Third day – new city to explore and this time, it was THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS!
When I was studying at UConn, Hartford, I was always fond of NYC. I used to feel different and exciting energy whenever I visited NYC. I think that was one of the reasons, I visited NYC almost 10 times when I was living at Hartford. Plus, being a student, I was less worried about the logistics – I used to catch the cheapest bus ride I could find and used to stay at the cheapest Airbnb – everything under $50, which doesn’t seem true now. I *am* glad that I told myself during this time that being a student is one of the best things that could happen for traveling thirst, so I promised myself to travel as much as possible when I have enough time on my hand and could travel alone and cheaply.
Anyway, let us come back to this trip.
So, when I was planning for the different destinations to visit during her USA trip, I knew, NYC would certainly make the cut for a simple reason that it is frowned upon not to visit NYC & Times Square when you visit the East Coast. I know it sounds silly, but I think you get my point. Cheap Bus Tickets were the reason we chose to visit NYC after Boston. Plus, it worked in our favor. As she was exploring the US for the first time, it was good for me that she saw Boston first and then look at the grandeur of NYC – you know, building up to it (if you wanna call it that).
Yesterday, we were in Boston, so we had to catch an early morning bus ride to NYC. The plan was to arrive in NYC before Noon so that we could check into our Airbnb during that time. Once refreshed, we wanted to head to explore the city a little bit.
As I was looking at the Airbnb prices, I could find the cheapest Airbnb almost 7-8 miles away from Times Square. I wasn’t aware of the area at first, but after talking to some of my friends, I found out it was not that safe to live there; I couldn’t cancel the booking as it was too late, so went ahead with it. The moment I stepped out of the subway to the area where my Airbnb was, I knew we shouldn’t be strolling here during the late night. But, I didn’t show that fear on my face so that she would be comfortable. It was a good 5 minutes walk from the subway station to the Airbnb.
Airbnb wasn’t that great. As we were going to spend only a night there, we hardly cared about the state of the apartment and started prepping for the day. We had Brooklyn Bridge and Times Square on our list to visit. I knew it would take roughly 3-4 hours to visit both these places and anticipated the kind of rush it would have given that we were visiting both crowded places on the day of the Christmas – December 25th. We got ready and took only the required things with us before heading out. The subway ride was quite smoother, but since it was well past our lunchtime, both of us were craving for some good food.
When we were on the way to the Brooklyn Bridge, I was at the same time, looking for some cool place to hang out and eat some good food. That’s when I came across a local bar/pub, which was offering food during the day time. It was a shot in the dark and I was pumped to see it worked. I ordered fish & chips for me and she went for a burger. I don’t remember the taste of her burger, but certainly, remember how much I enjoyed that plate of fish & chips. Before this day, I had just heard about it, but when I tasted it, I was *almost* in heaven, partly because of how hungry we were (maybe). The ranch and ketchup took this dish to the next level, coupled with cold drinks.
One thing that I remember during this lunch date was how much she hated me for giving the tip. I know it doesn’t come across good but she got her point. I was a student, I was not earning, so giving away money when you yourself are not earning didn’t sound like a good idea to her; I, for one, hardly care about money, so was generous enough to tip my server whenever I dined out even when I was a student.
After spending almost 30 minutes for lunch, it was time to continue our day of exploration. This is where I screwed up the most. If you know me, you would know that I am not *that great* with the directions. Even after trying really hard on my navigation skills, I have failed miserably in the past and this trip was no exception. When I put the directions to Brooklyn Bridge in my Google Maps, we were just 2-3 minutes away from the starting point of the bridge, when yours truly (super confident of my navigation skills) decided to stop the navigation to save some mobile data. This was a grave mistake. Having never been to Brooklyn Bridge, I overestimated the entrance to the bridge. I thought, it is a world-famous bridge and should be easily visible from the far – boy, I was wrong. The one thing that I didn’t know was there was one more bridge called Manhattan Bridge. As I didn’t turn the navigation on, instead of Brooklyn Bridge, we went to the Manhattan Bridge and I suddenly realized it doesn’t look like in pictures and that’s when I saw right on the other side of the river – Brooklyn Bridge. I was so pissed at myself for this screw-up, but she was considerate enough to not show her disappointment so that I don’t feel worse. Man, it was such a 🤦🏽♂️ moment.
Having walked a lot today, we had to put some more steps in to get to the actual Brooklyn Bridge and we both were at least a little bit happy with the grandeur of the bridge. We ended up clicking countless pictures and walking on the bridge as the Sun was about to set in the west. I must tell you about the crowd. During my high school holidays, I visited Mumbai and really hated it just because of the number of people – it was just too much to handle. NYC is exactly like Mumbai, but for some reason, I didn’t hate it. I loved it, maybe because I had this thing called “The Personal Space” whenever I visited NYC, so didn’t mind the crowd though. Brooklyn Bridge was no exception. There were countless people on the bridge but never anyone bumped shoulders with us and came in our way – which I really appreciated and liked about the city.
I had not many opportunities to express how lucky I was because she visited me during this holiday season. Brooklyn Bridge was an exception. I remember holding her hand and telling her how happy I was that she was here with me. Having her visit me during the holidays was the best thing that could happen to me and I really appreciated her spending her time with me during what a few people call it the lonely time of the year. I am not sure what her response was, but must be something nice.
Anyway, getting back to the trip – after the Brooklyn Bridge, it was time to head to the most famous square in the world – Times Square. We had to go to the subway station one more time to get to the Times Square. The moment we arrived at Times Square, man, the crowd was tenfold if you compare it to Brooklyn Bridge. My mind sent me to Mumbai one more time and this time, I really regretted coming to the Times Square on the Christmas Day. By the time we reached our destination, it was time for dinner, so before exploring the spot, we headed to the McDonalds (yes, that’s right) for our dinner. The rush was so palpable that I had to wait almost 20 minutes for the food to come to our plate. You must know, late food and hungry girlfriend is not a good combination for you, so she *definitely* wasn’t happy with it. When the food finally arrived, we devoured it like it was the last sandwich on the planet and that’s when we both felt a little happy and satiated.
Post dinner – it was time to stroll and click pictures with everything that Times Square had to offer. It took us about 30-40 minutes to go through the entire Times Square and avoiding suspicious people was my first priority.
When we were about to leave as her feet were super tired, we saw the sign for Grand Slam New York. Like every girl, she loved to shop and when we saw this souvenir shop, I knew that she would love to buy some items from here for her friends and family back home. The moment we stepped inside this store, her feet didn’t pain that much and she had her energy back. Going from one isle to another, she filled up her shopping cart with everything that she could find and we ended up spending close to an hour at this store. I didn’t get anything as I didn’t have any plans of going back home anything soon, but was glad to see her old bubbly side because of this thing she loved – shopping.
By the time we were done with it, it was around 9PM and it took us almost an hour to get to our Airbnb. It was dark and scary, but we managed to reach safely. After this night’s day, one more day of NYC exploration awaited us!
Check out the pictures!
Let’s see what we check out on the second day of NYC exploration.
stochasticity 
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