A Little Work, A Little Play…All in NYC 🗽🍎

If you've been following along, you know that most of my travels thus far have taken me outside of the US — but every now and then, there's a domestic trip worth writing about. This was one of them.

I recently spent a few days in New York City for a work trip, which conveniently doubled as a chance to actually explore the city like a tourist. I've been to NYC before, but this time felt different — maybe it was having more time to wander, or the fact that the itinerary was refreshingly unplanned. Either way, the city delivered.

Settle in friends — here's how it all went down, day by day.

Day 1 — Wednesday

The day had finally arrived — NYC, here we come! I hopped on the Amtrak out of Harrisburg and pulled into the city around 3:30pm. A quick Lyft ride later and I was checked into the Moxy East Village, bags dropped off and ready to get the trip started. The only hiccup? My travel companion was stuck back in State College due to weather, so I was flying solo for the evening. Not ideal, but I made the best of it!

I walked over to the nearby Wegmans to grab a few essentials and snacks (because what's a hotel stay without snacks?), headed back to get changed for dinner, and then grabbed a Lyft over to Takahachi, a great sushi spot, to meet up with Kyle, my mentor. We spent a couple of hours over dinner catching up and chatting — always a good time.

By the time I made it back to the hotel, I was more than ready to wind down for the night.

Day 2 — Thursday

Day 2 kicked off with some great news — my travel companion finally made it to the city! After dropping his things off in the room, it was time to get to work. We stopped at a local coffee shop for some morning beverages and pastries (highly recommend starting any NYC workday this way), then hopped on the metro to the Oculus and headed into One World Trade Center.

After checking in with security, we rode up to the 82nd floor and settled in for a productive morning. Midday we took a break for lunch with some coworkers over at Brookfield, then headed back upstairs to finish out the day.

As things were wrapping up, colleagues Tino and Chris gave us a tour of the office — always a cool experience when you're not in the home office every day. After work, we grabbed dinner with another coworker in the East Village, did some walking around, and picked up a little history lesson along the way. We even caught some live music, which felt like a very New York moment.

To cap the night off, we headed back to the hotel lounge for some skee-ball and good conversation before finally calling it a night.

Day 3 — Friday

Friday was another work day up on the 82nd floor, though the office was noticeably quieter than the day before. Took the metro through the Oculus again, linked up with a couple of coworkers, and got through a pretty productive morning. We headed down to Brookfield for lunch again (clearly becoming a theme at this point 😄), before heading back upstairs to finish out the day. Before leaving, the team had a fun Hot Pot session for team fun hour — a great way to close out the work week!

After a quick stop at the hotel to drop things off, the evening opened up. The hotel had been offering two free daily passes for a Statue of Liberty cruise departing from Pier 40, so we finally took advantage of that — honestly such a cool way to see the iconic landmark.

From there we walked over to Pier 25 for some mini golf with my travel companion's brother, who lives in the East Village. Dinner followed at a Moroccan restaurant, which was a really fun change of pace, and the night ended on a high note with a comedy show. Walked back to the hotel, said our goodnights, and crashed. Easily one of the best days of the trip!

Day 4 — Saturday

No work today — finally! We started the morning off right with a walk to a local bagel place for breakfast (a New York staple, obviously), then hopped on the metro over to Central Park to walk around and take it all in. It was a really nice change of pace to just slow down, browse some local art prints, and find a spot to sit and chat for a bit with no agenda.

Eventually we made our way over to a soup dumpling place for a light lunch — so good. We did a bit of shopping in the area afterward, including a stop at the Nintendo Store which, let's be honest, was mandatory. 😄

After a solid morning and early afternoon out, we headed back to the hotel to drop things off, recharge, and figure out what to do next. After a bit of deliberation, we landed on a Broadway show — &Juliet — for the evening. Great choice, as it turned out! But first, dinner. We made our way to Times Square and met up with my travel companion's brother at a Cuban restaurant, then walked around the area for a bit since we had some time to kill before showtime.

And then — the moment! My very first Broadway show ever. &Juliet was an absolute blast and I would highly recommend it to anyone. Definitely a bucket list moment.

After the show we made our way back to my hotel lounge for one last round of skee-ball and good conversation before saying our goodnights and calling it a night. What a day!

Day 5 — Sunday

Last day in NYC… and the feelings were mixed, to say the least. 😢 We made the most of it though, starting with breakfast at Ruby's — banana bread with passionfruit butter, eggs, and tea. Honestly, if you have to have a last meal in the city, that's not a bad way to go out. From there we headed over to Chelsea for a pedicure spa treatment, a little self-care to close out the trip, followed by some shopping at the Uniqlo flagship store. We wrapped up the afternoon with a breather at Starbucks, killing time and soaking in the last little bit of city energy before it was time to go.

Eventually we grabbed a Lyft back to the hotel, collected our belongings, and made our way to Penn Station. This is where we parted ways — my travel companion was hopping on NJ Transit over to Newark Airport, while I headed over to Moynihan Station for the Amtrak back to Harrisburg. I grabbed some sushi for lunch before the train (it was… okay, not exactly a highlight 😅), heard the announcement for my gate, and boarded for the ride home.

The trip back was smooth on my end, but unfortunately the same couldn't be said for my travel companion — he missed his flight by just a few minutes and ended up stuck in Newark overnight. Not exactly the sendoff he deserved after everything the weather had already put him through earlier in the trip! All in all though, it was a really great few days in the city. Already looking forward to the next one. 🗽