New York and final thoughts on my world trip🗽

First day after a long journey:

Starting the day with an American breakfast: American coffee and bagel. First time riding the New York subway and experiencing the smell and sounds.

Saw the Statue of Liberty and the skyline of Manhattan from the Staten Island Ferry. (The budget alternative for the Statue of Liberty, free and no waiting in line, just a little farther away than the paid boats👍)

Then I went to the 9/11 Memorial, where huge fountains were built in the area of the former Twin Towers. A memorial with a great impact.

Explored Williamsburg in Brooklyn, ate crepes, and did successful second-hand shopping!

Other than that, my first day consisted of people-watching, riding the subway, and admiring classic brick buildings with fire escapes.

Ended the day with dinner at the bar of Peacefood Restaurant and got a list of all the top vegan restaurants in New York from the ultra-friendly waiters. I will try to eat my way through all of them! Apparently, it's a real gourmet paradise here!

Day 2: Experienced the first really bad jet lag of my trip. Felt dizzy, had headaches, etc.

What did I see?: the Hudson Yards, the original "High Line" of NYC. These are old subway tracks that have been transformed into a cool park. Then visited the Chelsea Market in Chelsea and took a look at the Empire State Building. I didn't bother waiting in line and paying to go up. From below, it's less impressive than expected, even though it's considered a particularly aesthetic skyscraper. But it's still an impressive achievement to have built it in just one year!

Then had a nice sunny walk in the northern part of Central Park and for the final meal of my entire trip, I treated myself to a nice dinner at Blossom Restaurant with the famous new Beyond Meat Burger and apple strudel. (Beyond meat tastes like beef but is mainly made from pea protein.) It was incredibly good and better than some meat burgers I've had before. Hopefully it will come to Austria soon.

Day 3: Spent four hours in the Museum of Modern Art and admired originals like Monet's Water Lilies and Van Gogh's Starry Night, among other great modern artworks. Often felt transported back to school as some of the paintings were the subjects of essays we had to write in English or German class, like Dali's Soft Watches. 😄

Then walked through Manhattan and in the evening, saw the musical "Book of Mormon" at the legendary Broadway theater Eugene O'Neill. I'm not the biggest musical fan, but it was excellent! The musical, created by the makers of the TV show "South Park," was hilariously ironic and took a satirical look at the classic musical. I recommend it to anyone visiting NY! Guaranteed laughs! 😁

FINAL day of my world trip:

Wow, writing this down gives me a similar feeling to being on a rollercoaster or on the Space Shot!

So far, I'm actually quite relaxed about returning home. It will probably take a while for me to realize that my adventure and this unique time are coming to an end, once I'm back in Vienna for a few days and "normality" sets back in. Despite that, I hope to maintain the spirit and energy I was able to recharge for as long as possible.

The universe chose beautiful weather for my last day and with Eva from Poland, I strolled through the southern part of Central Park in sunshine, wandered around Soho/Chinatown in the afternoon, had ice cream, and walked across the Brooklyn Bridge from Brooklyn to Manhattan. So, I walked a lot. In the evening, thanks to the lovely company of Manu from my hostel room, I had a wonderful last dinner at the Thai restaurant next door. So my journey began and ended with Pad Thai.

As a conclusion, I would like to take a few things from my travels, observations, and learnings or things I want to keep:

• Being less stressed about small things, for example, adapting to the chaotic urban jungle and becoming more flexible. Buses don't arrive as precisely anywhere else as they do in Austria (and Germany), and no one gets upset if they're 1 minute and 35 seconds late 😂
• Being more spontaneous and just letting things happen. The initial excitement and my old habit of wanting to plan everything quickly vanished. You meet new people with new recommendations and often end up rearranging your plans anyway.
• Thinking less about the future and the past because you're living very much in the moment. I always had to deal with the current circumstances of a place and focused on the here and now. It was really good for me.
• Being more open to people and smiling at people more in public. This struck me especially in Southeast Asia, how good it feels and how much Austria could learn from it. Usually, people look at you very grimly when you greet someone while jogging in the woods! 
• Appreciating one's own privileges more after meeting people who live on very little money and can still be happy and content.
• You need so little stuff! Everything you really need fits in a large backpack. Of course, I'm looking forward to some luxury items again, but I want to try to continue a more minimalist lifestyle at home and I'm highly motivated to declutter and maybe have a clothes giveaway party! 😉
• Appreciating real communication more after observing how depressingly quiet it is nowadays in metros and public places because everyone is communicating only through their phones. My plan: less screen time per day in the future. Unfortunately, I was very dependent on my phone and it was the most important tool of my entire trip. Also being more aware when children are around to act as a role model and not constantly use the smartphone in front of them... I was unfortunately too careless about that in the past. 
• The consideration and respect for elderly people is not the same in every place. Highly valued in Japan and completely ignored in New York subways. No one gets up for an elderly gentleman. It definitely works better in Vienna!
• Vienna and Austria are a village compared to the rest of the world! But that doesn't mean that an individual citizen in Austria doesn't have a say in this world. And Vienna has a very good reputation among international travelers! It made me a little proud. 😊
• The coziness of sitting in cafés/restaurants for a long time is only found in Vienna, or in other parts of the world where I haven't been yet(?). Street food in Asia and hip cafés in New York or New Zealand are a great experience and usually offer very good food, but something is always missing: the ability to sit as long as you want and make yourself comfortable for a longer period of time. In my opinion, that is unique to Vienna.
• Vienna is and will remain the city where I want to live. You appreciate so much more when you've been away for a long time. The cleanliness, the quietness, the air and space to breathe, the Viennese humor, the culture from music to art and historic sites, the healthcare/hygiene, work conditions (not everywhere in the world do you get paid vacation days..). Quoting my mom when she has one of her moments downtown: "Well, Vienna is pretty nice!" (emphasis on "Well" and "pretty" 😉)
• I could think of many more things, but I would also like to be able to tell you something myself. ;) So I'm ending my travel blog here!!!

I'm incredibly excited to return home and most of all to Nico, our apartment, my parents and family, and all my friends!

I hope I was able to take you a little bit into the countries and places I've traveled to in the last 6 months....🌏

Thank you for reading! ❤️✌️