After Austin, I caught an extremely early flight I was up at the ungodly hour of 3am, urgh to New York, where I was due to spend my last four nights in a hostel in East Harlem. Plus, I was with my family grandparents included the first time round, so it was guaranteed that this visit would be a lot different.
And it was. Wandering around Manhattan was interesting, as obviously as I was taking everything in I was trying to recall as much as I could about the last time I was there. But it was just as energetic, busy and impressive, and I spent a good day revisiting some of the main tourist spots such as Times Square, Grand Central Terminal and Broadway.
I also ventured into Little Italy and had a lovely pasta lunch, walked around Chinatown and checked out Soho. I got around, basically. Brooklyn Heights is a charming area, and the main high street pretty good for bargains and souvenirs.
I did a lot of walking around in search of something cultural and hipster-y, but that was in vain. In celebration of my last night in New York, and indeed the final night of my travels, I went out in the Lower East Side with some other people from the hostel.
It was a shame but one member of our group, a Swiss guy, was a real American-hater, despite having only been in the country for three weeks. Plus, the only places he had been to were Baltimore, Maryland, which is known for being particularly dodgy, Chicago and New York. So I feel he may not have experienced Americans at their best. Such is life.
