To avoid any confusion: Annika allowed me to write a blog instead of herself because it’s been such a great trip; so this one is written by her boyfriend Sander.
What a joy! First I get to visit my beloved girlfriend 5.000 miles away and now I get to relive it all again by writing it all down. I really really really really wanted to visit her this time, because as most of you readers know, Annika has a travelling spirit and she loves to explore the world (and make blogs about it). Last year she left for Australia for 9 months and I didn’t get the chance to go there at all because of my studies. Partially because of this eternal feeling of guilt and of course because I wanted to see her REALLY badly, I puzzled my schedule together until I was 100% sure she’d be stuck with me for 10 days :-). And guess what – it was awesome!
We made loads of plans long before I even started packing: road trip, Niagara Falls, Washington DC, Gettysburg, New York, Broadway, The Jersey Shore (yeah, the real one), rodeo – and those were only the ones we actually could do with the time we had! My personal wish list pretty much had 1 big word in it: ‘HAMBURGER’. As in, I wanted to try every fast food chain available and see which one I liked most. An impossible task in 10 days, you say? Well, no guts, no glory!
I flew in pretty comfortably with a stop in London, only to arrive sleep depraved in Newark (babies should have a separate compartment in airplanes). A pretty big storm was brewing, so I was a little afraid things would get complicated, but we landed on schedule. Annika was waiting for me at the parking lot in the pouring rain and we hurried ‘home’ to get a few hours of sleep before we kicked off. Annika woke me up at half past waytooearly (she’s pretty good at that, really) and we hit the road. Annika already made a blog about our mini roadtrip – it was great! Highlights for me were walking underneath Niagara falls, posing in front of the White House while trying not to look too suspicious towards the hordes of security people, and visiting an epic video game exhibition in a Smithsonian museum. Unfortunately, Annika had to go to work from Tuesday, leaving me to visit New York at ease :-).
As soon as I walked in the streets of NYC I knew I had hit the right place. It is an awe-inspiring place to be and I have to admit I liked it a lot more than Washington. It’s great fun to walk around surrounded by towering skyscrapers, shops and restaurants all around, loads of people with all languages and noisy cars on every corner. I (or rather – Annika) got me a 3 day New York Pass, which is seriously worth it considering I nearly earned the entire buying price back just on the first day. I decided to start off with the skylines – visiting the Empire State building (people were not very hospitable though) and the Top of the Rockefeller Center (people were VERY hospitable). Although I took loads of pictures of myself with 1 hand stretched out, I frequently ‘traded’ taking pictures with other people – something they seriously should integrate in their tourism policy.
Another ‘top’ of the day was the tour through the NBC studios. I managed to snatch the last ticket in the last tour of the day without reservation (perks of travelling alone, muhaha!) and got to see the Nightly News studio, the Dr. Oz studio and loads of cool stuff inside the tower. Definitely worthwile! I also visited the great ‘Ripley’s believe it or not’ exhibition, complete with living cockroaches and the world’s biggest beer can.
The second day I took to the harbor, visiting some stuff and seeing the remarkable and very interesting ‘Bodies’ exhibition with real human bodies. But more importantly, I stood in line for discount tickets for Broadway! Well, we actually went off-broadway, seeing the musical ‘Avenue Q’. If you haven’t heard from it: it’s where this awesome song comes from. Annika and I had a great night full of laughs and it was definitely worth it the (only) 61 dollars per ticket! If you like musicals, go see it. Seriously, do it!
The last day of my New York Pass 3-day’er was spent visiting 2 rather ‘special’ exhibition: the NY spy exhibition, filled with not-so-James-Bond but some very ingenious inventions (spraying female dog feromones on a doormat to have a male dag sniff out the person who walked over it – funky!), and secondly, the Museum of Sex. This ‘unique’ museum only grants entry to adults (and rightfully so!) and has a rather interesting collection of objects, films, pictures and genuinely nice art, but it also has some very informative displays about the history of sexuality. Besides, it has the coolest entry warning of any museum in history:
Annika and I had some superb cheese cake at The Cheesecake Factory that night, after which we invaded Target. scrambling for some great t-shirts for me and souvenirs. Annika couldn’t resist the shoe displays either!
Friday I spent most of the day on a nearly full day visit to NY’s must see: lady liberty and Ellis Island. Both the statue and the museum are very nice, but I must concur with my girlfriend: I too always imagined her bigger. Annika took me out Friday night to meet up with Dana, one of her colleagues in Hoboken, and we had a great time together with her and her boyfriend Ryan. They also made a few great pictures of us with a beautiful NY skyline by night.
In my last weekend (*sniff*) Annika had a treat for me. It was a perilous and long drive, but we went to Wildwood, one of the most southern points of the Jersey Shore to enjoy the nice weather. After only 2 hours we had to leave again, because we were heading for a real, western rodeo show at Cowtown Rodeo! I was really looking forward to this one, and it was pretty spectacular. I mostly enjoyed the ‘bull wrestling’ part, where cowboys had to chase a young bull on horseback, JUMP OFF the horse ON TOP OF the bull and friggin’ wrestle it to the ground! I mean, how badass is that! We enjoyed it thoroughly and I am so glad Annika took me to see it.
Sunday we were planning to go to New York for the final day, but luckily we decided against it and went to the Jersey shore again! :p We went to a great beach a bit closer by (Belmar), where we forgot to put sun lotion on our feet and burned them quite badly! But at least the weather was great! We finished my visit with a final shopping spree and a final Burger King meal. When driving to the airport, a big storm was brewing – exactly like the one at the moment of my arrival. Coincidence? You decide! We said goodbye (“It’s only for 4 weeks!” – “’Only’ 4 weeks? That’s a bloody month!”) and parted, after which I arrived a little late but safely back in Belgium.
My stay in the US was -in one word- incredible. I saw, learned, enjoyed, cried of laughter, observed, wondered, walked, sunbathed, visited, boated, drove, shopped, conversed AND I got to see Annika for 10 whole (well, some of them were half) days! For me, it was a bit of paradise. And there’s still so much more! I didn’t set foot in Central Park, didn’t cruise the Manhattan shoreline, or didn’t visit any American Indian museum, or… But I did have a great great time and I will surely be going back someday, east or west coast, we’ll see about that. Thanks to Kate, Dave, Dana and Ryan (and Annika of course – d’uh!) for making my stay the best!
Oh, and before I forget: the winner of Best Fast Food Chain is: … … *rumble* Burger King! Seriously, they’re great, and their hamburgers are the BIGGEST of all I’ve seen. (I didn’t get to check out Five guys, however. Annika says they’re even better, so now, I will HAVE to come back.)
See you next time, USA! And this time, you won’t get rid of me this easily 😉
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How I Met My Burger 