Hello everyone!

A few weekends ago, I visited one of my favorite cities in America, New York City. As I mentioned in this post, since the pandemic, I have not traveled much. Before the pandemic, I use to travel at least once a year. And most of the time, it would be some type of trip to New York. Check out this post to read about my time at the New York Wine and Food Festival, and this post about a trip with good food and tourist attractions.

As I mentioned, I was especially excited for this trip because I hadn’t really travelled (except for my family vacation to Madison) and I was itching to travel. For the past two years I had been really cautious about traveling because I didn’t want to catch COVID-19, nor spread it to my family members. However, towards the end of this year, I realized I was not happy because I had not been doing one of the things that truly brought me joy…travelling. So, with both booster shots in my system and a (cute) mask on my face, I embarked on my trip.

For this trip, I opted to take the megabus since the Amtrak tickets were so expensive. I was quite surprised to find that the megabus tickets were much more expensive than when I previously travelled with them. However, it was still the most affordable mode of transportation. Due to logistical issues with my puppy, I decided to stay overnight in NYC. I did enjoy this change from my previous trips because it allowed me to spend more time in NYC and to relax in a nice hotel after finishing my first semester of law school.

Sunday

I left early Sunday morning to catch the bus. We left a little after 6a and arrived in NYC around 10:45a. The main reason for my trip was to see The Piano Lesson by August Wilson on Broadway. Once in NYC, I rushed to the TKTS Times Square location to purchase my tickets for the show. I have purchased tickets same-day with TKTS many times in the past. While risky, purchasing Broadway tickets for same-day shows can cost up to 50 percent less than purchasing online or at the ticket office. It took approximately 45 minutes for me to purchase my ticket, as many people were already in line.

At this point, I was beyond starving and walked to Peachy Keen for brunch. I ordered their french toast, bacon, coffee and a cocktail. The food was good and filling. After brunch, I decided to walk around for a bit until the show started. Argentina just won the World Cup and there were many people celebrating in the streets. I’m not a huge futbol fan but I do like Messi and couldn’t help but be caught up in the celebration. As I didn’t have much of a plan, I just walked and ended up at Central Park. There was a holiday market before the entrance of Central Park that had dozens of shops. I purchased a few items to gift to my family members for Christmas.

After I went through the market, I returned back to Times Square to catch my 3p Broadway show. The ticket I purchased, placed me about ten rows from the front of the stage (which was great). I made small chat with the older, Black couple sitting to my right about August Wilson and this play. Before the show started, three people sat to my left. I immediately recognized one of the women but couldn’t place where I knew her from. However, right as the play was starting, I remembered. So, during the intermission, I took a picture with her and sent the picture to my mother. The play (The Piano Lesson) was amazing!!!! Samuel L. Jackson, Danielle Brooks (Orange is the New Black), and John David Washington (Malcon and Marie) were in the play and truly embodied the characters. The set, music, and technology used all worked well to animate the play. I would highly recommend the play if you happen to go to New York before the end of January.

After the play, I met up with my friend and we went to Brooklyn to eat Korean Barbeque (KBBQ) at the KPOT. I love KBBQ so much and the food did not disappoint. We paid approximately $25 for all you can eat. We could get unlimited meats, veggies and sides, but we opted to try three of the meats. This was my friend’s first time eating KBBQ and he really enjoyed it. Once we finished eating, we walked off some of the food before consuming crepes with strawberries, bananas, and nutella.

Monday

Since I didn’t have to wake up early to take puppy out to the bathroom, I decided to sleep in. Part of me regrets it and part of me doesn’t. By sleeping in, I wasn’t able to enjoy more of New York before having to leave. However, by sleeping in, I got to get more rest than I had in a while. After getting ready and scarfing down some (free) breakfast in the lobby of the hotel, I checked out and ventured out into the city. The plan was to go shopping for more Christmas presents, but I couldn’t find the mall. Or perpahs I did find it, but it was much smaller than pictured on the internet. Regardless, I was able to find something before I had to rush and find something to eat. In true fashion, I ended up running to catch my bus. I honestly don’t know why I underestimate how long it will take to travel to the bus, but I end up doing it every time. As the bus pulled off, I wiped the sweat from my forehead and calmed down my breathing while reminiscing on the past 48 hours.

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Thanks for reading! I hope that you enjoyed this post. I hope to get a few more posts out before the semester starts in a few weeks. If you enjoyed this post, please like and share. And if you want to read more posts, I would love it if you could subscribe to my blog.

Also, if you’ve been hesitant about traveling since the pandemic like me, I would encourage you to get out there! You don’t have to go or do everything that everyone else is doing, but travel as much as you feel comfortable. Things (unfortunately/fortunately) will not be the same as before the pandemic, so we have to do our best to adapt to this new normal. If traveling makes you happy, plan to go for a day trip to a new city next year. Thanks again and I’ll see you all next year!

Love, 

Britt ♥