Adventures in NYC take two.

I know this post is long overdue, but I just had to share it! It is a long one, so I won't be upset if you don't want to read the commentary of our latest trip but this one is more there for me and the fam to reminisce.

Mum & I loved New York so much last time we came that she decided to come again for her birthday. Obviously, we didn't leave daddy at home and Aunty G joined us too. Funnily enough, we're already planning another instalment next year!

For once the long haul was vaguely ok. The movies were good and I was sat next to a lovely couple of newlyweds. Despite mum's argument with another inconsiderate flyer, it was possibly the best flight in a while!

I thought this time we would get an apartment, rather than paying through the roof for a hotel. We stayed in an authentic little apartment in the East Village. It was a tad more stressful than turning up to a hotel with concierge and bell boy but we made it in the end. Apparently, I forgot to add the dialling code when trying to call the landlord. I was convinced we had been scammed and were stuck on the side of the street! Trust me to stress myself out for no reason!

Oh well, the multiple tequilas that followed definitely mellowed me out.

To round off our first day, we stopped in at Mum's favourite restaurant, Kat'z Deli. I'm not going to lie, it's a tourist trap and it's over priced but it's our guilty pleasure!

We decided to get our inner tourist out on our second day. We hit up midtown. We walked all the way up from 14th to the Empire state with a quick stop at our favourite Belgian bar. During our travels, the strap my beloved Rebecca Minkoff Moto bag snapped and there was no way I was paying out for an emergency bag I didn't really want. I ended up wrapping the strap around the flap and making it work.

 You would think that the second time up the Empire state building would be quite unimpressive. If anything, it is better the second time around! It's captivating.

Now, we couldn't get that close to Macy's and not go! Plus, I was in desperate need of a new handbag. After a quick drink in the refurbished cafe and on a handbag hunt I went. There were two new bag options, one was way out of my budget and the other a little too small for my liking. In the end,  the bank of daddy swooped in and saved me by buying half of it as my birthday present! It is literally my favourite bag of all time.

We ended our day in Times Square and Bubba Gump's. If you're going to brave Times Square, I would always suggest doing it at night, it's just too busy and not that impressive during daylight.

God Friday was hell. I had planned a lovely morning on the upper west side and a casual lunchtime stroll through central park. It turned out I had planned a trip to the seventh level of hell.

Breakfast started well at Cafe 82, by far the best breakfast diner in Manhattan... And they do take out! We decided to take a casual stroll towards Central Park, stopping off in a cute little chocolate shop. It took me the whole walk to the edge of Central Park to realise I had left my new handbag on the back of a chair. Bitch has never run so fast! Bear in mind, it was liked 30000000 degrees at this point. Mum and I spent the rest of the walk through Central Park trying not to die! The only good thing to happen since breakfast was receiving the best text ever telling my bestie S had just got engaged ♥

I cried, in the middle of Central Park, I cried.

To round it all off we ended up on the subway at rush hour. I'm not even going to explain how painful that was.

We  ended the night at 5 Napkin, if you followed my last trip to NYC you will know it's my favourite American chain. Me and Aunty G got a little tipsy and went shopping. We ended up losing track of time and left mum and day chilling outside a pizza place because I had the keys! Oooppss.

We thought we would do out own things today. Dad disappeared, probably to the pub and the girls hit 5th Avenue. We started in Bloomingdale's, Aunty G got a make over and mum and I ate the largest chocolate cake ever. Not forgetting the best cocktail ever to grace this planet!

We spent the majority of the day waltzing down 5th, nipping in all the places I wish I could shop! We chose a bit of a poop day for this area, St Patrick's was shut for the 9/11 memorial and it was really quite sad. There was also a workers union parade going up 5th, it was a sea of people and police. We ended up hiding in the Rockefeller Centre, left mum in a cafe and me and G went up to the 'top of the rock'.

If you think you need to choose between the Empire state building and the Top of the Rock, you don't. They both have such different aerial views of the city and both well worth the ticket prices.

We all met back at Schulberg's, our local. Dad had managed to make friends with a couple of Arsenal supporters while he waited for us. Then we headed off to this Greek restaurant we had been talking about. It was amazing. They had real Raki and the food was beautiful, I supposed it helped that I was white girl wasted by this point.

Today was the anniversary of 9/11. I can't imagine many people would want to be in the city today. We chose to use this time to hit up Woodbury common in upstate NY, the discount shopping mecca. Let's just say, we all went a little crazy! on the plus side, I replaced my Rebecca Minkoff with a mini version and tried on my first pair of Loubs (definitely not walking shoes!)

The hour(ish) coach out there is totally worth it, albeit, a little cramped on the return journey. The night time views coming back into the city were almost as good as the Empire and Rockefeller! On our next trip, I am definitely doing either one at night!

We caught an Uber and went to Bill's Burgers downtown. Never introduce your parents to Uber in NY, just don't do it. They became a daily occurrence after that.

Monday was a big day for us, we went all over the county. Started out in battery park to catch the Staten island ferry, which is free by the way! A few pictures of the Statue of Liberty later and we arrived in New York's beloved suburb. I don't want to ruin anyone's Florida childhood but Perkins has gone right down hill. Possibly the only bad meal of the week. One long ass Uber with and Elvis lookalike driving we arrived in Coney Island. The Blackpool of NY. It is my new favourite place! Aunty G managed to get me on the weirdest Ferris wheel ever! I'm just happy my corndog stayed down! We kept up the family tradition and found a miniature golf course, dad won, obviously.

After a lovely afternoon at the beach, we made our way back to the city. An hour later and we make a pit stop in Brooklyn, found a high-rise prison and mum went mental in a Michaels. Seriously, we were in there for a lifetime!

We had no plans for food so trip advisor helped out. Forlini's, an old school Italian restaurant on the border of Little Italy and China Town. It has mixed reviews, but by god it was amazing. It was like being in a 1920's mafia joint. The owner, Joe came round and welcomed everyone, we had chosen quite a quiet time so it was just us and a few other tables. The only complaint I have is their 'apple martini' it tasted like a glass of shaken apple sourz.

We didn't really do too much on our last full day. I hit up all the shops to rinse the remainder of my money. Didn't actually buy anything, I know, I'm shocked too.

If you made it all the way through my NYC memoirs, congratulations!

Until next time.

R x

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Adventures in: Dublin

So me and Josh have been talking about doing this birthday adventure since he was 18... Here we are 5 years later on his 23rd birthday chilling in the motherland with a Guinness in hand. Note to self if you going on a group trip, don't let J book things. We're on the 6.25 flight home on Monday morning.

Before we even left the hotel decided to cancel on us and we were without a roof. In the end we found one, out by the airport. Cost us more in taxi's but on it made out 3am wake up call on Monday much more bearable 

Much of the week was spent either in the pub or shopping. Hungover on Friday, we spent most of the day trying to find C a new phone.. Boy cannot live without tinder. Don't judge me but I had to stay in on Friday night, beer has not been agreeing with me lately. Hence a recent trip to the quack, but that's another story. We spend Saturday in the Guinness factory. If anyone goes to Dublin, it really is the one and only place you have to go! I cannot explain to you the difference between even Irish Guinness and the first pint in the storehouse. As it was J's birthday we found a cute little Italian to celebrate. If you want a beautiful cheesy lasagna hit up The Italian Corner. Somehow they managed to get 23 candles into a tiramisu.

Saturday night ended in Everleigh Garden, Both myself and Connor were on dating apps.. Ironic being in a room full of people and your phone is still more attractive than actually mingling with real people. Despite being sat on my phone half the night like a boring bitch, it was a great night. Trying to hail a cab at 3am was not, everyone and their mother wanted a god damn cab.

Sunday, was pretty much a write off. We managed to make it into town for the football, only to have them turn over to the rugby! Although, the Philly cheese steak in Quays bar was on point. To end the trip we had a drunken adventure in an arcade, met some crack heads in the Pool bar and managed to stay out of the drunken rugby bar fights. 

It was such a good long weekend and anyone planning a trip to Dublin, the one tip I can give you is... to over budget! I took €300 to start with and had to top up about €200. It is most definitely not a cheap trip.

I did film parts of the trip but a lot of the time I was more focused on Guinness that I was handling the camera! So if you want to see part of what we got up to... here your go.

So this has been along time coming... it has taken a good few weeks for me to be bothered to edit the video. Enjoy!

Until next time.

 R x

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

10 ways to survive a long haul flight.

1: Pack comfy socks in your hand luggage, I read somewhere to pack slippers, don’t. They waste far too much space in your bag, I learnt that the hard way.

2: If you can, don’t fly economy. If that’s your only option, try and get one of the seats behind the galley. Its murphy’s law that you’ll be stuck behind the one dick that has their seat all the way back for the entire flight.

3: Pack a portable charger. Most airlines allow the use of all electronic devices as long as they are in flight mode. I’m writing this half way across the Atlantic.

4: Pack ear plugs/ earphones. Even though that one guy pissing himself at the TV is hilarious, it’s quite distracting.

5: If you don’t need it on the flight, don’t pack it. (Or put it in your checked bag).

6: Pack or buy a neck pillow. I was a non-believer in the neck pillow until now, if you want to sleep during the flight it makes a huge difference. They tend to come with snappers and most airlines will allow it attached to the handles of your carry on.

7: If your travelling alone and leg room isn’t a necessity try to get a window seat. At least that way you can use the wall as a pillow and you get a view.

8: If you don’t mind a lack of protein, order a vegan meal. They are usually served first.

9: Hopefully your flight has a seat back TV, if not make sure you have entertainment. Even if it does make sure you have something else, watching three films back to back can get surprisingly boring.

10: Always take a jumper or hoodie. I don’t care if your flying to the equator, they always turn the air conditioning on when your already a little chilly.

Until next time.
R x

Adventures in: NYC Day Six.

In less than 12 hours we will be flying over the Atlantic back to normality.

Within 24 hours New York felt like home, I would do pretty much anything to not have to leave today. I didn't want to waste the few hours we had left but packing took way longer than I thought. By the time we had checked out it was already midday! Mum and dad kindly waited in the long queue to store our baggage, so that I could run around and try and fit all the things we'd missed in the two hours we had spare.

First, I took the subway down to the World Trade Centre. We have been putting it off all week only because by the time we had done all the other things we wanted to do we had lost the sunlight. As I walked up the stairs out of the subway I noticed something had changed... It was snowing!! For the entire walk down to the World Trade Centre I had the biggest grin on my face, all I really wanted this holiday was for it to snow.

The World Trade Centre is not a sight to rush, I took a slow, somber walk around the North pool. Despite the thousands of tourists and family member that surrounded me the pool felt like a ghost town. With only the sounds of the odd camera shutter.
On my journeys to and from the subway I circled the new, One World Trade Centre. It's quite spectacular, when you are right underneath it and look up it looks like it continues into the heavens.
I took the subway ride up to Central Park to come back to reality and headed out to find the Gapstow bridge. You know that one from Home Alone 2. (If you can't tell it's one of my my favourite Christmas films. I felt like a local power walking up Fifth, weaving through slow walking tourists. I entered Central Park on the 59th street entrance and there it was, definitely looks better in the movie when there aren't any tourists. I'm glad I managed to fit it in though.

After basically running to Lexington I had less than half an hour to get to Grand Central and get back to the hotel. I hopped on a 6 downtown and made it to Grand Central with just enough time to have a quick look around. It was crazy busy but worth visiting, if I ever wanted to come for decent photos I'd go back at night. With 10 minutes to get back to the hotel jumped on a 7 back to Times Square.

Before we headed to the airport we went back to Southern Hospitality for a late lunch, but the wait was over 30 minutes. So we nipped across the street to 5napkin where the wait was only 15. I had chicken and waffles again, I don't know what it is about American chicken, I love it!
The duty fee at Newark international is pretty shit, barely any selection but I did manage to pick up my moisturiser at less than half price!

The plane back to Heathrow was newer than the one we flew out on, even economy felt almost spacious that was until the girl in front of me put her chair all the way back. That ruined my plans of editing the weeks footage on the plane.
To pass the time I watched Lucy, divergent and listened to the new(ish) Slash album. I'm so glad we got a newer plane, the TVs were so much better.

I'm currently sat in Heathrow with a Starbucks and a packet of pro plus. Now all I want is my warm bed and binge watch all the shows I've missed.

If you couldn't tell I loved New York and I'm already planning my next trip. Although, next time I'm flying premium.

Until next time.
R x

Adventures in: NYC Day Five.

It's our last full day, I keep coming up with extreme ideas on how I can stay.

Today started late for me, I set my alarm for 7 but didn't wake up until 9, last night was the first night I haven't slept like a baby. Once I dragged myself out of bed I headed uptown searching for a Dunkin' doughnuts, surprising between 43rd and 77th I couldn't find one. I sat outside the natural history museum for a while, toying with the idea of going in, in the end I decided not to and save that $30 for Fifth Avenue. 

I took a leisurely stroll through Central Park, its quite surreal being surrounded by trees and grass with skyscrapers in the background. I can see why hanging out there is popular with the locals, its so refreshing to be surrounded by nature. I'm definitely going to head back tomorrow morning before we leave.

After a quick trip to the Upper East Side, I realised I felt a little out of place. Pretty much everyone was coated in Cartier and Armani, even wearing a complete MK outfit I felt majorly underdressed.

Wandering down Fifth, I found the home alone hotel! The Christmas decorations were just like the movies! I ended up walking all the way back down to the hotel without realising, stopping in Bendel's, Saks and Michael Kors. After dropping on my bendel's purchases at the hotel, I headed out to meet mum and dad via Dunkin doughnuts, which I actually found this Time!! Their Pumpkin spice brûlée latte is actually better than Starbucks! Just to top it off they accidentally gave me an extra doughnut.

Once I met up with them we headed downtown to K-Mart, so mum and dad could do some clothes shopping. It's surprising how few plus size shops there are in Manhattan, the only one dedicated to menswear doesn't open until March! So K-Mart it was. I picked up some Crest whitening strips at half the price I would pay at home, winner. After another crammed subway ride we came back to the hotel to freshen up before dinner.

Usually on our last night of holiday we would go back to our favourite restaurant of the week, but considering we don't leave until 8pm tomorrow were going to do a late lunch at our favourite (yet to be agreed upon).

Tonight we went to Bubba Gump for tea, a Forrest Gump themed shrimp chain right in the middle of Times Square. We arrived no later than ten to six and were advised there was a 30 minute wait, but that's what you get for choosing a restaurant on Times Square. We had a wander round the gift shop and definitely didn't leave with anything ;) we got seated about 6:20, it looks like our luck with snagging the last table has run out. Josh, our waiter was possibly the best waiter ever, he knew everything about every thing and just sold us the entire menu, deciding what to order was impossible. I have no idea how I managed a three course meal! Although I'm sure the cocktails helped.

The food was amazing! That's saying something from me, I'm not a major fan of sea food. After waddling out the restaurant, mum and I took a slow walk up through Times Square to Hershey's world. The only time you can justify spending that much money on chocolate is at Christmas! As its our last night we had to go to the Rockefeller Centre to see the Christmas tree, we would have been there by nine if I hadn't of drunkenly got us on the wrong train. We ended up on an express to the Bronx, after realising we were on the wrong train it took us over half an hour to get back to the station. Although, at least we had a entertaining guy preaching the word of god the entire way through the upper west side. When we finally got to the Rockefeller Centre it was so busy it took us a good 5 minutes to wade through the crowd just to get a good view. While we were wandering around we noticed the ice rink was rather quiet, only to realise we had just caught a proposal (thank god she said yes!).

Just as we decided to head home my phone died, and with that we lost our map. Even without we managed to make our way back to Times Square and back to the hotel by half 11.

I'm all snuggly trying to come to terms with the fact that this is my last night in this beautifully comfy bed.

See you tomorrow.
R x

Adventures in: NYC Day Four.

It's getting too close to the end now, I never want to leave!

We had a rather late start this morning thanks to that bottle of wine and few rather large whiskeys, I was not fully alive when I woke up!
We headed through Times Square to Evergreen diner on 47th. It's one of those stereotypical American city diners, looked a tad run down but it's really a hidden gem. The portions were huge and the food was delicious. After letting the feast settle we hit the subway back to the best place on earth... Macy's.
We literally only went in to see if they had an MK shirt I wanted, while I was checking mum went off to find the plus sizes. After being told they had none left in the building I went to find mum. I came across her in the Micheal kors section. Who knew that designers did plus sizes? Even the mannequins were big and to top of my excitement I found my shirt!! 

Over an hour later and I've left with a whole outfit from MK, a Calvin Klein jumper and a jacket! The joys of being a size that both plus and normal ranges carry. Sadly the most beautiful jacket ever was too big for me :( Although, we're heading out to queens to hit another Macy's.
You can really tell the difference between boroughs when you cross the Hudson, queens is so refreshing compared to Manhattan, it feels so much more open and the air is that little bit fresher. The queens centre reminds me of a small town shopping centre it's not massive but has a great range of stores. Surprisingly I didn't buy anything, the overpowering scents in bath and body works had me running for the door in less than five minutes! The hunt for this Calvin Klein jacket continues. After spending nearly an hour in macy's I left empty handed, had a quick wander around Michael kors but that was it. Americans are so nice, I've been complimented so many times today! It really brightens your day.

After a long and crammed subway ride home, we took an hour before heading out for tea.
Tip: Avoid the subway around rush hour, unless your comfortable with no personal bubble for the entire journey.
Tonight we went to Kat'z Deli, it's been featured on man vs. food and diners drive ins and dives. The queue was surprisingly non existent, we were waiting for no longer than a minute to be seated and snagged the last table, again!

The walls are coated in photos of celebrity visitors, everyone from Elvis to Clinton. The place has a authentic vintage feeling so you can really tell it's been going over 100 years, they still uses the old school deli ticket system.

Considering the place was full, there was only one waiter so service initially took a little longer than normal. After 50 years of wanting one dad finally got to live his childhood dream and order pastrami on rye in New York, I got the same with Swiss cheese and mum got a Rubén. Oh my Jesus! These sandwiches live up to their reputation, they were huge! It's like that feeling you get after Christmas Dinner just with meat sweats!

Finally back in the hotel curled up with a whiskey, watching night at the museum contemplating visiting the natural history museum tomorrow.

See you tomorrow.
R x

Adventures in: NYC Day Three.

Day three in the big apple. 

It's 10:15 am and I managed to takes us the wrong way on the subway, twice! Oh well it only added an extra hour on our journey, by 11am we made it to South ferry, today were are doing the traditional tourist pilgrimage to the Statue of Liberty. Currently we're sat in potbelly sandwiches (pretty much subway) because apparently the financial district doesn't know what brunch is. Do you know what I hate about traveling?... Tourists. I know that I'm technically a tourist but being a seasoned traveler amongst tourists can be a nightmare. The moment you get within a couple of blocks of major attraction you are bombarded by street salesmen trying to fob you overpriced tickets that get you the bare minimum. While it seems more expensive to ignore these bundle 'deals' actually buying your tickets at the attraction and using public transport is the best way forward. We've saved almost $100 dollars by using the subway and buying at the attractions!
Tip: Pre-order tickets for the Statue of liberty if you want to go into the museum and the crown. By the time we got there (11:30) they had sold out for the day.

 The windswept ferry ride took less than 10 minutes and it was definitely worth ruining the hair for! The Statue of Liberty was incredible one of her fingernails is longer than an arm! The views of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Jersey are incredibly! You don't really realise how built up it is.The ticket for Liberty Island includes Ellis Island, we didn't spend long on Ellis Island but in the short time we were there it really hit home how far society has moved forward in the last couple of hundred years. The dormitories where they used to keep immigrants while they were processing them reminded me of concentration camps. If you visit Ellis Island prepare to be in for an emotional time.

By the time we got back to Manhattan we had lost the sun and decided to leave the sightseeing for daylight, we hit Century 21 up by the World Trade Centre. Prepare for amazing bargains! (If you have the time and determination to hunt) I was lucky enough to come across the bag I've been wanting for a while without even trying! At 50% off I wasn't complaining! I spent over an hour searching through the array of designer shoes they had for sale only to find the perfect pair for well over $400 :( I attempted to search through clothes but from what I could see they were at least 3 seasons old and more for the older woman. But it was a very successful shopping trip, Mum bought her first designer handbag, dad got a Guess watch for less that £40 and I got a £500 handbag for less that £200! Century 21 is definitely worth a visit if you’re into your designers.

After navigating the subway home, we decide to go to an Italian for tea. We found a small family run restaurant on 44th, Gallo Nero, clearly popular with the locals. The atmosphere was dark and romantic, the service was wonderful and I had the first glass of wine I've actually enjoyed! The food was nice but it didn't blow my socks off although, their red velvet cake was to die for.After a drunken walk home I decided to go for a wander into Times Square. Honestly I thought it would be more intense but I did go at 11pm, I went for a browse in Sephora and had to restrain myself! I ended up with Make-up Forever HD foundation and a Marc Jacobs lipstick. By the time I left Times Square I had maxed out my card :( It looks like I'm going to have really restrain myself now.
Tip: Always over budget, I only budgeted $500 spends, it's only been three days and I'm on my last hundred, even though most things are cheaper here you have to remember that the prices look higher in dollars, always use a currency converter to see how much you're really spending.


It's now 1am and a drunken Rosey is curled up in bed watching friends.

See you tomorrow.
R x