NYC Central Park Proposal...

Late Sunday afternoon, myself, Maneesh, and Maneesh’s cousin Mandip were having dinner down by Broadway. I’m not sure exactly how the conversation arose, however we started to talk about weddings… me being the hopeless romantic made a comment about how it would be so romantic to be proposed to in NYC Central Park – Maneesh being the opportunist said lets do it – Me having the spontaneous “I’ll try anything” attitude, I handed Maneesh my diamond ring that has often been used as an “I’m engaged – back off buddy” ring ;o).

We headed over to Central Park, near where Maneesh lived. I sat in front of the Columbus Circle fountain and he stood in front of me. Mandip stood in the background with the camera ready… next thing I knew Maneesh was on one knee with the words following, “Fiona, I have something to ask you”… I have never felt so excited and nervous over a created fantasy. What I loved most about this experience was the intimate interaction it gave others around us. Of course we received applauses from viewers and many smiles – to which made it worth the tiny white lie. I hope that these people continued the joy by them telling others of their experience in Central Park on that quiet Sunday evening. Maybe I should make this my travel thing! I could see how many posed proposals I can achieve – one in each country visited? Maybe spice up the drama with the odd out burst refusal?... OR maybe next time it will be the real thing (hmm… words from the wishful thinking hopeless romantic)…

P.S. For those whom wished me a happy engagement on Facebook (many thanks), and questioned who the mystery man was - sorry to disappoint...

Networking the Neighbourhood of Downtown NYC

Whilst in the city I wanted to meet locals, so what better way could I do this than use my 2 familiar understandings; Couchsurfing meeting events and a Marketing Networking event. I met a few Couchsurfers in NY however what interested me was 

On August the 10th I was invited to a networking marketing event at a bar called The Liberty. With key speakers and attendees in the industry, I felt at home. 

The photo to your right is myself, Maneesh, and a lady I met called Coral. Coral is the founder of an online NY magazine called The H Style. She was explaining to me it's an online magazine to provide health benefits that incorporate fashion - the launch is TBC, however I look forward to this and wish her all the best. We seemed to share similar opinions and interests. She was a very positive and bright women, originally from the Dominican Republic...

After the event had finished, a few of us then ventured to another bar to continue our discussions at The Cafeteria. I really liked The Cafeteria - it had an interesting alternative vibe to it... Serving of exceptional American comfort food (here I tried my FIRST meat loaf... shared with companion, Prescott), with a contemporary twist (I do remember the amazing cocktails). It had a very electric, modern, yet intimate ambiance. The perfect place for us to gather, to top it off it had a 24hr opening and was located in the heart of Chelsea. 

NYC - Where dreams are made of

I decided to go visit my friend Maneesh in New York City. Maneesh and I met over a year ago in Berlin, I had been saying I wanted to visit him for a while now and I’d always wanted to see NYC… I gathered that a $98 return bus ride was cheaper than a £700+ flight from the UK. With a 12 hours bus journey ahead (oh my), I was looking forward to reading my book and listening to music… instead a man from Israel sat next to me. After an hours talking I felt like his shrink! He was on his way to NYC to break off his relationship with his present fiancé. He was explaining to me that it was an arranged marriage that was just not going to work… It all became a very deep conversation for a first meeting. After this episode I felt like I maybe I should consider changing my career path ^^ Interesting way to start the trip!

Anyway… 12 hours later I arrived in NYC Times Square, a quick taxi ride later I arrived at Maneesh’s place on the South/West corner of Central Park – perfect location. Broadway and Columbus Circle (nice one Maneesh)…

The first 24 hours was pretty much for tourist exploring and getting to know the feel of the city: Times Square, The Empire State Building, Central Park, Madison Square Garden, NY Public Library, The High Line, etc, etc... The fast pace environment reminded me a lot of London, and so many sites were recognisable from films and TV shows. 

I knew immediately it was love at first sight!

NYC truly is a concrete jungle that never sleeps! There aren't many places in the world you can head home from a night out and catch a coffee or smoothie at 4am in the morning. Everyone seemed so focused and driven. If I had the opportunity, I'd love to live in NYC, especially in my 20s - the possibilities could be great. One thing that did surprise me however was the size of Central Park - 843 acres - that's one hell of a park and pretty damn impressive (makes up for all the concrete, I guess)! 

On my second day of visiting I decided to continue my tourist attitude and join the Rockerfeller "Top of the Rock" tour. I'll be honest, I had NO idea who John. D Rockerfeller was... The only times I had really referenced "Rockerfeller" was from the Rockerfeller NYC Christmas Tree and from my friend Jasmine who's surname is Gfeller, (when it comes to spelling their family name, her dad simply says "it's like Rockerfeller but with a G and without the money")...

I'm not normally a tour guide type of traveller, but sometimes it is fun and useful - I learnt a lot on this tour. I'll give two examples of the facts I learnt; Fact 1. JD Rockerfeller's net worth in today's money was $340 Billion, approx. £206 Billion with today's conversion rate ;o) CRAZY amount! Fact 2. Air Conditioning used to be called AW - Artificial Weather, AND it was invented by an Englishman (I know this because one of the Rockerfeller buildings was the first building in the world to have AC/AW)... interesting hey?

Cheery Beach Party, Summer Time Toronto

Every Sunday (and sometimes the Monday if it’s a national holiday), there’s a private beach party down at Cherry Beach Toronto. I was invited by some friends I’d made to party on the Sunday. I believe that not many people know about this party venue as it’s not hugely advertised. Once you get to Cherry Beach, you pay a small entry fee of $5… At the beach there’s a DJ and dance floor to get the party started, the best thing about the party was the bar... or rather no bar :o) You could take as much drink in with you. Of course, we came pretty well equipped with a chest full of drink. I thought it was a pretty awesome idea. Swim, dance, drink, and party, just like every other Sunday afternoon?

You can check out a video here

Introduction to Baseball, and The Blue Jays

On the 28^th July I met with a group of Couch Surfers to watch a baseball game… for those of you who don’t know about Couch Surfing – it’s an website where you can meet other travellers or locals from around the world that are currently in the same area as you. In total there were 5 of us… Dianne was the mother of the group – she was hosting a brother and sister from France and we also had a young guy from Italy. This is what I love about Couch Surfing, you can be a mix of people, different nationalities – different sexes – different ages… all with one thing in common; travel!

Meet the group!

So we all met at the Rogers Stadium to see a Blue Jays game where they were playing the Detroit Tigers.

This was my first game of baseball. Dianne took lead of the group as we were all virgins to the game! She kindly explained the rules and showed us around, she also helped point out the hottest players ;o)

Anyway, I understood baseball fine as it was very similar to rounders, which we play in the U.K… apparently in the rest of Europe it’s not a familiar game. 

Church and Wellesley

Last week I was introduced to Church and Wellesley – what I soon realised to be Toronto's gay district. Pretty fun area to be in… Lots of bars and restaurants... Most of the restaurants had a front patio area, which is perfect in the lush Canadian sun.

Jasmine, Jasmine’s friend Dave, and I all went to a well-known steakhouse called “The Keg Mansion” for Dave's belated birthday meal. I'm not much of a meat eater myself, however I was advised that the steak was a must. Sooo Jasmine and I shared their Lobster Gratinée and Grilled Sirloin... all very tasty. The interior and exterior of The Keg Mansion was beautiful, not bad service also. 

This was also the day that I had my first encounter with some fellow travelling Couch Surfers in Toronto; Mare, and Linda. We also met in Church and Wellesley as it was a central point for all...