(Or my best attempt at it…)
I meant to write a longer - much longer post tonight. Instead, here it is in point form, as it is in my brain.
Part 1 - history
- Love travel
- As a child, used to visit the bookshop near my mum’s office when on sick days and holiday sitting-in-office days. Used to stare at pictures of far away
- Love the very idea of ‘far away’
- Love song by Lemon Jelly. ‘Ramblin Man’. Makes me smile and cry when it comes on on shuffle. Whenever it does, listen to it 4 times. Song is basically a man listing destinations he has loved over a lovely lovely beat. Am getting led off from ‘point form style’.
- have managed to travel a lot recently, as part of freelance work, as part of job, and as part of holidays can afford by freelance work and job etc.
- feel bad carbon footprint etc
- still want to see places
- Love cities most of all. Have always ALWAYS wanted to go to New York. Couldn’t afford it.
Part 2 - personal
- Don’t know why I should like travel. Travel hard. Scary. Can’t speak languages. Feel scared. Out of comfort zome.
- Putting myself in challenging situations out of comfort zone is an important thing for me. Challenge good.
- People-watching even more important.
- Weirdly, used to love flying am getting more nervous each time. Law of averages, diminishing return etc. More on this at later date.
Part 3 - present
- Company I work for won third Webby Award in a row (big award, apparently, Oscars of internet etc (haven’t they HEARD of the Bloggies?!))
- Company I work for hold competition for best five-word award speeches (Webby award ceremony only allows five-word speeches)
- I (and other) win competition.
- We (and management people to keep us sensible, obv) go and collect award. At award ceremony. In New York.
Part 4 - I get very excited
- I’m really excited!
____________________
So yes, now that work is over for the week (11.15pm, 10hrs before take off) I am excited. Suddenly. I couldn’t think about it before everything else was out of the way, but now will. And will now pack. As well as the work thing, My Beloved and I are going for a couple of extra days, and I plan, mainly, on walking around with my mouth open, going ‘Fucking Hell I’m In New York’.
And I’m not ashamed of that. That’s just the thing I’ve always wanted to do.
So very, very excited now.
If anyone has any New York tips, tell me, if there’s anyone with lax wi-fi enough around my hotel, I will be checking - otherwise, internet cafes ahoy.
Where I will update. If I can. I’m so excited.
Sorry for babbling.
I’m just, youknow, not sure if I mentioned it, a bit excited.
Wow, you are excited! Well done to your company (whose printed product I buy every day), and the internet part of your company (which I should encourage more often). I trust that you will tell us what the five words are (after the ceremony, of course). Have a good trip.
Comment by Pierre L — 2 June, 2007 12:45 am
hmmm, suggestions:
1. Eat at John’s pizza, across from the Majestic theater (Phantom of the Opera plays there). Once was a church, has stained glass dome. cool.
2. asian fusion restaurant in Union Square is very good.
3. walk around lots–it’s worth it.
4. Central Park Zoo=scary.
That’s all I’ve got. Have fun!! :-) And please tell us the five words. please?
Comment by Teri — 2 June, 2007 1:39 am
Hey, you’re coming to my town!! I agree with the above reader’s comments about walking a ton. Here are a few of my tips:
- it’s supposed to rain on and off and be muggy this weekend, so bring your bumbershutes and always have some water with you.
- footware choice is essential. choose something with a thickish sole and absolutely no chance of chafing. there’s nothing worse than having to cut a tour short because your dogs are barking. And NY’ers can tell if you are from out of town if you are wearing tennis shoes and shorts. You can wear tennies(trainers) if you want, but I’m just sayin’….
- there are always alot of street fairs in the summer, so don’t bother with cabbing across town. in fact, cabs are slower than the subway almost any time. And really, don’t bother with the street fairs. They are all run by the same big corporation, and offer the same crappy funnel cakes and sausages.
- bryant park and most of the public spaces here have free wireless, so if you want to hook in for free, step outside! Public Libraries, too. Also, people here tend to be incredibly stupid about not password protecting their wireless routers, so always check for open streams before you decide to pay for something. if you are ok with that.
- Shake Shack in Madison Square Park is currently the hottest place in town to get a burger and custard, which is a really thick shake. Lines can be legendary, so check out the live web cam at their web site before you go.
- Um, whatelse? If you want to see any shows, go to the TKTS booth and get half-price tickets. I currently love Grey Gardens and Avenue Q is not to be missed.
- public restrooms are non-existent here, so avail yourself of your closest Starbucks. Personally, it’s the only time I darken their doors.
- check out The New Yorker and New York Magazine online for calendar events, if that’s your bag. NYMag is particullarly good at restaurants.
- New Yorkers are actually friendly, but not terribly patient. You can always ask someone for directions; in fact if they see you staring at a map, they will probably stop to give you directions. We love to be right!
- Learn how to walk on the sidewalk as to not piss every native off. It’s probably like this in London too, but just follow driving traffic rules: walk on the right, pull over to the side if you need to stop, keep the pace. I have no cumpulsions about “accidentally” bumping into a tourist who has stopped suddenly in front of me.
- Times Square has sadly become cliché. I wouldn’t suggest spending much time there. You are much better off exploring the different neighborhoods of Manhattan. Brooklyn is where all the cool people live now, but since I am not cool I can’t help you there. If you crave a hipster experience, head over to Red Hook.
Lastly, and most importantly, if you are scared to eat somewhere, e mail me. I would be happy to help you decide where or what to eat. And I would actually love to meet up with you and the beloved, if you want. I’m not too busy this weekend, so don’t be shy about asking. I’m a very nice and responsible piano player, and I don’t collect hunting knives.
I envy your exchange rate….sigh….
Have a great time!!!
Comment by jill — 2 June, 2007 2:29 am
Good for you Anna, I’m sure you well and truly deserve it. But point of caution: mum said when she went to NY that she was so awed looking upwards that she often stepped on people’s toes (literally) and strangely enough, they aren’t polite or restrained in pointing out, that indeed, you have crushed their toes. Also poo. Watch out. And have fun. Good for you.
Comment by didi — 2 June, 2007 2:41 am
jill - thanks! Wow. Thank you. Yes, I’m fine with stealing wifi. More than fine…
And guys, guys. If I was ever going to tell you the five words, I’d have mentioned them already…
;O)
Comment by anna — 2 June, 2007 5:59 am
Yes to everything Jill says, and you are also welcome to e-mail me for help/advice, but while wearing your comfortable shoes, take a walk through Central Park one morning (east to west), then stop somewhere for brunch. I recommend the Popover Cafe.
Comment by Jessica — 2 June, 2007 1:58 pm
yay yay yay.
That’s about it.
Comment by LondonGirl — 2 June, 2007 10:09 pm
Have a great time! I always feel like I’ve never seen a city before - looking up and being awestruck that I’m in NY. It truly is the City the Never Sleeps. Second the walk in central park suggestion.
Have fun and congrats!
PS: WATFW????
Comment by myra — 3 June, 2007 3:23 am
re: WATFW????
They’re the title of the post, surely?
Comment by Chris — 3 June, 2007 1:49 pm
Notes from an ex-Manhattanite ..
what Jill said, but I always preferred hotel lobby loos over Fourbucks, especially in midtown.
Pirated wireless is god’s gift for overpriced apartments. Take what you can get.
Rosa Mexicana is amazing. Go and have some tableside-prepared guacamole. Sigh.
Yes on St. John’s pizza on W 45th (44th??).
Crif Dogs in the East Village.
Avenue Q is here in London, go see Spring Awakening instead.
Go to Marroon’s on W16th for dinner. Delish.
Comment by bob — 3 June, 2007 6:17 pm
I pity the fools, the management stooges, who have to accomp… oh.
Comment by Completetosh — 3 June, 2007 9:31 pm
Have a great time! I’ve been to NY once for New Year and we had a great time (although it was a bit on the cold side that time of year! :)
Comment by paul — 3 June, 2007 10:34 pm
Things you must do…
Go to the top of the Rockafella building… it’s sooooo much better view than the Empire State (Assuming you aren’t scared of hights)
Take one of the bus tours. There are reps hanging around Times Square, and though these guys seem apathetic, and a little bit rude (just the NYC way) and the tickets seem expensive, my friends and I took the Harlem bus (think it’s the purple route) and it was brilliant. The guide has loads of info on sites, sounds and districts, and you can jump on and off any of these busses on the route.
btw, re: Rockafella. Try to get up there about 30 Min before sunset…. Just spectacular!!!
Comment by Kieran — 4 June, 2007 7:36 am
Very good advice from all. I’ve been making trips to NY since I was three years old.
Go to the MET– you don’t have to see the whole place. Egyptian stuff is on the right just inside.
Stroll fifth Avenue. Go inside. People watch and listen. My favourite overheard conversations are inside Tiffany’s and Berdorf’s.
Take the Staten Island Ferry.
Have a pastrami on rye at Katz deli- it’s not as good as a smoked meat at Schwartz’s in Montreal, but it’s not al about the food.
Go see the ceiling at grand Central Station
yeah. chance’s of catching a game of Three Card Monte at Time’s Square these days are practically nil, but still. See it at night.
And walk… you’ll find the best stuff walking.
Shame about the wet. We lost three umbrellas last time there.
Soon as it rains, though, the street hawkers will offer you one– don’t pay more than $3.
Comment by asta — 4 June, 2007 8:02 pm
So what was the five word speech and how did it go down?
Comment by Richard Sambrook — 12 June, 2007 12:53 pm
Still not telling you.
Oh alright, one of ours was “What’s Yank for ‘hat trick’?”, and the other was “All this without Helen Mirren” or something. And I opted out of making either, because I’m not overly keen on wandering up in front of large crowsds.
And of course the speech we ACTUALLY used on the night was the more heartfelt and serious and a plea for BBC Gaza Correspondent Alan Johnstone to be released.
It went down just like all the other speeches went down - like a wet fart that no table but one cared about, because the whole night everyone only cheered for their half of their table (and half-heartedly even then, mostly) and it was reported on the Webbys website for the next 29 hours to have been
‘Free A la Drumsolo Now, Please’
Which sort of made it seem somewhat less powerful.
You know, politically.
Still, we knew what we meant, and that was the important thing.
And there was free booze.
Comment by anna — 12 June, 2007 1:14 pm