Author's note: I have tried to write this post on two
previous occasions but to no avail- it was accidentally deleted both
times. (No, really.) Let's see if the third time is the charm...
DC Bucket List:
5. Go to NYC
Why would a trip to New York City be on a "Bucket List" about DC? Well, one great thing about living in a major city on the East Coast is that all of the other major cities on the East Coast are easy and cheap to get to. A few years ago, a friend and I took a bus up to NYC from DC on a whim for a short trip to see a friend of mine from Germany who was visiting the US. We had a great time, and ever since then, I've wanted to take a trip back to NYC. Unfortunately, my friend couldn't join me this time, so I went solo to see some friends that I hadn't seen in a very long time. Here is a synopsis of my trip in three parts:
The Good:
1. On Friday night, I met up with my good friend Danielle and her girlfriend Kate. Before I went to NYC, it had occurred to me that Danielle and I had been friends for about 10 years now, which is impressive considering that we met in the brief time that I attended Simmons College in Boston, and my trip up there confirmed why- she has a great sense of humor and is a good friend. I mean 'good friend' in that there are people that are good at being friends- people that, even if you don't see or speak to them for a while, you can connect with despite not being in contact for some time; you can pick up where you left off. Danielle and Kate graciously hosted me in their apartment in Staten Island for a night. I would probably never had gone to Staten Island, but it's actually a pretty cool place with a distinct character. I would probably live there if I ever moved to NYC- it's further from the city and has more of a suburban feel. Also, being on Staten Island makes one realize and appreciate that NYC is, in fact, on the water. They showed me around Staten and some of the hipster-laden parts of Brooklyn, which was pretty cool. I love visiting people and getting to see things "off the beaten path."
2. On Saturday evening, I left Danielle and Kate and met up with my friends Daphne and Mat, whom I met when I was studying abroad in Nagasaki. Daphne always seems to know about the cool Asian places to go, so we met up for kaitenzushi (commonly known in the US as conveyor-belt sushi), where they surprised me by paying for dinner. If I haven't mentioned it before, I have some pretty awesome friends. After dinner, we walked around a bit and caught up over bubble tea (yum!). Then, we headed back to the karaoke bar above the kaitenzushi restaurant. Originally, we were going to go to Koreatown for karaoke (or norebang in Korean), but as I lost my wallet and ID (more on that below), I couldn't get in as they card at the door. Daphne graciously called around to see which karaoke places did not ID at the door, and made a reservation for karaoke at Japas 27 (did I mention how awesome my friends are?). So, we ended up meeting up with Danielle and Kate and singing karaoke for 3 hours- it was so much fun! The next day, Daphne and Mat took me to a bagel place in Astoria for breakfast. That onion bagel with homemade jalapeno-asiago cream cheese was probably the best bagel I'd ever had. New York bagels are no joke! Then I said goodbye to them and headed to my bus to return to DC.
The Bad:
After leaving my wallet at home and having to trek home from work to retrieve it earlier in the day, one of the first things I did when I arrived in NYC Friday night was to leave my wallet in the back seat of a cab. Luckily, I hadn't had time to get cash and had taken my debit card out to pay for the cab, so all of the money I had was on my person. I had a credit card in the wallet, but I cancelled it before any fraudulent charges were made. The biggest inconvenience was, as I mentioned, that I didn't have my ID and thus couldn't prove I was over 21. However, it did make my trip to NYC much less expensive than it could have been. I came to work on Monday prepared to start contacting various businesses to get new cards, but, as luck would have it, I got an e-mail over the weekend from the cab driver's son saying that a customer had found my wallet and turned it in to the cab driver and that he had it. What a relief! I finally got the wallet back yesterday and I was so grateful. I would have liked to have gotten it back sooner, but I did not want to harass a perfect stranger who was kind enough to contact me about my wallet AND send it to me in VA.
The Ugly:
I will never take Mega Bus again! It was a total zoo in Union Station (very disorganized) and to top it off, we were delayed by an hour and a half, which I found out by word of mouth! We were delayed leaving NYC two days later! Never again... next time I will shell out the extra $10 to take Bolt Bus!
New York City- never a dull moment!
DC Bucket List:
5. Go to NYC
Why would a trip to New York City be on a "Bucket List" about DC? Well, one great thing about living in a major city on the East Coast is that all of the other major cities on the East Coast are easy and cheap to get to. A few years ago, a friend and I took a bus up to NYC from DC on a whim for a short trip to see a friend of mine from Germany who was visiting the US. We had a great time, and ever since then, I've wanted to take a trip back to NYC. Unfortunately, my friend couldn't join me this time, so I went solo to see some friends that I hadn't seen in a very long time. Here is a synopsis of my trip in three parts:
The Good:
1. On Friday night, I met up with my good friend Danielle and her girlfriend Kate. Before I went to NYC, it had occurred to me that Danielle and I had been friends for about 10 years now, which is impressive considering that we met in the brief time that I attended Simmons College in Boston, and my trip up there confirmed why- she has a great sense of humor and is a good friend. I mean 'good friend' in that there are people that are good at being friends- people that, even if you don't see or speak to them for a while, you can connect with despite not being in contact for some time; you can pick up where you left off. Danielle and Kate graciously hosted me in their apartment in Staten Island for a night. I would probably never had gone to Staten Island, but it's actually a pretty cool place with a distinct character. I would probably live there if I ever moved to NYC- it's further from the city and has more of a suburban feel. Also, being on Staten Island makes one realize and appreciate that NYC is, in fact, on the water. They showed me around Staten and some of the hipster-laden parts of Brooklyn, which was pretty cool. I love visiting people and getting to see things "off the beaten path."
2. On Saturday evening, I left Danielle and Kate and met up with my friends Daphne and Mat, whom I met when I was studying abroad in Nagasaki. Daphne always seems to know about the cool Asian places to go, so we met up for kaitenzushi (commonly known in the US as conveyor-belt sushi), where they surprised me by paying for dinner. If I haven't mentioned it before, I have some pretty awesome friends. After dinner, we walked around a bit and caught up over bubble tea (yum!). Then, we headed back to the karaoke bar above the kaitenzushi restaurant. Originally, we were going to go to Koreatown for karaoke (or norebang in Korean), but as I lost my wallet and ID (more on that below), I couldn't get in as they card at the door. Daphne graciously called around to see which karaoke places did not ID at the door, and made a reservation for karaoke at Japas 27 (did I mention how awesome my friends are?). So, we ended up meeting up with Danielle and Kate and singing karaoke for 3 hours- it was so much fun! The next day, Daphne and Mat took me to a bagel place in Astoria for breakfast. That onion bagel with homemade jalapeno-asiago cream cheese was probably the best bagel I'd ever had. New York bagels are no joke! Then I said goodbye to them and headed to my bus to return to DC.
The Bad:
After leaving my wallet at home and having to trek home from work to retrieve it earlier in the day, one of the first things I did when I arrived in NYC Friday night was to leave my wallet in the back seat of a cab. Luckily, I hadn't had time to get cash and had taken my debit card out to pay for the cab, so all of the money I had was on my person. I had a credit card in the wallet, but I cancelled it before any fraudulent charges were made. The biggest inconvenience was, as I mentioned, that I didn't have my ID and thus couldn't prove I was over 21. However, it did make my trip to NYC much less expensive than it could have been. I came to work on Monday prepared to start contacting various businesses to get new cards, but, as luck would have it, I got an e-mail over the weekend from the cab driver's son saying that a customer had found my wallet and turned it in to the cab driver and that he had it. What a relief! I finally got the wallet back yesterday and I was so grateful. I would have liked to have gotten it back sooner, but I did not want to harass a perfect stranger who was kind enough to contact me about my wallet AND send it to me in VA.
The Ugly:
I will never take Mega Bus again! It was a total zoo in Union Station (very disorganized) and to top it off, we were delayed by an hour and a half, which I found out by word of mouth! We were delayed leaving NYC two days later! Never again... next time I will shell out the extra $10 to take Bolt Bus!
New York City- never a dull moment!
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