How Do You Like Them Apples?

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My first stop in New York City is the Marrakech Hotel on the corner of Broadway and 103rd street in Manhattan. Dad booked it for me and Mum. It's really late by the time I had flown from Tokyo to Los Angeles, and Los Angeles to New York - at this point I've literally gone back in time and even though it takes more than 24 hours to travel from point A to point B, I've landed the exact same day I took off. I've been to New York City before - this is the fourth time. I love it here. Mum is going to meet me the next morning and we'll spend 4 days together before she has to come back to Ottawa, and then I'll stay another 2 days on my own. This is my last chance to decompress before heading back to real life.

Mum arrives early the next morning. It's been 6 months since I've seen her, so its really nice. I shower and she gets settled and then we head out for breakfast at an old fashioned dinner on Broadway. We walk down Broadway and towards Central Park to the Museum of Natural History, something I really wanted to visit. It's basically the only thing we do that day, apart from some walking around, because I'm beyond jet lagged and Mum took the night bus. We have Indian food for dinner near the hotel and then turn in. It's an early night.

The next few days are similar to the first. We spend the days touristing, go for dinner and turn in early because we're tired from touristing. Before Mum goes back to Ottawa we visit the Guggenheim, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Public Library, Rockefeller Centre, the Apple Store, Central Park, Bryant Park, Times Square, and go shopping in Soho. We eat Mexican, Thai, Dim Sum, and Italian - you can get anything in New York. My gift to mum, since we were traveling around the time of her birthday, was to take her to Serendipity 3, a famous cafe on 60th street between 2nd and 3rd avenue. Serendipity is famous for its over sized frozen hot chocolates, and we each get one. It takes me almost an hour to finish the whole thing, but it was worth it.

On the 24th Mum has to head back to Ottawa so that she's home in time for a meeting at work the next day. We check out of the hotel and I take her to Port Authority to catch the Greyhound Bus. Once Mum's bus pulls out I go to Penn Station to meet my friend Nicole, who's going to put me up for the next 2 nights. Nicole and I met in Australia when we were dive partners in Cairns. She lives in Brooklyn Heights. She has to work the rest of the day, but we plan to meet later that night at a Starbucks near her apartment.

I spend the rest of the day shopping around Soho and Noho, where I buy two pairs of shoes. I wander away the rest of the afternoon at FAO Schwarz, the famous toy store, and at Central Park, where I eat a pretzel by the fountain and spend a few hours watching a jazz band near 5th avenue. I pick up my luggage from the hotel before going out to Brooklyn Heights to meet Nicole. It's really nice to see after so many months. I'm just sorry she has to work so many hours.

My last day in the city is terrible weather. But I'm excited because I'm going to see Ivana, whom I met almost 2 years ago in Nepal. We see each other maybe once or twice a year, and usually I stay with her when I'm in New York, but this time she's crashing with a friend. She's working in Stanford, Connecticut, so I take the train out to meet her for lunch and then come back to New York an hour later, but it was worth the effort. In the afternoon I go to MoMA, which I love. It's still raining when the museum closes, harder than it was that morning, so I just go to a Starbucks and read my book and then go back to Nicole's to pack until she comes home from work.

I leave early the next morning to catch the Greyhound Bus. This is it, my last stop. There aren't any places left to go and things to see - now I'm just on my way home. I feel conflicted. Part of me is excited because there are people I miss. I also want to sleep in my own bed and I don't want to have to carry my whole life around on my back anyway. But on the other hand, what is there for me to do in Ottawa? Just because I'm going home doesn't mean that I'm ready to stop traveling. I've been so many fantastic places and met so many amazing people and I don't think I want it to end. It's going to be a weird transition, but we'll see how it goes.

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