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Published: March 21st 2023
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I can barely believe it has come to this stage in the travel blog! 19 countries in, and I was right at the very end of a mammoth world tour which lasted 7 and a half months and involved so many sights and experiences that you could arguably barely comprehend it in the context of a lifetime. The last stop had to be significant, and New York is hardly the kind of city which goes unnoticed, so what did the big apple have to offer 23 years on from the previous visit? The choice of hotel was key, as New York doesn't come terribly cheap, so being based near the end of a subway line in the district of Flushing / borough of Queens was a substantially budget-busting option which struck the right balance between convenience and pricing. Flushing appears to have taken on something of a cosmopolitan sheen thanks to the presence of what appeared to be a predominantly Chinese community, and as a result was well supplied with shops and restaurants which reflected those Asian cultural tones. New York doesn't require a great deal of explanation, as visitor numbers have barely been affected by any of the world events
which have shaped the city and its all-important attitude. It is almost as if every last New York institution is here to stay until the end of time, the only difference being the additions to its roster, which tend to appear in line with the latest trends and innovations which the city continues to be shaped by. The choice of venue this time around for a panoramic NYC view from up on high was the Rockefeller Centre, and the acclaimed 'Top Of The Rock' experience, which has visitors snapping away at the urbanscape in search of the ultimate aerial view of NYC. Nearby Radio City ranks among those long-established New York institutions, yet the neon-infested allure of Times Square is the one New York gathering place where seemingly all nations play together, to the tune of high prices and Broadway tickets sold on by street vendors. New York is a city of districts within boroughs, and it appears that Hell's Kitchen has cornered a market in recent years where a culinary scene has taken the city by storm. Ground Zero might have felt like a sombre place for years on end in the wake of the 9/11 tragedy, but these
days, the commercial zone which is located on the site of the former World Trade Centre feels like the effort made by the resilient citizens of New York to redevelop in fine style has paid dividends and given the area something of a new lease of life. The Staten Island ferry for the statue of liberty viewing is an activity showing no sign of declining in popularity, and the Wall Street financial district, while being still an area forever synonymous with the Stock Market, has also taken on board a few features which make for a certain degree of variety when it comes to dining and retail options. Jutting from one district to the next is roughly how a visitor to New York seems to function, so plotting a course may seem either essential, if you're determined to gain the most from your stay, or optional if the New York experience alone is enough to cater to your desires. As a nation of a relatively high proportion of Anglophiles, New York has taken on board a couple of English influences in recent times, namely the opening of a branch of Rough Trade records located right by Radio City, and a
branch of a Gordon Ramsey's Fish and Chips outlet in Times Square, suggesting that the average New York citizen's annual trip to London has ensured that a couple of influences have been brought back Stateside. As New York and all it entailed was sliding out of view, and the final piece of the world tour jigsaw had been put in place, reflecting upon the entire episode remains a substantial task, facilitated greatly by the prospect of documenting it all, piece by piece, step by step, blow by blow on these very pages, partly as a way of keeping the memories together in one happy, permanent place, but also as a means of gathering my thoughts and coming to terms with what the year of 2022 really had entailed. We had survived the covid era with a few too many moments of fear and anxiety, and pondered the threat of war and its impact upon global perceptions and sensibilities, but there will always remain one constant and that happens to be, in my book, the prospect of living through a realm of experiences which can take any living soul on a life journey with memories and activities which embed themselves within the participant's mindset. A checklist of roughly 100 separate possible experiences along the way had been about 70% fulfilled before reaching journey's end, and that's the beauty and glory of it all - aiming high, and not being too far off the intended perfect target by the time you're through. The greatest I can state that this whole episode had achieved along the way is that it is not an episode which I have either a desire to repeat, nor indeed to backtrack and do differently a second time around. It basically amounts to a glorious 'mission accomplished' outcome which validated the sheer cost of it, coupled with painstaking planning stages and a necessity to work around the troubles of this world throwing obstacles in my path - in short, a true masterclass and an achievement unlikely to be toppled in the context of a lifetime!
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