Maybe my final adventure for this year, I’m in New York! I was last in NYC in 2014, which feels like forever ago and I feel like I need to see everything again because it has changed so much!

Let’s round up Day 1 & 2. I was up sooo early, my flight was from Heathrow at around 09:00 so I had an early wakeup call. I landed in NYC at around 13:00 local time (18:00 UK time) and finally got to my hotel at around 16:00 local time after getting through customs and travelling into the city on the Newark Express. I checked-in and dropped my bag and headed out for some much needed coffee. I was so tired at this point. My hotel was literally around the corner from Times Square and there was oodles of coffee shops, but feeling a bit groggy, I went for my favourite faithful, Starbucks, for the largest coffee dollars could buy, with extra coffee in it. As always, my top priority after checking in my accommodation in any country or location is exploring the local area. I try and walk in all directions around my accommodation so I see key signs around it to look for, how to get back to it, where I can go close by, and what the general vibe is, I’d like to say this is for some cool quirky reason but it really is just for safety. As a fairly young, female, solo traveler, as much as I’ve never really encountered any issues, I can never be too sure, so it’s always my top thing to do.

I headed back to my hotel after and had a shower and freshened up before heading out for something quick to eat and to my evening activity! I knew I had to try my hardest to keep myself awake to help with adjusting to the time zone change, luckily, I had already booked a ticket a few weeks before leaving to go and see Aladdin on Broadway. It’s by far one of my favourite Disney films and I never got the chance to see it in when it was in the West End in London, so I was sure that I had to see it when I was in New York and it did not disappoint. The show was mesmerising, my favourite part of the musical was the magic carpet scene, no spoilers here, but all I can say is how, and wow. My the time the show finished it was around 03:00 in the UK so I was knackered, I had been awake for almost 24 hours and I was so ready for some sleep, ready to begin adventuring in the morning.

Day 2! Perks of jet lag meant that I was up and out by 08:15, heading for coffee. I had so much I wanted to do in NYC that my days were about to be filled from start to end with non-stop activities. Stop one. Brooklyn. I got the Metro downtown and walked the Brooklyn Bridge (stunning and absolute highlight!), down to Dumbo and took some pics and explored for a while, I wish I had more time in NYC purely because I fell in love with Brooklyn and was dying to spend more time here. I did however get the chance to get some great snaps of both the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridge as well as the city line of the Financial District which was great to see. I got some of the best coffee in Dumbo, there was an independent vegan coffee shop where I grabbed an iced oat milk latte and some carrot cake as a snack and it tasted delightful. It was also super warm today, despite being October, so it was lovely to be able to sit outside and watch the world go by, one of my fave things to do.

Stop two of the day was the World Trade Center and 9/11 Memorial. Again, I could’ve spent a whole day here but I just had so much I wanted to do so I really had to limit myself. I visited the 9/11 Memorial and Memorial Museum, which was easy but breathtaking. The museum itself was included in my NY CityPass (definitely recommend to anyone visiting) so I ventured in and when I headed downstairs, what I saw can only be described as extremely harrowing but breathtaking too. I have added some pics below but I limited my photography somewhat purely because of how mesmerised I was. The museum wasn’t opened the last time I came here so it was something new for me to explore and I genuinely am so glad that I took the time too. I was fairly young when 9/11 took place so didn’t really know much about it, but I learnt so much in my time here and I’m so glad I did. the atmosphere was very solemn and throughout my whole time there, you could have heard a pin drop as people wandering silently taking in the real life tale of what happened that day. The museum itself was huge, it was over a number of different levels and had lots of different parts to it where you could find out more, but the bit that really hit me the most is where the middle photo was taken, where you can see some of the remains of the building structure.

Whilst I was downtown, I wanted to try and fit in some of the other bits on my must do list so that I could try and cover different areas in one go, so I also visited the One World viewing platform and the Oculus. By the time I came out of the museum is was mid afternoon so I ventured over and gained my entry to the One World platform (again, including in my NY CityPass), and before I knew it, after a security screening, was in a lift and up to one of the top floors to see some of the incredible views. The view felt as though it went on forever, like I’d see a million miles from it. It was stunning. I had planned a couple of different viewing platforms in different buildings, at different times throughout my trip so this made me even more excited for what was to come. The area around the World Trade Centre was super cool and quirky, with a little outside bar that had loads of street art all over it, as well as other bits dotted around the place. After my trip up high and getting my feet back on the ground. I wandered over to the Oculus and oh my goodness, what stunning architecture. I could not believe the beautiful look both outside and inside, it was just incredible. I was happy wandering through here, window shopping to the other side where I ventured out and headed back towards Midtown to grab some food for dinner.

Time to grab some dinner and then I managed to grab a cheap last minute ticket to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway. I suppose perks of solo travelling means that I can fill an empty seat in performances. I have seen this performance in London but if was slightly different on Broadway, on the West End it is shown over a matinee and evening performance whereas in the States it was in one performance, but this didn’t change how incredible it is. Both times I have seen it, for the duration of the performance I have genuinely believed that magic is real somewhere in this world. I know they use special effects and lighting and props to really bring it to life but I still can’t get my head around how they make it happen so seamlessly. It really filled my evening with some fun before heading back (extremely tired, jet lagged and achey) to my hotel for a good night sleep before another very full day of adventuring in the morning. See you there!