) Not sure if this applies to the other broadway shows or just Matilda though.
Really enjoyed it! The cast were awesome and consisted mainly of children so it was quite an eye-opener. Must say that, it wasn't the best idea to watch it after dinner after our 19hr flight because you get sleepyyyy. haha.
Walked around Times Square after that. Feels so so surreal to be there.
The infamous scene in movies.
Forever21 at Times Square is SO HUGE. and it opens till really late, like maybe 2am?
Loads of artists doing street art.
Spotted very pretty horse carriages along the road too (:
Supposed to go ride in one but we didn't end up doing so ):
Our hotel was located v near Times Square in any case, was just a mere 10min walk away. If you can walk in NY, just walk! Every trip on the subway costs the same price regardless so you got to bear that in mind so you can plan your trip properly.
I've missed you so, New York ♡
