To make a long story short, I’ve been having the time of my life up here in the Big Apple and I’m starting to wonder why we ever left it. I go to my internship at Budget Travel on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and have the rest of the time to do some freelance writing, meet new people and otherwise re-kindle the bond with all my cousins and old friends I haven’t seen since I was little. Except now we’re all old enough to drink so it’s been really, really fun.
I’ve published four stories (and a slide show I made entirely from scratch, using html coding, photoshop, you name it!) on the Budget Travel website. Check them out:
Readers’ best Ireland photos (make sure you click on the slide show, too!)
How to get close to Hawaii’s massive, erupting volcano
This weekend: The New York Times travel show
Sick of snow? Lobby for summer!
I was also featured on slide #11 in our “Girlfriend Getaways” piece.
So, my plan to snag as many clips as possible is working out quite nicely. I’ve been learning so much up here! I’m pretty much doing a lot of behind-the-scenes work on the website (answering reader emails, producing hotel reviews and slide shows in the CMS, compiling lists of daily travel news stories, generating ideas for blogs, etc.) It looks like I’ll be staying up here a few more months after all. Keep your fingers crossed for me!
I got to see three amazing Broadway shows: Million Dollar Quartet, Rock of Ages and La Cage Aux Folles. Alas, seeing Broadway shows is becoming a great-although expensive-hobby despite the help of TKTS, my new love. I’m holding out for Evita next year.
I got my picture taken in Times Square with The Naked Cowboy and spent a day promoting the use of pants as part of a counter-prank during Improv Everywhere’s No Pants Subway Ride 2011, probably the most ridiculous yet most hilarious afternoon of my life so far. We handed out flyers saying things like “Are pants right for me?” to the thousands of pantsless people converging on Union Square at the end of the prank. Afterward, we all went out for drinks and talked about travel, Harry Potter and the movies. It’s nice to know some things will never change.
Through a chance encounter at a birthday party, I reacquainted myself with some cousins on the other side of the family and started hanging out with them as a result. One of them brought a friend out dancing with us one night and we ended up going on a few dates. Nothing serious. My first trip to Dave & Busters and a few drinks later and we’ll probably be friends, but that’s cool. It’s been fun meeting new people and just talking all night or dancing til 4am in Long Beach or just going for a walk in the City.
Anyway, it’s getting late and I have to be up early to catch my #7 train into the City. There’s nothing like watching the New York City skyline emerge from behind the buildings as the subway makes its final turn after Queensboro Plaza on the way to Grand Central Station. It’s my favorite part of the day-and night-seeing the city lit up like that either by sunlight or its own luminosity. I need to start carrying my SLR more so I can show you what I mean.
On a final note, I’m thinking of joining a dance class or something up here. I’m going through serious line dancing withdrawals! There is one place out on Long Island that sounds like it could be like The Round Up, but I’ve got to figure out a way out there. Until then, I’m looking into Liberated Movement, a donation-based dance company a 15 minute subway ride from work that looks like fun. I’ve been staying in shape by going for long walks around the City after work. One evening, I wound up walking from my office on 39th street up to the John Lennon Imagine site in Central Park and back again, somewhere near 4 miles altogether on a whim. There’s so much to see. I really need to write more.
