My first day in New York City.
It’s one of those moments you never really forget. You dream about traveling to some far off place, but then you actually do it. The plane, after what felt like a 900 hour flight, came in for landing that evening at JFK International airport. I wasn’t met with a view of the shining city I’d always idealized in my head, instead was marshland dotted with pools of beautiful still water and beaches as far as the eye could see.
I had learnt my first lesson, not everything here is Manhattan.
“We’ve arrived at Kennedy airport in New York City, we hope you enjoyed your flight and welcome to The United States.” It’d been over a year since I’d been to America but I instantly fit right back into the mix, I always feel at home and not like some tourist. Right. The eagle had landed and now my new goal was to make it to my hostel and not die. I don’t have this view of America being some dangerous, gun-fuelled, hell on earth but certain friends and family of mine certainly do. So by this point I’ve been warped into not only enjoying my adventures in the states but also to make sure not to die, okay mom, check… I got it.
Getting through customs and security and baggage claim at JFK is like trying to beat the water temple in Ocarina of Time in a speedily manner. It’s confusing as hell, you’ll probably get lost and go the wrong path and you everyone around you probably wants to attack you since they’re all feeling the same way. Two and a half feet-killing hours later I’m through, grabbed my bags and headed to the terminal exit. At first I saw a lot of sketchy looking guys hanging outside of service cars and gypsy cabs, I’d heard about these people and how they’d charge overly insane rates to take you to the City. Ignoring all shouts and attempts at contact by these people (which I advise YOU do also) I walked straight up to the line forming for the official yellow cabs. I started to feel like I was in New York City now.
I was staying at the B Hostel and Hotel in Brooklyn, Williamsburg for two weeks, just a walk away from the Williamsburg Bridge into Manhattan. From what I had researched the place looked artsy enough, with a hipster and a deli on every corner I couldn’t really go wrong, or could I? Anyway, I was sitting in my cab, or as I like to describe it the death-mobile of Brooklyn. Hurtling down Atlantic Avenue at some ridiculous speed I actually started to accept that, yeah, I might not even make it to the damn city at this point. There was a brief moment of calm and excitement as I glanced out of my window and saw Manhattan, all lit up at night for the first time, it was one of those moments you just really remember. But Alas, as quickly as I had accepted death we had arrived. I paid my near grim reaper $40 to exit his yellow rocket and made my way to the hostel.
This place wasn’t some old, scary, run-down hostel like many people had warned me it would be, it was brand new. So new in-fact that the decorators were still painting the walls and putting up the curtains. The hotel staff greeted me with a smile and did their little scripted run-down of the building, what they have to offer and of course the “rules.” I’d just arrived but I had no intention of staying. I wasn’t the only one headed to the B Hotel that night, my friend Dexter Mason (another YouTuber) was traveling down by train from Uptown Manhattan so we could meet and attend the launch of GTA V. Sleeping, recovering from Jet lag and being responsible was never really my forte. I don’t know what I was looking forward to more, being in Manhattan or getting Grand Theft Auto. What? I’m a gamer okay. This is who we are.
I entered the New York trains for the first time on Marcey Avenue, it was fun and a great opportunity to film Manhattan from the Williamsburg Bridge. As soon as I exited the train into the underground subway system, it was no longer fun. I had not prepared myself for just how hot it is down there even at the end of summer but holy sweet mother of god the wall of heat hit me so fast it made my head spin. Dexter is a New Yorker, born and bred. So he walks fast and unlike me (at the time) knew exactly where we were headed so we were out of there before I could even acknowledge I was using the subway for the first time. I was in the thick of it. Crowds, buses, cars, cabs, lights, noise, police, tourists, sirens, billboards, music. I can’t remember where we’d ended up exactly but I’m guessing it was somewhere near Lincoln Center.
I found a GTA poster in the street which doubled up nicely as a light-saber to hit Dexter with as we ran around the streets, pretty sure Imade a good first impression there. I became fixated on making sure I captured as much footage of the city as possible. I hadn’tfilmed for The Exploring Series on my YouTube channel ShannaMayTV since my road-trip around the United Kingdom early February2013 so I was eager to get straight back into it. Unlike the streets of Tampa, Florida and the various towns and cities I visited aroundthe United Kingdom I was thrown back into a place where it is pretty widely accepted to film and have your cameras out on show. Itreminded me of my time in California, I was back in my element.
Now I’m the type of person that likes to keep busy. Real busy. Like 16-20 hours a day busy whilst suffering complete sleep deprivation busy. I thrive on it. As corny as the saying goes, this city really does not sleep. It’s bursting with opportunity on every corner for somebody like me and I got swept up into it from the get-go. After realizing just how much this place has to offer (and not just Manhattan, all five boroughs) it was a no brainer that I had already decided I’d be coming back as soon as possible. If you’d told me I’d be back every 8 weeks on my first day, I would have laughed, because at the time it wasn’t something I thought was do-able. However with my successes over the past year it’s become a reality which I’m thankful for every day.
Anyway, getting back to my first day. We got Grand Theft Auto at the launch. Another dream had been realized. Okay, Okay maybeI’m overstating. BUT it is a great game and no matter where I go in the world, I need to get my game on. It was real late, and I didn’t exactly fancy going back to Brooklyn on my own so I ended up staying in Manhattan which was an unexpected but very welcome turn of events.
Heading uptown after all my filming and running around came to an end, this was the first moment I had a chance to just sit, relax and take it all in.
After thinking about it for what felt like an eternity,
I was finally here.