New York. The subject of movies, dreams, and music from Sinatra to Jay Z. After spending just over a week in the infamous Big Apple not too long ago, I am not the most qualified person to be writing a travel post. After all, you could live in New York City for five years and still unearth amazing spots to eat, drink, play, see. It’s the city of constant change, and constant discovery. I guess it’s lucky then that I’m not writing for Travel + Leisure but instead chasing experiences that inspire words, or the mojo to write them. And in New York, mojo is on every corner. It’s the thrill of sights like the Chrysler Building and the Statue of Liberty, and yellow cabs and hot dog stands. It’s the joy of  $1 pizza slices that taste amazing, cocktails that make you high on life, brunches in contrary neighbourhoods and dinners in bistros, bars and many restaurants. It’s noise and colour and people and fun and history, all rolled into one. I was entirely unprepared for it.

I got to New York just before dawn, and I love that my first experience of this city was watching it wake up in the morning. There was trash on the road, waiting to be picked up, and the streets were half empty one second, and the next (New York) minute, they were buzzing. I spent my first day immersed in midtown Manhattan, posing for pictures in Times Square at dusk and shopping in department stores I had only seen in movies. In real life, they were something else altogether. On my first night, I got tickets to see The Lion King on Broadway and posed for pictures in Times Square. A couple of hours earlier, my husband and I had visited Barney’s, where I fell in love with a pair of white patent Miu Miu Mary-Janes that were on sale for a delicious $300. New York was already the stuff of dreams.

Over the next week I walked so much of the city that I absolutely fell in love with its vibe and its people. I had no negative experiences. I was on a high everywhere I went. I loved the quintessential spots like Central Park and Greenwich Village. I loved the flat iron building and Times Square. I fell in love with the Public Library, which was even dreamier in real life. I loved reading about how to order a bagel, and conversing with locals in restaurants. And even though the soles of my feet froze as I attempted to walk around Central Park in temperatures this Sydney girl was not accustomed to, I loved it too. I loved seeing locals walk around in stockings and ballet flats while I got around in layers. I loved experiencing a snow fall, and having the most delicious $1 pizza slices at 2am. I loved the food court hidden at the bottom of the Plaza Hotel.

I went to diners like Katz’ Deli and this old diner on Lexington Avenue, where a soda fountain had stood since the 1930s. One night, unsure of where to go for dinner, we stumbled into an Italian restaurant where the accents were on point and where photos of celebrities lined the walls. A table of noisy patrons, who we later discovered to be firies, told us that this was a place for locals. We were glad to have stopped by. One other evening, we trudged into Balthazar, which I later found to be one of the most popular venues in the Big Apple. It was so perfectly snooty it might as well have been in France. That, and the fact that it was dripping in ambiance. I snuck a visit to the bakery next door and loaded up on tonnes of French treats and pastries to bring back to my room. The Madeleines were moreish. But there was so much more: hot roasted chestnuts, pretzels and hot dogs from side carts, egg creams in diners! Oh and even in the winter, I was obsessed with takeaway lemonade.

On our last day there, my husband and I went to the Ellis Island Migration Museum. It was definitely one of the highlights of my trip, seeing all the people that had made the city and the country what it was immortalised in photos and mementos of their great journeys. I loved spotting Arabs and Europeans by their clothes and their surnames, loved reading about their journey and their yearning for something more prosperous, something bigger, something that was greater than what they were getting. That evening, I got cupcakes and hot cider from Magnolia Bakery, and went back to my hotel room to pack, not wanting to come home.

I ended up missed my flight, but it was worth it.

USA