CharlotteNotes: NEW YORK DAY 1- Travelling and The Empire State Building

Hi Everyone!

I am back from New York *internal crying* and have recovered from my jet lag and I am now gonna write my blog posts about my amazing trip to New York! As you've gathered from the title I will be writing a post for each day because if I did a whole post for my entire trip then it would take you till Christmas to finish it!

I had literally the best time ever in New York. It is such an exciting city and words just cannot describe how inspiring it is to me! I hope you all get the jist of how fabulous it is from these series of New York blog posts!

The trip started for me at 5.20am on 25th August 2016, I was up nice and early for a 9.20am flight from Newcastle Airport. I had already packed the day before so only had a few bits and bobs to put in my case and hand luggage and to also get dressed for the plane. I literally was cartwheeling around the house I was that excited, except for one thing.... flying. I am a pretty nervous flyer and because I don't fly much, I get really anxious about flying but knowing what was at the other end was what kept me focus and slightly relaxed at the airport and on the plane! We arrived at the airport, got checked in and got through security without any problems. Then we went to duty free where I bought my favourite perfume which was a massive bottle of Hugo Boss Nuit with 40% off, making it SO MUCH cheaper then the smaller bottle I usually buy on the high street!

After chilling in the airport we headed to our gate to board the plane and I was both excited and nervous. Excited because I was finally going to New York and nervous because I was flying.

We set off without any problems and once we were up in the sky I calmed right down. However, it had been an early start and I wanted to have a nap on the plane. BUT OF COURSE THAT WOULD BE TOO EASY. We had everyones favourite passenger, a screaming child. This child was two rows in front of me and cried/screamed for nearly the entire journey. I literally was going insane and felt ructions may have started if that journey was any longer. I did get some sleep when the child went to sleep but she let out a massive scream and woke the ENTIRE BACK END OF THE PLANE. Literally we were all asleep and she woke us up. To say we were fuming was an understatement and the ever so helpful mother did balls all to stop her crying/screaming except walk her up and down the plane which meant we all were 'blessed' with her child's ridiculous noise. Anyway, we landed at Newark Airport at 11.00am NY time (which was about 4.00pm UK time) and made our way to customs where we cleared immigration without any problems and picked up our bags then headed to grab a taxi. When we left the cool air conditioned Airport we were met with a wall of heat, and I loved it! It meant we were finally in America and my excitement levels were at capacity! Getting the taxi into Manhattan, where we were staying was both exciting yet long! I just wanted to be in New York, living out a dream of mine.

We were staying in the Ramada New York/Eastside along Lexington Avenue and it looked exactly like a stereotypical New York Building with the fire escapes and red bricks. It felt almost like being in a movie!

Our room was super clean and the AC meant it was lovely and cool when coming back after a long ass day in the New York heat. It was quite small but most apartments/hotel rooms in NY are small so it was kind of like living it like the locals! At this point I hadn't had much to eat on the plane and I was so jet lagged. I literally was a hot mess in the room because of the lack of sleep. So I calmed myself down and we headed out for a bite to eat and ended up in a Starbucks where I had a mozzarella and tomato panini with and Orange Juice which was surprisingly really nice! After Starbucks we decided to go to our first tourist location... The Empire State Building and Holy sweet Barbra! What a beautiful and massive building! I was shocked at how tall it actually was!

We went in the front and I immediately was excited! The whole building is so beautiful! Its like 1930's Art Deco and so glamorous! We decided to only go to the 86th Floor as the price difference between Both the 86th Floor and 102nd Floor and Only the 86th Floor was a lot! Also Kathy isn't fond of heights so I would have probs gone up on my own which isn't as exciting! We went though the whole exhibit about how they built it and all the history which was so fascinating. (I am a huge history lover an love learning about the history of buildings and everything tbh) And the views were just so spectacular! I have never been so amazed by the beauty of a city and the views from up there were just so fab! If you ever go to New York I highly recommend this as you really have to see the views in person for them to really astound you, I know that we all see the pictures but in person, they are something special! At this point I wasn't feeling so grand because of being tired and a bit nauseous so we dived into a Walgreens and picked up some anti sickness tablets which helped alot! We thought it was best to head back to the hotel to have a lie down and chill as we were still not 100%.

We headed back to the hotel and just chilled out until it was time for dinner and we went to an Italian over the road called Vezzo Thin Crust Pizza. We decided to share a pizza as American Portions are MAHOOSIVE! When the pizza came, OMG.

I have ever seen a pizza so big! My jaw dropped when the waiter came with it! At this point I was nearly falling asleep on the pizza and could only manage one slice. One slice was basically the size of a full pizza in England. However, it was the best pizza I had ever had!

After pizza, it was only 8.00pm which was a bit early for bed so we took a walk up Lexington Avenue to 42nd Street to see Grand Central Station. This station was so beautiful and glamorous! (It puts Newcastle Central Station to shame!) After seeing it in the movies it was so weird to be there!