Posting an oldie but goodie today! This NYC Guide was originally published to my first blog, 'Love Colorfully' back in 2018. Hope you enjoy!
A couple of weeks ago my sister and I travelled to New York City, a place I’ve been dreaming of visiting since I was a young girl.
We drove up to the Charlotte Airport on an overcast Thursday morning, parked our car in the long term lot, and rode the shuttle up to the American Airline terminal. As we sat at our gate, awaiting our boarding time, I could tell I wasn’t the only one beyond excited for this next adventure. Olivia (my sister) had a mile-wide smile on her face she couldn’t turn down. This was her first time flying, and also her first trip to a big city, so we were both very excited to take on NYC together!
Now as I sit in my room, reminiscing about our trip, I’m not sure what I could say about the city that would do it justice. So, hopefully these next words I write I’m able to share with you all what NYC truly meant to me.
Let’s start with flight tickets, because we’re all antsy to travel - at a low cost. I perused airline after airline hoping to find plane tickets that weren’t super expensive and unaffordable. Luckily, I found Hopper, a mobile app that helps you find and compare the cheapest flights from all over the world. It was so quick and easy to find our round trip ticket to NY for only $260. If you’re an avid traveler like me, I highly recommend this app, it was a life saver!
Speaking of life saver…if you’re traveling to the big city and plan on taking the subway everywhere screenshot the subway map - I can’t tell you how many times this saved us from getting completely lost!
After we got off our plane, we made our way to the air train that led us to the subway. For some reason I was really confident in myself to get to my friends apartment without ubering. Which in the end paid off when I saw Dylan Sprouse leaning up against the wall at one of our subway stops!!
I don’t know how many of you have been up close to a celebrity before, but it’s really cool and it can happen at any moment in NYC, so keep your eyes peeled!
After this, we were pretty star struck and made our way through the crowded subway stops with smiles on our faces.
That evening, we grabbed Jessica, a friend of mine, who recently moved back to NY, and headed out to see the Brooklyn Bridge and grab a bite to eat. If you haven’t seen this skyline, you have to!
Unfortunately, I didn’t even think to get the name of this place, but it’s located a couple blocks away from the carousel in Dumbo. So if you’re interested in getting in on one of these amazing tacos, it shouldn’t be too hard to find!
The next morning, Liv and I headed out bright and early to explore the city. Before leaving I made a list of all the things we wanted to see and do (something I highly recommend).
Our first stop was blow outs at the Drybar Salon. This is something else I highly recommend! If you’re going to visit NYC, you might as well treat yourself, and making an appointment with them is super easy. Just go on their website, select the time and date and voila, your heavenly blow out awaits.
Because we booked our appointments at the flatiron location, we weren’t far away from this iconic spot. So after we were done, we made our way over and took some great shots!
We then proceeded to the subway so that we could go into uptown manhattan to spend some time in Central Park. However, we ended up super confused as to what subway entrance we needed to be at…
Regardless, we made it to Central Park!! And it is honestly one of my favorite places on this earth (that I’ve seen lol).
There are three must’s in CP, the first is to go see the tiny boats!! They’re so cute and if you’re from Aiken, SC, you’ll relate when I tell you it’s like a larger version of Hopeland Gardens, and it’s amazing.
By then it was time for lunch so we decided to take a note from one of our favorite movies, 27 Dresses (must watch if you haven’t seen it), and head over to the Loeb Boathouse for lunch. If you’re googling this, don’t let the dollar signs deter you. There’s a small cafe inside the restaurant that you can eat at as well. Same views, just cheaper and less fancy food!
After our filling lunch we headed out to the boats, located right outside the restaurant. I had read that you could rent one out for a whole hour for $15, so Liv and I were all about it. There was no wait and we were there at about 2 o’clock on a Friday, so that was a bonus! We paid and hopped right in! These are actually my favorite pictures from the whole trip, just because they’re such an accurate depiction of how much fun we had. For once I wasn’t worried about the subway, getting lost, or how much time we had left in the day. We found ourselves simply living in the moment, and memories like those are priceless.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a trip to Central Park if we didn’t head over to the Bethesda Terrace and Fountain where Blair and Chuck tied the knot in Gossip Girl!!
We brought our afternoon to an end with a trip to the Met steps - another Gossip Girl must. I had read online that you could get in for a small donation of any amount, but when we went in there a couple kiosks where you had to select student or adult and pay the amount shown. But it was only $12 each if you select the student price, so it still wasn’t too bad, and we did get to see a lot of amazing paintings, fashion, etc.
That night, Jessica and her parents took us out to Little Italy, a part of NYC that is known solely for it’s Italian cuisine. It honestly felt like we were walking straight into a street in Italy, and the food was sooo good.
Saturday was devoted solely to Her Conference. Which was our main reason for visiting NY that weekend. I’m a part of Her Campus South Carolina at USC, so when I heard about this conference, I got really excited and hopeful for the chance to go. I’m so glad it worked out because I learned so much about my field and about being a career woman in general.
They had us in a huge convention center with complementary breakfast and lunch, about eight different speakers a day, and lots of free goodies. We even got to listen to Bold Type star Aisha Dee speak, get a picture with Logan Browning, and meet Caila Quinn, former Bachelor contestant and one of my favorite lifestyle bloggers!
More of my takeaways from this conference will be up on the HCSC website soon!
Following the conference on Saturday, we walked to Grand Central to Station, and I’m so glad we did! It’s definitely a must see attraction! The pictures don’t do it justice.
That night, we ate at the Brooklyn Diner after seeing the mile-long line they had at The Black Tap, a famous restaurant in the city known for their over the top milkshakes.
Although it was disappointing to walk away from Black Tap, I was so impressed with the diner we went to, and would recommend it to anyone going into the city! The service was so good and Jessica, Olivia, and I had a great experience! It’s esthetically pleasing, they’re playing Seinfeld in the background and it makes for some great photos!
Sunday was also devoted to the conference, but after we returned back to the apartment around 6 that evening, we went out to the Levain Bakery for some cookies before heading into China Town for some delicious, authentic Chinese food.
We ended up ordering so much food (thanks to Jessica) and it was all sooo good, but also really inexpensive for the amount! This is another restaurant you have to go to in NYC! I’m already craving it again!
Because it was our last night in the city and we wanted to try all the incredible desserts we’d heard about, we decided to make one more stop at the Cupcake ATM before going back to the apartment.
The actual ATM was closed for the night, but the shop was still open so we ordered them from in there. But we still got a photo next to the ATM because that was really our whole reason for going!!
Our last morning in the city was another gloomy one when we headed out for breakfast at by Chloe. We didn’t run in to any trouble getting ourselves there but getting back proved to be difficult! We probably spent a whole extra hour just finding the right subway to take…if you haven’t guessed I’m not good with direction! Liv and I spent the majority of the time we were lost wishing Jesse was with us to help (so shoutout to that cutie who had to work!). We did get some good food out of that trip though!
On the flight home, I think we were both ready to get back, but our trip to New York City will always be something to look back on!
Thanks for reading!!
Original publish date: August 8, 2018
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