Showing posts with label usa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label usa. Show all posts


I know. I have been a bad girl. A very bad girl. I totally neglected my duty to take care of this precious little blog for completely silly reasons. I told myself I had no time to write. I‘m too busy. I don't know what to write about. But, to be honest, the main reason why I have not written anything the last couple of months was probably the feeling of senselessness that was creeping up. Nobody reads it anyway. People like to watch 6-seconds-videos and read a handful of words on memes. They do not bother to read a whole article. I did not see why I should spend hours on writing a post when my only three readers were my parents and my roommate. And all this Social Media stuff to gain more readers exhausts the hell out of me. It is a science, did you know?

It took me months to figure out that I actually do not care how many people exactly read what I write. It is the writing process itself, the telling of a story. I guess, that is pretty much it...I love telling stories and that is what I will continue to do. Follow your dreams, yaaay!

To get to my point and yes, I know I have said this before: I am back. And no, this was not an invitation to stop reading.

This summer I have spent ten wonderful weeks traveling around North America. It felt so good to be back in the country that feels like home to me, see my former host family again and visit my favorite places from my year abroad in the States. One of these places is New York City.

It was my fourth time visiting this unique city and it still kept taking my breath away. There is this song "New York's Got A Piece Of My Chest" and, boy, it could not be more accurate. I definitely left part of my heart somewhere in between Brooklyn and Washington Square Park.

My trip this summer confirmed this yet again, but it also made sure that I was reminded of the fact that I hate hate hate Times Square. And people. Gosh, these humongous crowds of people pushing and shoving their way through Times Square and Broadway to be the first to see whatever there is to see. I took my boyfriend there, because I mistakenly was under the impression that it was something he just had to see. I considered it part of the whole New York experience. My dear friends, let me give you one piece of advice: It is not. In fact, nothing is.

I am so tired of lines like "X is an absolute must-see" and "If you haven't seen Y, then you haven't seen this city at all". Lines I am, too, guilty of using and believing in. If there is one thing I have learned and finally understood on this trip, it is, that traveling is not about seeing, but experiencing. Let us be honest here: Most sights kind of suck anyway and hurrying from one sight to the next is just downright stressful. I mean, do you actually miss anything if you have not seen the Statue of Liberty up close? I dare say, no.

Really, there is only one thing that you have to do: Wander around the streets and try all the food you find along the way - you know, soak up local culture and all. That is what we ended up doing and here‘s my selection of the best spots we encountered: 



Big Daddy‘s Diner
Address: 239 Park Ave South, btw 19th & 20th St, New York, NY 10003
Lord of the Fries: $5
Best thing on the menu: Bow Wow Wow (Waffle Sandwich with Fries, Hash-Browns, Eggs, Cheese
                                       and Bacon, but I got mine with Avocado instead)


Find them on Facebook (here)

If you seek the perfect American Diner experience, then Big Daddy‘s is the right place for you. Cosy interior design, great music, friendly staff and delicious food - what more could you possibly ask for? They also give their food funny names, which is a definite plus. 
My best friend T and I discovered it in December 2013 during a snowstorm on our way back to our Couchsurfing host and fell in love right away. Since then, I came back every single time I was in the City to introduce it to my travel buddies and Big Daddy‘s has never disappointed. 

T-Bone & the best breakfast on earth


Pokéworks
Address: 63 W 37th St, New York, NY 10018
Hawaiian Classic: $10,50
Best thing on the menu: Poké Burrito


Find them on Facebook (here)

Traditionally, Poke is a Hawaiian speciality - a raw fish salad served as an appetizer. Luckily for sushi lovers like me, you can now get this treat outside of Hawaii, as well. Please do no get me wrong, I would love to go to Hawaii, but I am miles away from being able to afford the flight. Sooo...Pokéworks in New York it is!

You can enjoy the raw fish in a salad, bowl or burrito. My personal favorite is the burrito as it is basically a giant maki roll. Just let that sink in for a minute. 
Choose one of their signature works or build your own poké and mix and match to your satisfaction. 


this is what happiness looks like


Baker‘s Pizza
Address: 201 Avenue A, New York, NY 10009
Pesto knots: 4 for $2,50
Best thing on the menu: all the Pizza!!


Find them on Facebook (here)

Baker‘s Pizza is this tiny little pizza shop with a great atmosphere and checks all over the place. I know I use the expression "heaven on earth" far too often, but I am telling you, that is the only one that comes anywhere near to how their Pizza tastes. And wait until you have tried their Pesto knots! They sell their Pizza in a typical New York manner, by-the-slice, but definitely stand out from the crowd. You want to know how good it tastes? So good I went back three times during my eight days in NYC.





xx Lena


Photos taken in: New York City, USA

First things first: I subscribe to everything Lena wrote about getting to Chris’ apartment. Let’s just say I have never been happier to be greeted by a doorman – not that I have ever been to an apartment building with a doorman before - except the fact that he made fun of me for not being able to pronounce Chris' last name. (Exactly what happened to L the year before.)

The summer after L’s first stay at Chris’ we decided to meet up in NYC and he was kind enough to host us (again), even though he had loads of visitors that weekend. We were 6 people in his one-room apartment. How we did it? I have no clue. I just remember Chris’s friend sleeping on some towels in the hallway, because there literally was no more inch left in the room. Hello there, hardcore sleepover!

I didn’t want to admit it back then but I was quite nervous, since I didn’t know our host and was on my own for the first night. As soon as I got to his place though, all my worries were forgotten.  Chris was super nice and even though he had to go to work the next morning he listened to all my stories until late at night. I felt so welcome at this apartment, it was ridiculous, considering the fact that this was a complete strangers house. What flustered me most was that within ten minutes of knowing me, Chris gave me a key to his apartment and told me I could come and go whenever, even if he wasn’t there. How can a person be that trusting? It still baffles me. And then there was the food sharing thing. “Feel free to eat anything you find around here. But it might be safer to check the expiration date before” I mean I get the hosting people for culture exchange purposes thing. But don’t touch my food, person. That’s where the friendliness stops. Not in Chris' world, though.

But this weird concept some people call food sharing didn’t stop there. The next day I was invited to come by Chris’ work. To pick him up and then get some dinner, at least that’s what I thought. When I got there, though, I received a text saying “Tell the doorman your name and come up. You’re on the list” THE LIST?? 

Now, you have to know that back then he worked for a pretty well-known media company with a huge office building just off Central Park. Telling the doorman my name, letting him take my picture to put on my Visitor Pass, then being thrown into this world full of busy and important people and shown around didn't feel like anything remotely close to reality anymore. But forget all that. More important was the fact that the waiting area was full of food. Full to the bursting. With anything you can imagine. And I was allowed to take whatever my heart desired. It was the BEST DAY EVER. I remember sitting there, on a huge pink couch, not daring to get up and messaging my friends because I couldn't believe it. (It was so good that two days later, Lena and I forced Chris to put us on “The List” again – mainly to show Lena all the food.)

But even all the food aside, it was a great weekend. We explored the City some more, went out with the whole apartment crew – which might or might not have been the time when Lena pretty much asked the bouncer if he knew that we weren’t quite old enough yet to enter the club, but that's another story – and generally had a really good time. 

blurry picture - great memories

I still talk to Chris sometimes and I know that we are always welcome back in New York. What I’m trying to say is this: Without Couchsurfing we would have never seen the inside of a NYC office building. We would have never even dreamed about going clubbing in the City. And we would have never had a friend there we could go back to visit. So if you are still skeptical about the whole concept, don’t be! Try it! I’m not promising that it will be great, but it might be. And just the possibility of such a unique and different trip is worth the try. Even if your host turns out to be horrible, it's still a good story to tell.

Have you tried CS yet? Tell us about your experiences. The good, the bad, the ugly, we want to hear about them all!


xx Kathi


Photos taken in: New York, USA

This is going to be a story about both our first time Couchsurfing, which happened to be with the same guy: Chris from New York. For the ones of you who do not know what "Couchsurfing" is - it is fairly simple: There is this website (www.couchsurfing.com), where you can sign up and look for free places to sleep. Traditionally you sleep on a couch in someone's apartment, sometimes you even get a bed and - if you are especially lucky - your own room (but do not expect that to happen on a regular basis). It is a great way for broke travelers like us to be able to go on a trip regardless their empty wallet and to engage with the culture and everyday life of the locals. Just keep an open mind and your priorities in order and you will be guaranteed to have a unique and unforgettable experience. You might even make a friend along the way, which is exactly what happened to us. 

My first contact with Couchsurfing was back in 2013 when I was living in the United States and wanted to visit christmassy New York. I had just heard about this website and got curios, so I signed up and sent out my first few surfing requests. After a few declines I received a very nice message from this guy living on 4th Avenue offering his couch to me and my friend Tiana. There cannot be any harm in that, right? Well, imagine this:

You arrive in the city at 12AM and the bus driver lets you off in a dark, abandoned alley and you have no idea where you are. "Okay, no need to panic. We only have to find 4th Avenue and Chris' apartment now. Easy peasy. No need to panic." Then you run around in circles - because turns out 4th Avenue is pretty long - without finding the right apartment but instead crossing ways with a bunch of creepy people in the biggest city you have ever been to, not knowing anyone. This is probably the time when you actually start panicking, just a little bit. "So, where is this apartment now?...we have already been here...this guy looks scary...he is coming closer...OMG! We are gonna die out here!! Okay, he just passed. No need to worry...but WHERE ON EARTH IS THAT APARTMENT?! Oh, here it is."

We had passed said apartment three times already by the time we actually found it. But our little adventure did not end there. After an actual doorman told us where to go - you have no idea just how fancy we felt in that moment - we ended up standing in front of the door we thought was our host's both being too scared to knock. What if it was a rapist or a serial killer? You never know. While we were still deciding who would stand in front of the other and take the first bullet, we already knocked and prepared for the worst. Fortunately, nothing happened. I mean literally, nothing happened. Turns out we knocked on the wrong door at 2AM in the morning. I guess the person was not at home. But Chris was, and we had loads of fun getting to know him better over the next few days. He definitely was not a creep and the best first Couchsurfing host possible!

Read about my second time staying at Chris's, our summer trip to NYC and how we ended up being friends with our Couchsurfing host in Kathi's post on Saturday.

xx Lena


Photo taken in: New York City, USA
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