The Highlights of 42 Days of Travel: New York City

I have flown in or out of New York airports probably 20 times (mainly on trips to and from Russia) and was once on Long Island for a week teaching kids at a conference, but had NEVER been downtown, something I've always wanted to see. When we saw that our route from Peru to Italy included a day layover at JFK airport, we decided we would see a couple of sights before continuing on our journey!

 

Times Square, NYC

On our FIRST day* in NYC, Jake took me on a little tour he had already planned. I think my favorite stop was the pizza!! He found a great little romantic place with super good pizza. Seeing the Newsies on Broadway in a Wednesday matinee was also pretty memorable!!

On our second day in New York, we visited the United States Merchant Marine Academy, where Jake went to college. Totally unexpected trip (see note*), but I was really glad to see the place that played such a big role in his life!

Jake's senior year room on campus (2nd floor, left)

We meandered around for a few hours before heading to the airport in plenty of time to catch our flight to Milan.

Jake & Jen on the campus with NYC in the background

*Yeah, so, um, we ended up spending TWO days in New York due to missing our flight to Milan, Italy. Traffic is bad in New York, eh? After an hour of more sitting than moving in our taxi on our way back to the airport, we realized we should’ve used the subway and Long Island Rail Road to return, same as we came. Turns out my training in Bolivia that taxis are the most efficient mode of transport is entirely NOT true in New York City! So we then spent a couple hours in the airport working out the problem with AA and getting booked for the flight 24 hours later (don't ask details!!) and then headed with all our luggage to the cheapest hotel room we could find and at least got a good night's sleep after spending the previous night on a plane.  

 

Next up, Italy!!!