A journey of Dream: Part 1

::: people talk” if you are going to USA it ain’t complete if you’re not visiting New York City – The city that never sleeps”.  That’s what I always keep in my mind when I knew that I had a chance to work in Miami, FL. I promised myself I have to step my feet in the big apple no matter what it takes. Working my ass off for almost 6 months, finally vacation time and the day that I wait came. January 2011 – it’s winter cold. Heard on the news that there was snow storm in NYC; it didn’t scare me but excite me. It was a jackpot since I haven’t seen snow in my life yet. Everybody said that we are nuts but who really cares?

Early morning, I and two friends who joined me for this vacation were waiting in front of our apartment waited for our transfer to the airport – of course we were using the local connection; thanks to Steven who drove a long way from Pembroke Pines to MIA – as we had a morning flight. The flight was short and smooth, only 4 hours and we landed at LGA – La Guardia International Airport. The sky was clear that morning but everything was white covered by snow. We were shivering since it was really cold – no wander considering we are coming from tropical country. The ride from LGA to Manhattan seemed very short since we enjoyed the surroundings a lot. When entered Manhattan we were stoned seeing all these crazy tall sky scrapers, the lights and the crowed; it was surreal. Still couldn’t believe that finally we were there at NYC. It’s just simply a-m-a-z-i-n-g!!!!

David - my 'sahabat' from NYC

time square - the city of lights

I have colleagues – American family – who live in Westchester, Scarsdale which about 20 minutes away from Grand Central Station by subway. He was waiting in the hotel lobby when we were checking in. Just FYI we stayed in Pennsylvania Hotel in the center of Manhattan in front of Madison Square Garden – home base of New York Nicks [perfect]. After checked in, David [my colleague] took us to Brooklyn Bridge and walked along to the end. The view is stunning; you could see the Hudson River under you. Afterwards we went to the famous Chinatown to buy some – fake – stuff for us. Then we had a delicious lunch there. We also visited the ground zero – WTC where that miserable 9/11 tragedy happened back then. They recovered, that’s a good thing. The day got darker and we decided we went back to the hotel. Before leaving us, David gave us some suggestion and information how to discover the town since he couldn’t accompany us the next day. After showered and took some rest, we went out again to the Time Square – it was a short walk around 9 blocks from our hotel. We stopped at Hard Rock and bought some souvenirs [of course as always] and to Planet Hollywood as well. Arrived at the Time Square – with lots of shopping bags – we were speechless. Amazed by the lights and the crowed; by everything we couldn’t even say a word. I swear to God, I never seen so many lights like this in my entire life. It was like a dream, I used to watch it on the TV and at that time I was living my moment. Btw, the weather was really cold that night so we didn’t stay that long and went back to the hotel right away.

Liberty statue - liberty island

The next morning, I woke up very early because one of my friends screamed very loud. I looked at the watch and it was still at 6am; wtf I’m on vacation, I don’t want to wake this early. She jumped on me and asked me to look outside at the window. Oh my God, it was snowing outside, and then three of us screamed in excitement. With only a map and guts, that morning we decided to discover the town by ourselves instead of join the city tour that offered by the agent – we thought that by finding everything by our own will be more interesting – so we moved on to the subway and our first destination was Liberty Statue. Confused to take which train on the subway, the local people there were really helpful and showed us which train we should take and which station we should stop. Stopped at the last station at the South Ferry we directly headed to the harbor and bought the Ferry ticket to Ellis Island – Liberty Island. Being on the ferry for 20 minutes while enjoyed the view of Manhattan from the river finally we reached the Liberty Island and we went straight to Liberty Statue and took – a lot of – pictures of ourselves. We had fun, no question about it. It was a dream came true. After walked around and enjoyed the moments, we continued our trip to Madame Tussaud. It’s a place for the wax statue which imitating the celebrities, superhero or even politicians [they looked like real, I mean r.e.a.l].  What did we do there? Of course took another pictures – we love taking pictures – LMFAO Asian! Btw, we got a discount for the entrance ticket here (thanks to David). It took almost 1,5 hours to finish the tour in there. Then, we looked at the map which place we should visit next??? Nothing else but the Central Park; it was just another 10 – 15 blocks away from Madame Tussaud, so we decided to walk instead. What I always see on TV or magazine the central park is always green, but definitely not that day; it was all white – so romantic. Many people came there took their kids and pets (mostly dog) just for walk and some of them did a snow slide as well. It reminded us to a scene on Home Alone movie where the kid met the pigeon lady at the central park. We just walked on the east side part since the day was getting darker and we went home. On the way home we found H&M store – my favorite clothing store – and of course we stopped and shopped and we ended our day with a happy feeling. 

central park covered in white

Dylan's candy bar - finest desserst spot in NYC

Day three, our last day and the snowstorm was getting worse. It was scarring tho…. But who cares, we went straight to the Empire State Building; one of the tallest building in the world. We joined the complete tour of Empire includes a visual ride and go to the top of the building. We went up to 127 floors; the snow was crazy big. At normal time, this is the place where you can see all part of Manhattan yet that morning we can’t see anything (I mean nothing at all), it was so windy and cold. Less than 5 minutes we finally went down again. Back straight to the hotel considering we haven’t pack yet. We had an evening flight so we had enough time. Have no clue that the weather won’t get any better, one of my friends ask the hotel concierge about the traffic and the flight status. We shocked when the concierge said that it took 4 hours to get to the airport and we start to get heart attack. Wtf, it was 13:00pm already and we get started and ready to go… In a few seconds I realized and ask my friend which airport did he ask to the concierge? And he said John F. Kennedy airport… Excuse me??? We flew from LGA instead of JFK!!!!! Of course it took 4 hours! Hahaha. Well plan changed, I called David and he took us for a ride to Grand Central Station; indeed the hugest terminal I’ve ever seen in my life. Then afterwards he took us to Dylan’s Candy Bar – a heaven for those who loves sweet, candy, chocolate and etc… I love that place, you could find any candy that you want. I love M&M’s and I bought a bunch of them J Lastly before went to the airport David took us to Serendipity – one of the most reviewed dessert restaurant in New York. That place was amazing, and the banana split was magnificent! We loved it so very much to the top. There couldn’t thing any better to end our vacation in NYC. Back to the airport we flew by Continental Air to Miami, FL safe and sound. I said to myself I have to come back next time because David asked me to stay with his family J

PS: When arrived in Miami, our local connection – this time Osmar & Nunez – waited us at the airport and ready to take us home. Thanks for everything guys….