New York: The City of NEVER GOING BACK pt. 2

Well I've had enough of you ask me to finish the story that I brought my sorry behind back to let you all know what happened after life brutally laughed in my face. If you last recall, I'm standing in the middle of the United Nations, after 3 days of hell, to find out that there was a BIG OL lunch break scheduled from 1pm-3pm. It was currently 1:03pm and 3pm also happened to be the time I needed to head out to catch my flight. So a full flight, Airbnb, stress and panic for....no reason. YUP!

If you have no idea what I'm talking out, and haven't checked out the first part to this three-part series, click here to get caught up!

So, all I can do is laugh. I look at my friend and bust out laughing. She's visibly irritated, but how can you not laugh at the irony? There's no way I can make this life of mine up. I mean, it's real, it's happening. So being my optimistic self I repeat my mantra to myself, "everything happens for a reason". Now, whenever I say this mantra, I try to come up with reasons that the Universe, God, and any and all other energies came to the conclusion that this needed to happen. 

Me to myself: Well...maybe if you would've attended a conference you would've died
Myself to me: No....these other people didn't die sooooo.....
Me to myself: Right, right, well...maybe there was no one here of value to you
Myself to me: Really? Do you know where you are right now? It's the UN! What're you even saying?
Me to Myself: Right, right, well...it wasn't meant for you. Can we live with that?
Myself to me: *eye roll* fine. We'll live.

So I decided I would live with it, it wasn't meant for me, and that was ok...I GUESS. As my friend and I walked out of the building, I took one last look at what was once my dream...it wasn't that great anyways. Y'all know I'm lying, it was everything and so much more, but I digress.

We get on the bus back towards our luggage drop-off location to pick up our bags. My friend is nervous about riding the metro without getting lost, but I reassure her that she'll be fine. I show her how to utilize Google Maps and send her on her way. Her confidence in me made me believe I was some kind of pro, and off to the airport I went!

Let me back up a little here and give you all some context. When I first arrived in New York, I flew into Newark. To get from Newark to NYC, you can buy a cheap train ticket to NYC, and if you're really trying to save money, you can buy a round-trip train ticket. So y'all k now what I did right? I bought that damn round-trip ticket! Problem is, as I'm standing at this luggage-drop-off location, I'm thinking to myself: How the hell do I get back to that train? 

I did what any sane person would do, I asked the store owner (to no avail), random people on the street (to no avail), and finally I asked Google. Somehow I ended up at Grand Central. It didn't look familiar, but I followed some signs that had trains on them. When I finally showed an attendant my round-trip ticket, I was informed that none of the trains at Grand Central took you to Newark. SHOCK.

I freaked out a bit, calmed down, and found a bus that departed every 15 minutes to Newark for $20. I'm blown, but it's cool, I was still on track to catch my flight. 

PRO TIP: When travelling, make sure to always include buffer time in your departure!

I waited 15 minutes...no bus....20 minutes....no bus....30 minutes....you guessed it! NO BUS! I didn't know what to do, but during the time I was waiting for the bus, I finally discovered that my train to Newark leaves from Penn Station! I run to catch a metro to Penn Station (only to find out I don't have enough money on my MetroCard). I'm now forced to put money on a MetroCard I'm fairly certain I'll never use again because F*** NEW YORK! 

I make it to Penn Station, and it is a literal zoo. No, no, a zoo is too contained. This shit was a damn Safari, you know, where the animals run wild, and you can literally get eaten by a lion? Yeah. This was a SAFARI. So I'm looking around in amazement, admiring all the animals, hoping none of them bite me. I quickly snap out of it and hit a dash to the train station. It wasn't actually a dash, but more of a push-get pushed back-push more forcefully through-type of situation. The reason for the crazy amount of people: y'all remember that crazy blizzard that cancelled the conference? Well guess what? It also cancelled all the trains. So all the people who missed their trains yesterday were now at Penn Station trying to find a way home. Just my luck.

My rolling suitcase was doing pretty well, I couldn't complain. She stuck by me through it all. I can't say that was the case for everyone at Penn that day. When I finally reach the train booth, I show the man my round-trip ticket and he tells me that I'm in the right place HALLELUJAH! This is the first sign of good news since I'd arrived in that God-forsaken city. He told me that my train was leaving in 2 minutes, and the next train to Newark Airport wouldn't be back until 9pm. Mind you my flight leaves at 8pm, I HAVE to make this train. Remember...there is a Safari, and now I have to run through the giraffes, monkeys, lions, tigers, and bears (shoutout Jazmine Sullivan) to catch my train.

When I tell y'all that I literally picked up little blue (my rolling suitcase) and stormed through the damn Safari. Have any of you ever seen the move 300 where the main character yells "THIS IS SPARTA!!!" 

Me...running to catch my train

Yup! That's pretty much me, running through the Safari, carrying little blue over my head, waves of people pushing against me. I run up to the train literally sweating from my adventure. It feel like I've just ran a marathon, given birth, taken over the world, your pick. Point is, I've made it on the train! I'm gonna make it to my flight! Right? I sit down, sweating, panting, and ask the lady next to me, "Hey, this train goes to Newark Airport right?". She stares into my defeated eyes, looks at my furrowed brow, my sweat stains and says, "I'm sorry, I don't think so." I wanted to cry. 

Do I ever make it home? Do I kill this lady? Do I give up my life and become homeless? Find out next time on....DragonBa.....no, that's not it. Find out next time on...THE WANDERLUSTWAD CHRONICLES!

Let me know if you want to hear the rest in the comments below!

Happy Wandering...

New York: The City of NEVER GOING BACK

Hey Y'all!

G'day wanderers! I've missed you lovelies, but I needed to come back to share a story with you all. We all know about New York, "The City of Dreams" where "The Big Apple" resides. Youngsters move there from far and wide to pursue dreams, job opportunities, and live their best lives. Me? I went there starry-eyed and in pursuit of my dreams for a United Nations conference. But you didn't click this to learn about some boring conference, you clicked this to learn how my dreams were crushed, squashed, and pulverized right before they were obliterated. Dramatic much? Possibly, but bear with me. 

Before New York...

I found out about this conference promptly 3 days before the actual date. This meant I had 3 days to find a flight, a place to stay, and mentally prepare to represent an organization I knew little about. My checklist soon read: Flight: ✓ , Airbnb: ✓ , Mentally Prepared: TBD. 

All that was left to do was pack, but I decided I needed a break. Fast forward a couple hours to being passed out on my couch from exhaustion. I woke up frantic as I only had two hours to pack and get ready for my red-eye flight to New York. Imagine my shock when I found out that on this day (at approximately 2am) the time changed! It was daylights savings time ladies and gentlemen, and my frantic state turned into a full on panic. I had one hour to pack clothes, get ready and get to the airport on time. BISHHHH DID YOU MAKE IT??

Barely y'all, I barely made it, but by the grace of God himself, I found myself on this flight. After arriving in NY at 7am, I see a message from my Airbnb host (in Brooklyn) saying that I need to pick up the key to the apartment at 3pm in Manhattan. So I have to lug my bags around Manhattan for 8 hours. It's fine, no big deal. I made it to NY without missing my flight, and this is a great opportunity to network, I'm just going to make the best of it. So I did!

In New York...

3pm rolls around, no sign of host, 3:15...3:30....3:45...... This man doesn't show up until 4pm. I'm pissed and starving at this point, but figure I will find some real food once I get settled in. I arrive at the Airbnb, and see a couple that looks familiar. We realize that we are headed to the same Airbnb, but staying in different rooms. I walk into my room to see nothing but filth and used bed sheets y'all. FILTH AND USED BED SHEETS. I go see what the couple's room looks like, but before I can reach them I hear the girlfriend raging (at this point I know I'm not alone). 

We decide to cancel our booking, call Airbnb to make a formal complaint, and book another Airbnb together to save on costs. We finally arrive at our new Airbnb around 7pm and I am famished. Instead of heading out into the cold with my sorry excuse of a jacket, I decided to order something from GrubHub and rest for the night to start my conference the next day on a positive note. HAHA, I'm so naive. Positivity? What's that?

I order from GrubHub at 8pm with an anticipated hour wait. 9pm rolls around, no sign of food, 9:30...10pm....10:30. After many calls and many empty promises of food, I fell asleep. Do y'all believe that around 11pm the delivery driver calls me to tell me he's outside. It took every ounce of my being not to curse him smooth TF out. I told him to go on with his food, I was in bed for the night (in retrospect, I see that my anger and petty left me hungry still...I'm working on myself, ok?). 

Day 1/3 of the Conference

So I woke up the next morning going on almost 24 hours without food, starving AF and cold. So, flashback to me taking all of my winter clothes back to my parents house and picking up my spring clothes because North Carolina (where I live) had some promising weather. I left a light jacket here and there, but nothing heavy duty. Fast forward to me in NY with a light jacket in 20 degree weather. I was freezing. When I woke up in the morning, I decided the first order of business was to invest in a jacket (that I would promptly return upon leaving NY because financial responsibility DUUHHH). Although I had a friend to pick up from the bus station (as she was joining me for the conference), I assumed I would get a jacket to refrain from frostbite, get some food and head to the conference to begin my sessions before picking her up. 

I got a jacket! I got some food! All was going well for the day until I realized I had some papers to print out to gain access to the UN Headquarters. Do y'all know how expensive it is to print something out in NY man? I went to a FedEx and to use the computer was $2/minute plus a printing fee. I was shook. Who pays these prices? THOSE SCAMMERS! By the time I went on this adventure, I had exactly enough time to get on the metro and reach not the conference, but my friend at the bus stop. The day was over. I spent my day riding metros, getting lost, printing expensive papers, and trying to stay positive (HAHA! POSITIVITY? WHAT'S THAT?)

Day 2/3 of the Conference

I woke up the next day, friend in hand, ready to take on the new day...this time with a partner in crime! I had forgotten my woes from the past two days, had a couple great laughs, and woke up with a smile on my face. I pull back the curtain to find A F***ING BLIZZARD. The conference was cancelled for the day. It's ok, we'll wake up the next day and try it all over again. HAHA, there I go with that positivity shit.

Day 3/3 of the Conference

On this day, we needed to check out of our Airbnb, meaning that we had to take all of our luggage with us. Here's the thing, the United Nations does not allow luggage into the premise for security reasons, so now we need to find a place to keep our luggage. Furthermore, my friend accidentally took a pair of car keys that she needed to overnight back to Virginia. So, we began our adventure lugging our suitcases through New York to a luggage dropoff zone in Manhattan, dropped off the keys, hit a couple of road blocks (i.e. missed bus, wrong metro time, soaked socks from the snow on the ground, etc.), but we finally made it to the United Nations. 

We arrive at the main building, show our papers (that cost an arm and a leg to print), and get directed to another building a couple blocks away. We reach that building, show our papers, and get directed to another building in the same direction we just came from. So we're playing hide and go seek with the damn conference at this point. After about an hour, we get find the correct building, get our badges made and FINALLY enter the United Nations Headquarters.

There I am, at the United Nations, with a jacket I'll soon be returning, a smile thats an inch away from a cry, and ready to get all my dreams crushed.

After taking some pictures, looking around, and taking in the pure beauty that is that building, we picked up a program to see what workshops we could partake in. Since it was already 1pm, we knew we only had a couple hours to spare before needing to retrieve our luggage before we needed to be on the road for our bus and flight respectively. A good look at the program showed that right there, between 1pm and 3pm was a scheduled LUNCH period. 

I could honestly do nothing but laugh. It was purely comical. I came all this way, wasted all this time, and all this money to go to the United Nations for a conference that I never even attended. BAHAHAHA, life is hilarious!

I wish I could say that was the end of my New York adventure, but lo and behold life always has plans of its own for you. If you're interested in what happens next, let me know in the comments below and I'll make a follow-up post!

WHAT CITY ARE YOU NEVER GOING BACK TO? Also let me know in the comments below!!!

And as always....

Happy Wandering....

10 Ways To Discover A New City

Being in a new city can be daunting. Visiting, just moved or passing through somewhere new?

Here are some tips I've collected throughout my travels to help me get the most out of each place I wander into, no matter how short or long the stay.

1. Walk
Though not all cities are walkable, there are many that are, and if you happen to be in one then that is exactly what you should be doing. Walk down the streets, around the corners, walk everywhere. Besides it being a great form of exercise, which you will undoubtedly need after all the amazing food you'll want to try, it's a great way to discover a new city. The only way to find those unforgettable hole-in-the-wall's is by walking.

2. Public Transportation
As noted, not all places are easy to walk, if this is the case, then utilize the public transportation system. Even in times when you can walk around, realize that you can only walk but so far. Taxi's are for chumps! Do you want to be a chump? Didn't think so. Now get on that train, tram, bus, subway, metro, whatever. To really uncover the gems of a new place, you must live as the people there live, and unless they have "racks on racks" as my friends would say, they're most likely using one of these forms of transportation. 

3. Talk to Locals
They live in the place for goodness sakes, so who would know the place better? In most places they are more than happy to lend a helping hand. Unless you're in France...sorry Frenchies, your reputation precedes you. (Although in my short 12 hours there, I found one very kind man who was the greatest.) Locals have almost always pointed me in the right direction. Make sure you ask them to tell you where they would go, not where they think you would want to go. You don't want to go to the tourist spots, get a genuine feel of this new place!

4. Get Lost
Today in Turkey, I got extremely lost. Had no idea where I was, and I had the best day ever! Getting lost is beautiful. Sure scary, but oh so wonderful. You come across things you normally wouldn't and are pleasantly surprised by all that you do. Get lost, make the wrong turn, figure it out. Your adventure is awaiting in your confusion. Suppress your need to ask for directions and try to go with the flow. You will appreciate it in the long run. 

5. TripAdvisor/Lonely Planet
No one goes to China and doesn't want to see the Great Wall of China. You don't go to France and not see the Eiffel Tower. It's a part of the experience. For these reasons, I would use TripAdvisor/Lonely Planet. See what is worth your time, and what isn't exactly your cup of tea. Sometimes you don't know what the great things to do are, and this will give you the most touristy of touristy things to see and do. Not a bad idea because at the end of the day, no matter how hard you try, you still kinda are a tourist. Sorry love! Experience the Hagia Sophia and the Taj Mahal with the other tourists before going upon your own route.

6. Tourist Traps
You will undoubtedly get caught in one. It's going to happen. Don't run from it, just take it in. Learn from it and then never get caught again. You will pay too much for a cab before knowing how the metro works, you will pay $10 for a jacket and think it's a steal, until you discover you could have gotten it for $5. It's ok, roll with the punches my friend, just make sure you are learning from them.

7. Get Out
Don't stay locked up in your hostel/hotel attached to your computer/phone and ravaging for WiFi. Yes you might miss home, and you're you, so home definitely misses you, but don't waste your time trying to not miss out. In your FOMO anxiety, you will miss out on what's right in front of you. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. will all be exactly where you left them when you return. Someone will post about their pregnancy, another about an engagement, a marriage, a breakup, a hook-up. Do you really care? Go somewhere! Do something! Don't let FOMO hold you back! This city needs discovering! 

8. Learn the Language
Locals are so much more receptive when they see you trying. They will laugh at your attempts, but internally they will be so pleased that you're trying. Learning the language doesn't necessarily mean you have to take a course. Learn the basics: please, thank you, hello, goodbye, bathroom (that one is important). What better way to immerse yourself in the culture than to slowly figure out what the heck everyone is saying.

9. Find a Friend
They are everywhere! In your hostel, on the streets, at the cafe you like to frequent, there are people waiting to be your friend. Who wouldn't want to be? It's you for crying out loud. Friends can help you get out, can teach you new things and show you all the places they've already discovered. Bond over your love of the city, your hate of the city, whatever! You don't know it all, so find someone who can teach you some things, and who you can enlighten. Discover the city together.

10. Enjoy!
The best way to discover a new city is to enjoy it. No matter the turns and tumbles life hands you, have a great time. The whole reason you're in this new place is to enjoy, so don't deny yourself this wonder. Walk around and enjoy, get on a tram and enjoy, find friends and enjoy, meet locals and enjoy. You get to be somewhere new, even if for a little while, so smile fellow wanderer. The city is welcoming you, so welcome it back!

Hope these tips will help you to get out and discover your newest adventure!

What other tips do you have for learning about a new place? Let me know in the comments below!

Happy Wandering...