My New York Minute

I had the opportunity to jetset to NYC for a day. Some of you might think it's crazy or why just a day. But really, being a SAHM mom, i don't ask for much nor do I need too much time. I just needed a day away and that is what I got.

I flew on a red eye flight on Thursday and landed at JFK at exactly 6AM. I wasn't able to sleep well on the flight. I knew somehow my body clock would be screwed. Turns out, not at all.




My friend-tour guide-jetsetter trainer-seester gurl, @GeminiPinai was my host. She lives in Queens and is a seasoned New Yorker knowing the city like the back of her hand.




New York is a total culture shock. It is definitely the "fast lane" for this country mouse. I was both excited and apprehensive at first.

So much to do, so much to see. We packed as much as we could in a day. Liza has written down where we were going and even timed our meals so that they didn't coincide with rush hour hunger.

This was our itinerary:
Midtown ☞ Upper East Side ☞ Columbus Circle ☞ East Village ☞ Greenwich Village ☞ SoHo ☞ Times Square







Everything is so fast paced. People were on a mission. You don't saunter. You power walked. You don't ride the escalators. You climbed. You get pushed, you push back. You don't get a seat on the subway, tough. You stand. Carry on luggage and all.




The things that surprised me about my trip:

* Not all New Yorkers are rude. In fact, I didn't encounter a rude person.
* Walk that meal away. We ate 3 meals during our day out yesterday. 3 full meals. Now, typically I would not walk miles and miles and miles after a meal. But we did. We walked block after block after block. Climbed up and down stairs to the subways. Ran across the street. I burned off each meal. So I expect my scale at home to tell me that I did not gain weight.
*Jaywalk at your own risk. One jaywalker's clear run is not your clear run. Jaywalking happened everywhere in NYC. Either you waited at the corner and wastes 10 seconds of your time or you jaywalked and now have 20 seconds to spare.
*Layer up. When the New Yorker says it's cold and to bring layers, bring it. No seriously. The cold is bitter. It'll bite at your face and your ass if you wear a thong and don't have that extra cheek protection of warmth. I wore a camisole, a sweater, pea coat, scarf, hat, jeans and boots. I still felt the cold but not as cold as it would have been if I wore something like yoga pants and a hoodie.

Going to NY during the winter was a gamble. It had just snowed in NY the week prior to my trip. I hawked the forecast. The trip could have been re-scheduled should Mother Nature deliver snow and luckily she didn't.

NY in a day IS absolutely doable: As long as you have a great tour guide like mine, a packed itinerary like ours, and comfortable footwear to endure all that walking.

At the end of the day, I'd seen what I wanted to see in a day and spent the day with such a good and kind hearted friend.

We got home at exactly 10pm. Perfect. I was exhausted and my legs and feet were sore. A hot shower to rid me of any icky debris and vermin from the city did me well. I packed my bags ensuring that the souvenirs I bought for my family were safely tucked away. I laid down in hopes of catching the latest "Ghost Adventures" episode while trying to catch up on my Words with Friends turns. No success. I was going down. I was asleep by midnight. This never happens in Seattle. I slept soundly. Oblivious to the train visible from the apartment. One of the best nights of slumber.

We ended my one night stand with NYC with breakfast at a Filipino restaurant where I had daing bangus which is dried fish. I haven't had that since I left the Motherland.




Liza saw me off at the JFK AirTran. As we hugged each other goodbye and I walked toward the train, I would keep reciting "terminal 5...terminal 5" so that I wouldn't miss my stop.

Of note, it was my first time flying on JetBlue airlines. It was a nice experience. The flights left close to the scheduled departure time.

The only regrets I have during the trip was not having an amazing camera to capture the sights. My point and shoot only captures average shots. However, my iPhone 4 did a decent job with pictures. A little filter editing with Instagram adds drama to the pictures I took. Another regret albeit by choice, I wasn't in most of the pictures. I'm still harboring fattage from child bearing and I'm very self conscious with pictures. So I tend to avoid being in the pictures.

My crazy one day trip has come to an end. And really, any city, small or big is doable in a day. Next stop? Perhaps Chicago? We'll see. In the meantime, wanderlusting will not end. I NY.

- discombobulated musings posted from BlogPress on my badass iphone