This October marked five years since our girls trip to ‘The Big Apple’ and it made me reminisce about all the amazing times we had on the trip of a lifetime.
It was like an out-of-body experience as a 14-year-old, finally being able to visit a place that I’d dreamt of visiting my entire life.
On top of that, I was able to experience it all with my best friend Hannah (and our wonderful Mums!), which I was incredibly lucky to be able to do. We still talk about how surreal it was, and how it only actually dawned on us where we’d been once we got home!
As someone who usually enjoys holidays in Europe – the flight from Manchester to JFK was the longest, yet most exciting of my life!
The taxi ride from the airport is a key moment that stands out to me. We emerged from a tunnel and were instantly greeted by Manhattan, feeling as if we had just driven into all of our favourite movies and songs.
Naturally, we broke into our special (loud) rendition of “Empire State of Mind”, behaviour that I remain deeply sorry to the taxi driver for!
The four of us were determined to squeeze as much as we could into our four days, soaking up as much tourist action as possible. We started with an open-top bus tour, which took us to all of the major landmarks.
My favourite memory would probably be getting this bus at night and crossing the Brooklyn Bridge. The views of the skyline were unforgettable.
Windswept and starving, we decided afterwards to stop at ‘A Slice of New York’ at midnight for a slice of margarita pizza. We all agreed that it was the best pizza we’d ever had!
I then purchased a cheesecake from the iconic ‘Carlo’s Bakery’ on Times Square. The perfect end to the perfect evening!
Another must-do in my opinion, is the Staten Island Ferry. It’s a free service that gives you wonderful views of Manhattan and takes you past the Statue of Liberty.
What’s not to love!
A word of warning though – it’s very windy! Especially in the middle of October, so dress for the occasion. Do not go wearing any large hats with a tendency to fly off like I did!
The rest of the trip was spent admiring the beauty of Grand Central Station, falling in love with ‘Duane Reade’ and buying too many cute hand sanitisers from ‘Bath and Body Works’.
This trip will always hold a special place in my heart, we had such fun. I always knew I would fall in love with New York – I just don’t think I knew how much.
If you haven’t been to New York before, please go if you get the opportunity! You won’t regret it.
We were supposed to be going on another trip there this summer. Unfortunately, it wasn’t possible due to the travel restrictions.
But, I would love to be able to see even more of the city now that I am a little older. I hope that I’m lucky enough to be able to return to shopping, eating and sightseeing once it is safe to do so.
In the meantime, I am reminiscing, looking at all of my pictures and watching ‘Sex and the City’ religiously!
I can’t believe it has taken me so long to watch a show that lives and breathes everything I love about New York! Now that I have, I can’t get enough!
So, I thought it only right to do my next blog post all about why it is my latest lockdown TV obsession.
Stay tuned and stay safe!
Kathryn 🙂
lifeofkathryn.com 
I’m sure you will soon visit again chick xxx
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