MY BIGGEST TRAVEL PLAN EVER : CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR IN NEW YORK!

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Since I was a kid, christmas time in my country means a fun holiday and time to watch cool kids movies on TV. My all time favourite was of course, HOME ALONE – New York edition. I don’t know how many times I have watched it in my entire life, but it surely was the one that put a trigger in my mind to have my own NEW YORK version of Christmas.

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A family gone ugly-christmas-sweater kinda thing

Going to New York all the way from my home country definitely need an extra effort. It is as far as 16,000-ish kms which means I have to sit on a flight for almost 24 hours. Not to mention the crazy extra charge of $$$ because it’s the highest season of the year and it’s New York – the grand destination to all people in earth for Christmas holiday.

Therefore I was very well-prepared for the trip. I bought the ticket 9 months in advanced and applied the visa 6 months earlier. I clearly spent 9 months to fix up the itinerary – on and off. This going to be my biggest and furthest trip in my life – ever. And.. just like it was stated in my destiny, everything went pretty well at the preparation. US Visa – which known as the scariest visa to be gotten, only took me 3 minutes interview to get it.

To imagine how well-prepared I was, I made a spotify playlist called NY – Christmas. The songs are varied from classic christmas song to … of course, the Empire State of Mind. To top it all off, I even watch the whole season of Gossip Girl to find interesting places that might spotted on the show. Not only that, I also re-watch many movies that took place in the Big Apple. Yes, I was that obsessed. LoL

After a lot of thinking, I finally decided to spend 8 days in the city and other 4 days in Boston and Vermont.

Why Boston? Because I wanted to go to Vermont for Snowmobiling. And Boston happened to be in between New York and Vermont, so a short visit would not hurt. And why do I wanted to do Snowmobiling? Because I am just a human that thirst of new experiences! *smirk. Plus, I wanted to get to know this country by visiting its countryside. Fair enough, no?

I know, 8 days in New York would not enough to conquer the whole city. New York is very big I might need 2 weeks to explore it. But again, back to the reason above. So my itinerary narrowed down to things I matter most :

The landmark 
Just like any other first-timer  – Central Park, Empire state building, Liberty Statue, 911 monument, Brooklyn bridge, Times Square, The Wallstreet, Public Library, Grand Central Terminal, Rockefeller Centre. All checked and done! I am a proud New York tourist!

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The Brooklyn Bridge

Christmas thingy
Those skating rings, giant christmas tree, christmas sale, massively decorated christmas bar, Dyker Heights.

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The market 
I love pop-up market so much, so top 3 christmas market are on the list. + Chelsea Market which turned out to be my happy place in New York! They got bunch of great food you would never mind to stuck in queue to get them

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The movies
I love FRIENDS and SATC – and umm Gossip Girl? You know where I am heading : The West Village! and The Upper East Side!

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The architecture
Guggenheim, The Oculus, New York by Gehry, Flatiron building. All of ’em were amazing! Although, I demand to see more cool building. Come on, this is New York! Gimme more! (Later I realised that I missed The Vessel – a very cool building in Hudson area.. shoot!)

The food 
That infamous $1 pizza, Bagels, ShakeShack burger, and the classic New York City Halal Guys! *Droolsssss

The shopping spree 
That time of the year where everything would be on super sale. I was up for all the shops in Manhattan and Soho for sure

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The museum
No a fan of them – but hey its New York! Home to many cool museum. I’ll give it a shot to MoMA. Turns out, it was the best decision I’ve made. I actually got a bit regret cause I only allocated 3 hours in MoMa. There were so many things to see but they closed so soon in the holiday season 🙁

The performance
Never really into musical – but come on. I gotta try once, the original broadway in its home country!

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And finally that ultimate question.
WHERE SHOULD I GO FOR NEW YEAR’S EVE?
Watching ball drop in Times Square was definitely on my mind, but I’ll tell you later where I’d gone 😀

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