Happy Wednesday! Sitting in the airport on the way home from NYC optimizing my 5 hour layover…. Trying to be grateful for the down time this gives to work on things but also wanting to procrastinate and be at home instead. We had the BEST time in NYC and I am so so excited to share some of the details with you guys.
We decided to go on a little girls trip to NYC because one of my friends would be up there while it was her birthday so of course we had to join. I was up there with four other girls and I can attest that NYC is the best spot for a girls trip to say the least. All you do is shop, eat, and laugh and I don’t think you could ask for much more.
To start off I will share logistical things like where we stayed, overall things we did and then I will share more details about the spots that we loved. So first ~logistics~. We stayed at a hotel in Chelsea and the location was perfect! We were about a 20 minute walk to Time Square and a 20 minute walk from the Flatiron District. My first day there I had the day to myself so I walked down to Flatiron, Noho, and Soho. I had made a little itinerary to follow which was very helpful in deciding how I would spend my free time. That afternoon, three of the girls flew in so the next day I had some girls to hang with. We went up to Central Park and did all of the Upper Side exploring. We walked through Central Park, watched ice skating, got macaroons, and window shopping as we saw some famous spots like the Plaza Hotel. Our last full day we did all of the window shopping and last minute things that we didn’t want to leave without doing.
Throughout the week we did lots of window shopping and there were specifically 3 areas I would suggest. For realistic shopping I would go to the Flatiron District and Greenwich Village and then window shopping in Soho and the Upper Side. We of course stopped by (and got lost in) the Macy’s which we learned is actually the largest store in the WORLD. My favorite spot to window shop was definitely Bergdorf Goodman, all of their things were just fabulous.
We had some very yummy coffee and the best… the best dinners. Our favorite coffee shop was definitely Ralph’s Coffee but I never got around to trying Blue Bottle which was recommended to me a lot. We did try a matcha shop (I love a starbs matcha) called Cha Cha Matcha and they had variations of matcha including draft matcha which was interesting. For breakfast we stopped by The Bagel Pub that was near the hotel and they were great! For dinner we tried Bicall’s, Bar Primi (our fav), Joe’s Pizza (also a fav), Sierra’s and John’s Pizza. I’m not a huge pizza girl but the pizza here was amazing. Every spot we went to was italian and New York does italian wellllll.
Next are a few random things that we got into and I loved. I stopped by C3 NYC, which is a well known church with locations around the world. I had previously listened to their podcast so getting to go in person made for a very sweet Sunday morning. Sunday night we tried to go to a Broadway show. All the previous shows were sold out or the tickets left were close to $200 with separate seats so we entered the lottery at the last minute. If you’re like me and didn’t know what the lottery was, you can go to the location and enter your name in for free with the chance to win tickets for $40 each. So desperately we did that and WON!!!! So that night we went to my first Broadway show and saw Wicked and it was amazing!!! Highly recommend it.
Lasty here are a few tips I would suggest! Number one is bring a portable charger!!!! One day I was literally stuck in a public library charging my phone lol. Of course you want to bring good walking shoes, my longest day I walked 11 miles… I will say, if you go when it’s cold, bring layers but don’t stress. You’re walking so much, I personally didn’t feel that the cold was that bad and it was in the 30’s while we were there. A couple of the days I had to take a layer off because we would warm up as we walked. Last tip is I suggest making an itinerary! I did this for the days I would be by myself and it was helpful to be prepared in finding spots to stop by and to make sure I got to see what I wanted to see while I was there.
I shared that the first day there I had the day all to myself and I wanted to lastly share about that because it was something I loved so much. I dedicated that day to the Lord and it was so sweet to have a “day together” as I called it haha. I had heard of people taking date days with Jesus but had never done one for myself. It was definitely out of my comfort zone to explore a brand new city by myself and that city being New York but it made me more grateful for him, dependent on him, and it was so refreshing. I would highly recommend this even if it’s just in your local town!
Doing this reminded me of Proverbs 8:35 that says “whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord.” God loves when we seek him and create moments with him. This sweet day was just that and he sure did meet me there. God brings joy and light to our lives when we let him in. God loves spending time with us and it is so fun to learn how to love to spend time with him.
All in all NYC was the best!! And I would highly recommend it to anyone. I think there are plenty of ways to do NYC and splurge or go and do it on a budget. Great memories were made here and I can’t wait to go back again!
Xoxo Scarlet