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?