After a crazy monthlong trip around the US and Canada, I was finally back in Europe with plenty of energy. Having done so much whilst in the Americas, I was inspired to make a shedload of plans and keep up the holiday spirit back in my home city of Madrid.
The first thing to do was to catch up with all my friends that I hadn’t seen for a month, so I spent a good few evenings meeting up for drinks around the city. If there’s one thing I’d missed whilst across the pond it was the concept of cañas (pronounced ‘can-yas’), meeting up with mates on an outdoor terrace for a few chill beers.
The summer sun was still shining down on my neighbourhood.
Another afternoon I headed out to the Royal Botanical Gardens with Sara. This was a place I’d been meaning to visit since I first visited Madrid but which I’d never got round to, so we decided to head there together seeing as it was free for the afternoon.
We had a good snoop around the plants and exhibits, but it was a markedly average time of year to visit. The blooms of summer had passed and they hadn’t yet replaced the summer foliage with the winter one. I did enjoy a photography exhibition that they had on inside one of their buildings, however, and so took note of some of the works and photographers that had caught my eye.
After leaving the gardens, we wandered past the Museo del Prado which it sits alongside and headed up into the literary quarter to have a drink and a proper catch up. As usual we had a great laugh whilst chatting about our summer’s antics.
The Prado is one of the world’s most famous art museums.
Later that same week I met up with Hugo, Sergejs, and some more friends to have a meal out to celebrate Hugo’s birthday. We headed up into the north of the city and to an American BBQ restaurant that they’re a fan of – something I found somewhat ironic after having just arrived from the US a few days before.
We had a great time at the restaurant, where one of Hugo’s friends knew one of the waitresses from having worked together there in the past. We shared some delicious meaty dishes and had a good few drinks, during which the desserts were on the house as a gift to the birthday boy!
Continuing the celebrations, we arranged to meet up for a picnic that weekend. Despite the delicious desserts at the restaurant, I theorised that it wouldn’t be a proper birthday without some cake, and so I whipped up a Victoria sponge for everyone to try down by the river. This was also prompted by the need to use up some self-raising flour that I’d bought while down in Murcia a while ago – it’s a nightmare to get hold of here in Spain!
Not a bad attempt thanks to the self-raising flour.
In another moment of me doing something I should have done a while ago, I also finally bought myself a helmet to use whilst cycling around the city. I put it to good use in some of my many cycles home, but I also spent some time enjoying the more tolerable late-summer temperatures and did plenty of walking and exploring. One of these wanders took me through the Campo del Moro, the royal palace’s formal gardens which I’d also never been inside.
The next weekend I was back out with Sara once again, but this time joined by her boyfriend Eric and his friends who were visiting from the north of Spain. We had some drinks around the centre of Madrid and then headed to a restaurant in the north of the city, where I enjoyed some delicious salmon and some drinks.
My next adventure took me to Arganda del Rey, a town on the outskirts of Madrid where Luis is from and where his family still live. I grabbed a lift with Carmen to join Luis and friends in the centre of Arganda one evening, where we had some food and drinks before heading out to the edge of town and to the main event: the fair!
These fiestas are a staple of Spain, and the last one I’d been to was up in Gijón back in July, so it was high time for another! The group of us headed into the action, where we grabbed some more drinks and headed over to dance to the music as we waited for another of Luis’ friends to take the stage for his DJ set.
We had an absolutely fabulous night out at the fiestas, dancing and laughing and eventually filling ourselves up with huge sandwiches full of chorizo and morcilla, a Spanish blood sausage which is one of my guilty pleasures. As the only person not from Arganda in the group, I then headed with Luis back to his family home where I stayed over in one of the spare bedrooms.
The next morning I had quite the heavy head, but this was soon tended to with a breakfast of homemade and freshly fried tequeños (Venezuelan salty cheese sticks) courtesy of the lady who takes care of Luis’ parents. Me and Luis spent a good while in their picturesque garden munching on these cheesy delights whilst calming our hangovers with a hot chocolate.
Luis’ family’s garden is a lovely spot shaded by grape vines.
We then headed out into the centre of Arganda del Rey, where the streets were buzzing as everything was prepared for the encierro. This is the name given to the running of the bulls, an event played out in small towns across Spain which is exactly what it sounds like: bulls are let loose to charge through the streets whilst people do their best to outpace or at least outmanoeuvre them.
I do love many aspects of Spain culture, but their treatment of bulls is not one of them. It was fascinating, however, to wander around and see how they had prepared the entire town for this event, and how they have permanent infrastructure in place such as holes in the floor in order for the huge iron walls (with gaps enough for a human but not a bull to slide though) to be installed.
My weekend in Arganda ended with some ice cream and a very warm car journey with Luis back up to the centre of Madrid, where he left me at my house and I spent the rest of the day mooching around and feeling sorry for myself as I nursed my heavy head.
This wasn’t the end of the late-summer festivities back in Spain, but I’ll have to leave my next little adventure for my next blog post. There’s a lot to catch up on after pumping out thirteen posts from the Americas!
If you’ve been keeping up with my blog over the last month or so, you’ll know that I’ve been publishing a load of blog posts from my monthlong trip across the US and Canada. In the end there’s thirteen blog posts to get through, so I thought I’d make a little directory to list them all for quick reference!
Montreal
I land in Canada after a long journey over from Europe. I’m met at Montreal airport by Megan, and we spend a night in the city.
We cross over into the US and I spend my first few days with Megan and her family in their lovely house just outside the city of Burlington in the state of Vermont. We explore the beautiful nature of Vermont and I get my first look at at American high school.
My adventures in Williston continue, with a series of activities on and around the beautiful Lake Champlain. Me and Megan go kayaking, Maureen takes me on a tour of the islands, and we have some fun evenings of meals out and karaoke at the local bars.
Me, Megan, Breen, and Aaron spend a weekend in the Vermont countryside at a fancy camping spot with views over Lake Champlain. I have a corn dog, make s’mores, and we all chat into the early hours of the morning.
Megan moves into her new condo and I join her there for a week of remote work and busy afternoons. We head to the theatre, I join a softball game, and we eat plenty of tacos, pizza, and ice cream.
I have the full US experience with a trip to a baseball game, complete with 25¢ hot dogs and lots of other treats. Highlights include a beautiful sunset and a drunken photo shoot with the team’s mascot.
Me and Megan cycle 32km in the summer sun out into Lake Champlain and get caught in a rainstorm on the way home. We celebrate our busy day with an evening of drinks and karaoke!
Megan takes me for an alternative experience with some outdoor theatre in the Vermont countryside. A unique experience that I can’t really sum up here…
My last few days in the state of Vermont see us head out for a diner breakfast, scale Vermont’s highest mountain, visit the Von Trapp Family Lodge, and pass by the Ben & Jerry’s factory.
Me and Megan have an absolute blast in New York City. Highlights include visiting the Brooklyn Bridge, eating at Katz’s Deli, watching a comedy show, cycling Central Park, watching a show on Broadway, visiting the Metropolitan Museum, and enjoying the panoramic views of Manhattan from our hotel rooftop.
Megan bids me farewell and leaves me alone in New York for 24 hours. I head up the Highline, visit the 9/11 Memorial, get emotional watching the sun set over Manhattan, and then get lost on the metro out of the city.
I fly over to Buffalo to spend a few days with Kevin and James in their city. They show me the highlights of the city and its food, and we spend a hilarious day at the county fair. I end my trip in style with a drunken night on the town with Kevin and fly back to Europe with one of the worst hangovers ever!
Whilst with Kevin and James, Kevin and I headed off to Toronto for a day trip. We stopped at Niagara Falls and then explored the Canadian city before heading back to Buffalo.
If you don’t want to click around, you can also just start reading the first of the blog posts and then click “Next blog post” at the bottom of each page to read them all in order. I’ve also updated my travel page with all the new locations that I visited along the way!
I hope you enjoy this series of posts documenting a crazy month touring around Canada and the northeastern United States – I certainly had an amazing time!
I have to admit that after so many weeks in the US and a particularly busy timein New York, I’d completely forgotten that Kevin and James live nearby a very famous natural wonder: Niagara Falls. I was excited to catch a glimpse of the famous waterfall, so we parked up on the Canadian side of the Niagara River and headed towards the huge column of spray.
It will sound very cliché, but I did get quite emotional even before the falls came into full view. Just being close to the edge and watching the sheer quantity of water go flying over the edge from the top end of the falls was impressive enough, and so I had to hold back a tear as we headed further down the river’s edge and the full glory of this famous landmark presented itself.
The photos I’ve included – much like any videos I’ve ever seen of the falls – do not do the place any justice. I had never imagined the huge, panoramic size of the waterfall – it was breathtaking.
Another aspect that can’t be appreciated via photo is how bloody misty the whole area surrounding the falls is: we got absolutely soaked! It was a hot and sunny day, thankfully, so its cooling effects were quite welcome.
It was also cool to stand and look across the river to the US side.
After a quick trip to the gift shop and the loos, we hopped back into the car and headed on into Toronto proper. Me and Kevin had a good karaoke session in the car along the way, belting out some Spanish karaoke classics until we arrived and Kevin just fully drove over an entire pavement as a shortcut to get into a car park – it was hilarious!
We grabbed ourselves some public transport tickets and headed off to the city’s gay district, where we had a drink and indulged in a spot of shopping, all whilst pretending to be two old Spanish ladies who were overestimating their grasp on the English language. More hilarity!
Kevin then made a plan of other things we should go and see and we duly headed off to check out the places he’d identified. We passed through the city’s main square, to the old town hall, a famous indoor market, and then off to the distillery district.
The streets of Toronto were lovely and showed the city’s famous skyline.
The distillery district was just that, a whole district which was once an industrial complex full of breweries and distilleries. It had since been converted into a rather bougie area full of restaurants and bars, so we found a place with a table outside and had a pint to end our day in Toronto.
The distillery district was an absolutely lovely way to end the day.
As day turned into night, we headed back to the car and began our journey back south towards the US and Buffalo. Kevin wanted to take me to a mystery restaurant for tea, but the traffic out of Toronto delayed our arrival by a good while and so we decided to head off to Jim’s Stakeout. This was a little bit of foreshadowing for the evening after when we’d both end up back in there and in quite a state!
After messing up my dates and telling the immigration officer that I’d arrived in the United States on the 24th of August – a date which hadn’t even passed at this point – I was miraculously let into the country after the officer himself didn’t even seem to notice my monumental gaffe!
I had an absolutely great day in Toronto and at the Niagara Falls (which I’d been spelling wrong all my life, yikes). Kevin was an absolutely great tour guide and the best company one could wish for when exploring a new city!
After a few days in New York City, it was then time for me to head off to the last of the cities on my monthlong tour of Canada and the US: Buffalo! It’s not a conventional stop for people wandering around the States, but I was off to see two very special people: Kevin and James! I’ve known Kevin for a long time now and I met James when he came over to England back in the day and then again when he stopped over in Spain for a few days, but now it was time for me to see the two of them in their own place.
The flight over from New York was a quick one, and I was soon being picked up from the airport by Kevin. We nattered all the way back to their flat, where James had prepared a homemade meal of chicken, mac and cheese, greens, and corn bread. It was all absolutely delicious!
After eating, I unpacked and installed myself in their spare room before we headed into the centre of Buffalo and to a bar for some drinks. Me and Kevin got a bit tipsy off vodka cocktails and had a good sing and a bit of a boogie. We then headed back home, where me and Kevin indulged in our usual activity of chatting away into the early hours.
The next day we woke up somewhat groggy after just two cocktails, but we were soon on our feet and out the door to begin some explorations. We took the car down to the city centre, where we first headed into the impressively tall and ornamental city hall. The interior was then a complete surprise, with its gorgeous Art Deco architecture and artwork.
Buffalo City Hall has quite a presence in the middle of the town centre.
We then grabbed a lift and headed upstairs for the next surprise in the form of panoramic views over the city and Lake Erie. I took some photos and James pointed out some of the most important spots from our vantage point up in the clouds.
Leaving the city hall behind, we headed up the road and to hotel to grab some coffee. James and I had a nosey around some of the rooms of the hotel whilst Kevin bought drinks, and we reconvened at the car to head over to another part of the city.
I very much enjoyed the illustrations on the wall in the hotel.
We stopped along the way at a mural that James wanted to show me, where I took a photo to prove that I’d visited Buffalo, New York. If that’s confusing to you, it’s because New York City is in New York State, in which Buffalo is also situated. I don’t know about you, but I was never taught US geography, so I’ve learned all of this in just the past few years!
To reiterate: I was now in Buffalo in the state of New York.
From there, we headed down to the docks, where we saw some of the important sights including a bunch of decommissioned military boats and submarines. I also had my photo taken with Shark Girl, a sculpture and local landmark, but I shan’t include the photo here as I look pretty terrible!
The sky began to darken as some dodgy looking grey clouds walked in, so we headed back to the safety of the car as we waited for the storm to break. We headed over to a supermarket I wanted to visit, stopping at Tim Horton’s (a Canadian coffee chain) for a bagel along the way as I was still living my bagel obsession after those I tried in New York.
The supermarket in question was Trader Joe’s, where I bought lots of supplies for my visit. We then headed over to Kevin and James’ preferred supermarket, which was nice and had some fabulous cookies, but was a bit too big and overwhelming for me as tends to be the case with supermarkets in the US. I did grab some root beer which I’d never had before, upon which I discovered that it tastes like sarsaparilla – I loved it!
On the way home, we stopped at an outlet, where I wanted to buy some new shoes but wound up grabbing some new jeans in an Old Navy. I was sure to take a photo of myself with the Old Navy bag and send it to Megan and friends back in Vermont – apparently they love the place!
We then stopped to grab some dinner: pizza and chicken wings. Buffalo is famous for both of these indulgent foods, so I was keen on trying them. The pizza was lovely but the stars of the show were definitely the wings. They were lightly spicy with a blue cheese sauce and were absolutely delicious!
And now for a quick intermission whilst me and Kevin headed somewhere else…
The next day, Kevin and I headed over the Canadian border and into Toronto to pass the day, and I want to leave that for a separate blog post. You can read that here!
Back in Buffalo the next day, it was just me and James for the morning as Kevin had to work until the afternoon. The two of us hopped in the car and James showed me around some of Buffalo’s hidden architectural gems and other neighbourhoods of the city. It was a very interesting trip and it was great to have a a tour guide who knows the kinds of things I appreciate!
We then headed to the North Campus of the State University of New York at Buffalo (quite the mouthful) in order to pick Kevin up from work. Before we left the campus, we had a quick snoop around, as I was keen to check out an American university after having seen the high school in Burlington. It was very interesting but we were growing tired and hungry, so the sight of the aggressive campus geese was as good a sign as any to head off.
Lunch was at a spot called Rachael’s, where I grabbed a light lunch of chicken salad after my body was crying out for some greens after a good few days of absolutely indulgence in Buffalo, Toronto, and New York City. It was also a good idea to eat something healthy before we arrived at our next stop: we were off to the county fair!
After witnessing what for me was the first attraction of the fair, an argument in the car park between a parking attendant and a very cross man, we bought our tickets and headed inside. We saw some cows and other animals, but I think the main draw for me was just looking at the people in the fair. It’s times like this when I begin to understand anthropology – the study of people and human behaviour.
James then wanted to show me the bizarre section where prizes had been awarded for all sorts of bizarre things, from the packing and presentation of pickles to the best patriotic photography. Once back outside, I grabbed a fresh lemonade and we wandered into the part of the fair with the main event: the rides!
I love this photo with all of the colours and energy of the fair.
I failed to convince Kevin and James to hop on the Wild Mouse or the Dodgems with me, so I’d to settle for a ride on the Ferris Wheel. This turned out to be a pleasant surprise, as it provided some great views over the sprawling fair from up in the air.
I then spent the remaining tickets on a spinning monstrosity called a Zero Gravity which I’d always wanted to try since seeing them online. These menacing things take the form of a circle in which you stand facing the centre with your back to the wall, which I did diligently with just four other small children for company – not a good sign.
The rickety metal ride then began to spin at increasingly higher speeds, pushing me against the wall with the g-forces generated. Then came the vertigo-inducing part of the experience, as the whole thing began to tilt until we were basically being spun upside down as if we were in a washing machine. All of this whilst being held in place by nothing but the centrifugal force generated by the spinning!
This was the view that greeted me once I hopped on this terrifying thing.
The sensation of having my organs moved around for what felt like an eternity wasn’t the most pleasant one, but I got off with a big smile on my face and sat down for a moment while I caught my breath and balance. From there, we headed off to look for “I Got It”, James’ favourite fairground game.
“I Got It” was loads of fun! We’d to throw small rubber balls from a bench into a box with a 5 × 5 grid, where they’d settle in one of the 25 squares. The objective was basically the same as in bingo, we’d to shout “I got it!” if we managed to land a horizontal or diagonal line of five balls.
I can’t stress how addictive this game was, we sat playing until we’d all spent all the physical dollars that we had on us! We didn’t win anything more than one free game at one point, but it was well worth the splurge as it was loads of fun – and hey, I was going to have to spend my dollars at some point before leaving!
Money spent, we wound up in a hall which was a bit creepy and full of pushy vendors, but at least it had some AC to cool us off. On the way out we ran into a parade of horses on our way to grab a county fair staple: fried Oreos. These decadent snacks take the form of Oreos which have been fried in a doughnut-like batter. I wasn’t the biggest fan, and opted to grab myself some sweet and salty kettle popcorn instead – it was fresh and delicious!
We then snooped around some RVs, where I was rather appalled at the excess of people having what is basically a second home sat empty and parked on their driveways. I did, however, enjoy the drink I grabbed afterwards, which was like a root beer but even stronger – I’m mad at myself because I’ve completely forgotten what it was called!
It was then getting rather late and rather warm, so we headed back to the car and back home. James then had to head off to work, so Kevin and I pottered down to the local metro station to head into the city together to spend my last evening in the Americas.
The metro was quite dodgy looking but I wasn’t too shocked at this point: the US is really terrible at public transport. The train was clean and punctual, though, so I can’t complain. It left us near the docks that we’d visited a few days before, from where we pottered down to a bierhaus for some German food and beer!
We grabbed what I would describe as a maß after my experiencesat the local beer festivals in Herzogenaurach, which are basically big steins of beer. Although we accompanied these with a selection of bratwurst sausages, the beer soon had us tipsily chatting with the waitress and I began to sing along to some of the German songs that I knew thanks to Luisa and my twovisits to her hometown in Germany!
James eventually came and picked the me and Kevin up, and not before time as we were quite tipsily away. James was exhausted after work so headed home, dropping me and Kevin off at the bar we’d all gone to together on my first night in Buffalo. We grabbed some gin and tonics there, where things got a little out of hand and we wound up ending the night at Jim’s Stakeout for fried chicken sandwiches!
After grabbing a taxi home, I then awoke the next day with an absolute monster of a hangover and the panic that I had to somehow pack my suitcase and be out of the door by midday in order to catch my flight back to Europe. I somehow managed to power through all of this, but I began to seriously wilt as we headed to the airport in the car.
There was a pretty big queue of cars at Canadian immigration, where the heat began to beat down on us and I began to regret ever drinking a sip of alcohol as we waited in line to have our passports checked. I did survive, though, and had to say my goodbyes to Kevin and James at Toronto airport as a torrential rainstorm began to lash down.
From there I’d then to endure the nightmare of a flight back to Madrid, which included a four-hour layover in Lisbon. I was so groggy and my stomach was awful on the entire flight back over the Atlantic, which wasn’t helped by the baby crying in the row in front of me and the fact that I was sandwiched in between two other people with very little legroom. To add insult to injury, I’d then to make a manual flight transfer in Lisbon airport, involving passing through immigration, picking up my suitcase, and then checking it back in. Nightmare!
I can’t let this rather unpleasant trip back to my home continent of Europe mar the amazing memories I made in Buffalo with Kevin and James. From exploring Buffalo to highlights such as the country fair and all of the delicious food that we ate, I can’t thank Kevin and James enough for taking me in and showing me their lovely city. It was a great way to end my trip across the Americas, but more than anything it was just lovely to be reunited with the two of them so we could spend plenty of time together.
Now back in Madrid, I nearly fell asleep in the taxi back home, where I arrived to discover that the two plants I’d left in the flat with an automatic watering system had survived their month alone. I jumped straight in bed for a nap, after which I unpacked and settled down for a chilled evening of watching Legally Blonde: The Musical in bed.
I pick things back up after leaving Megan on the metro to head back to the airport as we finally parted ways after three weeks together exploring Canada and the northwest of the United States. I was now alone in New York City and had a full 24 hours of time to go and explore everything it had to offer, so how would I begin? Heading back to the hotel for a nap, of course.
After my nap I spent some time journalling, looking through my photos, and starting a little bit of light packing so I wouldn’t be in such a rush the next day. Once that was all done, I headed on to the metro in my half-broken shorts and headed to the first spot on my solo adventure where I’d craftily planned to kill two bird with one stone.
I hopped off the metro near Hudson Yards, where I first searched out the Uniqlo shop in the fancy new shopping centre in order to buy some new shorts. I changed into them in the changing rooms there and threw my broken ones into a recycling bin as I headed outside to see the next attraction: the Vessel.
I’d seen and heard a lot about this sculpture on some of the YouTube channels that I indulge in from time to time, from the technical challenges of the whole Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project to the controversy surrounding deaths by suicide from the Vessel itself. While they work on solving this last issue, the Vessel is closed to visitors wishing to climb up, but we were allowed inside at ground level to take some photos.
On the way out of the newly developed Hudson Yards area, I grabbed a hotdog at one of the trusty New York food trucks. I wandered down past the sprawling rail yard and headed up on to a landmark that I’d briefly visited last time I was in the city: the High Line. This lovely park through the west side of Manhattan has the curious prestige of being constructed on an old elevated railroad, and offers a slither of greenery and some interesting views over the city’s streets.
I gave Ellie another quick buzz as I thought she’d like the concept of the High Line. We had a quick chat but she was already in bed, so I then gave Kevin a ring and we had a great laugh as I wandered down to the end of the park.
My idea had originally been to head back to the hotel to freshen up and change before heading out for the evening, but as I reached the end of the High Line it was already getting quite late. Not wanting to miss the sunset, I stayed out and decided to head down to Ground Zero to see the 9/11 Memorial as it was on the way to the place I’d decided I wanted to spend the evening.
After a frustrating incident trying to sign up to use the public bike system and then a painfully sweaty wait for a train in the city’s decaying metro system, I finally made it to the memorial. I spent a while wandering round, taking in the solemn atmosphere of the place, and taking some photos as the sun began to set behind the buildings.
The area is a lovely and fitting tribute to those who died during the attacks, but part of me did question the almost excessive commercialisation of the area and the events that it is unavoidably associated with. Having the site become a tourist attraction that felt almost like a theme park didn’t sit 100% well with me – and I say this knowing that I’d come along to look at it too. It left me a bit conflicted.
They place these flags on the names of the people for their birthdays.
Not wanting to have my sunset plans ruined by New York’s unreliable-at-best public transport, I headed over early to my next destination. The metro dropped me off at Brooklyn Bridge Park, on the other side of the water from Manhattan. From there, I began a slow wander down to the water’s edge, where my plan was to watch the sun set over the infamous skyline.
This view was cool with the Brooklyn Bridge hidden in the background.
Upon turning the corner and being confronted with the sight of the skyscrapers over the waters of the East River, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get a bit emotional. I then pottered further down and to the water’s edge, where I spent a good amount of time just taking in the views. This spot provided view of it all: the remains of the old dock, the Statue of Liberty in the distance, the colours of the evening sky, the impressive the Manhattan skyline, and a panoramic view of the Brooklyn Bridge that we’d been on just a few days prior.
This view struck me as very unique, combining greenery with the skyline.
These pylons are all that is left of the old dock.
After taking countless photos from this awesome vantage point, I finally turned the camera on myself and took a rare selfie to prove that I’d actually been in New York. It was also time for me to stop gawking at the views and listen to my body for a second, which was now crying out for something to eat and drink. I wandered down the length of the park in the hunt for some food and knew I was getting closer as I saw people were holding nearly immaculate ice creams – call me Sherlock Holmes.
I wound up queuing for a while for a pizza place under the Brooklyn Bridge before I realised that the line didn’t seem to be moving and there was seemingly complete chaos inside. Impatient thanks to the hunger and thirst, I abandoned the line and looked for a while for an alternative before settling for yet another food truck meal. The food isn’t great but they are always there like guardian angels when you find yourself in a pinch!
I took my chicken kebab back down to the waterside, where I sought out a free bench and sat down to watch the sunset advance. As day became night, the city lights began to appear and I spent another good time in the dark photographing everything that caught my eye.
As the dark and cold grew more intense, I said my goodbyes to this awesome spot and walked back to the metro. Once back in the hotel, I finished off some more packing and headed through the masses of photos that I’d taken on the trip so far before heading off to bed. It’d been a beautiful and somewhat emotional last night in New York City!
The next day, as my journal from the trip notes, was a “pretty mechanical day”. I woke up, finished off my last bits of packing, showered, left the hotel, and dragged my trusty blue suitcase down to the metro to head off to the airport.
This journey back to the airport didn’t go like clockwork, however, as I saw a turn come and go as we sped past and some kind of interior compass or innate directional intuition told me that my train should have taken that turn. I checked Google Maps and, sure as hell, I’d gotten the wrong train and we certainly should have taken that turn.
I don’t know where I get this refined sense of direction from, but I sure as hell was grateful for it as I jumped off the train at the next station, took the next train in the opposite direction, and then waited for the next train that actually would go to the airport.
Three trains later, I eventually arrived back at JFK, where I grabbed my last cream cheese bagel and headed to my flight. It’d been quite the hassle of a journey to get me back to my gate out of New York City after having arrived only four days prior, but it was well worth it as I headed off for the last stop of my grand American adventure.
After a few days there with Megan and then 24 hours alone, New York had been an absolutely amazing experience that turned my perception of it from a once-and-done trip to a place that I’m already planning to revisit. The absolute chaos of the Big Apple is overwhelming, so I could never stay there for longer than a few days, but the diversity that forms the city and the always-on electric atmosphere make it unique amongst cities.
I’ll definitely be back to New York, but for now, I was off to another US city…
