New York / Boston Trip Recap

Walking down W34th Street with a view of the Empire State Building. That was was the first moment my feet hit pavement in Manhattan. It only took me a few seconds to see why people wanted to live here, and to see myself living here too.

Central Park

My posts about my trip to New York and Boston have been a bit all over the place and way behind schedule considering I was there in August 2013. So here is a recap just in case you missed it - or in case your new here (Welcome!).

Grand Central Terminal

Boston was actually the first port of call where I was shown around by my friend and local. He did scare the daylights out of me at one point but I did enjoy Boston quite a lot and, after the trip was over, found myself missing certain things about it, the cute buildings, the weather, the easiness and openness of it.

Boston - near Davis Square

New York City was next and it was both amazing and exhausting. I climbed iconic buildings, felt like I was in a movie at Grand Central terminal, sneaked photos in the New York public library's Reading Room and lazed in Central Park.

Empire State Building

But New York is not a place to be lazy, its bustling, energetic and exudes wattage like Time Square at night.

Times Square

So a full day in Lower Manhattan was offered up to the travel Gods including a bite to eat at Katz's Deli, and a sail-by hello to the Lady Liberty.

Lower Manhattan Skyline

I don't think it worked though because I found myself knocked out on my last day and having to drag myself out of bed to take in the view of the Manhattan skyline while walking across the Brooklyn Bridge.

Brooklyn Bridge

I could definitely see myself living in New York. Like many others, I fell in love with the city and I only saw a microscopic section of it. I would love to see so much more. I might have to plan another trip there.

Top of the Empire State Building

I hope you enjoyed the posts from this trip and, if you haven't been, are now inspired to visit this amazing city.

If you have been, what did you love the most?

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6 Highlights of Boston, Massachusetts

Before heading to New York, meeting Lady Liberty, enjoying the birds-eye view from the Empire State and Top of the Rock and chilling out in Central Park, I headed to Boston. My friend, a local Bostonian - minus the accent thanks to a Canadian dad - was going to show me around. Aside from the incident with the plane, I really enjoyed Boston, more than I expected.

Boston Library

Trinity Church

So here are some places to visit if you ever find yourself in Boston, in no particular order.

1 - Boston Waterfront
Its lovely and reminded me a little of Sydney Harbour. There is no Opera house or Harbour Bridge but the shape of it with the skyscrapers were similar enough to make me a teensy bit homesick.

Boston Waterfront

Charles River

2 - Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market
When in Quincy Market make sure you try the local speciality, clam chowder. Any one of the shops will be good (it wouldnt survive if it was bad) but its always best to go to one that has a lot of people ordering the dish. My friend  thinks the markets look a bit like Covent Garden in London and I can see why he thinks that, its a old stone market hall surrounded by paved open space. If you are a popcorn lover lover like me, take note, i bought the most delicious bag of popcorn from a stall out front...I was eating from it for days and it was still good!

Candy apples at Quincy Market

Clam chowder from Quincy Market

3 - Harvard University
You can take the metro directly to Harvard University from the centre of Boston. The university does run free tours led by students, but, unfortunately I didn't manage to go on one. They do have self guided tours or if you prefer, just wander around. During the day the gates are usually open and you can usually access the common grounds. Even away from the actual campus, the area around Harvard square has a nice vibe, is full of cafes, restaurants and ice-cream shops (try J.P Licks, such an awesome name for an ice cream shop don't you think?)

Houses around Davis square

4 - Freedom Trail
I confess I didn't do this, I saw parts of it like Paul Reveres House and Park Street Church, but I wish I had done more of the trail. The Freedom trail takes you around some of the most historic and key sites of the American Revolution. Even if you are not interested in American history, if you have seen National Treasure, you'll see the sites of some of the places they refer to in it.

Park Street Church

Paul Reveres House

5 - The North End
North End is full of restaurants, cafes, coffee and pastry shops. If your looking for a nice place for dinner, you cant go wrong here, they are really pricey but my local guide says you'd be hard pressed to get sub-par food or service. If your up for something lighter, try Mike's Pastry, it has all kinds of sweets and I can totally vouch for the custard puffs. Mmmm...custard puff...

Mike's Pastry cake counter

Mike's Pastry custard puff

6 - Top of the Hub
For a breathtaking view over Boston and an elegant dinner or lunch then make your way to Top of the Hub. I went for dinner and each dish was delicious. If you already have dinner plans elsewhere, you can just go for a drink and to listen to the live jazz. The restaurant is in the Prudential tower which is the highest in Boston and watching the twinkling lights over dinner or a drink makes for a very romantic evening.

View of Boston at night from Top of the Hub

I hope you find something that appeals in this list. Boston is only 4.5-5 hours by coach from New York and about an hours flight from JFK airport.

A special thanks to my friend and local guide for showing me around his home city. I had a great time :)

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Embarrassing Moments - Boston, MA

Ever been in those situations where the world was spiralling out of your control and you feel totally and utterly helpless? Did you ever feel like you just wanted to disappear and never have to endure a particularly embarrassing moment? You’re not alone. Grab some popcorn (its a long post but worth the read) and enjoy my hopelessly mortifying moment.

On my recent trip to Boston, my friend planned a day that was designed to make an impression. And it did, just not in the way he'd hoped. He wanted it to be a surprise, all hush-hush and very cloak and daggery and cryptic. I was happy to play along. At one point a couple of clues escaped and I was so smug, I thought I knew exactly what the surprise was....oooh boy was I wrong!! The two clues? "Flight" and "Airport". I assumed my friend (who is one exam short of a pilot licence) was going to take me for a flight over Boston. If only...

We rocked up to a small airport and as we walking though one of the buildings my friend revealed that he had booked me in for an introductory flying lesson!!! His flourish and excitement about planning something I didn’t figure out was only matched by my utter astonishment and panic. I did not want to get behind the controls of an aircraft, I harboured no such desire, ever! What was he thinking?!! Yes I was a flight attendant and I do enjoy being on a plane, yes I skydived but being behind the "wheel" was a whole different kettle of fish! *queue panic attack*

I was not happy. I could feel the colour drain from my face and nerves set in but there was no way I could back out. I met the instructor and he was good, reassuring and very understanding...it didn’t stop my stomach from doing the Highland fling the whole time though.

Intro, safety and run through completed, we headed out to the plane. At that point my instructor asked me, "Do you get motion sickness?". And I don’t, not usually, but I wasn’t taking chances and popped a motion sickness tablet into my mouth. Checking the plane, instructions and other information took about 15- 20 minutes and then we were ready to taxi and take off. Did I feel calmer? Heck no. Knowing the instructor could take over in seconds if a royally screwed this up didn’t really ease matters in my mind. I gritted my teeth, listened to every word he said and tried my absolute damnedest to follow them to the letter.

Taxiing on a runway is not easy. You don’t use the controls in front of you; you use the pedals at your feet, and for an unco (uncoordinated) person like me, to make it worse, to go left your push down on the RIGHT pedal and to go right, you push down on the LEFT pedal*. God knows how I managed, I must have been zigzagging all over the place!

*Update 05 Dec 2013: My friend has since told me that the pedals are actually left for left and right for right and that i might have been using the breaks at the top of the pedals for steering, which do appear to work as i have described...i dont remember it that way (obviously) but he is the expert out of the two of us.

So, so far so good, i was still nervous and my emotions felt like they wanted to tear out of me like bats out of hell but I'd managed. No crash, no disaster, catastrophe or embarrassment and only a mental note to kill my friend later. My instructor radioed for clearance to take off and then guided me through take off. Surprisingly it was the easiest part of the whole thing - probably because he handled all the technical adjustments. Before I knew it we were soaring into the open skies. Looking back on it, I’m quite proud of all that, and that moment, being up in the sky and looking down, being behind the controls, it was pretty cool. At the time though, I was too caught up in not screwing up to really take it in for more than a second.

Reaching cruising altitude we noticed that it was slightly bumpy. Normally I don’t mind, but you really do notice the slightest bump in a small light aircraft and I constantly had to adjust to keep the plane level. We'd been in the air for about 10 minutes or less and my instructor thought it a good exercise to show me how to turn. He demonstrated a left and right turn for me before allowing me to try on my own. Halfway through my second turn I began to feel warm....

There was the heat, the heat that seems to come from nowhere and makes you crave a cooling breeze. The heat that causes you to feel slightly light-headed and breathless. I asked my instructor to take the controls for a minute. Usually all I need to do is get some fresh air, close my eyes and take some deep breaths. I put up my hair, adjusted the vents and tried to quell the rising queasiness. It didn’t seem to work. My friend handed me a sick bag from the back - just in case. The last thing I wanted was to be sick but it would be worse if I was and it went everywhere, so I took it. At this point I suggested we should probably head back, it didn’t look like I was going to improve. I'd also noticed that my legs and knees were numb and my fingertips were getting tingly. Last time that happened id been dehydrated so I asked for my bottle of water. I took a sip and felt it cool me on the inside. Id barely put the cap back on the bottle before I was hurling into the plastic bag and feeling chunks of my morning’s breakfast evacuate my stomach. My body instantly went from warm to cold, clammy and shaky and funnily enough I felt better. But it didn’t stop there...I was sick again in seconds.

All three of us were mortified. For the instructor, I was the second person to be sick with him that day. For my friend, he thought he was doing something nice (and he was) but it had left me sick and miserable. For me, I wanted to die, I was embarrassed, and wanted to dissolve into thin air. I have flown as a job daily. I have dealt with turbulence as though it were nothing more than a fun park ride or a gentle rocking to sleep. I have seen people be sick but was never sick myself. So what the hell happened?

My instructor took us back down and I was never more grateful to be on solid ground again - even if I could barely stand. I was so faint I had to hold on to the plane for support while they did their final checks.

Now here’s the thing...do you think it could get worse? Probably not right? Wrong! It turned out that after the lesson my friend and his family were flying us out to Nantucket (a small island about 30-45mins flight away) to have dinner at a really nice restaurant by the water. My friend’s father took one look at me and said "I’m guessing you probably don’t want to get on another plane right now do you?". So that’s two for two. I felt awful, so much planning and excitement and it all went kaput. Flying lesson gone wrong, very thoughtful dinner plans cancelled, and what should have been an amazing day gone horribly wrong.

Could there possibly be a bright side? Yes. It still was an amazing experience, it showed me how blessed I am to have such a friend and, once id gotten past the mortification, it gave me a very funny story to tell! I hope you enjoyed it!

Whats your mortifying story? Ever had plans go wrong? Leave me a comment or drop me an email, it would make me feel so much better!

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Trip planning: New York, New York!



Times Square - Manhattan, New York via

In less than three weeks i will be jetting off on an 8 day whirlwind New York/Boston trip. My friend is keen to show me around his Boston neighbourhood and the other cultural delights his city has to offer. This will be my first trip to both Manhattan, New York and Boston.

For New York, there is just so much i want to see and do. I have already started my trip planning and have a list of what i want to see/do/explore. I'm sure it will grow into an absolute monster of a list before the scarcity of time will force me to cut it down to size a bit...but that's not before loads of deliberation and lots of "I'm sure i can fit it in if..." and the inevitable realisation that it better to spend quality time than rushing things. Maybe. It is New York City after all and a lot can be done in a New York minute!

In the spirit of getting ready to take my first bite of the Big Apple, i have been busy researching New York. I have bought two guide books and I'm cruising the blogosphere for some New Yorker blogs to add to my reading list. If your a New York blogger, drop me an email, I'd love to read what you have to say about your city!

Also, I would love to hear from any New Yorkers or anyone who has been to New York, what are the must-see or must-dos that i wont find in the guidebooks. Recommendations for breakfast spots, good coffee shops and restaurants are also most welcome!

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