Runway Dream: Guide to New York City Day 1

Wednesday 3 February 2016

Guide to New York City Day 1

In Spring 2014 (Gosh, it was 2 years ago!) my friends and I decided to escape from London and taste a little bit of the ever-raging city that must be in everybody's bucket list (it was my top 5 and I ticked it off so yay me!) And today, still dreaming about The City That Never Sleeps, I'm gonna share my schedule roaming around NYC with my fellas. BEWARE: this post is lengthy.

We arrived on the 12th of April around midnight (Day 0), stayed at an Airbnb flat (my first time), which was not the best accommodation that we could have hoped for but we were kind of minimising our budget since the flight ticket was last-minute bought so it was a bit pricey. I mean, the Airbnb platform is great to find you authentic feeling of visiting a city, don't get me wrong, it was just we didn't pick the right flat in the right neighbourhood. We stayed around Harlem, which was not very safe-looking at night but in the morning it was alright. It's still New York, so everything looks right! <3 p="">
In the morning we headed straight to the city centre, 5th Avenue, to meet with my friend's friends who study there. Used the subway and bought the 7-day pass that costed $31, went to Momofuku Milk Bar to try their cereal milk soft serve and crack pie! Walked a little bit further for an Italian lunch recommended by friends near Columbus Circle called Marea and it was delicious, as expected for my first proper meal in NYC (I heard lots of good reviews regarding the food here!)

Afterwards we had a stroll along the streets that are sandwiched by high rise buildings. Didn't plan to go to Times Square on the first day, but when we walked we might have stumbled across so why not take a few pictures? And by few I mean "a couple of hundred times" just like what Justin Bieber sang in "Sorry".

Then we went to the Top of the Rock to get a view of this breathtaking city and indeed, it was BREATHTAKING, no exaggeration. I could stay there the whole day and not get tired of the view. It was so beautiful!

Some of my friends and I got the City Pass which includes tickets to 6 city attractions: Top of the Rock, Empire State Building, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island, and American Museum of Natural History which costed us around $100. I can't really remember but here is the website for more detail. It was a bit expensive when we first looked at it but at the end we thought it was worth it. You cannot be satisfied if you go to New York and don't see at least these attractions. And even when my friends and I have covered those listed above, we still missed out on other attractions like Guggenheim Museum, 9/11 Memorial & Museum, Brooklyn Bridge, Dumbo, etc etc etc. Cities like New York and London, they need more than 5 days to be explored. The sad part was I only got 5 days last time to do all these things on my checklist, hence not everything was checked off.

Moving on, I think we died and went to heaven when we tried The Halal Guys for the first time. Like, it was legit the best meal we ate in NYC (P.O.V: after I finished the trip). It was so good I couldn't believe it and everybody think so too. So, if you guys go to NYC just MAKE SURE you try Halal Guys. Then we rode the yellow cab for the first time to our dinner place which was in Greenwich Village called Umami Burger. The queue was long. But the food, once again, was great! So the long wait was alright. After that we went to a drugstore to get bath soap to share then we went to Grand Central to check out the famous opening of Gossip Girl. The lighting was very bad to take pictures though I might say it was one of the most beautiful train stations interior-wise. We headed home after a long tiring, productive day roaming around New York City. Stay tuned for Day 2!