New York City.

Seems surreal I’m writing this post and even more surreal to say I’ve actually been there. In fact, I can’t believe I’ve been there and I’m back in the UK already.

Four magical days with my best friend for what I choose as my hen-do in the city of dreams, the city that never sleeps. New York, you absolute beauty.

I don’t even know where to begin. Everything I thought New York was and could be for me, was way off. It was so much more than what I could’ve ever dreamed of!

A mixture of reality meets fiction/imagination/dreams/fantasy all together in one.

We left Heathrow at 4pm on Friday, 1st March 2019 and arrived in New York, JFK, at 7pm.

Following the sun caused for my biological clock to feel a little bit confused and I couldn’t sleep on the flight.

We flew over Canada where all we could see was ice and slowly we started to see all these cities.

From above, we’d recognise one thing. A football/baseball pitch. Totally recognisable and totally no need to check the map on the plane tv’s where we were.

We knew we were in the States.

It was in that moment, that my high functioning anxiety took over me and all of a sudden it was like I had taken 8 cups of coffee in one go.

I was looking out the window like a child looks at a Christmas tree for the first time. I kept calling my best friend for her come and observe everything with me. Everyone on the plane was super calm and I was as excited at a kid at a candy store.

This was the first time in New York for both of us and was also the fulfilment of a decade long promise between us.

If we ever go to New York, the very first time we go, we have to go together. And we did. Couldn’t have asked for a better partner in crime!

The minute we landed, I stupidly remarked how American the airport staff sounded. Being used to British English, and again, reality mixing in with fiction, it was all a bit surreal.

The first thing that hit me about New Yorkers  and something that I will always take with me is their vibe.

We haven’t meet one single moody, grumpy New Yorker. Everyone is happy. They’re all laid back, smiling, happy.

Even with snow, rain and a cold that nearly freeze my bones I could hear them brothers speaking just like in them movies y’all. And I would laugh and smile and absorb every single word coming out of their mouths, just like a child who experiences everything for the very first time.

Their uniqueness and genuine joy are something I will never forget.

For example, police officers who would take photos with us and allowed us to stroke their dogs; a Pastor who immediately and somehow recognised me as a Christian going home to honour my heavenly Father instead of a tourist attracted by the beauty and architectural features of St Patrick’s Cathedral.

We left New York via Newark on the 4th March 2019 at 9:20pm with our hearts full.

The smell of roasted peanuts from Central Park, the lights from Times Squares, the view from the Empire State Building…

There is so much I want to say about New York so I will write a separate post with every detail.

Four magical days with the most amazing best friend ever. Memories I will ever hold dear and close to my heart.