Day 40 – New York City (7)

It was my second to last day in New York City, so what else is there to do but shop!
With my luggage I don’t think I’m ever going to be over – weight because I literally cannot fit 23kgs in the bag. That’s the only regret I have with getting my backpack, there’s just no room for anything!

I started off my morning with a bagel in the hostel cafe (one of my included breakfasts)and then set off for Times Square.
On the way to the Subway I said goodbye to Miriam (from Germany) as she was leaving that day to go home.
I’ve become a subway pro I swear. I’ve only been in NYC for a week and I can now shut my eyes and listen to my music on the subway without fretting about where my stop is.
#suchalocal

When I got to Times Square, I had a look in the Levi’s store and contemplated getting a nice pair of Levi’s jeans.
I’ve actually never owned a pair of Levi’s in my life.
1. Because I hate how uncomfortable jeans are and
2. Because I’ve never ever found the ‘perfect’ fit of jeans.
They either fit my legs really well but can’t fit round my stomach (so I feel like a hippo) or they’re just too baggy in places.
I did find a pair at the Levi’s store that fit really well. The only problem was the lighting was really dark in the changing rooms so I bought them anyways but I’m really hoping the look okay! 😦

I also went to this store called Aeropostale which sells really cheap clothes that are still nice. I ended up getting a checkered shirt. They’re absolutely everywhere here so I think they’re defintaly going to be the new winter fashion next year.

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The only reason I was buying lots of warm stuff is because my next stop is London and apparantly it’s cold and rainy there at the moment 😦 all I had was Summer clothes in my suitcase.

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I had a look in H&M but wasn’t really keen on anything after I’d tried on 8 items and got foundation on one of their white tops. Woops.

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Victoria Secrets however is a whole different story. I had to walk a few blocks to find it but when I did you couldn’t miss it!
It was 3 stories and apparantly one of their biggest stores in New York. They also had the PINK store in there too. (Which is another brand of VS)
I spent quite awhile in there. I really wanted some Pink tracksuit type pants so got these dark grey – ish ones and a top to semi-match.
I also got 3 x pairs of gym pants and also really yellow fluro top to match. Which I now kind of wish I didn’t buy coz I don’t think it suits me. The material clings in places I don’t want it to cling 😒

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When I was finished my shopping for the day, I decided to go to Applebee’s to eat some dinner. I hear about this place in the Empire State Of Mind song and also as just a generic America restaurant so I decided to check it out.
Meh…wasn’t really a fan of their menu so went to TGIFS instead for dinner.
Table for 1 please!!

When you’re by yourself guys are much more confident to flirt with you I swear. My waiter asked if he could sit with me and then at the end asked for my number haha. It must be an american thing!

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The food was really good though. I had free re-fills of my mango and passion fruit drink and I had really nice nachos with sour cream, salsa and gaucomole. Yum!

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When I was done, I took the subway back to my hostel and tried to re-arrange my bag with my new purchases.

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I didn’t really even buy that much stuff. Just clothes really and some conditioner as I’d run out.
Alicia came to my room and watched me as I packed, then we headed off for a final Ben and Jerry’s get together before I flew out the next day!
And yes, we had another 2 scoop sundae with caramel sauce and whipped cream. Aaaahhhh. We’re just as bad as each other when it comes to Ben and Jerry’s. 🍨🍧

Xx

Day 39 – New York City (6)

This was one of my favourite days in New York so far!
After having another bit of a sleep in (I know I can’t help it! 😴😴) I finally dragged myself out of bed and headed off to Central Park.

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On the way, I remembered to make a phone call to this lady in Washington DC who’s also a kiwi. She’s been a nanny in America for like the past 7 years and loves it. She actually helps girls through an au pair agency get jobs over here but she hasn’t done it in awhile. I inquired at this au pair agency online a few days ago and they contacted her about me. So yeahhh.
We had a chat about what I had to do to work here, what it all kind of involves etc… so she’s going to send me some info and then I’ll decide what to do when I eventually get home. It’s still just kind of an idea at the moment.

After I got off the phone, I walked towards central park and then came across a street of shops I’d never seen before! It had Sephora and Whole Foods and was only like a 5 minute walk away from the hostel. Why did I not know this! 😣
I immediately went to whole foods as it was lunch time by then and I was a bit hungry.
After being very indecisive and looking at all the food like 5 times, I decided I was too poor and not hungry enough so left without buying anything.

(Side note: as I write this, the girl above me in the bunk in my hostel – her phone is going off like every 30 seconds with THE most annoying noise. It’s like the sound of a tap dripping and it’s driving me insane. Not to mention every time she moves her bunk screeches like anything. I want to kick her.)

Carrying on…
After my Whole foods fail, I went across the road to this sports store and looked through all their Nike shoes. I was going to buy 2 pairs but ended up deciding on these ones. For $59

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Finally I was on my way to Central Park. There were lots of people there as they were doing a big walk for people who have Down syndrome and their families. They had a big fair set up as well which was pretty cool.
I found a nice spot in the grass and had a bit of a lay down. I listened to my music and rested my eyes which was nice.
I think I’ve pulled a nerve (can you even do that? Maybe I mean pinched a nerve) in my leg from all this walking so I didn’t go for a big central park walk today.

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I was messaging NZ Alicia while I was at the park and we decided to meet up at 5pm to go up the top of Rockfeller Centre. By this stage it was after 1pm so I went down the road and had some Subway for lunch and then TOOK the subway to Times Square haha.

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I had found this hair extension place online so went in search of it. I have hair extensions and they were nearly at the stage of needing maintenance done (which means they lift them up higher to your scalp again) and luckily this place was able to do them!!
I’m so glad I found them as it’s difficult finding a place that does the same method as what’s currently in my hair. It was more expensive than what I pay back home but at least I got them done and won’t have to worry about them for the rest of my trip.

When I left, it was about 4.20pm and I didn’t realise how far away I was from the rockfeller. It was good I had my running gear on so I half walk/half ran to meet Alicia and Miriam at the Bottom of the rock as they had my ticket.
We had booked it for 5pm so I got there with 3 minutes to spare.
Me being all sweaty, took the lift to the 67th floor with them and it was defintaly worth the $30.

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The Rockefeller Center is actually a combination of 19 commercial buildings covering 22 acres between 48th and 51st streets in New York City.
It was created by the Rockefeller family, in Midtown Manhattan between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue.
The part that we went up is called 30 Rockefeller centre. Also known as 30 Rock. It’s 70 stories high and is home to the Observation deck (Top of the rock)
It doesn’t take long to get to the top in the elevator. But when you do, the views are just incredible. I’d love to see it in the winter time.
I even said to one of the girls, my future husband needs to hire out this entire observation deck and propose to me on a beautiful evening. Hahaha (just incase my future husband is reading this, there’s a hint)
But please, be careful not to drop my Tiffany ring.

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There were a few people up there but it wasn’t overly crowded. I think they only let a certain number up at once.
The only thing though was it was a bit windy so my hair was blowing all over the place which didn’t take for a great picture 😯 not to mention I was sweaty from my run and my hair needed a brush haha.

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But I did get some great shots of Central Park itself. It’s crazy how big it is! And it’s right in the center of a city. Crazy.

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There’s more pictures on my Facebook if you want to check it out.

I think we stayed up there for like 45 minutes, maybe more. Even though you’re only meant to spend 15.
I even put my earphones in and played Empire State Of Mind by jay – Z and Alicia Keys to really get into the zone. Haha.

When we got back to the streets, we decided to go out for dinner to this Indian restaurant that Miriam found on Google maps.
On the way there we took some pictures at the LOVE sign NYC has.

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When we found the restaurant, we saw that they had a special for $17.99 where you got an entree each, a main curry, rice and a dessert which we thought was a great deal!
It was really yummy and the Mango Lassi’s were only $2.50 score! I love them

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With our massively full bellies, we finished our meals and headed off to take the subway home.
Even though it was a Saturday night, I was so knackered I didn’t even open an alcoholic drink.
Instead it was time to charge my phone and write a blog.

It’s currently Sunday night as I write this and I really must go to sleep. I have to check it of here by 11am tomorrow as I’m off to London! Woohoo.

X

Day 38 – New York City (Day 5)

Friday morning, I woke up at a semi respectable time.
I organised to meet a few of the girls from my hostel downstairs after breakfast so we could go to Coney Island.

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Coney Island, from our hostel is like a 1 hour journey walking/subway – ing.
It’s in the south Western part of Brooklyn. It used to be an outer barrier island, but kind of became connected to the mainland by land fill.
They have a community of around 60,000 people in its western part, with Sea Gate to its west,Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach to its east, the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and Gravesend to the north.

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When we arrived at Coney Island we soon came to realise that all the rides that they have on the boardwalk were closed!!
Apparantly with labour day the other day, and there being another Jewish holiday they kept the park open so decided to close it on Friday. We didn’t even know   :|:|

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Usually they have 2 amusement parks on Coney Island where they have The Wonder Wheel ferris wheel, The Cyclone Rollercoster, The B&B Carousell and also other boardwalk games that people play. *sigh*
They had a beach at least.

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We walked the boardwalk for a bit and then decided to chill out on the beach. We did dip out feet in and it was freezing haha, even though the weather was so warm.

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Once we’d sat in the sun for over an hour (and me not getting burnt which is great over here!)
We went down the boardwalk to get something to eat at this diner/type place. The other NZ girl I was with Alicia – we both orders sweet potato fries and normal french fries with cheese.
It was so average.
They don’t have Aioli here which is always a disappointment, and the sauce tasted disgusting for some reason.
The shakes we got were good though but went down too quickly.

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When it was time to leave, the owner took us up to the rooftop area and we took some nice pictures of Coney island from up there.

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Around 5pm we ended up in Times Square and decided to go up and buy tickets for Top Of The Rock. The line was so long and the earliest tickets we could get to the look out were for 8pm. Mine & Alicia ‘s cameras don’t take very good photos at night time so we wernt really keen to do it.

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The other 2 girls agreed so we all headed on our way and stopped at Saks on 5th Avenue to have a look.
Aka. The rich rich version of smith & caugheys or Kilkaldies. I ended up going to the MAC counter (what’s new) and buying my Volcanic ash exfoliant!

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When our feet were aching we went back to the hostel and got yummy Ben and Jerry’s on the way home.
Ahh, I just love that place. Triple Caramel chunk is my absolute fave.
We felt like the biggest fatties afterwards.

We all decided to go out that night so went across the road and got some alcohol after we’d dolled ourselves up a bit.
You’re not meant to drink at the hostel but we all sat at a table with a few others and drunk our Smirnoffs haha.

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The hostel recommended a club out in Chelsea for us to head to so we took the subway and ended up there. I can’t remember exactly what the club was called but it was pretty fancy.
You didn’t have to pay to get in, but since there ended up being 11 of us (6 guys, 5 girls) they tried to get us to get a table for $1200. I was not keen! And so wernt the other girls.
Some of the guys we were with actually were so I think they ended up paying a bit less and getting one for themselves.

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As it was a rooftop bar, the views were amazing. Not that my camera did it any justice again…
The Californian girl Amy who was with us took some amazing photos though. She has one of those Samsung Cameras that’s like a phone as well but it’s got the lense and everything like a camera.
Her night photos were just amazing! And she said she got it for like $250 so I’m desperate for the same camera now.
I dont have any of her pictures so I can’t show what she took 😕

We had a drink (coz that’s all we could afford haha) And then headed off to another pub that 3 of the others went to. Alicia is 20 so she couldn’t get in with her ID. 😧 And my old mate Rob from my Contiki (who’s staying at my hoatel) went with her and this German girl Maria.

The pub they were at was alright, it was real casual so me and London Andra had shots of Tequila and the rest of us decided to call it a night.
I was going to go home with 3 of the girls but then decided to stay with Robert as he messaged me and said he was at some dive bar.

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I left the girls to go and meet Robert but couldn’t find him in the end so took the subway home by myself again!
I met up with the girls when I got off though and we all headed back to the hostel together.

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So yeah, that was my Friday in New York!
Without my daily bus naps these days are getting more and more tiring.

Xx