New York was always my dream and goal when I was younger. Whilst at university, I have New York page markers to remind me that if I read the pages, one day I would get to go. And it worked...kind of, I went not for work, and not as a famous make up artist, but just as a tourist.
My first experience was pretty bizarre. It was July 2014 and I went on my camp day off and an American colleague was driving to New York, so let me tag along.
We drove for about 2 and a half hours and by the time we got to Manhattan it was about 1am. And the crazy part...there was so much traffic when we got there! Below is my first view of The Big Apple.
For this trip we stayed in a hostel right by Times Square, when we checked in I remember the reception staff saying -
"Welcome to Equity Point! Here is your key and here is the wifi password. Just to let you know we currently have no hot water"
Just like no hot water was completely normal in New York. The hostel was pretty good for a hostel. We had a private room for three. This consisted of bunk beds and a private en-suite (with no hot water).
That night we got dressed crazy quick and went to some bars. New York drinking is certainly not cheap. Each drink was about $8/10 plus you are expected the tip the bar staff each each time you order a drink. Remember, you have to be 21 to drink in the States and you will need to take ID out with you because they are very big on ID! The place has a lot of Irish bars. I'm not sure why, but they seem to love the Irish and you will find a bar anywhere. For this visit we stuck to small bars, and it was pretty late so they were all starting to close so it wasn't a wild night.
The following day we stepped out into Times Square. My first thoughts of NY were that it smelt funny. The air isn't fresh and it felt very muggy. It was a very hot day. Everywhere was big and busy. Times Square itself was jam packed. Everything was huge, even the McDonalds is big and sparkly.
I didn't see much of New York on this day trip. But what I did see was pretty incredible. The building are all huge - as imagined. You can always hear sirens and cars beeping. The traffic is crazy, and there is always something going on. I could literally sit in a window and people watch all day in the city.
The food is incredible. Anything you fancy is only a short walk away and the selection is so much bigger than in the UK. There are food vendors on every street corners, selling nuts, hotdogs, burgers, kebabs and much more.
My first trip was exciting, and New York was a lot different to how I had imagined from watching it on TV. There was so much I didn't get chance to see and I knew it was somewhere I needed to visit again, and I did. Even know after visiting 3 times, I still feel I need to go back and I haven't seen everything I wanted. One of my big dreams is to go back in the winter as I would love to see the snowy city.
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