Friday June 10th

After showering, I left the hostel at 7am to grab a quick breakfast, as I had a 4.5 hour bus ride ahead of me to New York. I checked out of the hostel without waking my dormmate – she had told me the night before that she was catching a 7:30 bus to New York, but maybe she meant 7:30pm as she had made no signs of stirring by the time I’d left.

Being the tightwad backpacker that I’ve become, I walked to the metro and took a train to Union Station, rather than a taxi as I could of. I arrived with plenty of time to spare but the bus depot was difficult to find. After a few laps of the station, I happened upon a directory which showed the bus departure location – well and truly hidden up several set of stairs. There was a large queue of people for the bus, with every departure (every half hour, 24 hours a day) sold out for the day.


The bus was really well equipped – plenty of leg room; free wi-fi; even power outlets at each set. The 4.5 hour trip passed quickly as I played on my laptop, and we pulled into New York City just after 1pm. Thanks to the free wi-fi, I’d written down walking instructions to the hotel – 12 blocks north and 5 blocks east of the bus drop-off location. The walk didn’t take too long (apparently, 16 blocks in New York is equivalent to one mile), and I arrived at the grand old Roosevelt Hotel at about 1:40pm. It was too early to check-in (check-in was at 3pm), so I stored my bags whilst I waited for Amy to arrive (we had scheduled to meet at 2pm in the lobby).


Just after 2pm, Amy walked in with a mountain of shopping bags. She had arrived in New York the day before, and had already headed out to explore the local shopping (more on that soon!) First things first though – we were starving. The closest place was an Irish pub (which seem to be located on every street corner), where we enjoyed magnificent bowls of French onion soup for only $6 – a good start to the trip!


By the time we finished lunch it was check-in time, so we retrieved our bags and went up to our room … which was tiny! It consisted of a queen bed with very little room to manoeuvre around it, and a tiny little bathroom. New York real estate is expensive I guess!


We weren’t in New York to stay in our hotel room though: we were there to see the Backstreet Boys – and shop!! Exiting the hotel, we made our way down to Times Square, which was only a few blocks away. “On your marks, get set: go” – let the shopping begin! Sharyn had told me about a 4 storey Forever 21 store at Times Square, so we made a beeline there (I think we spent 1.5 hours in it!) I emerged triumphant with 4 items, whilst Amy purchased a few dresses at H&M (which always looks like a bomb has hit it!) Also on Times Square was the 3 storey M&M World and the Hershey’s store, which had the newly released aerated Hershey’s Kisses – yum!

Everywhere you looked, there were a hundred more stores to visit; famous restaurants or sights; and billboards advertising Broadway shows. We really were in New York!! I’d instantly fallen in love – this was my kind of city!

As the sun set over Manhattan, the lights in Times Square started to twinkle, and the New York of postcards emerged. We purchased tickets to see a comedy show the next night, starring comedians best known from the Letterman Show, and also bought the required ‘I Love New York’ t-shirts from one of the numerous souvenir stores. It was close to 11pm by the time we made our way back to the hotel, laden down with bags. This would be a fun (expensive?) few days!