This year has been pretty hectic getting back into the swing of things in Los Angeles after spending two years at home in Washington for the pandemic. I took a few days off of work for a trip to Valley of Fire State Park in March and my birthday staycation in Orange County and San Diego, but other than that, I haven’t done a ton of adventuring this year.
At the end of August, my friend Anica texted me and said her friend was going to make his Broadway debut in Moulin Rouge and she and her parents were going to fly out to see him perform, so later that week I booked my plane tickets. Her family so kindly let me stay with them (thank you Mark & Bettina!) at the Sonder at One Platt in the Financial District, and then I got to visit Connecticut with my friend Kat.
I had only ever been to New York during the summer, the first time being in middle school and the second time being Labor Day weekend in 2019, so I was excited to experience it during the fall. Since New York is a place I feel like I’ll go to several more times, I didn’t feel pressure to see and do everything on this trip. I did go through my whole planning process but didn’t spend that much time researching things to do. Unlike other trips, I didn’t completely pack every single day and planned for our days to start at 10am. After several trips, I’ve learned that when traveling I only really need to plan for 2 meals otherwise I’m too full. A lot of the restaurants were recommended by my co-worker Nicole. I made a few reservations for dinners and bought Broadway and museum tickets in advance, but most of the days were loosely planned with a few things, and that left room to somewhat go with the flow.
Check out a preview of my trip on Instagram:
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Day 1: Tuesday, October 4
My roommate dropped me off at LAX at 8pm for my 11pm flight because I get insane solo travel anxiety and have to get there 3 hours early even if it’s just a flight from LA to Seattle. To add to the anxiety, my gate changed twice and my flight ended up being delayed until 1:15am. I feel like a lot of flights are getting delayed this year in this post-COVID time, so I’m glad I booked a red-eye flight and didn’t really lose that much time in NYC. I was able to sleep for the first 3 hours and then dozed for the other 2, so it felt like a pretty short flight.
Day 2: Wednesday, October 5
I landed around 9:30am at JFK Airport, which is 12 miles southeast of Manhattan and usually the cheapest airport to fly into from Los Angeles on JetBlue. You can take an Uber, but public transportation is a lot cheaper and I only had a backpack and a carry-on-sized suitcase.
To get to the city, you follow signs for JFK’s transportation system that gets you to different terminals called the AirTrain. Because we were staying in the Financial District at the south end of Manhattan, I got off at the Howard Beach stop, but the last time when I was going to Hell’s Kitchen, I took it to the Jamaica stop. From there, you get off the AirTrain and pay for the ride you just took at the little machine. At the time of writing, it is $8 + $1 for a new MetroCard. Then, you can exit through the turnstile and buy a weekly MetroCard which was $33 for a week of unlimited rides (individual rides cost $2.75 so if you expect to take 12 or more rides in a week, you should get a weekly MetroCard). Then, you can enter another turnstile and take the subway to the city. In all, it took about 1.5 hours to get from JFK to the Sonder in FiDi.
I dropped off my suitcase and then struggled to find the correct subway but finally found it and met my friend Nikki at Prince Street Pizza in Nolita for lunch. We also went to Little Cupcake Bakeshop across the street and picked up a slice of carrot cake and took our lunch over to Elizabeth Street Garden.
Believe the hype, this was the best slice of pepperoni pizza I have ever had!! There is something about the crust that you just don’t find anywhere else!! It’s crispy, golden, chewy, and light. The slice was surprisingly filling (and greasy, have hand wipes handy!) and I couldn’t finish the other cheese pizza slice.
I walked Nikki back to her office and then hit up the restroom in The Standard Hotel (we love a bougie bathroom). I took the subway back to FiDi because the sky looked stormy as NY was on its final day of residual Hurricane Ian weather. Anica and her parents were flying in from Buffalo later in the afternoon, so I ended up taking refuge in Pi Bakerie for a few hours with mint lemonade and a book.
I met Anica and her parents at the Sonder, which is kind of like Airbnb except apartments are rented out for short-term rentals. Our apartment was a 1 bed, 2 bath apartment with a kitchen and living room area. It was actually pretty spacious and had a couch with a queen size mattress. Anica and I explored the building, where Sonder residents could access a lounge and potentially a rooftop area which we were told was closed, but unclear as to if that meant closed for the night or the season, but we never tried again.
For dinner, we took the subway to Dumbo in Brooklyn to check out Time Out Market, which is a big food hall with different little restaurants. Knowing I was about to eat a lot of carbs the rest of the week, I got a brussel sprout caesar salad from a vegetarian restaurant called BKLYN WILD. Then, we took the subway back to Sonder and watched Dancing With the Stars (Sonder had a Chromecast) before going to bed early.
Day 3: Thursday, October 6
Our day started with a subway ride to brunch at Jack’s Wife Freda, where I got the green shakshuka. The portion size was perfect and we didn’t have a wait. Next, we walked to Washington Square Park and took some photos by the arch and fountain. It was smaller than I had imagined, but still very cool and crowded.
Then, we walked to Little Island, a public park along the Hudson River that opened in May 2021. It had plenty of seating areas at the bottom with food trucks, and then you could walk up the stairs to see views of New Jersey. There was also a pretty amphitheater facing the water.
It’s very close to the High Line, so we walked a bit up there, before going back down to get a snack in Chelsea Market, a large food and shopping court. I was tempted to get vegan tahini soft serve from Seed + Mill.I got the second-best pizza I’ve ever had at Filaga Pizzeria. The photo does not do it justice, but it had buffalo mozzarella balls, pistachio, lemon, and mortadella, and similar to Prince Street Pizza, the crust was incredible. Anica got a smoothie from Daily Goods.
We took the subway to The Vessel at Hudson Yards. Visitors weren’t allowed to go up and walk around the upper level of the Vessel, but we were allowed to go to the bottom floor and take photos. After walking through the mall, we decided to head over to Central Park for a bit. After stopping at Starbucks for water, we just sat in the park and people-watched before heading to Gapstow Bridge where we met up with Anica’s friend Amanda.
Time flew and then it was time to head over to Summit One Vanderbilt in Midtown, which we had reserved timed $50 tickets for 4:30pm a few days before. We speed-walked down 5th Avenue and were only a little late, which was fine. Opened in October 2021, it’s the newest observation deck in the city and it’s more like an immersive experience with three floors with mirrored floors, walls, and ceilings. Because of this, it was very warm and bright, and they recommended bringing sunglasses. They also gave everyone shoe covers to wear. I’ll write a separate review with all the information.
At the top floor of Summit One, there’s an outdoor observation deck with a cafe and I got some sort of pumpkin donut, which was a great little snack. We stayed and took photos until the sun had set.
Then, we took the subway to meet Anica’s parents for our 8pm dinner reservation at Thai Villa in the Flatiron District. We got there a little early, so we walked to the Harry Potter store and looked around. It was huge! It definitely seemed similar to the one at Universal in Los Angeles. They even had a little Butterbeer Bar that had butterbeer ice cream!
Thai Villa was packed, so I highly recommend making a reservation ahead of time if you’re coming for dinner. The service was extremely quick and efficient, and the food was also delicious. We mostly stuck to the basics and ordered the Curry Puffs, Papaya Salad, Chicken Pad Thai, Chicken Pad See Ew, and Massaman Curry. We took a little box of leftovers home and took the subway back.
Day 4: Friday, October 7
Anica and I got up and took the subway to The Metropolitan Museum of Art to take photos on the steps to live out our Gossip Girl dreams. There was a line of people when we first got there since the museum had just opened, but everyone quickly went inside. There were also school busses and children beginning to arrive, so to get the steps more to yourself, you’d probably have to come pretty early in the morning.
After, we walked to H&H Bagels where I got a lox bagel. Then, we walked to Central Park to eat before walking to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), which I bought timed $25 tickets for in advance. We realized that “modern art” meant the museum was full of relatively modern art, as in nothing from before the 1800s, but it was not completely full of pop art or things made in the current decade.
MoMA has six floors, but I came with the singular mission of finding Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh. When I studied abroad in Prague, I visited the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam (and waited in line for an hour in the rain) to see it, only to learn that the painting lived in New York. After walking around the very large fifth floor, we finally found it! There was a bunch of people crowded around it, so you can’t miss it. We also saw a lot of other famous paintings that feel like they belong in Europe like some of Claude Monet’s Water Lilies, Hope II by Gustav Klimt, and Dance by Henri Matisse.
We spent about an hour wandering through the rest of the museum. The special exhibit on the sixth floor was a ton of photographs by German photographer Wolfgang Tillman, who I had never heard of, but I did recognize one of his photos, which is the album cover of Frank Ocean’s Blonde album. We walked through the rest of the floors and also checked out the courtyard outside.
I was feeling snacky, so I Yelped boba near us and found Modern Tea Shop, which ended up being on a side street off Times Square. I got a grapefruit tea with boba and it was like a fruit slush, so it was very refreshing. It even had a few slices of real grapefruit in it so that was cool. Definitely would recommend! After, we took the subway back to Sonder to get ready for dinner and Broadway.
Anica, her parents, and I took the subway to a Mediterranean restaurant called Shuka for a 3:45 early dinner. We got fries for the table and Anica and I shared a chicken kebab with kale salad. We had time before our 7pm show, so we walked to Anica’s friends’ apartment. Then, we took the subway to Al Hirschfield Theatre where we met up with our friend Kat. We had purchased tickets back in August, and it was $200 per person for the Friday 7pm show on the Mezzanine balcony.
I had never seen the Moulin Rouge movie before and didn’t really know the plot, but I still really enjoyed it! I loved how they used 2010s pop hits that I knew. The sets and costumes were amazing and I thought the show was super entertaining. After the show ended, we waited to see Anica’s friend Cole and stayed there for a while. It’s crazy that most of the actors just inconspicuously walked out the back door in normal clothes!
I walked to Grand Central Terminal with Kat to take the train back to her apartment in Stamford, Connecticut. We stopped by the Rite Aid in the terminal and bought some snacks, then sat and waited for the 11:30pm train. We finally got back to her place around 1am and then showered and went to bed.
Day 5: Saturday, October 8
The interesting part about being on the East Coast is how close all the states are together. Once you get out of Manhattan, most of New York and Connecticut are small towns with big houses that are very green and lush. The leaves had started to turn colors and it was beautiful! Kat toured me around and drove between different towns in New York and Connecticut all weekend. Greenwich (pronounced Gren-nich) is a city on Connecticut’s Gold Coast just 30 miles from Times Square and about 2 miles from the New York border. With a median income of $167K (vs. $101K for Beverly Hills zip code 90210, US 2020 Census), Greenwich is one of the richest cities in America, although it’s more of an old-money feel, there’s no glitz or flashiness of Beverly Hills.
Kat is a real estate agent for Compass and had a 9:30am showing so we got up early and headed to the property in Greenwich in Connecticut to turn on all the lights and get ready. The couple came through with their agent and then we went to Armonk, NY to get bagels at Bagel Emporium. I got a bacon, egg, and pepper jack cheese bagel with a hashbrown. The cheese pull was quite impressive. We also went across the street to get coffee (vanilla latte for Kat, apple cider chai for me) at Tazza. Kat had another showing at 12:30, so we headed to that house and walked around the neighborhood for a bit. Kat did the showing with her clients while I waited in the car and called my parents. We headed back to the house from the morning showing to show the afternoon clients for the third and final showing of the day.
We went to the main shopping area in Greenwich, Greenwich Avenue where Kat’s office is located and that has every high end store you can think of. It was time for a snack, so Kat got a freeze at Pressed Juicery and I got honeycomb ice cream at Van Leeuwen. We walked to Bruce Park and sat for a bit and saw a lot of birds. Then, we drove to Tod’s Point Beach and tried to get in, but it’s a private beach for only Greenwich residents and they don’t sell guest passes on the spot. Non-residents were only able to come between November and April.
After being denied beach access, Kat drove us to the restaurant we had a dinner reservation for. We had some time to kill, so we walked over the Byram River to Port Chester, NY for a bit. We walked up an appetite and got Italian food for dinner at Rosina’s in Greenwich. We ordered the focaccia (best part of the meal), the burrata with figs, the cacio e pepe, and the papardelle. It was just alright, the Yelp 3.5 star rating says it all.
We were exhausted, so we headed home to shower and watched Mr. and Mrs. Smith before going to bed at 10pm.
Day 6: Sunday, October 9
We woke up and grabbed coffee at Donut Delight drive thru. Then, we went to SoBol for acai bowls and ate them outside. The weather was truly impeccable this trip! Sunny but not too cold. I got a bowl with a coconut base instead and it was really good! We drove back to Greenwich Ave and waited for Anica and her parents to arrive on the train and took photos around the area.
Once the Carnahans arrived, Kat gave them a driving tour of some neighborhoods then showed us Pear Tree Point Beach. The entrance gate was unmanned so, we were lucky to have free access that day. We were able to park and then wander down one of the streets and look at the houses.
For lunch, we went to Bartaco in Westport, CT. The restaurant was really cute and we sat on the patio overlooking the Saugatuck River. The tacos were teeny so if you’re hungry I’d recommend ordering at least five. We got three, but then walked around Westport and went to Sunny Daes for a big scoop of ice cream after. After sitting and chatting for a while, Kat took us all back to the train station and we went back to Grand Central. We took the subway back to FiDi and stopped at 55 Fulton Market, a two-floor grocery store near the Sonder, to pick up some food for dinner. I got a spinach and feta puff pastry thing and a chia drink.
Day 7: Monday, October 10
The break from the city was great and I was refreshed and ready for a final day in Manhattan. Anica, her parents, and I walked through Chinatown and Little Italy on our way to our breakfast spot. We took Mulberry Street and it was interesting to see how you could be in Chinatown for 2 blocks and then the next block was Italian restaurants.
We got brunch at Little Ruby’s Cafe, an Australian restaurant. This was my favorite breakfast. I got the Breakfast Bowl with prosciutto, poached eggs, whipped ricotta, peas, edamame, avocado, sprouts, lemon, and a piece of sourdough. This day I planned three meals and it was a mistake since I was so full from breakfast.
Anica and I took the subway to Central Park where we met up with my friend Jessie and her sister Brooke at Bethesda Fountain. We stopped by Bow Bridge and Belvedere Castle before taking the subway to Bar Verde in Noho for lunch with Nikki while Anica went to go meet her parents for lunch. Bar Verde is a vegan Mexican restaurant and I usually like vegan food, but I did not like the food here. I ordered the tostada appetizer and the cheese somehow tasted like goat cheese, which I’m not a fan of. I also tried Jessie and Brooke’s nachos and didn’t like the cheese sauce on those either. Nikki, Jessie, and Brooke liked their food and they got tacos and I think that was probably the better choice.
Nikki went back to work, and Jessie, Brooke, and I walked to Levain and stood in line for a cookie. They mostly had chocolate-heavy cookies, so I just got their signature chocolate chip walnut cookie. Then, we took the subway to One World Trade Center and saw the 9/11 Memorial before walking through Brookfield Place to take the Liberty Landing Ferry to Liberty State Park in New Jersey since there’s a great view of the NYC skyline, but since it was Columbus Day, we learned it wasn’t operating that day.
Instead, Jessie suggested taking the Staten Island Ferry, so we walked all the way down Battery Park to the ferry terminal. The Staten Island Ferry is free and is only a 15 minute ride to Staten Island. Jessie had taken it before and a ferry worker told her the best views were from the bottom floor at the back of the boat, and they were correct! Hardly anyone sat on the bottom level of the ferry and we had the view of Brooklyn and FiDi all to ourselves! The ferry docked on Staten Island and you do have to get off the boat, but then we just got back in line for the ferry and took it right back to the city.
Jessie and Brooke headed off to Trader Joe’s and I walked back to Sonder and watched Enchanted with Anica until dinner time. They had plans to meet up with one of Anica’s friends in Seaport and I took the subway to L’Artusi, an Italian restaurant in West Village to grab dinner with some of my former co-workers. We had to wait an hour for a table, so definitely make reservations for this one! We walked a few blocks over to Carrie Bradshaw’s house from Sex and the City, and saw a lot of rats along the sidewalk by the garbage bags.
When we were seated, we saw comedian Iliza Shlesinger at the bar. The waitress recommended getting 3 plates per person, which I definitely recommend if you’re hungry because the portions are fairly small. I was just full from my whole day of eating, so I was fine, but definitely would’ve needed a couple more plates on a normal day. We got the ricotta cheese, wagyu carpaccio, bucatini, agnolotti, cacio e pepe, and the olive oil cake. I took the subway back to Sonder and went to bed.
Day 8: Tuesday, October 11
We hadn’t booked our plane tickets together, but Anica’s parents and I were on the same flight back to Los Angeles. Anica was staying a little longer and staying at her friends’ apartments, so in the morning, her parents and I just got up and took the subway to the AirTrain back to JFK.
Overall
It was a terrific trip! I couldn’t have asked for better weather. Fall is definitely the time to visit New York, I will never return in the summer! I don’t think I could live in New York City, but visiting is always a blast.
NYC Recommendations
- Definitely take public transportation to and from JFK! It’s so easy and so much cheaper than Uber. Anica and her family used Apple Pay to pay for individual subway rides since they mostly walked. I ended up taking 20 subway rides, so it was worth it to get the $33 weekly MetroCard.
- If you can, try to stay somewhere that is close to a big subway station. We were close to the Fulton station which had transfers for almost every subway line.
- If you have the time to spare, don’t start your days super early. You can avoid commuter traffic on the subway if you ride it after 9am.
- Take the Staten Island Ferry! I definitely got the best photos from the ride and it’s free!
- Summit One Vanderbilt is definitely the coolest observation deck in the city at the moment. All the other observation decks (Rockefeller Center, The Edge, Empire State Building) are similar in price ~$40-$70 but Summit One has all the other rooms in addition to the deck.
- For food, I really loved Prince Street Pizza, Filaga Pizzeria, Little Ruby’s, Thai Villa (do make a reservation), and Modern Tea Shop for boba
Cost
- Lodging: $0 (Big thanks to Mark & Bettina Carnahan and Kat for hosting me!)
- Transportation: $502 (roundtrip flight LAX to JFK, subway/AirTrain/train, Uber back to my apartment)
- Food: $398 (Big thanks to Mark & Bettina Carnahan for covering me at Shuka, Sunny Daes, and Little Ruby)
- Entertainment: $287 (Moulin Rouge, Summit One Vanderbilt, MoMA)
Grand Total: $1,187
Google Map
Here’s a map of everywhere I went during my trip! Purple locations are restaurants and red locations are places to see!
NEXT TIME
I feel like a trip to New York every few years is enough for me. In the future, I want to explore more of Brooklyn and go to Williamsburg and Prospect Park. I also still want to take photos at the Flatiron Building, go to the Frick Collection, take the Liberty Landing Ferry, shoot on the Brooklyn Bridge, go to a Yankees or Mets game, go inside The Met, and go see all the sites in Central Park. For food, I want to go to Thai Diner, eat in Chinatown, and try some food carts. I also want to go see the other parts of New York like Queens, Harlem, Montauk, and the Hamptons. There were also a lot of signs in JFK that showed all the nature New York has, so it would be cool to do some hikes and see nature out in the rest of the state.
CHECK OUT MY OTHER ADVENTURES
5 Touristy Days in NYC
Easy Breezy Beautiful Days in Newport, Rhode Island
Seattle: All the Recommendations from a Local
Experiencing East Coast Nature in Bar Harbor, Maine
Valley of Fire State Park and Las Vegas, Nevada
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