I don’t really have a bucket list of things I want to do, but if I did visiting New York would be on it. So after years of wanting to go there I decided to just buy a plane ticket and do it – 7 days in one of the most amazing cities in the world. That means now I can cross NY off of my imaginary bucket list and make room for the next adventure that’s waiting to be taken.
I’ve wanted to go to New York for years and always put it off because my friends, who wanted to come with me, just didn’t have the time or the money or already had some other plans. So I decided to go on my own, take a solo trip… I’ve done that before so I know it’s really not as scary as it may sound. On top of that New York is the perfect place to explore alone. There is so much to do/see/experience/eat that it just won’t ever get boring. To be fair I did have some company while I was there since it turned out that I do know a few people who live in NY. Funnily enough – all Germans. I met a friend that I know since Kindergarten, another one from High School, someone I know from my hometown a long time ago and my first friends from Brighton. So plenty of familiar faces to hang out with. But even without them I’m sure I would have had a great time.
I stayed in an airbnb house in Bushwick, Brooklyn, but spent most of my week in Manhattan. I didn’t want to pay Manhattan accommodation prices though, so Bushwick was perfect and the trains are cheap enough (probably the only thing you can call cheap in this city) and quick to get me downtown. I walked up and down in Manhattan, went up to the roof of the Rockefeller Center – the Top of the Rock, walked over the Brooklyn Bridge and the High Line, strolled through the Financial District, South Street Seaport, Central Park (and all the other smaller parks which are just as pretty), took the Staten Island Ferry, explored Williamsburg, Brooklyn Heights, Dumbo, Prospect Park, Coney Island, visited MoMa and the Met and ate lots of good food (and loads of sugary things too). And if I can believe my phone’s statistics I walked about 155km in 7 days! No wonder my feet hurt so much every evening!
I had a lot of expectations of how New York would be but to be honest I wasn’t as overwhelmed and amazed as I thought I would be, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I did love it but having London as a comparison I expected New York to be a lot more manic, hectic and packed. So I was surprised to see the city doesn’t seem as crowded and overpowering as I thought. Obviously Time Square is so packed, it’s hard to even walk around but apart from that the city is so huge that people spread much more and give this big city a much more relaxed atmosphere than I imagined.
What I loved during my walks through the city was looking up. All the skyscrapers are really impressive, everything is massive. I think most of my photos are pointing upwards. There is a Starbucks literally on every other corner (at least in Manhattan) but the options of independent coffee shops and restaurants are almost as big. And all the yummy foods! I could have eaten my way through Manhattan! I didn’t though, I tried to be sensible 
All in all New York was different than I envisioned it but it did not disappoint! It’s an amazing city with literally everything on offer. And even after spending a week, there are still so many things I didn’t manage to fit in.
Anyway, enough talking. Here are some of my favourite photos from my week in New York City. Enjoy!
Oh, and I recorded some snippets of video on my phone too and created this…
But now the photos though:
