Another week ending in Saint Joseph – MI and suddenly I have this crazy idea of visiting NY within 24h, let’s go?Just bought the ticket in one of the most cheap flight companies here in US, you can use the Kayak website to make the search, good one, also booked the hostel in the Hostel World and it was all set.
I personally imagined New York as the most energetic city in the world, the one which never sleeps, craziest bars and places to go, people of all nationalities and cultures (São Paulo?). Most part of my thoughts were real!
Arrived in JFK airport and head to the called Air Train, a kind of elevated train which connects the terminals inside and also the airport to subway stations. $5 for the Air Train and you can also buy the MTA card (MTA) and insert credits to take the subway ahead. The stations to get the subway can be Jamaica and Howard Beach, you choose depending on the place you will go.
I went to Howard Beach and then to my hostel, The Loft Hostel. Good one, in Brooklyn, a little bit far from the Manhattan Island but cheaper than other ones. In the end I just used it to take a bath and breakfast. 🙂 No time for spend sleeping!
I read some tips in a website about non tourist spots and also alternative places to visit, NY is so big that even this list I couldn’t accomplish, but the visit was great. Only to be walking around on normal streets surrounded by very tall buildings brought me a good feeling. Also of an unexpected trip, the best one you can have.
First thing after checking in my hostel was to take the Ferry to Staten Island. Before that I got my first impression from NY and it couldn’t be better, I made a connection in Union Square Station and there I found a experimental band, metals and drums, amazing sound, heavy in its way.
Back to the Ferry, it is in downtown of Manhattan Island, R line stops there (South Ferry) and it is free, you can ride it every 30min and have a good view of the Liberty Statue and also the south part of MH Island. It takes 25min to reach the other side and after that you can make the return trip right away. Imagine a cold wind, yes, it was very cold so if you are going in January & February take your best coat!
Back to the Big Apple, I walked to the Wall Street and the City Hall, quickly.
I also arranged to meet some people from Couch Surfing, if you don’t know what Couch Surfing is yet it is a must to visit the website and comprehend the ideal of the group, best place to meet native people worldwide specially to travelers.
I needed to visit Times Square and there I met Jeppe, a Danish guy, very cool and willing to go to any place we could meet people!
Another friend of CS told us there would be a party in a place in Astoria, north of Brooklyn, called Fayrooz Cafe. We head there and after almost getting lost we found the place where we could order our first beer in NY!
The place was nice and the music was also good, we made some friends there and as the night couldn’t stop we left and tried to find another place, suggestion of the security guy. This is the curious part, in NY after 2-3AM you won’t find too many places to go, even Saturday night! In São Paulo you will find more places opened for sure, alternative ones mainly!
The place we intended to go was closed so after a couple of conversations one taxist took us to the famous Pacha! I’ve heard of it a long time ago and now I could realize it was the best and louder sound I’ve listened in months. We stayed there I don’t know for how long and the thing is that when I left it was clear outside. I didn’t know where I was.
After walking around and asking some people I found the subway again, the subway net in NY is amazing, there are dozens of lines that you can choose, the only negative point is the price. In Chicago the connections were 25 cents according to a maximum time, in NY if you leave the subway for 5 min you have to pay again.
Back in town, I went to the hostel, had a good breakfast, hot bath and left (was the bed comfortable? I don’t know!).
I still wanted to visit the Central Park and I head there, great place and I was sad because I couldn’t put my backpack aside and run just like many people were doing at the time! From there you can have a great view of the MH Island and I started to walk until reach downtown again. Empire States it is very huge from outside, I didn’t have time to go up, unfortunately.
From there I went to see the Brooklyn Bridge from Brooklyn Park, great view too.
Finally I bought a new backpack and started my way back to the airport.
Everything happened so fast but as the title says, NYC in 24h!
NY is a city to spend one week at least visiting and I’ll try to go back to enter in museums and watch one Broadway show! When?
Time will tell. See you guys!
See you soon in my next post!
