My First New York City Trip

On July 25th 2021, my good friend of six years traveled down from Michigan to New Jersey to see me. Him classifying himself as a "southerner," he never had the opportunity to see New York City in person. This desire grew once he became more infatuated with the event of the September 11th 2001 attack. There was only one problem: I haven't been to New York City either.

Well, that's a lie. I have been in the city before but I was accompanied by my family who knew New York like the back of their hand. As well, I haven't been to New York City since approximately 2016. I was able to create an itinerary of the day, purchase tickets, find train routes - all thanks to my Uncle who frequents the city. With all of the plans set, now it was time to actually complete the trip. My biggest worry was "Will I get lost?"

New York City is HUGE. The train system itself resembles the human body's blood vessels. Me being Me, getting lost was something I did not want to do; especially next to my friend who is dependent on me taking him on this momentous trip.

The plan was to travel to Jersey City, use the PATH train at the Grove Street station to head to the World Trade Center Train Station located in New York. Then, use another train to get us closer to Battery Park - where the Ferry would take us to see the Statue of Liberty. After that visit, we'd walk to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum. Then we'd wrap up the day at the One World Observatory located next door. And then obviously go back to the WTC Train Station to head back to Grove Street Station in Jersey City. So, how did the plan go?

The plan worked! We successfully made it to Grove Street Train Station, rode the rain, and made it into the city. It was a lot easier than I thought! Instead of taking another train to Battery Park, we decided to walk 20 minutes to Battery Park. We figured lets sight see while heading to the Park. At this point, it was around 9:30am so the city was quiet. It was definitely a surreal experience. Later, we made it to Battery Park, boarded the Ferry, and were dropped off at the Statue of Liberty - where I had a bird poop on my head haha.

The Statue of Liberty was for sure a sight to see. But we didn't go inside as we needed tickets ahead of time and I was unaware of that fact. So, we just walked around the island and took in the New York City skyline.

After we saw what the Statue had to offer, we boarded the Ferry and rode to Ellis Island. If I'm being honest, I wasn't too entertained there. Yes, the museum talking about Immigrants was interesting but with the heat exhaustion crawling on me, I didn't feel like spending a handful of hours reading about people migrating to the United States. One day I wouldn't mind going back to fully understand where our diversity came from and how.

Once we were tired of the Island, we went back to Battery Park, watched some street performers, found a nice place to eat, and made our way to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.

Wow. I had no previous idea of what this exhibit would showcase. Safe to say I was taken back at the extent of what they saved from the attack and what they did at Ground Zero. Outside, they have a pool where the two towers used to site with the names of everyone who died as a result of the attack engraved on the pool's perimeter. It really showcased how massive these buildings were. My friend also queued me in on a fact: when it's one of the deceased's birthdays, you'd see a flower by the engravement. There were a lot of birthdays that day.

The inside of the museum was neat. Once again, a lot of reading haha. My tired self could not be bothered with it but I really tried. I didn't take any photos inside either as I felt it was best to attempt to experience what the Museum had to offer. There was a lot of the debris as a result of the attacks such as pieces from the towers, destroyed first responder vehicles, articles of clothing, and more.

The One World Observatory was a little disappointing. I was told the elevator ride up showcased a Virtual Reality experience of the city being built while ending with what it looks like now. Naturally, I assumed it would open up some windows in the elevator and give an in-real-life look at how the city looks two miles up. But no. It was in that virtual-reality-computer-generated-style. Upon exiting the elevator I was able to actually see the city at this height and it was neat. But my exhaustion grew stronger and I just wanted to leave. Mind you, we arrived at the city at 9:30am, but woke up at 6:00am, and left the city by 5:00pm - 6:00pm. So I had a long day.

But, throughout the entire trip, my friend was happy and we didn't get lost; so I was happy too haha. I took lots of pictures while exploring NYC and had made a lot more memories.

I'm excited to go back and explore other areas of New York City such as the Empire State Building, Time Square, and Central Park.

Until then, I'm very blessed to have a safe journey to and from New York. I had a great time and was a time to remember.

If you have read this whole thing and haven't been to New York City definitely check it out. Especially with COVID-19 being a thing, I can tell how it affected the city. So, support it! It could use your tourist money haha.