Two weeks ago I visited New York City with my best friend. I had never been to NYC before and I didn’t know what to expect. I try not to create expectations about a certain city or country because I find if I do, I’m going to be disappointed. Case in point I visited Nashville last summer and was disheartened when I didn’t like Nashville as much as I perceived I would. Visiting NYC was an amazing experience and I cannot wait until my return trip.

We flew into JFK airport at 11:30 PM and we didn’t get to our Air B&B until 1:30 AM – 2:00 AM. JFK airport is past Brooklyn and Queens as our Air B&B was in Harlem located in upper Manhattan. If you look at Google Maps, you can see that it’s a long trek from the airport to our Air B&B. Plus we took the wrong subway which was our more direct route to getting to Harlem and took the longer route which went all the way through Brooklyn and up through Manhattan. My biggest advice for visiting NYC is to download the NYC Metra Subway app. It can give you detailed directions on which subway to take to get to a tourist area. We tried to use Google Maps which doesn’t work since you’re underground with no cell service.

On Friday, we explored Manhattan by walking around Central Park, visiting Times Square, and walking through the 9/11 memorial. Central Park is massive! We probably only walked around a fourth of the park and it’s easy to get lost. It’s mesmerizing in a city filled with millions of people lies a park filled with trees and beautiful flowers. Times Square is probably one of my least favorite parts of New York because it’s a tourist trap. There are people everywhere and it takes forever to walk around because of the groups of people that stop in the middle of the sidewalk as you’re trying to walk.

My favorite attraction we did on Friday was the 9/11 memorial. I was in 2nd grade when the two planes hit the Two Towers. My 2nd grade teacher had the footage on our TV set and my parents had the news on in our living room. If you’re ever in NYC, please visit the memorial. There were so many brave individuals who lost their lives that day to help save anyone they could from the towers. I was looking at all the items on display and my eyes welled up with tears thinking about how many lives were changed on that day.

On Saturday we visited the MET Art Museum. The MET Museum is also the site for the MET Gala where celebrities get together in fancy outfits and have dinner. My friend wanted a picture in front of the big steps of the MET because of the Gossip Girl TV Show. The pictures are neat because they show the big steps and the MET banner in the background.

On our last day in NYC, we walked the Brooklyn Bridge and explored Dumbo a neighborhood in Brooklyn. It’s right along the water separating Manhattan and Brooklyn. It reminds me of Minneapolis in a way because of the brick streets and the brick buildings. It’s a different side of NYC than just seeing Manhattan.

NYC is such a vast city and there’s so much to see. It’s overwhelming trying to see everything in the short time we were there. I’m envious of anyone who’s attending New York City Comic Con this year as I would love to go. I’m thinking next year of trying to purchase at least a day pass so I can explore this city one more time.