Hey there,
right here im sharing some impressions of my recent trip to New York City with you.
As a european I feel like New York City is a place that feels strange and in a way familiar at the same time. Ever since the 9/11 attack in 2001 I was very aware of what the city skyline looked like. Then there was a game called Grand Theft Auto IV which was based Liberty City that I played. When I decided to catch up with my american friend from Rochester, the idea of also heading to New York city for a couple of days was suddenly in my head. So well so good. Flight to Toronto booked. Then a stay in Rochester for a couple of days. On a monday I caught an Amtrak train from Rochester to New York City - Pennsylvania Station. If you ever need to make the decision wether you wanna travel to NYC with a bus or with a train, i would definitely recommend a train. The ride takes about 5 hours. You can see so much of the countryside. I have the comparision, since I took a greyhound on the way back.
There at Pen Station the first thing I had to figure out was the subway system. I had a hostel booked in Queens, but it took me a while and some questions to the staff team and locals to end up at the right station. The hostel was good. I had a 4 dorm room with 2 of the beds being taken. There was one shower room and one restroom for these 4 hostel guests. However the people were not there. The idea of me booking a hostel instead of a cheap single bedroom in China Town for half the price was, that i'd eventually meet other people who were solo-travelling.
Since it was getting late there I was just checking out the prices in the hostel's bar. It was not so convincing to me to pay about $10 for a beer and another $12 for a small bowl to eat. Instead I took my small backpack and explored the neighbourhood while it was getting dark outside. I found a nice small indian restaurand which I decided to check out. Since I'm not a fan of much experiementing when it comes to food I ordered a rice dish without meat or fish. Everything there was much cheaper than at the hostel bar and I also had a nice chat with the owner of the restaurant.
Back at the hostel I got to meet my room mates for the night. A couple from italy. The guy was just like me really into football and when he spotted my triangle for my camera he told me he was also here to take photos. We had a quick chat about potential spots to take photos before everyone went to bed.
I took this photo from the roof of my hostel in queens. It's abit blurry but it might give you an impression.
I'm going to add more blogposts about the trip in the coming days.