The final leg of a great journey

Once during Christmas time in New York – as long as I can remember, the movie “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” has been a staple of my personal Christmas routine every year. Since I can remember, I have been fascinated by this “New York” during the Christmas season. To completely convince Helene of the idea, we quickly watched both “Kevin” movies at around 30 degrees Celsius in Costa Rica before heading to the plane bound for America.

I had already mentioned in the last post that the rainy days in Costa Rica had slightly influenced our plans. Originally, we wanted to stay a few days longer on the Caribbean coast and visit another national park. However, due to the weather, that plan was scrapped, and we decided to fly to America a few days earlier. At that moment, we realized how nice it can be when you’re completely flexible and can do what you want and what you feel like.

But let’s take it step by step. We landed around 8 PM local time in New York or New Jersey. After surprisingly quickly passing through Border Control – beforehand, you hear or read various horror stories about several hours of waiting time – we needed a refreshment first. And what better way to kick off the adventure in America than with a nice, greasy burger?

After dinner, we then headed out of the airport to the bus station. By the way, we had exchanged our swimsuits for winter jackets by this point, as the thermometer no longer showed 30 degrees, but rather -3 degrees. We then took the bus to the next bus station in the middle of New Jersey. By now, the excitement had faded to fatigue, and the cold temperatures didn’t make it any better. After another hour of waiting, we finally moved on – again by bus.

As if a trip to New York wasn’t adventurous enough, we had come up with something special. We wanted to spend the two days won from our shortened Costa Rica stay at Niagara Falls. These are about a seven-hour drive from New York City, also still in the state of New York. So, we boarded the night bus at midnight, which was supposed to take us somewhat relaxed to the Canadian border. After a few hours of sleep, we arrived there at 7 AM. Fortunately, we could check into our accommodation very quickly, where we caught up on the sleep that you don’t get on a night bus journey.

At noon, we then set off for Niagara Falls. And what can I say? When we arrived at the falls, we were greeted by a breathtaking natural spectacle. In the past few weeks of the trip, I had developed an inner feeling of “Nothing can really fascinate me anymore.” But the sight of Niagara Falls rekindled the feeling I had when I boarded the plane in Frankfurt on October 6, 2022. We were truly very impressed.

Niagara Falls has both an American and a Canadian side. At this point, America is only separated from Canada by a bridge. Thus, it happened that I entered Canada, the eleventh country on my trip. With all the beautiful images in our heads, we fell into bed dead tired that evening.

The next day, we took another walk to the falls and a quick shopping trip. Due to the temperatures, we needed some warmer clothes and winter boots. In the evening, we then boarded the night bus again – and this time truly to New York City.

Different place, same game: completely exhausted, we arrived back in New Jersey. Our accommodation was also in New Jersey, but we still had to drive for over an hour before we finally arrived. After we dropped off our things, we headed to the heart of New York – directly to Manhattan. Admittedly, even though we had visited a few big cities in the past few months, we needed some time to get our bearings here. So many cars, so many people, and so many tall buildings!

Our first stop took us to the Brooklyn Bridge. Here, we wandered through the streets before returning to our accommodation. We were tired, it was raining, and we still had almost a whole week to explore New York in all its facets.

The next morning, New York then presented itself at its best. Although it was still freezing cold, the rain had stopped during the night, and the sun occasionally peeked out from behind the many skyscrapers. To get a first overview, we hopped on one of the many hop-on-hop-off buses and allowed ourselves to be driven around the city. In hindsight, it can be noted that you’re probably faster on foot – we spent more time stuck in traffic than we did driving.

In the afternoon, we headed to one of the city’s most famous landmarks – and went high up. With the elevator, we traveled up to the observation deck of the Empire State Building, which, at 381 meters, was the tallest building in the world until 1972. Once we were back on solid ground, we strolled over 6th Avenue to our last joint program point of the day – probably the most famous Christmas tree in the world.

Most people probably know the image of the large fir tree with the Swarovski star right in front of Rockefeller Center. It is the place where Kevin meets his mother in the film. This image has been burned into my memory since childhood. And suddenly, we stood exactly at this spot, admiring the glowing Christmas tree alongside thousands of other people. I could have spent the entire evening there, I found the sight so beautiful.

At some point, however, the bustle became too much for us, and we headed out again. On the way to the subway station, our paths parted. While Helene was heading back to the accommodation, I was drawn to football. When you have the opportunity to watch football in New York, you can’t miss it as a sports fan.

The next day, we headed to the Statue of Liberty, where we dove deep into American history in perfect weather and got to see the Statue of Liberty in all its facets while walking around Liberty Island. In the afternoon, we walked over the Brooklyn Bridge and strolled a bit away from the large crowds through the streets of Brooklyn.

On the third day, we had booked a walking tour through Little Italy, Chinatown, and SoHo to learn more about the lives of New Yorkers. The history also includes September 11 – a day that still resonates in New York to this day. After the walking tour, we thus continued to Ground Zero, the site where the twin towers once collapsed. Here, we visited the associated museum and the 9/11 memorial.

With all these impressions in mind, the evening was set to be a bit more cheerful. On our hiking trip in New Zealand, we had met a couple from New York who told us about the “Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes” and insisted that we must go there if we were in New York during Christmas time. The event is a Christmas show that has been performed in New York since 1933. The show combines Christmas classics with a digital light show and brings together everything one would expect from America during the Christmas season. Everything sparkled, everything blinked – and yet, it was somehow beautiful.

Filled with Christmas spirit, we headed to Rockefeller Center and the Christmas tree to conclude the day. And thus, the third day in the Big Apple came to an end.

The next morning, we took the train to Upper Manhattan. Here, we visited the Guggenheim Museum, which features works by Picasso, Van Gogh, and Chagall. After refreshing our knowledge about art a bit, we were drawn back outside. Just a stone’s throw from the Guggenheim lies Central Park – the green lung of New York. The park is more than twice the size of Monaco and is simply right in the middle of New York, surrounded by skyscrapers – insane.

At the end of the park, we exchanged our street shoes for ice skates and the asphalt for ice. Round after round, we skated on the rink that serves as the backdrop for numerous popular films – including “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.” Tired but blissful, we returned with these impressions to our accommodation and to bed.

After a good night's sleep and renewed vigor, we set out for our next sightseeing destination the following day. By the way, it should be emphasized that it sounds like we were ticking off one program point after another. In reality, we had very relaxed days in New York with very little time pressure.

But now back to the story. We were once again headed to Rockefeller Center – where else? This time, however, the target was not in front of it, but on top of it. With “only” 259 meters, the building is among the smaller ones in New York and barely stands out among the other skyscrapers. Nevertheless, it is impressive due to its history. Within seconds, the elevator whisked us up to the 67th floor to the first of three observation decks. Although the building is not “so high,” it still offers a stunning view of the skyline of New York and Central Park.

In the afternoon, it was time for one of New York's culinary specialties. I have to admit that even today, I still feel a bit queasy when I think back to the food – but I don’t want to withhold it from you.

Katz’s Delicatessen is a deli that claims to be the oldest still operating deli in New York. The shop is famous primarily for its pastrami sandwiches, which have also been enjoyed by numerous celebrities – if the pictures on the walls are to be believed. Unbeknownst to us, we ordered two pastrami sandwiches – after all, we were hungry. But what we got was something we hadn't expected: about five centimeters of meat sliced between two measly slices of toast, served with a bit of mustard and pickles. It was really wild.

After about an hour, we finished our little meal and were very glad to be back outside. In the evening, our paths parted once again: while Helene went to the ballet for “The Nutcracker,” I – how could it be otherwise – went to hockey. Seeing a New York Rangers game at Madison Square Garden – how much I had looked forward to that!

Late in the evening, we met again and ended the New York adventure with a genuine New York cheesecake. After that pastrami sandwich, one could have skipped it, but what would a trip to New York be without cheesecake?

The next morning, the backpack was packed once again – and for the last time for now. After 436 days, eleven countries, circumnavigating the globe, and 47 blog posts with 48,625 words, it was time to fly back home. Back to where it all began. With a laughing and a crying eye. So many memories, so many moments that I or we can look back on. I have experienced so many impressive things, first alone and then with Helene. From the feeling of limitless freedom to the feeling of wanting to throw everything away and fly home to the deep sense of gratitude, all was included during this time. However, one feeling was always present: the anticipation of seeing my family and friends again one day. And that day had now come.

With mixed feelings, we headed to the airport – and from there back to Frankfurt. Back to where I got on the plane to Vietnam on October 6, 2022. And then, my world trip 2022/23 was truly over.

Postscript: Although the last blog post took a little over a year to come, I am now glad that the last story has been told. I hope I could take you along on my journey a bit.

Thank you for reading. The next journey will surely come!

See you soon!