I Heart NYC

Finally, I am back home in New York City (insert Sigh Of Relief here).

I am realizing that in the past 7 weeks of travel, I will have slept on 16 different beds/couches, including 2 nights spent cramped up in an airplane seat. I know some of you out there can empathize.

I return home after 9:00 at night. I have spent the entire day en route, wide awake as the plane crossed over time zones and the Atlantic Ocean. I should be exhausted, but I can’t sleep. I want to unpack, read through all that forgotten mail, and begin to settle back into my cherished Manhattan apartment.

After so many weeks away, I return home feeling rather high on life, high on “December in New York City”. There is something special about being in Manhattan in December. It is my absolute favorite time of the year, maybe because December is my birthday month. But more likely, this annual NYC Lovefest is due to the overall blissful atmosphere of the impending holiday season: the air turns fresh and crisp as winter descends on the city, clear blue skies and piercing sunlight brighten increasingly colder days. (That’s the thing about New York winters. Despite the freezing temperatures, the snow and the often bitterly cold days, the sun is usually shining. I suppose this is what makes the winters here bearable.) Holiday lights go up and classics like George Michael’s “Last Christmas” and Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas” blare from speakers around the city. The fresh smell of pine overtakes the otherwise smelly streets as Christmas trees line up for sale along the crowded sidewalks. Avoid Rockefeller Center like the plague, and you too will love the holiday season in Manhattan.

I have been out to Central Park quite a bit this week. This is my favorite place to be in the city, and my absolute favorite experience here has always been jogging around the Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir on these cold, clear afternoons. The trees are barren, and the park could have an almost gloomy, grey and desolate winter feel to it… depending on one’s perspective. I happen to love it. I take note of the many couples and tourists strolling along the Reservoir’s dirt path, stopping to appreciate the expansive views, the impressive skyline, taking photos along the way. I feel pleased by their appreciation of the gorgeous setting, proud that this is my home.

When I first moved here 5 years ago, a transplant from California, I made a vow to myself that I would never become “one of them”. You know what I mean: one of those bustling, rushed, crazed “New Yorker” types, consumed by the rush hour rat-race of daily life in The Big City. Instead, I would be something like a forever tourist, one who remained on the periphery, observing life and appreciating it for all its distinctive madness.

Somewhere along the way, this promise I so boldly made to myself has gotten lost. I too have become caught up in the daily struggle of Surviving Manhattan. I have become consumed by the daily monotony of doing laundry, grocery shopping and going to the gym. My love for this great city has gotten buried under my laziness and desire to lie on the couch and watch Grey’s Anatomy. This has to stop.

So my hope and desire is to start noticing this city again. Observing. Maybe even writing about it here on this blog. No, I am not traveling now, and yes, this is technically a travel blog…. but there is so much that can be said about New York. So I will do my best to become a tourist in my own hometown again, to learn once again how to appreciate and cherish everything this city has to offer. And maybe start sharing some of those thoughts and observations with you, my loyal reader. I hope you don't mind.

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