New York ended up being pretty interesting. We’re trying to hold onto our money, so we decided to stay up all night rather than spend money on a hotel room. We paid $30 to store our backpacks at a cleaner’s in Harold Square, and set out around noon. We literally walked all day, covering Union Square, the East Village, the Lower East Side, Lower Manhattan, Soho and Times Square. We also had stayed in Park Slope the evening before so I feel like Kale had a good tour of the city for a first-timer with only 24-hours to explore.
Union Square - National Debt Clock:
Lower Manhattan:
So, I’ve stayed up all night in New York before (when I lived there), but I was in a bar, and I was drunk. Kale and I decided not to drink because we didn’t want to feel like hell going to the airport. We went to see a late movie, The Tree of Life, at the AMC Theater in Times Square around 11 pm and by the time the movie got out, it was half passed one. We could pick up our bags at 7:30 am, so decided we would try to hang out in the city for six hours.
We walked through Times Square, and then headed East on 42d St. toward Grand Central Station. On the way there, we could see the streets starting to get empty, and even witnessed one unfortunate man vomiting throughout the street…I couldn’t figure out why he wouldn’t just stay still and finish. Anyway – we reached Grand Central, but it had closed at 2 am, so we walked back West to Bryant Park(where there was a WIFI signal), and just sat for a while. We called the Best Western in Times Square, and made sure there was a room available in case the lack of sleep became unbearable, but it didn’t. We were fine. We found a small deli around 4 am and bought some fruit. It began getting light outside around 5 am, and around 5:30 we decided to head back to Herald Square where our bags were being held (right across from Macy’s). As we walked through the empty streets, we passed a puddle of urine that lead up to a homeless man who had fallen asleep underneath one of Macy’s display windows. It made me kind of sad for him, but thankful for us that we were soberJ
Union Square - National Debt Clock:
Lower Manhattan:
So, I’ve stayed up all night in New York before (when I lived there), but I was in a bar, and I was drunk. Kale and I decided not to drink because we didn’t want to feel like hell going to the airport. We went to see a late movie, The Tree of Life, at the AMC Theater in Times Square around 11 pm and by the time the movie got out, it was half passed one. We could pick up our bags at 7:30 am, so decided we would try to hang out in the city for six hours.
We walked through Times Square, and then headed East on 42d St. toward Grand Central Station. On the way there, we could see the streets starting to get empty, and even witnessed one unfortunate man vomiting throughout the street…I couldn’t figure out why he wouldn’t just stay still and finish. Anyway – we reached Grand Central, but it had closed at 2 am, so we walked back West to Bryant Park(where there was a WIFI signal), and just sat for a while. We called the Best Western in Times Square, and made sure there was a room available in case the lack of sleep became unbearable, but it didn’t. We were fine. We found a small deli around 4 am and bought some fruit. It began getting light outside around 5 am, and around 5:30 we decided to head back to Herald Square where our bags were being held (right across from Macy’s). As we walked through the empty streets, we passed a puddle of urine that lead up to a homeless man who had fallen asleep underneath one of Macy’s display windows. It made me kind of sad for him, but thankful for us that we were soberJ
The cleaners, which had our bags didn’t open until 7:30 am, so we went to a small coffee shop, had a bagel and coffee, and waited. We watched from the deli’s upstairs window while the city went from completely empty to totally jam-packed full of people. It was lovely.
As soon as the cleaner’s opened, we grabbed our bags, and jumped on the subway (A train) headed to JFK airport. We nearly fell asleep on our way to our stop. Once we made it to the airport, and went through security, it was around 10 am. Our flight wasn’t until 7 pm. I slept on the floor for 4 hours, but Kale couldn’t sleep. Right before our flight, my mother and her boyfriend surprised us, and flew with us to Ireland! She took us up to the Delta Sky Lounge, which had free beer and wine, and we imbibed right before boarding our flight that also had free spirits. Our five-hour flight flew by in business class. We had great food, free drinks, free entertainment and very comfortable sleeping accommodations. We had been blessed, and looked forward to the journey aheadJ
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