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You couldn't really call it backpacking, not as I've known it - but the last week of my travels, spent in one of my favourite cities, was a fantastic way to end the adventure.
After flying from Halifax with my parents I left them at JFK, where they were staying at a nearby hotel before flying home the next day, and headed into Manhattan. My hostel was well located on West 60th street, near Central Park, Carnegie Hall etc.
My first morning in the big apple was spent....at the laundromat. Not very exciting but necessary.
From then on though, things got much more fun. During my week in New York I managed to get in quite a bit of culture, as follows:
Blithe Spirit (Broadway play with Angela Lansbury and Rupert Everett)
Altar Boyz (off-Broadway musical, well received since its 2004 debut)
The Magic Flute (free opera in Rockerfeller Park, on a lovely sunny evening by the Hudson River)
Twelfth Night (Shakespeare in the Park, in Central Park - you had to queue up early in the morning for tickets but they were free and the production was just fantastic, featuring a wonderful cast including Anne Hathaway and one
of my favourites, Audra McDonald)
Stand-up comedy at the Comic Strip
Eric Whitacre concert at the Lincoln Center
and a trip to the Guggenheim
Half of these events were totally free and the other half pretty cheap - I am now a bargain-hunter to be reckoned with.
As well as all the culture I enjoyed a trip up the Empire State Building (thanks Lynda), a fun time in Macy's (thanks mum!), a guided walking tour of Greenwich Village with a colourful character called Arthur Marks, a trip on the Staten Island ferry, a walk through Central Park, a visit to Harlem, watching the Gay Pride parade down 5th Avenue and a wander around Soho and the Meat-packing district. And some nice lunch/coffee stops in places like Washington Square Park and Bryant Park (behind the New York Public Library).
The weather was touch and go - New York has had its wettest June for a while, and there were certainly a couple of monster thunder-storms, but mainly it was fine for exploring.
My last day involved a lovely lunch in Madison Square Park with some old friends who live in NYC, and in the evening I met an old
friend from work, recently arrived in the city with her boyfriend, for drinks near Madison Square Gardens - a perfect way to mark the end of a week in the city, and indeed the whole trip.
I love New York and could happily live there. Its not perfect - the police are on a power trip (I witnessed a woman being threatened with handcuffs for going under a barrier at Gay Pride) and the drivers are the most impatient in the world. But its fantastic in many other ways - so maybe one day.
In the meantime its back to reality. Travelling has been a wonderful adventure and I would highly recommend it to anyone seeking relief from the symptoms of modern day stresses. I just hope my new-found carefree attitude to life lasts for a while!
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