24- New York City

So to the final leg of our journey, New York City, what a place!! I remember being there a few years back and loving it but I forgot just how much I loved it until we arrived back and made our way to our hostel. It was icy cold when we arrived, something like 1C and full of frost but it felt almost like a relief to breath it in after nearly smothering at various stages in the back of Scootie!


We managed to squeeze a lot into our 6 days here, first up was the essential Broadway Show! We went to see the Lion King musical and it was absolutely amazing. The way they portrayed the animals was fantastic, again it is a must for visitors to New York. I wouldn't be mad into musicals myself now but being a fan of Disneys the Lion King made it so much better, not sure how I would have fared had we gone to see Catz or Mary Poppins however!


Plenty of shopping was also done here, despite having little money we still managed to buy all round us and max out the credit card in the process! Oh what fun! Woodbury Common is not a place I would ever have heard of before but needless to say many of ye and Edel included have not only heard of it but also have the list of shops memorised. Have to admit though it is a great place to go for really cheap Nike, Reebok, Adidas, G-star and many other such labels.


On Saturday night we got a great session in with my cousins Barry and Yvonne. Hadn't seen them in a few years now so was great to catch up (and drink til 430am in the morning!) Of course we also squeezed in all the essential sightseeing activities including the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Ground Zero, Central Park and 42nd street amongst others..


Sunday was Superbowl Sunday where the New York Giants were ridiculous underdogs against the unbeaten all season New England Patriots! The Giants were 4-1 just to win the game, we met up with a Sharlene, a friend of mine from college and watched the game with her and her friends. The shiteness of the match really lived up to my expectations until the last quarter when the patriots moved ahead with about 12mins left only to be beaten by a Giants touchdown with just 3mins left on the clock! It was a great finish to the game and the whole of New York went mad in celebration as a result, it was a great atmosphere!


On our last night we went to madison Square Gardens to watch the Knicks play the LA CLippers in the NBA. It was an excellent game and we both found basketball so easy to watch but the Knicks are truly truly brutal and lost again, thats 6 on the trot now! Really the Derby County of the NBA! Met up with Barry again after the game and he showed us more of the city by night, really something else..


So after circumnavigating the globe through 9 countries, 24 flights on 12 different airlines, bungee jumping, skydiving, white water rafting, scuba diving, snorkelling, paragliding, meeting so many amazing people from so many corners of the world it is time to go home and settle for a while, to make some more money for the next expedition. See ye all at home soon people!

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