.nyc solo trip .10.14.16.

I woke up completely exhausted from my restless sleep with the curlformers. Luckily my hair turned out really good! (Don't mind the dirty bathroom mirror, not my house)

 I hit snooze 5 times before finally dragging my self out of bed. Within 20 minutes I was out the door and off to explore some more, first stop -- Starbucks. With my pumpkin spice in hand I made my way to wall street. I was surprised to see how much construction there was on all of the buildings! Almost every one had some type of scaffolding around it, one particular building was actually completely covered in a mesh scaffolding tent. I walked along the street admiring the beautiful architecture and intricate details of the buildings. 

While walking to the Trinity church I came upon a group of Asian men and women raffling off some paintings. They were Chinese characters of words they found empowering and inspiring. They asked people passing on the street to write your name and your favorite number on a sheet of paper. Every hour they would draw a winner who could choose which painting they wanted. I walked up just in time for the draw, 7 or 8 names were called before a winner was chosen! Unfortunately it wasn't me, oh well, next time. 

The trinity church was incredibly beautiful. The door had images carved into it, it resembled a 3D painting and the detail's in the stone work was truly amazing. I reverently walked through the church enjoying the quiet peacefulness and admiring the craftsmanship before heading back to the manic streets. 


Next I was on my way to walk the Brooklyn bridge. New York has this great bike rental service called Citi Bike. There is tons of "bike stations" all around the city, so it's easy to pick up a bike at one station and ride it to where-ever you're going, and then drop it off at another station. As I was walking towards the Brooklyn Bridge entrance I noticed one of these stations across the street in the Brooklyn Bridge City Hall courtyard. Also in the courtyard was a group of street performer's about to start their act, so I had to stop and watch their show. I got a great front row spot -- sometimes being short is a MAJOR perk! The show was absolutely fantastic, catchy music, a hilarious host, and really talented dancers! Well how about I just show you some of the footage I shot of the act! 

I couldn't believe it when they pulled me into the act, I was completely shocked!! I'm seriously so shy when it comes to groups, especially when I am the focal point of the groups attention. That being said, one of the main reasons I wanted to go to New York on my own was to bring myself out of my shell a little more, leave my comfort zone. Being pulled into the street act was so much fun, and definitely a very memorable experience!! Thank you so much to the performers, you guys are great!!


Off to the bridge I went, selfie stick in hand to take some action shots. The bridge was incredibly crowded, luckily it was divided in half for walkers and bikers. It was such a beautiful day so I stopped for a bit to take in the sights while basking in the warm sun. 

Unfortunately the Citi Bike's are rented out at 30 minute intervals, so I peddled into Brooklyn to find a docking station. I stopped to ask for directions to the nearest station from a friendly traffic cop, who also pointed me in the direction of a fantastic pizza place. 

SOOO delicious, and only $1! Perfect lunch!! 

 I walked around Brooklyn for a while chatting on the phone with mom, she suggested I go to a Broadway show for the evening. As I looked up how long the wait time was for the TKTS in time square, I realized that I was walking around right in front of the TKTS booth in Brooklyn; with no wait time!!! I walked straight up to the window and got a ticket to see Paramour the cirque du soleil Broadway, Score!

I walked around Brooklyn for a while watching the people buzz about their normal days, school had just let out so there was tons of kids on their way home from school. The park was full, boys were playing basketball and handball in the fenced courts while the girls stood in circles chatting and playing with each-others braids. It was like a scene out of the movies. I stood and watched for a while before walking back across the Brooklyn bridge. 

Walking took a significant amount of time because it was so crowded. I didn't mind though, I took in the scenes and asked loads of strangers to take pictures for me in exchange for me taking pictures of them. 

Since I still had the citi bike rental for the day I decided to bike over to china town/little Italy. Biking on the busy streets of Manhattan is a little scary, not because of the cars, because of the bike messengers. So far I have yet to see a car move faster then 30km/hr due to the traffic, but the bikes, they fly past you ringing their little bells to alert you they're coming straight for you.

I dropped my bike off in china town and walked around looking for a bathroom. I stumbled across another park filled with spirit. There was old men playing board games and a live band playing soothing music with a woman singing in a language I didn't understand; but it was pretty!

Again, it was like something out of a movie, specifically the pixar short. It's pretty neat to see the parallels of the movies to actually places in Manhattan.

I strolled around the streets window shopping in China town and little Italy. It was strange; one street would be filled with the smell of fish and plastic and the next street the air would be filled with the luxurious smell of pasta and garlic bread. 

I'm not a fish fan so I went straight to little Italy and circled the streets trying to find the perfect Italian restaurant for supper. There was handsome Italian men on the street outside the restaurants flirtatiously calling out to me as I walked by. "Ciao bella, ci divertiremo tanto" they'd call out. Each one more charming then the last. In the end I chose to go the the restaurant without a handsome man beckoning me inside. It was called "Casa Bella". It truly was a cute little Italian hole in the wall. This was my first time in New York actually eating alone at a restaurant. It was a new experience for me, luckily enough I was able to witness a real life Italian reality show! There was a couple sitting at the table adjacent to me, they were outspoken and loud, and it was incredibly entertaining. I even moved my seat to be facing them directly, that way I would get the full "litte italy behind the scenes" experience. They chatted about politics and class action law suits they were involved in, both speaking in heavy Italian accents. I watched them while I ate my dinner quietly trying to mimic their accents under my breath. 

Next I was on the train back to times square to try to get some tickets for Wicked the following night. 

I was cutting it short on time because I stopped to watch a spray paint artist, but the Gershwin theater was only a few blocks away. I ran down the streets zig-zagging through people walking, I barely avoided a door that suddenly opened into the sidewalk. People yelled and shook their fists at me but I was gone in a flash so it didn't matter. Unfortunately I ran right up to a closed ticket window. Apparently I should have checked the hours before running all that way. I turned back and ran back the same way I came, making it just in time for Last Call!

I was in row 9 and dead center! The show was absolutely amazing, I loved the story and they acrobats were incredible!

During the intermission I booked tickets for a haunted house up-town. The Uninvited: Awakening. As soon as my Broadway play was over I hopped on the train and headed straight to the haunted house. When I walked up to the street I realized that the haunted house was in Harlem, and it was 11pm. Great. Turns out this particular haunted house is different then the haunted houses I have previously been too. I had to be there for 11pm on the dot for an hour long attraction. Unfortunately I was about 5 minutes late so they asked e to come back in an hour for the next group. The door man suggested I go to a local pub up the street to wait.. Yeah right.

I walked back towards the train station and picked a well lit Fried Chicken place to spend the hour. 

While I was sitting and enjoying this delicious chicken I got loads of confused looks from people coming in to get their dinner. Apparently I stuck out like a sore thumb in Harlem. Then a mom came in with her 4 boys, all under 7 years old. They immediately ran up to me and climbed up into the chairs surrounding me. The youngest boy crawled up into my lap and almost immediately fell asleep! I looked up to the mom who gave me an apologetic shrug. I sat and visited with the young boys who told me all about their day at school and asked me a million questions. It was so adorable. 

Finally it was time for me to go back to my haunted house. As I left the chicken place there was a group of pedestrians blocking the sidewalk. I put my hood up and head down and walked to the other side of the street trying not to be noticed. When I got to the haunted house they lead me down a dark alley to the back entrance of a warehouse. As I heard the sirens wailing by I started to wonder if this was going to be part of the attraction. I chatted with the other people in line, they all were blown away that I would come to a haunted house alone in the middle of the night.. in Harlem. They all came to call me "Canada" During the attraction.

This haunted house was also different in that they touch you, I had to sign a waiver prior to going in. We walked blindly into a large dark room filled with smoke. I couldn't see at all when suddenly an actor grabbed me and pulled me into a side room. He shoved me into a closet and slammed the doors. I could hear him outside the doors whispering gibberish to himself. I put my ear to the doors to try to hear what he was saying when suddenly something hit the side of the closet, I jumped so hard and immediately began laughing at my self. Then suddenly the doors flew open and the guy threw a sack over my head holding it on tight by wrapping his hands around my neck, he dragged me out into the room. When he removed the sack there was another actor right in front of my face. He grabbed me right away, very similar to the way that the Joker grabs Rachel in the Dark Night. The knife in his hand was a dull butter knife but it was still pretty freaky to be grabbed like that by a complete stranger. He shoved me back into the darkness where I was quickly dragged into another side room attraction. I couldn't stop giggling whenever the actors would make me jump, this only seemed to encourage them to try to scare me even more. It was so much fun, I loved every second of it! 

When the haunted attraction was over, the really scary part of the night began. I walked back to the train station, the pedestrians had moved to a new spot.. directly in front of my train entrance. I timidly walked past them as they're eyes followed my every move. When I got down the stairs to the train entrance there was a (seemingly) homeless man standing alone. He immediately moved to block the entrance to the train and began asking for money. I apologized and told him I only had MasterCard and that I really needed to get home. When I tried to walk around him he stepped in front of me again. Slightly more aggressive now he told me to go to a ATM to get money out. I told him I couldn't because it was a Canadian MasterCard and they didn't allow me to take money out of ATM's. I moved as fast as I could and got around him and scanned through the train station gate. I walked as far as I could down the platform so he couldn't see me anymore. At this point I realized that I was on the wrong side of the platform, and catching a train on this side would only lead me deeper into Harlem. I waited a long time until I was sure the man had moved on, I walked back to the exit. as I pushed my way through the gate the man appeared out of no where once again begging me for money. He was much more aggressive this time and had grabbed onto my arm and was squeezing pretty tight. He snarled at me, calling me names and accusing me of being selfish for not helping him. He complained of not eating for days and that he needed money for food. Seeing no good outcome I told him I would buy him some food. He shoved me towards the stairs letting go of my arm. Part of me wanted to run but I wasn't sure if the group of pedestrians at the top of the stairs were part of the act. I walked slowly up the stairs with the man mumbling nonsence behind me. I turned to him and told him we would go to the chicken place I had been at earlier, he snapped; "No, we're going to my deli". 

At the top of the stairs where the pedestrians were standing was a little convenience store. I walked past them feeling their eyes all over me once again. The man pushed into the store and went up to the counter. 

"Look, she's going to buy me something with her master card and I want to return it for cash."

Blank look from the store cashier who looked over at me with disgust. "No"

I was furious, I angrily snapped at the man. That wasn't what we had said when he was begging for money. I also told him "No" and went to walk out the door when the pedestrians standing outside shifted a little closer to the door. The cashier and the homeless man had gotten into a screaming match behind me, threatening horrid things and boasting about their time in jail. Finally the man gave in, yelling that he would just buy something there and return it at another store. He stormed to the back and started stuffing red-bulls into a plastic bag. I stood solemnly in front of the counter which the cashier glared at me. The man walked back to the counter with a bag full of red-bulls. 10 to be exact. I told him I could only afford 2 and that he would have to put the rest back. He snarled at me calling me names and once again accusing me of being selfish. 

"Look at the way you're dressed, I know you have money you ---" 

He placed 2 cans back on the counter. The cashier then began yelling at him, the death threats coming out once again. They argued and cussed at each other until finally the man had only 2 red-bull cans in his plastic bag. I got myself a bottle of water and some Hershey kisses, paid for the bill and the man stormed out cussing and screaming his whole way out. When He was finally outside of the store he began fighting with the pedestrians outside. The store keeper immediately started yelling at me!!  

"Don't bring crackheads like that in my store you ---" 

 A young boy about 13 was standing in the corner of the store, he was the shopkeepers son. Wanting to escape from this horrid place I had found myself in I walked away from the store keeper who slammed his fists on the counter and walked to the back of the store. While I waited for the man outside to be gone once again I chatted with the young boy asking him about his school and what he was doing out so late. He was the same age as my little brother, and he was a convenience store at 2 am, it was appalling; but I guess some kids just have different circumstances due to their parents.

After some time had passed and I was sure the man was truly gone, I walked out of the store. The pedestrians outside immediately apologized to me, they had "gotten rid" of the man and told me not to worry and that he wouldn't be bothering me again. 

Being afraid of what that could possibly mean I graciously accepted their apology and walked to my train station. After all that fuss the train station was just on the other side of the street....

I walked down the steps and was kindly greeted by the actors from the haunted house!! They were wiping off their make-up from a long day of scarring people, and immediately recognized me. We laughed and chatted about my reaction to their scares while we waited for the train. 

Once I got back to my neighborhood, I went to a drug store to pick up a few items I had forgotten before slowly creeping in the door off my air-bnb at 3am. I collapsed in bed and fell asleep almost immediately.

** Step Count 29,135 ** 

.nyc solo trip .10.13.16.

The morning of my 23rd birthday I landed in New York; well technically I actually landed in Newark, sooo same-same, but different! I roamed around the airport for a while trying to find the "express bus" that I had read about online. After roaming around for about half an hour dragging my suitcases behind me in a "train"; I decided to make a Dunkin Doughnuts pit stop and stock up on some pumpkin spiced goods for my journey to Manhattan. I noticed a girl about my age making the same circles around the airport as me, we teamed up together and found a train that would take us straight to Madison square garden! Score! Ironically it was right next to the gate that I had flown into. We visited while waiting for the train to come, she was also travelling to New York alone for the first time to meet up with some friends! We made plans to try to meet up later on but nothing panned out.

I'd tried out some new curlers before leaving to the airport, but sadly my hair didn't stay curly. I tossed my hair up into a very greasy looking 90's inspired half pony for the duration of the train ride. 

When I made it to Manhatten I headed straight for Schwartz Luggage Storage. My airbnb host wasn't able to let me into the apartment until later in the evening so storing my luggage was my best option. The storage place was about 5 blocks away from the train station, 7 if you count all the wrong turns I made. By time I had drug my suitcases all that way my feet were on FIRE! Another thing I overlooked when planning this trip was the temperature; I was planning for crisp fall air and what I got was humid, sweltering warm ocean air. I ditched my uggs with my suitcases for the day and headed out (in sock feet) to find the nearest shoe store.

4 stores, a pair of new shoes, and a selfie stick later I was on my way to the south side of the island. I bought a 7 day long unlimited subway "metro card" scanned myself through the gate and was on my way! On the adgenda; Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty, 9/11 memorial and the One World Observatory.

I hopped on the train and began to people watch, There is no phone service when you're on the train so it gets quite boring after a while. There was a family with 3 small sons, who looked like they could be triplets, and a older daughter; they were also heading to the ferry. I watched from a far while the boys played airplanes and climbed all over their mom chattering about how excited they were to go on a ferry! The older sister menacingly would tassel her brother(s) hair, or jump in on the airplane game playing the "terrorist plane" that made her brothers crash -- how american of them.

I had made my first trip on the subway successfully!! I walked out of the station into the street, naively thinking that the ferry would be right outside. Alas it wasn't. I started walking towards the ocean when a man selling tickets for the Water Taxi approached me, being the gullible young woman I am I fell straight into their marketing. I am not very good at telling people no, it makes me very uncomfortable especially when face to face with them. I got my ticket to the taxi and walked up the harbor to get in line for the next boat, as I walked up I recognized the family I had been people watching on the train. Surprisingly the mom from the train recognized me and immediately started chatting with me when I walked up!!

The water taxi ended up being a much better choice, it circled more of the classic New York sites; plus you could hop on and off as you please! I chose to stay on the boat and ride around the loop twice, this way I got enough time to truly take in the beautiful sights along the way. Lady Liberty seemed so much smaller then I had expected, next to the city skyline she looked tiny!! It wasn't until I was right in front of the statue that the magnitude of it really showed. I would have loved to go on the tour where you can walk up inside the statue but alas it was booked for months in advance. Next time!!

 **** I look away from the camera in pictures because I don't often like my face in pictures. Instead of bothering people to take a million pictures till I'm happy with how I look, I face away from the camera. It's more mysterious that way anyways****

While on the Water Taxi I realized that my selfie stick wasn't working. I fumbled with it trying to take some pictures but it wouldn't work. I leaned over and asked the ladies sitting next to me if they wouldn't mind trying the selfie stick on their phone to see if it was just a problem with my own phone. Unfortunately my selfie stick was junk. As I was putting my selfie stick in the garbage one of the ladies offered me her old selfie stick, how kind!! The boat was pretty crowded so I opted to have my picture taken rather then trying to take a good picture with my selfie stick.

**My Selfie-stick Ladies**

Next I was off to the 9/11 memorial. I slowly strolled along the streets, taking in the sight of the beautiful buildings with the warm, sunset lighting. The 9/11 memorial was absolutely stunning.

Since the sun was beginning to set I decided to go up to the
"One World Observatory"

The elevator up to the observatory had TV screens for the walls, while you traveled up they showed a time-lapse of the Manhattan skyline. It was incredible to see the transformation of the city over the years. I strolled around the deck watching the sun slowly set and the street lights begin to glow. There was a musician playing that night, I sat down to listen to him play while watching the city start to come alive as the darkness set in.

I absolutely loved the city lights. I love the way they light up the dark sky, twinkling with the stars above. I facetimed my family to show them the incredible view. When it was time to go I rode the elevator up and down one more time before leaving, that way I could watch the building of Manhattan once more. After picking up my luggage I walked a few blocks over to the train station, I drug my suitcases down the steps of the subway entrance only to realize I was on the wrong side of the platform. Back up the stairs I went, up to the street to look around for the "uptown" entrance to the train. For being my first time using the NYC subway system I'd say only making 1 mistake the entire day is pretty darn good!

My airbnb for the first 3 nights was a quaint little apartment on West 55th and 8 ave. It was perfect!! My host gave me the rundown of the rules and handed me the keys. I was pretty much starving at this point so I decided to head back towards times square to go to Junior's. My mom had heard about their famous cheesecake and insisted that I go there for my "Solo Birthday Dinner". When I got there the place was absolutely packed!! Luckily I got a spot at the bar right away and quickly ordered--- as you can tell I dove in on the cheesecake before remembering to take a picture for my mom! ...Whoops!

While I was sitting enjoying my dinner a couple came and sat beside me at the bar. The gentlemen turned to me and asked if the cheesecake was any good, my cheeks were completely full of cheesecake so I gave them a big thumbs up and smiled. I probably had cheesecake all over my teeth because the couple immediately started giggling. We ended up visiting for almost 2 hours, they were so sweet and friendly; they even offered to pay for my meal since it was my birthday! Before saying goodbye we snapped a quick selfie, I do so love meeting friendly strangers.

It was about 1 am at this point, but I wanted to see times square at night so I decided to take the long way home and roam around the bright lights. Times square is incredible at night, the screens are so bright that it looks like daylight, it's so amazing.

I went to the iconic TKTS booth to see where I would need to get in line for Broadway tickets the next day when I was approached by many strange people. The first lady who approached me had a baby in a stroller, she was clearly on drugs and asking for money while her husband was walking around asking other people for money. In an effort to not seem rude and upset her I changed the subject to her daughter, who had just began to wake up. The woman quickly swiped up her little girl and walked away angrily calling me a selfish *beep* and spitting at me. At this point I was starting to get nervous, so I began walking away. I looking at my phone to figure out how to get home, when I was approached by another pedestrian. He had seen the woman lash out at me and came to see if I was alright. He was carrying a bible so I assumed he was probably a decent person who wasn't going to mug me. He asked if he could walk me to my train station and tell me a little about god, I obliged hoping that the station was close and I could get home to the safety of my airbnb. He started to tell me that he was a man called of god to preach to the TKTS stairs, they were his "congregation", I politely nodded and smiled as he went on. Then I noticed that he was leading me away from the main square, away from the lights... I immediately stopped and told him I needed to go when he grabbed my arms. He started to tell me that he believed that god had sent me to him, to be his wife. I laughed, and tried to wiggle my arms out of his grasp. He squeezed just a little tighter and pulled me closer to him, I was starting to panic now and desperately wanted to be anywhere else. I lightly tried to push him away when suddenly he started leaning in!! I turned my head right at the last second, his mouth hit my cheek completely open, tongue wiggling. I screamed as loud as I could and with all my might pushed him away. I started running back to the lights when I looked back someone was running after me, yelling at me to wait. It was another pedestrian who had followed me (and the creepy pastor), he supposedly wanted to see if I was okay, to see if the man had hurt me. I quickly told him I was fine and I slipped down the nearest subway entrance. I waited until I was sure both of those creeps were gone then I quickly walked up the stairs put my hood up and walked as fast as I could back to my airbnb.

Needless to say I needed a shower. I scrubbed my face until it was almost raw, then wrapped my hair in my new Curlformers before collapsing into bed.

It wasn't a very comfortable sleep...

**** Step count 27,701 ****