The Big Apple – NYC

I love NYC and I feel like it doesn’t get much better when I am headed there. I know my visit will be short, but short is better than not at all. Too many places to go and too many good restaurants to eat at. I never get enough time in NYC. I have spent a lot of time in NYC, my mom was born in Brooklyn and she took me there as a teenager. After college, I did a six-week project at the Hotel Pennsylvania, later I went to New York on business trips as well as on personal trips. I have so many fond memories of the city and look forward to adding to them.

When I booked the flight, I realized that United no longer used JFK as their main hub, I would be flying into Newark. For me, Newark will always be that airport where I had a layover from hell. I ended up spending the night in the airport. It wasn’t just any night, I was moving from upstate NY to Los Angeles. I had just graduated from college and purchased a one way ticket to Los Angeles. Looking back on it, it was a lesson that things don’t always go as planned.

I didn’t plan out a lot of activities. I planned to see my friend Allan and I had bought tickets to see the play “The Great Comet of 1812” but otherwise not a lot of plans.

We landed and took the air-train to Penn station. As I waited to get a taxi to the hotel, I looked across the street to the Hotel Pennsylvania. I snapped a selfie and sent it to a friend who also worked on the same project from hell at that hotel.

We checked into the hotel and the first thing on the list was dinner. I love staying at the Hyatt Place in midtown – it is central to everything. I have stayed there quite a few times and go to the Keg Room, an Irish Pub across the street when I am too tired to hunt down a new place to try. We had Bangers and Mash and Fish and Chips. At dinner, I realized that Sophon had calculated out how long it would take to get to the Nintendo world store and if we had enough time to get there before it closed.

Next stop was the Nintendo World store – the only Nintendo store in the world. We went there next. I am an Xbox guy but I enjoy visiting the store. Sophon and a Wii guy and loves going to this store. I let him rush in as I stayed back to take a picture of the outside. I love watching the kids playing the games on the floor to ceiling screen. If you are a gamer, this is a must on the places to see in NYC!