My First Trip to NYC

As sad as this is to admit, going to NYC for work would be my first trip to the Big Apple. Ever.

It’s not that I haven’t wanted to go to NYC in the past. In fact, hubby and I almost went around the holidays last year. There’s no good explanation. It just hadn’t happened…until this year.

I thought it would be fun to share some photos from my first trip to NYC and some easy, tourist things to do in Midtown Manhattan.

My First Trip to NYC

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I left early on a Tuesday morning in January 2016.

I’m not a fan of flying, but I brought a couple things that made the trip more pleasant. I had Eat, Pray, Love on audiobook with Audible (Click here for a Free Trial). And my friend Lindsey had given me mini colored pencils and The Mindfulness Coloring Book: Anti-Stress Art Therapy for Busy People (The Mindfulness Coloring Series)as a gift. I found Elizabeth’s voice very soothing to listen to, and the coloring book was a nice distraction. These were all easily portable, so I’m thinking of bringing them on all future trips.

I was really hoping that I’d be able to see the city from the plane. I had no idea which side to sit on to get a good view, but as luck would have it, I was on the correct one. At least flying into LGA. I actually had a middle seat and couldn’t easily see out of the window. I considered just staying quiet and not worrying about seeing the city from the sky. But I couldn’t resist.

At the risk of sounding like an NYC newb, I asked the gentleman to my left if he could see the city. I had guessed he was a working professional who went to the city all the time and would think I was a silly girl for asking such a basic question. He said he couldn’t see the city yet. But beyond that, to my surprise, he got my attention a few minutes later and pointed out the Statue of Liberty…

…and then the city. What a nice man! The city really is stunning to see as the plane nears the airport. My excitement was really building up now.

Tourist Things to Do in Midtown Manhattan

Since it was my firs trip to NYC, I wanted to hit up some of the more obvious things to do in Midtown Manhattan. It was easy to walk in the middle section of Manhattan to all of these places, if you’re ever in town and want to do some of the more tourist-y things.

I saw the Empire State Building, which as it turns out, is not difficult to see from almost anywhere due to it being so tall. It’s still fun to take pictures of it from different viewpoints. It’s such a beautiful building and even more amazing to see in person.

And since I’d carried on my luggage, I hit up Lush with my co-worker to pick up a couple more toiletries.

I’m working on a blog post for my favorite cold-weather products. It’s a bit late in the season, but maybe it will be helpful for future years too?

There is a TON of shopping in the Herald Square area. In addition to Lush, you can find a lot of the more mainstream favorites: Gap, Victoria’s Secret, Zara, and more. And if you can’t find what you want from the stores lining up and down the streets of this area, there’s another major store to hit up.

We visited Macy’s in search of true winter coats. Although we have Macy’s in Charlotte, this store is special because it’s their flagship store and also the largest in the country. Coats were on the 8th floor, so we took many escalators up. This store really is huge!

The escalators near the upper floors were really cool and looked to be made primarily of wood.

I found many coat options at the top but not the one I wanted. I decided to hold off for now. While I didn’t have a good winter coat, I did have 2-3 different layers I could wear together to give me the warmth and wind-breaking needed to make it through the day and night in NYC in January.

Of course, I also had to go to Times Square. The lights are really something to see in person.

And in the event you didn’t get enough shopping in before, there’s also a lot of shopping in this area too.

Tip: While I typically don’t recommend visiting places when traveling that you have back home, some may be worth peeking in. I’ve seen several NYC-themed products, like these Times Square Mac products. I also picked up some items at the Victoria’s Secret back in the Herald Square area with NYC graphics.

I can see why the locals may prefer to avoid this area. There really are people everywhere, even when the temps are freezing outside. As a visitor, this was still a must-see for me, crowds and all.

Do you take anything special with you on the plane?

What are your favorite things to do in Midtown Manhattan? Any hidden gems I should know about?