A Very Springy Xmas in NYC

It was mid December and we realized that we had nothing happening for an entire week. Sadly, The Kid didn't want to miss any school (WHO IS THIS PERSON??) so Shack and I booked our trip late Friday night and flew to NYC early Sunday morning. No time to plan or overthink.

We landed to find ourselves sweltering in our winter coats. The first thing we did was check into our hotel and ditch the coats and set off to explore the city in nothing more than long sleeves two weeks before Christmas Day. We spent the entire day wandering midtown, making our way towards Central Park where we rented bikes and rode through it, again WITHOUT COATS, until the sun set. Dinner consisted of a couple stops in Little Italy for meatballs and pasta and then a third place for espresso and dessert. Even late at night, the weather was balmy and perfect for exploring the magical wonderland that is New York at Christmas without having to brave the cold and snow. 

Perfection.

We spent a day in Brooklyn, hipster hunting until we realized that Shack looked exactly like all the men we were stalking in Williamsburg. The last straw was the big graffitied wall depicting a hipster French Bulldog that was wearing the same outfit as Shack. If you find yourself there, eat breakfast at Egg. It was so delicious, despite the preciousness of serving it with Organic Heinz Ketchup and a lovely morning was spent cafe hopping and vintage shopping alongside all of Shack's bespectacled, plaid shirt wearing, cuffed jeans with a pork pie hat sporting, brogue styling brethren.

The one new treat was our ferry ride from Williamsburg back to Manhattan, something neither of us had ever done before. The city was enveloped in a heavy layer of fog, making the skyline even more magical than usual and we ended up staying on the ferry for an entire loop, finally getting off in midtown, near our hotel. I think, apart from our rental bikes in Central Park, this was the best $6 bucks we spent the entire time.

It may lose me my seat at the cool kid's table, but I love Times Square. So sue me. Basically, we spent three solid days on foot, walking from the financial district back up to Central Park and back again. Because our trip was so last minute, there was no chance of getting into any of the hot restaurants or bars so we just stopped when we were hungry, pressure free. Some of the food we ate was amazing (Uncle Boons, thanks Ivy Lam) and some of it was not (Les Halles - Mr Bourdin would not have approved of the service or the french onion soup) but, for once in our lives, our trip was not about the food.



Good shoes, a few bucks in your pocket, empty bellies and open hearts - it's all you really need here.

On our very last day we decided, since we only had carry on bags, that we would take the Metro to Laguardia. We got off in Queens at 74th/Roosevelt Avenue to transfer onto to a bus and, since we had lots of time, went for a walk.

Why, oh why have we not done this before? Taco trucks every half a block, more Mexican restaurants than you can shake a stick at and looked like the New York I fell in love with at the movies. Our next trip will be a borough crawl and we plan to skip Manhattan, for the most part, and start explore the rest of the city, starting with Queens.

amazing tacos at Taqueria Coatzingo in Jackson Heights

I'm nothing if not colourful

Sometimes, travelling
as a blogger is exhausting, both for the blogger and the bloggers travelling companions.

You feel like you are required to eat in the hottest restaurants, take a bazillion photos of your food, write everything you eat down in your notebook, waste hours on your phone researching where you should be eating next instead of just wandering around, having a bite here and there, taking lots of pictures and just being somewhere with someone. This trip was just about being in NYC with my guy. This is something I will strive for in 2016.

Happy New Year.

Oh, if you want to look at the rest of my photos, click here