the THIRD coffee

The excitement is buzzing as we arrive at the famous JFK International Airport in New York. Our arrival was not without a few witty remarks, but we (somehow) manage to make it through security with no issues…

If you aren’t from the States, or any first-world country for that matter, you would very likely find the train system in New York confusing as shit. The metro system knocked us down more than once, and eventually we ended up asking everyone for directions before boarding a train. We met a friendly Brazilian fella and tagged along as he showed us where we were supposed to go (bless his soul). We finally made it to the HI NYC Hostel, our new (shared) home for the next few days.

We were pleasantly surprised by the hostel (bear in mind we were 22 at the time, so we could have been sleeping on a horse’s back and wouldn’t have complained), but in all honesty this was a comfortable hostel located within walking distance of Central Park and, without further ado, we were off exploring what the Big Apple has to offer.

We walk-and-walk-and-walk and as we keep walking, Central Park keeps getting bigger and bigger. It’s honestly incredible. During our walk, we encountered four baseball fields, a Great Lawn (literally just an enormous lawn), a huge dam (pond? feels too big to be a pond) and a bunch of other things. We found bridges all over and it kind of made me feel like I was trapped in a romcom, but this was real! We grabbed a Starbucks and a Subway and parked ourselves on the grass (truly American! Wait, is that offensive?).

We took some time to take in exactly where we were and what was going on and then headed to explore some more of the Concrete Jungle!

Next stop – The Met! I was, in all honesty and perhaps-unpopularly, not expecting to enjoy this bit of the tour. I was really impressed by the vast majority of historical stuff that one can fit into one building! I was somewhat offended that the instrument used to resemble South Africa was the vuvuzela… I mean fair, I had a good chuckle and it’s something that everyone has the ability to blow… but no.

The entrance fee was somewhat affordable, but definitely worth the spend and I would recommend allowing yourself some time to explore the entire museum/gallery/whatever it actually is.

On to the good stuff – we buy two bottles of bubbly to celebrate our first day in New York, New York. It was honestly an incredible experience so far – rich in beautiful churches, nature in the park and the bustling rush of rich-folk running to and from their offices! Side note – not sure why I’m including this, but we saw literal fireflies for the first time, and I thought that was insane.

The following morning kicked off with an early continental breakfast, after which we started the seven-kilometer walk to Time Square… It’s an extremely hot and humid day (I know, excuses excuses) and we frequently had to stop to catch our breath and rest our feet. Time Square… what a difficult thing to try and explain. This is the busiest piece of earth I have seen, ever.

On a Sunday.

Cue: “Shouldn’t you be in church”.

Jokes aside, it’s spectacular. Definitely more liberal, and a bit more (non-offensively) woke, but super friendly. It’s honestly a bit overwhelming, but it’s definitely something I would recommend anyone to see.

We did a quick visit of Madam Tussauds, a memorable experience, but also something you could probably go without seeing. If you’ve seen one wax-figure, you’ve seen them all… A few exciting wax-dolls we saw were Nelson Mandela (#ProudlySouthAfrica), Rihanna (#ProudFan) and the Royals (before The Crown made them cooler). We finished off our tour with an unexpected cocktail (very strong) in a place that seemed a lot like “Pretville” in South Africa. I feel the need to emphasise that this was a very strong cocktail…

We grabbed a lunch (probably fast food again) and headed to Central Park to regroup and had a quick rest. Next on our list was the Rockefellar, but we made a few stops along the way. We did a bit of (unnecessary) shopping at Abercrombie & Fitch (spending our entire day’s savings). Flip. We then stopped at Victoria’s Secret. Impressive, but this shop financially ruined our one friend, and negotiations started with the parentals for more money… let’s remember this is day two…

We proceeded with our walk to Rockefellar and made the executive decision to grab a drink the following evening as opposed to now (not at all because we weren’t allowed into the bar due to our lack of formalwear). Whoops.

Grand Central Station. My goodness. One of the highlights of the trip. I’ve seen it in movies, and I knew what to expect, but it blew my mind. We spent quite some time exploring this massive train station, whereafter we daringly took the metro back to the hostel to close off the day!

Early rise to start our next day, which in hindsight was likely one of the most exciting days of the trip! We jump onto the metro and proceed to the World Trade Centre.

As many know, the World Trade Centre now houses a beautiful memorial site for the tragedies and suffering following 9/11. It is an overwhelming and emotional visit as you read all the names of the victims of this tragedy. Referred to as Ground Zero, this memorial site allows onlookers the opportunity to try and fathom the great loss of this historic tragedy.

We walk further down the road and pass the New York Film Academy, the Smithsonian, Liberty Park, the Oculus (a huge subway-station built to resemble a dove… kidding, but could have fooled me), and we finally reach Wall Street… We stop for a few pictures with the well-known Charging Bull – to our surprise, this is an extremely popular tourist site, with foreigners stopping to grab the bull by the . . . (I would say horns, but I would be lying).

The next section we now refer to as:

“The not-so-dodgy dodgy ferry ride”

We purchase tickets for an enthusiastically marketed ferry ride with promising views of New York City. We are escorted to the docking station, where we climb onboard a seemingly dodgy bus. We spend a full 20 minutes hatching an escape plan as we were convinced that this was not the ferry-ride it was marketed to be.

We were wrong. Thankfully. We (finally) arrive at another much larger docking station with many a boat. The ferry-ride was definitely one of the highlights as you get to view New York from the same angle used as the intro shot of CSI NY. You have the full uninterrupted view of the New York skyline, the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge. The ferry-ride is highly recommended – it comes with an exhilarating bus ride that leaves you wondering where you’ll end up… plus a free cocktail.

The red bus tour is (retrospectively) a good idea to do on day 1, but alas – we had waited until we explored most of the city before jumping on one. This was an incredible experience and we were able to view amazing buildings such as the Empire State, Chrysler, Medical Mile and more. We hopped off to walk through China Town, Little Italy and even crossed the Brooklyn Bridge (well technically we did not cross it, it’s huge and a long-ass walk, but we did manage to get halfway). The Brooklyn bridge carries not only heavy traffic, but also a rich history and it is quite a breathtaking site.

We embarked on a full-on American experience and visited one of the many authentic NYC diners! We ordered a pizza to share amongst the five of us because it was simply enormous, and I treated myself to a supersize soda. We then went all camp and got dressed in our fancy clothes in the diner bathroom… Keepin’ it real classy. We were off to Rockefeller Centre, but due to miscommunication, lack of cell phones and being somewhat silly, we lost a group member and spent a few hours trying to regroup – trying to find someone in NYC is like trying to teach a white person the shuffle… nearly impossible. We concluded that he should be able to find his way back to the hostel and we decided to spend a few hours in the city – and boy oh boy what a time we had!

We kicked it off with some live entertainment in Time Square – dudes jumping over other dudes’ heads and then asking you to pay $20 for it. No, we did not pay. We simply Karen’d away. Next up, we briefly attended a street church-service… briefly, as we realised this street preacher was preaching that “women belong in the kitchen” and generously provides you with a list of people who will surely end up in hell, such as “gamers”, “fighters” and “mommy’s boys”. This was quite an interesting spectacle. We went on to see Mexican dancers, prophets, Disney characters and a lot more exciting random things in Time Square and finally topped it all off with a good ol’ Starbucks.

We got onto the subway and arrived back at the hostel to find our long-lost friend! Thank goodness, think we might have actually forgotten about that at some point. We all go out for a beer, which turned into two, and three . . . you know the drill. We finally round up our evening at 04:30AM after some heartfelt conversations – don’t know whether this was the alcohol or the youth, or potentially both.

We wake up (with a bit more difficulty) to another morning in the city that never sleeps. We head off to Central Park after our usual continental breakfast, and after this we make our way to the Natural History Museum.

The day in the Night of the Museum. With your first step into the museum, you are greeted by an enormous dinosaur fossil, and the rest of the museum does not fail to exceed expectations. To save you some time, and potentially leave some room for imagination, I’ll list a few of our favourite sights:

Dinosaurs – one literally so large that it fills the entire room. This made me realise that a trip to Jurassic Park would not at all be the same as spotting a lion in the Kruger; The Easter Island statue, or as I know him – Dum-dum from the Night at the Museum; A blue whale hanging from the ceiling, perhaps a bit misrepresentative of its habitat; An African safari experience, where people were quite fond of the stuffed lions (given the size of the dinosaurs and other artefacts, I was surprised that people were so amazed by these). I applaud myself for making memorable puns that I did not write down, and therefore cannot remember, but alas – it was noteworthy.

We spent a total of 3 hours in the museum but could potentially have stretched this even longer. We spend some long-overdue time shopping and head back to the hostel to get ready for our night out to the Rockefeller Center.

There is no entrance fee to visit the top floor of the Rockefeller Center, but there is an understanding that visitors will buy at least one drink. This cost us all $20 (roughly R300 at the time), so we tried to justify that as being the entrance. The view is absolutely incredible, and I would highly recommend this as a stop on your trip. You have a view of the entire New York, which includes the Empire State building. Fireworks echo in the distance as the excitement for Independence Day approaches. We stick around for about an hour before heading back down (pro tip – do not attempt to wear sneakers, as our one friend was not allowed up due to this).

We spend a few hours in Time Square on our last evening in the Big Apple, before heading back to our hostel. Extremely satisfied by all the experiences we’ve had, and excited for what is to come, we rest our heads – knowing that we’ll be back in New York for one more night at the end of our trip.

On to the next!