New York- Day 1
This time, we finally went to New York! It is my furthest trip ever.
Dear was sent on a work trip and I grab the chance to follow him. The air ticket is expensive (somemore Dear is so atas. He flies on SQ), so we spent time time debating if I should go. We even asked friends if they can help redeem miles or look for people who can help us book at corporate rates. The plans all failed and finally, one day, Dear was helping to monitoring the ticket price when he saw that tickets were going for $2.5k before taxes.
We immediately decide to buy the ticket and in hindsight, it was a good decision as the usual price was above $3k and we never saw that price again after that day. It must be God helping us.
So, with the reality that I was really flying to NYC, we started to make concrete plans for the trip. We were there for 8 days as this was the longest leave that Dear could take.
Here are our trip details first:
Air ticket: $2.8k after insurance per pax on SQ
Hotel: Novotel Time Square- S$332.76 per night
W Hotel Downtown-S$297.25
Exchange rate:1.257
As you can see, hotels are so freaking expensive in NYC! I am so glad we only have to pay for two nights as the rest of the stay are covered by Dear's company. And food is almost free too, as Dear has allowance.
So I only have to pay for my own air ticket and shopping. Very good deal right? Meowahaha.
So back to the trip now, it is almost a 24hr flight between Sg and NYC. Our flight was a midnight flight and I met Dear after work to head to the airport. We flew with Dear's colleague, Mr Uncle, who was also going on the trip.
After an 11 hours flight, we landed at Frankfurt to transit and Dear brought me to the lounge.
Ate and take photos while waiting for each other to use the toilet.Lol.
Finally we reach NYC after flying across the globe!
On the cab to W Hotel Downtown where we are staying for the night. Taxi drivers in NYC are quite chatty. The driver of the cab we got into talked non-stop.
The funky lobby of the hotel
Our room. White and nice but thought it was too bland didn't live up to the W brand.
The lounge at the hotel lobby where it really look like those chill out places that the Caucasians hang out on TV.
A very considerate gesture outside the hotel building. So cool.
After putting our stuff down in the room and freshening up, we headed out to explore. Dear spent a lot of effort looking for hotels to stay, so kudos to him for finding the best deal for us.
Another one of the first things we learn: service is at best nonchalant in NYC, and service staff are generally rude here (maybe more so because we are Asians).
As we are staying in the Downtown area, we explored Wall Street. Lots of buildings were cramped against each other and many tourists chocked up the streets too. We were there on a weekend and I wondered how stressfully bustling it must be on a weekday when the traders are working.
The New York Stock Exhange
The Federal Hall
We saw a fashion shoot taking place and it hit home that we were in the heart of the world where anything is possible. Even the person who was holding the lights was very stylish.
We walked further down and saw the Museum of Finance. Admission was free so we went in to learn a tip or two about the stock market.
The interior of the Musuem of Finance
Next stop on the itinerary was to look for the famous charging bull and we came to a park where hot dog stands were dotted along the pavement.
We haven't ate anything since getting off the plane so I suggested to enhance our All- American experience by getting a hot dog.
Bad decision. This hot dog costs us around S$5-7 and only tasted normal. Super expensive rite. So the intended All-American experience turned out to be 'wah everything also very expensive here hor' instead.
Walking further down after the mini break, we saw the National Musuem of the African American and decide to go in since admission was free. Nothing too interesting except that the space in the building, like most older buildings here, felt very grand.
We finally reached the charging bull who was molested by the crowds of tourists who have specially came to take photo with it and touch its golden balls for luck on the stock market. I felt sorry for the poor bull who was supposed to be a majestic figure.
Of course, we were one of those who squeezed with the crowd to take photos with it and touch its golden balls. And it was one of my favourite photos of the trip haha.
Dear and I traveled alone most of the time so we rarely have photos of ourselves together except for selfies. So because we travelled with his colleague this time, we managed to take more photos of us together.
After taking photos with the bull, you can cross the street to the many street vendors who are waiting to sell you a replica to bring home.
Limousines are not uncommon on the streetd of New York. I wondered who sits inside- Gossip Girls type of rich brats, America next top models or businessmen with their flings.
We have conquered most sights in Wall Street and headed to take the free Staten ferry where you can view Manhatten's skyline and the Statute of Liberty along the ride.
In the ferry which is actually a form of public transport for locals traveling between Staten Island and Manhatten.
The ride was supposed to be a good and cheap way of viewing the Statue of Liberty. I just didn't expect, ehm, the view to be so small. Luckily the rest wasn't picky about it.
The view of the Manhatten skyline from the ferry
After we took the ferry roundtrip back to Manhatten, it was time to head over to Brooklyn for dinner. We took the subway over.
The old underground subway
We reached Brooklyn and took in the sights while walking to our dinner place.
Here's our dinner place which is reputed to sell the best pizza in NYC.
We were lucky to be early and were quite in front of the queue. But the staff admitting those in the queue was weird and kept letting in groups of two people or groups of even number.
We were a company of three and had to wait for sometime before we were told to go in and sit at a table for four. Don't understand how they arrange people to sit; there was an Asian family in front of us in the queue that quarreled with the staff and walked away.
The All- American experience: people are are vocal and loud here.
One of two pizzas that we ordered after finally sitting down. By the middle of the meal, fatigue was setting in and I was already closing my eyes and falling asleep. I couldn't wait to get back to the hotel already haha.
We walked around a bit more after finishing our meal and took some nice photos of the Brooklyn Bridge. Too bad we didn't see any Superheros hanging around the bridge.
We made our way back to the hotel and almost the first thing I did was to lie on the bed while chasing Dear to bathe. I fell asleep. Dear had to drag me to bathe.
By the time both of us were settled in, it was lights off and bed time. Good night!
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