It’s been a very long time since my body clock had been this much out of sync, we left Newcastle (UK) at 5.30am, drove up to Edinburgh and then flew to New York, all in all, we were awake for over 26 hours. I haven’t done that kind of thing in a long time! But you find yourself driven along on pure adrenalin. First time in such an iconic place and you forget about how tired you are and you just want to get out there and make the most of your trip.
The flight itself passed in no time really, nice comfy seats with your own TV which had a plethora of movies to choose from. I watched 3 films, 300: Rise of an Empire (not too impressed), The Counselor (not too bad) and About Last night (hilarious), so you can see how I managed to fill my time on the flight. The food they served was delicious and all vegan, I felt very spoiled.
Getting though customs wasn’t as scary as I thought it was going to be, the airport staff were all incredibly friendly and helpful and the line moved along pretty quickly and then we were out through those automatic doors and begin our journey to the hotel.
We got the AirTrain from Newark Airport to Newark Liberty Airport Station, then jumped on an Amtrak to New York Penn Station. We had to be at West 54 on Broadway, so we just walked the mile and half. We only ever travel with hand luggage, it makes getting around so much easier and cheaper. We arrived at our hotel, a little bedraggled, I was sure they’d shoo us from the foyer! But the staff there just made us feel so welcome and we were given an amazing room on the 63rd floor (we were staying in the tallest hotel in North America!) the views were quite honestly breath taking, we had Central park on the left and Times Square on the right, it was just perfect.
Quick change of clothes and we were back out on the street doing a little recce and lo and behold what is but 5 minute walk from our hotel but a WHOLEFOODS! Hidden away in the Times Warner building, you take the escalator down into the basement, I was soooooo excited, abnormally so! Just walking around the place feasting my eyes on row after row of delicious foods, all clearly marked with a big old V for vegan, heaven.
We went a bit crazy in there, we’re not used to eating processed foods and “junk” food but we had to try stuff out, just to see what it’s like. So we filled up our basket with their vegan chocolate cake, vegan sushi, Daiya cheese (oh my do I like the Daiya cheese) Tofurky Chorizo, Engine 2 Plant strong hummus and flat breads, bottles of smoothies, pretzels, a box of deli goodies like big fat juicy olives, tabbouleh, and balsamic mushrooms, yep we pretty much filled our boots.
Then came the fun of figuring out their queuing system, that had us scratching our heads for a few minutes. The place is manic busy and there are lines snaking around everywhere, but guess what, there’s always someone in the know who helps you out if you stand looking confused for long enough! We were guided into a line, told to wait for our colour and number (each line has a colour and each cash register a number), you just have to wait for your colour to come up with a number and off you go – easy when you know how right!
By now, it’s pretty late and it’s beginning to rain, there had been lightening storms the days leading up to our arrival and we only had one on our first night, it really is quite something to see, with our room being up so high we had a great view of the lightning and watching the city come to life after dark.
An amazing first day to be honest and a lot more to do and see in the next 5 days!
