10 April to 14 April 2023

The kids were a little shell shocked by their arrival in NYC. After 6 nights on Roatan and a full days travel, we landed at JFK to the hustle that is synonymous with this amazing city. It was late, we were hungry, and the kids’ eyes were wide as saucers as we navigated our way through the heaving airport to the transfer pick up area outside. It was 11pm and cars were still piled several lanes deep, horns were honking and there was more than a little shouting. The air was 25 degrees colder than when we left our island that morning, but the kids were still in shorts and flip flops. We felt sure we were going to lose at least one child as we navigated through the crowds under the weight of our seemingly ever-expanding bags, but, by some miracle still had a family of 5 as we bundled into our car and tried to hit the road and give the kids’ their first experience of the Big Apple. 

Actually what we did is sit in traffic for an hour as our ride tried to navigate through endless roadwork, and by time the Manhattan skyline did pop up, everyone was passed out. 

We woke them as we arrived at our apartment that we would call home for the next few days – a studio room in midtown (38 W 31st Street, just off Broadway) where we were spoilt to have 3 double camp beds in a single room for nearly $500/night.

Pricey, but an awesome location to provide the kids with an initial taster of some of what the city had to offer. But that would be tomorrow. For now, we carried them and all their stuff upstairs and tucked them into bed. 

The following morning dawned bright, sunny and unseasonably warm.  We were expecting close to freezing here, in fact we were high 20s – so shorts and flip flops were the order of the day. 

The plan for the day was to explore mid-town and north to Central Park, including a stop at MOMA. 

Everyone was feeling refreshed and excited, and starving after surviving the previous day on a single bagel each (American Airlines may have improved dramatically, unfortunately its catering remains non-existent on short haul flights, and our connections were not conducive to eating well the previous day). 

We made our way to the street below, heading for our first stop to the famous Best Bagel and Coffee shop (which was very reminiscent of ‘Elf’) to introduce the kids to a proper NYC bagel. These enormous bagels come out fully-laden with inch-thick toppings of lox and layered in cream cheese. They are tasty, but we could have probably shared one as a family. 

Humbled by our bagel experience, we made our way up towards Times Square and for the much-anticipated highlight of the trip for the kids – an opportunity to hit the shops. 

As we walked, we were struck by the change to the iconic NY skyline – something that would continue to be reinforced in every area that we visited over our brief time here. For some reason, we hadn’t expected it to have changed a great deal, except for the arrival of Freedom Tower in the financial district. In fact, there are a myriad of new glass skyscrapers that have popped up across midtown over the last 20 years since we lived here, blending eclectically with the existing brick, concrete and glass structures. Despite the pandemic, the city continues to grow and expand, and feels as confident and sure footed as ever. 

Another great change that was immediately apparent was the conversion of Broadway to a largely pedestrianised zone – meaning that there are now a number of impromptu squares, seating areas and restaurant and bar terraces that have sprung up along this previously rammed thoroughfare. It totally changes the vibe of midtown – we weren’t previously a massive fan of this area, but really enjoyed it this time around. 

And then there is the springtime, and we had timed our run here perfectly. Many of the trees scattered around Manhattan (not so much in midtown, but throughout the parks, squares and cross streets) are blossom trees and they were in full bloom whilst we were there. The green shoots and white or pink flowers just accentuated the wonderful and hugely varied urban architecture of each district that we visited. The city has also gone a bit tulip-crazy for springtime as well – and there were hundreds of planter boxes sporting brightly coloured tulips all over the city too.  Very different from the freezing cold and grey skies that we were anticipating for this trip! 

Anyway, back on track and back to Times Square and the impending shopping trip. The kids were blown away by the lights and scale of Times Square, which again is a much nicer place than previously with Broadway largely shut off. It feels like more of a ‘square’ and less like an ‘intersection’.

The girls made all the dutiful sounds and posed for the photos, and then bolted into Old Navy to spend the $100 each that had been allotted to them. 

Great excitement ensued – shopping for them is a very occasional experience, with the vast majority of their clothing coming from our very kind friends with older kids, or, in the case of Sena, from her sisters (so by the time they get to her, they may have gone through 3 sets of hands). This explains why Sena often looks like she is dressed in rags, and why the opportunity to buy some new stuff was so thrilling.

From Old Navy we made our way through Radio City to the Rockefeller Centre to show the kids the famous ice rink (currently roller rink for spring) and, more importantly, for Liz to hit up Anthropologie. 

When the girls were all shopped out, and Anthony was left holding all the bags, we made our way to MOMA, where Jessie in particular was super excited to be seeing Starry Night amongst other amazing pieces. Whilst the museum was crazy busy (despite having a timed ticket, we had to join a 200m long line to get in) the incredible space seems to manage it well, and we loved spending a couple of hours here – not even touching the sides. We spent most of our time in among works from Van Gogh, Picasso, Kandinsky, Chagall, Dali, Frida Kahlo and Monet, but also really enjoyed some of the exploration of AI and technology, and of course the kid’s lab where we could get busy creating some of our own stuff for our ‘sticky inny book’ that has been a constant companion on our travels. It is such a fantastic museum. 

From there, a late lunch was calling. We made our way to Whole Foods at Columbus Circle, stocked up for a picnic, and into Central Park for lunch on the lawn – under a beautiful blossom tree, surrounded by New Yorkers and more than a few dogs (and the odd squirrel). How good. 

We wandered down 5th Avenue – via the Apple Store where we made good on our promise to buy Jessie a computer for school in London (and one for Liz too) and showed a very interested Ellie some of the designer shops down this famous shopping stretch. Anthony followed behind, burdened under the weight of the multiple bags that were the spoils of the days’ shopping. 

We eventually arrived back at Sacks 5th Avenue to meet up with our friend Rachel for a drink. Rachel was our first (and only) friend in New York when we moved here 21 years ago, it was lovely to spend some time with her. In the kids’ assessment she was ‘the nicest adult they had ever met’. We were not surprised by this view, and agreed to try and see her again during our time here. 

Our last stop for the day (courtesy of more of Liz’s amazing researching skills) was the famous Joe’s pizza just down for Times Square. At 10pm the line for this literally stretched down the block and around the corner but, like most of the lines we’ve seen here, it moved pretty quickly. They certainly know how to move people in this city. We (eventually) tucked into some incredibly tasty pizza (including a dairy and gluten free one for Liz) and then shepherded our semi catatonic children home. 

It was 11pm, we had walked almost 20kms for the day, we were all a bit shattered, and we had seen only a small fraction of a small section of this incredible city. 

New York 1; Tourists 0, but we still had 2 full days to go. 

The city continued to put on beautiful summery weather for us for our second day. We learned from our bagel – fail of the previous day and opted for a more modest breakfast of coffee (best of the trip so far) and banana bread from the Copper Pot café on 30th street. Today’s mission would be west to the new ‘Highline’ raised walkway and then an exploration of the West Village and (critically) lunch at our favourite restaurant ‘Pastis’. 

We jumped in a cab to go to 34th and 10th Avenue at the western edge of Manhattan. The first thing we noticed in this area is the extent and scale of new development happening in the city. It makes Barangaroo in Sydney look like a small-scale residential development. New sparkling glass towers dominate the skyline, and a number more are under construction, and there are some interesting open spaces including the Vessel – an almost Esher like series of staircases that leads (in this case) to an observation platform over the Hudson River. 

From there we doubled back into Chelsea and explored our old haunts, including visiting our old place on 22nd and 7th Avenue.

Whilst wandering the streets of Chelsea we walked past a food bank that was giving out food to homeless and needy people across the area. The atmosphere was friendly and, whilst still a bit confronting to the girls, it was nice to show them a slightly more positive take on how the homeless challenges are being addressed in a major US city. (A side note here – we understand that New York has been more successful than other US cities in providing shelter for its homeless population, however the underlying issues of mental health and drug abuse still mean that roughly 5,000 people still sleep rough most nights). 

Before heading down town for lunch we took a sneaky detour to Madison Square Park and the Flatiron building. In our former life in New York (pre-kids) we would come to this park to feed the squirrels and pretend we had a dog.

From there we made our way down to the Meatpacking District which was one of our favourite areas when we lived here – mainly because of Pastis, our ‘go to’ French brasserie, where we had lunch reservations today. 

We sat outside in a booth – the style of which we had seen pop up all over New York (apparently a covid thing) – and tucked into a wonderful lunch of steak frites, salad and rose. So good. 

Post lunch there was more shopping (Anthropology again) and the new (to use at least) Chelsea Markets and an exploration of the beautiful West Village (including obligatory stop at the Magnolia Bakery). 

We made our way towards home via the lovely Highline which had been recommended to us by Marc Antonie and Dan (our New Yorker friends who are currently living in Sydney). It is an old raised train line that has been converted to a raised walkway and garden running from the Meatpacking District all the way up the west side to 30th street. It’s beautifully done and a lovely oasis of calm above the bustle of the city below. 

We had only walked about 12 kms today, but the kids were shattered and keen for some downtime. Being the good parents that we are, we acquiesced and took them back to the apartment, to chill (read: play roblox) for a couple of hours whilst we did the only honourable thing. We wandered down Broadway, found a wine bar, and enjoyed a couple of hours drinking mediocre French wine whilst watching the world go by. When the kids started to enquire if we’d abandoned them for good, we made our way back to apartment with Whole Foods and Chelsea Papaya hotdogs in hand, and all was forgiven.

The next morning, our ever demanding schedule had us up early to hit the town… not before doffles and bagels.

The first part of our last day in New York (!) was spent in downtown in the financial district, checking out Wall Street, Hamilton’s grave at Trinity church, the famous bronze bull on Broadway and catching a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty from Battery Park. From there we made our way up to the moving 9/11 Memorial and Freedom Tower. 

From there we made our way across to the Lower East Side, where we hit up the wonderful Russ and Daughters cafe for lunch with Rachel. Not before Liz got to ‘cross’ Delancey (a nod to one of her favourite movies of all time!).

Russ and his daughters have been serving the Jewish immigrant population smoked fish and other delicacies for the last 110 years in this area, and they have got it down to a fine art. We had probably our best meal of the trip (sorry Pastis) of latkes, smoked salmon, matzah brie and matzah ball soup (basically everything matzah for the last day of Passover!) at this wonderful café. So good. 

Rachel then took us on a tour of some of her old haunts around the lower east side – an incredibly eclectic and interesting neighbourhood with beautiful historic architecture a diverse range of shops and eateries serving the historically immigrant population. Unfortunately the kids noticed none of this, as they were very focussed on the fact that Rachel also took them to probably the biggest old school sweet shop we’ve ever seen, and the best cupcake shop too. No wonder she was the favourite adult! 

Our last stop on our New York Adventure saw us venturing out of Manhattan for the first time since arriving in JFK. 

We firstly made our way across to Brooklyn and the beautiful Dumbo area, nestled on the East River between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. Here we caught up with Liz’s cousins Vanessa, David and Rachel and their kids, got to ride the carousel and enjoy the spectacular view back over the Manhattan skyline.  

From there, we went around to our friends Manoj and Vivien and their kids Alani and Raiden at their new place in Downtown Brooklyn at Hoyts street. We spent a lovely evening with them catching up for the first time in 20 years. We have been following each other’s adventures on Facebook over the years, and it was great to be able to spend some time together in person and do it properly! 

We jumped on the train to make our way back to Manhattan around 10.30pm – the first time we had caught the train later in the evening since we’d been here. A creative busker drummed and regaled us with stories of US history and religion on the short ride back to 34th Street station.

As we navigated our way through the station we saw far more homeless people than we had during the rest of our time here. Halfway up the flight of stairs to exit the station, a man was passed out, a needle on the ground just next to his arm. 

The juxtaposition of privilege and under privilege continues to be shocking to us, and we realise again just how sheltered we are in Sydney. 

And that was it. New York taster – done. 3 long days, some 40 kms of walking and we hadn’t even touched the sides. Not even close. But we had reminded ourselves – and shown our kids – what an amazing city this is. We had always said that this was the ‘best city’ that we had ever lived in – and it is clear that in the last 20 years it had become even better. 

We are now on the plane to London. Symbolically we have left American Airlines and their American accents, and we are now flying BA with British flight attendants. There were a few wobbles as we waited for our flight this morning, particularly as Jessie realised that this was our last stop, and we were, in fact, going to London. 

But I think we are ready. 

The last 4 weeks have been amazing. 

We have covered so much ground – from the rainy northern California, to Disneyland, to the freezing deserts of Arizona, to the jungles of the Yucatan, the coral reefs of Roatan and the bustle of NYC. Liz’s incredibly detailed spreadsheet has taken us seamlessly through our reasonably complex itinerary and the kids have remembered how to be pretty resilient, polite and independent travellers. 

We have had the break that we craved between the scramble that was the last few months in Sydney and the start of our time in London. To see Bonnie again. 

It is now time for us to step out of the woods, to step into our new world and start our new lives. To focus now on getting the kids settled with new friends, in new schools. To find a house. Get a car. Settle into a new job. Plan the next holiday (or two). 

Fittingly, the captain has just announced that we’re preparing to land in London Heathrow. 

Time has run out. 

The new adventure starts here.