A few weeks ago I wrote a post about my anxiety about traveling. Well, I have good news! I survived and am alive and well!
I had SO much fun and I feel refreshed now. I don't feel like a mean mom anymore, I feel ready to love parenting again.
Let me tell you about my trip!
Day 1:
It started off with Kip taking me to the airport, and as you can tell from the picture below, he was thrilled..... He was stressed about being a single parent for 5 days! (Don't worry, he also survived).
We got all checked in and waited for our flight. We flew with Alaskan airlines on the way there and it was nice. They have this cool airplane mode thing for your phone and you can use their wifi service and stream movies. I had plenty of time to watch movies! So, I watched Thor: Ragnarok (one of my absolute favorite movies!) and then part of a weird Tarzan movie called The Legend of Tarzan (which wasn't my favorite, but my sister loves it). The in-flight snacks and drinks were okay, just your typical Biscoff cookies and almonds.
Towards the end of the flight I started to feel a tad bit motion sick, so I'm glad I had my Sea-Bands! Those things are lifesavers!
We finally made it after a full day of traveling and had an Uber driver take us to our Airbnb, about 50 minutes away from the airport.
Oh my goodness, the driving in NY is INSANE. Like, how are there not accidents all the time? How do people's brakes last longer than a month? I would never ever want to drive in NY. The streets are narrow, constant traffic, lots of honking, and pedestrians just kind of walk out....? and get honked at. I'm grateful that our Uber drivers knew what they were doing!
We got to our Airbnb! After looking at our picture, you may be wondering why my brother never smiles with his teeth.....the answer is I don't know haha! But I promise he had fun!
Our Airbnb wasn't the best in the sense that it was dirty. There were broken cupboards, drawers, hair already in the drain, stuff all over the walls and a grease stain (or urine stain?) in my sheets, only half a roll of toilet paper left and no hand soap and ANTS all over!
We ended up using Instacart the next morning to get some Raid bug spray, toilet paper, hand soap and some snacks. The Raid spray worked great! We definitely left that behind for future guests at that place.
The Airbnb we stayed at was really close to the bus stop, which was way nice. And we had an amazing view of Manhattan once we walked out the front door.
Okay, moving onto day 2:
We attempted to figure out how to ride the buses and got the hang of riding the subway. Our first stop was the Statue of Liberty! We took a water taxi out and went around Lady Liberty. It was beautiful! But holy cow it was so windy and chilly!
Next stop was brunch.We ate at this delicious place called Zuckers Bagels and Smoked Fish and oh my yum! I highly recommend it!
After that we went to the Museum of Modern Art. If you are into art and walking around a huge museum looking at tons of paintings, drawings and sculptures, then this place is for you! My brother and sister loved it, me? I was trying desperately to stay awake! So, if you are artsy then go, if you aren't then avoid it!
After MoMa, we still had a lot of time to kill before our broadway play, so we went to a place called Chelsea Market. It had a lot of little shops and food places. We found a little bakery called Amy's Bread that was good, but we were still hungry. So we found another place called Mao's Bao that had fried buns and boiled dumplings made fresh. They were so good!
I still was craving something sweet, so we found a stand called L'Arte Del Gelato and I got myself a little cup of chocolate hazelnut gelato.
Next stop: BROADWAY! We chose to go to Phantom of the Opera at The Majestic Theatre and it was fantastic! The phantom's voice was amazing! The only thing was that Christine's voice was too vibrato. It was way too much. But the stage props and changes between scenes was great!
Next up is day 3:
Our day started with a trip to an amazing breakfast place called Two Crepes and it is a place I highly recommend!
After that we made our way back into Manhattan for The American Museum of Natural History. It was so amazing and I didn't have the urge to fall asleep! It is definitely huge and they actually recommend that you take 2 days to visit it. However, we didn't have time or money for that!
We chose to do the Planetarium Show: Worlds Beyond Earth. We got to watch a really cool show on a dome shaped ceiling all about space and the planets. I definitely learned a lot of new things that I hadn't known before, or even thought of. Man, people are smart!
There were so many different exhibits about different cultures and countries, along with different animals that look extremely real.
Following the museum we went to a pizza place called Juliana's Pizza. It had been recommended by several people and we were told to get their margarita pizza, so we did. I'm going to be honest, while it was really good pizza, it wasn't the best pizza I have ever had. It was almost like we had our expectations set really high from the recommendations we had received, but we had set them up too high. But in the end, the pizza was very good. I would recommend it, just don't expect it to be "the best pizza in NY".
After lunch we went and walked along the Brooklyn Bridge. It is a beautiful bridge! Also, the sun was bright and I couldn't keep my eyes open for the picture.
After that it was time to head to Chinatown. I'm not going to lie. I was a little disappointed with that. I had in my mind that it would be completely different. Like things going on in the streets, lots of Chinese dragons, Chinese music, etc. But no, it wasn't like that at all. It is legit a little town where Chinese people live and have their shops. There are tourist shops, but overall to me it was boring.
So we headed off to Little Italy. This was a little more fun because I we found Caffé Palermo, the Cannoli King place. They had amazing desserts! I finally had found what I had been craving: a brownie lava cake thing with ice cream! (I'm drooling right now just thinking about it!) Yes, I recommend this place if you have a sweet tooth.
We made it home after that. I wrapped myself up like a burrito in my comforter blanket (no way was I sleeping on a random stain....) and fell asleep.
Day 4:
This was our Central Park day. This day was my most favorite day on this trip! Breakfast was at a little place called Mila's Cafe. I would say it is pretty good, but I wish I would have gotten something other than french toast. But I would recommend this place for any meal, the menu looked amazing!
We headed over to Central Park and got some bikes to ride on. I had thought that (and my sister thought this as well) that it was going to be a nice little calm bike ride on a flat path through the park. It wasn't. My legs and butt were burning so bad by the end! There were hills! Seriously, such a workout. But I love working out, so it was fantastic for me!
Please note: in one of the pictures below, my brother is actually smiling with his teeth! Such a cutie!
There were so many different paths to take in the park and the nature was absolutely beautiful. It was very peaceful and relaxing.
Lunch for us was at a popular place called Los Tacos. This place was sooooooo good! It was recommended to us and it definitely lived up to all the hype. If you go to NY, make sure you go to Los Tacos. You're welcome.
*Side note: the tacos are small and it is a bit pricy for what you get. But your tastebuds will love you!
After making our tastebuds love us, we headed over to the High Line. It took us forever to find an open entrance to it! But we finally found it. I think it would have been more enjoyable if it hadn't been blowing wind 1,000 MPH and if we hadn't been so tired of walking.
We did head inside to the shopping area and they had so many great shops! I got some amazing chocolate and shoved it in my mouth and loved it!
We decided to test another pizza place to see if we were missing something about how NY pizza is supposed to be the best pizza around. So we tried a place called 99 Cent 4 Boy Pizza (weird name, right?). It was good, but it still wasn't the best pizza I had ever eaten. But, it is still a place I would recommend.
We had a show we were going to that night that didn't start until 7, so we had some free time before we needed to head over there. Guess what we did? We hopped back onto the subway and went back to Central Park. We just sat down and relaxed for a bit in the sun.
Finally, it was time to head to the show we were waiting for. It was at a night club called Don't Tell Mama. It sounds like a club for guys, right? Nope! It was a nice little bar that had two showrooms. We were going to a cabaret for Ricky Ritzel's Broadway. It was full of sweet elderly people who were there to enjoy the songs of old Broadway musicals. It was hilarious and so much fun!
The thing with Don't Tell Mama is that you have to order 2 drinks at the show. We walked into the building and the doors to the back where the show was weren't open yet. So we had a seat and ordered our drinks. It turns out that the drinks we ordered didn't count towards the required 2 drinks....So, we had to order two more drinks once we were actually at the show. On their menu they only had 3 options for virgin drinks (I don't drink alcohol), and only 1 of them tasted good to me. So I ordered 2 of the same drink haha! I also ordered an incredibly expensive yet delicious cheesecake, and my brother and sister ordered the most expensive ravioli I've ever seen, but it was also really good!
That was our last night! After we got off the bus we got a beautiful picture of Manhattan:
The next morning we said good bye to our apartment and headed to the airport in an Uber. Again, the driving was insane!
In the end I am so glad that I went on this trip. Would I do it again? Absolutely yes! I went and nothing bad happened to me. I made it home alive and well to my family. Before I left my dad had sent me this quote:
"Each of us must confront our own fears, must come face to face with them. How we handle our fears will determine where we go with the rest of our lives. To experience adventure or to be limited by the fear of it." – Judy Blume
If I hadn't gone then I would have missed out on this amazing opportunity to be with my siblings, to laugh, and to see the wonders of New York.
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