NYC and Usagi

Feb 1, 2020

First solo trip?

Since this was still relatively fresh on my mind, why don't I talk about the first time I visited New York to meet a friend of mine?

January 31

5:00 PM

I was a bit anxious at this point to be completely honest. Two things were at play here. I've been to places with family, I've been to places with friends, and I've been to places with teams I've been on, but I haven't really done too much traveling solo. It was the first time I'd ride an airplane by myself to a place I've only heard about and never been in. Not only that, but I was meeting someone for the first time (in person). Granted, I've known them, who I'll call Usagi from here on out, for a very long while already but something about actually meeting someone beyond the screen gave me butterflies in my stomach.

Regardless, I couldn't stop there. I've already spent the last few weeks debating on what to do, where to go, and what things to maybe talk about. We even ended up with a plan to schedule out our little day together (which I thank them for planning a whole lot).

My silly self didn't even bother with taking a day off, so I just planned on working from home and leaving a bit early. Around 5 o'clock, my brother drove me to the airport and hung out for a bit until it was time for me to depart.

6:30 PM

At this point I was on the plane about to depart to New York City's LaGuardia airport.

I was feeling pretty lucky too because there was a vacant seat next to me. I didn't have to deal with wrestling with someone about an armrest or anything. As soon as the plane took off I settled in, put my headphones on and hit play on my phone.

10:30 PM

I reach LaGuardia in one piece, sorta. At this point my ears were pretty clogged. I remember exiting the plane but having a bit of a hard time hearing much. Earlier this week I started getting a bit sick and in hindsight, I probably should have taken care of myself a bit better. Funny enough, Usagi was also feeling under the weather a few days earlier too. Coincidence?

As I get accustomed to walking again after sitting down for a few hours straight, I pull out my phone and send a quick message to the person I was going to meet tomorrow that I've arrived. We were planning on meeting that day but figured it was late and we'd meet tomorrow instead. I've never been in this airport before and being a rather late arrival, most of the airport's amenities were already closed. I pulled out my phone and opened the Lyft app. They were having a promo where I got a higher cash back with my card from using that service vs. Uber so I figured I'd take advantage of it.

As I was sort of following the signs marked Rideshare, I received a call from Usagi. They were wondering where I was, if I had a ride ready to take me to the hotel I booked, and if I was feeling hungry. I kinda just told them "Yeah, I just landed. I'm about to call an Uber. Trying to figure out where to go." I remember them sounding worried I might get lost, but I assured them that I'll be fine. They also asked if I wanted anything for dinner since it was getting late and I just said I was fine with anything. At this point, although I had my hotel booked, I didn't have a room assigned yet. This doesn't deter Usagi and they end up ordering food delivered to the hotel with a note saying I'm just about to check in and to leave it at the front desk.

Not too long afterwards, I get in my ride and start driving towards my hotel. Part of me wanted to talk to them, just to make small talk and maybe get to know about New York a tiny bit, but my ears were still not working properly so I figured I'd just stay quiet and look at the views.

As we were on the road I couldn't help but keep thinking, "Wow, these drivers are a bit different." Being born in Chicago, I've gotten used to the typical Chicago traffic, but New York traffic was a bit different. I was thinking about renting a car when I got here but I ended up being satisfied I didn't have to drive at all. Besides, we already had plans on getting around and having to find parking and all that jazz would just be more effort than it's worth.

Not too far from the hotel, I get a phone call. It turns out the GrubHub delivery person was at the hotel a bit early, and was asking which room I was in. I tell them to just leave it at the reception but they don't quite understand. I end up talking to one of the receptionists and just told them that I was still on my way and that I would pick it up when I check in.

11:10 PM

I just asked to get dropped off at the corner of 8th Ave. and 40th St. When I was planning which hotel I wanted, I figured I'd go somewhere nice at least. I ended up picking a DoubleTree near Times Square, and it was pretty awesome. It was still a ways away from the main square with all those bright lights, but it still had a NY vibe to it.

A minute or so later, I see the DoubleTree and walk right in. There were about two or three receptionists with a short line in front of each so I had to wait a bit. Eventually, it was my turn and I told them my name and they gave me my room card and two cookies. There was supposed to be a bottle of water too but they ran out. Before I leave, I ask the receptionist, "Oh hey, did someone leave a food delivery here?" Sure enough, my dinner was waiting on the counter. It turns out the same person who I talked to on the phone was the same person I was talking to. What are the odds?

I take the elevator up to my room and remember seeing the control panel in the elevator with around 30 or so buttons. "Huh, interesting.". I hit the button labeled 24 and wait until the elevator came to a stop on the 24th floor.

I enter my room feeling pretty tired. At this point it was almost 11:30 PM and I was just able to relax now. I set down my dinner on the desk and explore the room a tiny bit. I've heard that rooms in NY were on the small side and this hotel room was no exception. It was basically just a bed, a window, a closet, a small desk, and the bathroom. Compared to hotels I've been inside in Chicago and Iowa, this one was on the smaller end. I peek outside the window and see a pretty good view outside. I guess that extra few dollars for a premium scenic high level room was worth it. I send a quick group text message to my two brothers that I've landed at NY and got to my hotel safely, and begin to focus my attention on the food on my table.

At first glance, it looked like there was a lot of food. As soon as I opened the bag, I realized there was a lot of food. Geez, Usagi. I didn't think you'd go all out. Usagi ordered food from The Kunjip. If I recall correctly it was an order of the Hae Mool Pajun, a seafood pancake, and some soup, Galbi Tang. After all that traveling, it was a pretty good meal to end the day, though I didn't really end up finishing either. At this point I couldn't help but think, Oof, I'll have to get back at them at later for getting me all this good food... but they keep insisting on paying for a lot, ahh! We've already said goodnight at this point so I just leave a picture of the food with a message, "You're probably asleep but 감사합니다". I think that's what thank you is... or at least what a late night Google Translate tells me.

After taking a few big bites of late dinner, I sit down on the bed and take out my phone. It's getting pretty late but that sick feeling's getting a bit worse. It's closer to midnight now and I start wondering if I should go to a pharmacy to get some cold medicine now or just get it in the morning. I sort of regret not going then cause my sleep was pretty much non-existent, but I was still able to function somehow.

February 1, 2020

3:00 AM

I end up waking in the middle of the night. Ears are still wonky but whatever. I tried all the suggestions but for some reason I couldn't get it to pop properly. I saw somewhere that if you were sick it might be harder to pop it. At that point all I could do was give a heavy sigh and put my phone away again. Everything's going to be alright.

6:00 AM

Fighting off a cold, I search for the local pharmacy again and plan my morning. I take a quick picture of my hotel room number in case I get lost and put on my coat.

Now, I'm pretty used to the city life. I've been in an internship where I was temporarily located in a small city and that was much different than what I was comfortable with. NY was luckily much closer to the Chicago life that was I used to. Even at this early-ish time, there were still people out and about. I set Google Maps to a Walgreens not too from my hotel and take my first real step out in NY.

Of course, since I was near Times Square already, I figured I might as well go to the one pretty much in TImes Square. I don't recall paying attention to all those bright signs the night before but even at 6 in the morning I remember seeing all those lights dazzle me.

While I walk around, I can't help but keep looking at my surroundings. Minus the trash scattered on the street, it was pretty much like back home. Scaffolding here, jaywalkers over there, people loitering around, it felt like Chicago slapped with a NY sticker on it.

I buy a bottle of Dayquil, a smoothie drink and a bag of cough drops. Man, I had so many cough drops that day. Sorry, Usagi, for having to deal me like this... Funny thing is, it doesn't look like they ID those kinds of purchases in NY. I was ready to pull out my drivers license but to my surprise, they just rang it up like a bar of candy and told me how much I owed. I also ended up buying a gift bag for the present that I've been lugging around. "Hah, I hope they like it." On the way back, I see a bunch of other people also taking a picture of the bright lights. I wanted to join them but figured I'd just go on my merry way avoiding looking like a tourist as much as possible.

Fast forward a bit longer and now that I've drank something, I got a good sip of cough medicine. I would do pills but alas, I can't exactly swallow pills. Some kind of weird gag reflex.

I get a nice "Morning!" message and chat up Usagi while I mentally wake up a bit more. When they asked, "Did you sleep?", I couldn't help but chuckle a bit. I reply with a halfhearted "A bit" to which they respond with "Is that enough lol". Meh, "I'll survive :)". I didn't really have the heart to tell them then and there "Uhm, I had like 2 hours of sleep." thanks to my watch that I had on the whole time.

As I begin to rest for a bit, I get a message saying that Usagi was arriving earlier than expected. I told them I was going to take a shower and figured I was going to be a tad bit late.

It turns out it was a bit more than a tad bit late. Looking back at my message history I made them wait closer to 30 minutes. Uh-oh, not a good first impression there.

The elevator ride down took a non-negligible time too. The entire hotel looked like it only had two elevators and at peak times those elevators would be packed. We stopped around 10 floors on the way down and near the bottom we would just stare at the people waiting to get in with the "sorry, you can't fit in here" face on.

8:45 AM

A few minutes until I meet Usagi for the first time. I end up kind of lost at the hotel lobby but luckily after a quick call Usagi comes to my rescue. I'm a bit nervous at this point but I figured I'd try to keep my cool as much as possible while I grabbed some breakfast. I don't think it quite worked cause I could hear my voice subtly peak every now and then. I don't quite remember what we talked about but at some point Usagi presents a box of chocolates. Inside, I can't help but think "Aww! I should've added chocolates to my gift too!". I tell Usagi I appreciate the gift but held off on giving them their gift since it was still upstairs and I was planning on giving it at the end of the day. Although getting progressively more anxious, I just end up blaming it on how I was feeling a bit under the weather that day.

About an hour later, we prepare to leave for our first destination. Before we left, Usagi suggested I also bring my meds so I can take some along the way. Later at the end of the day when I look at my heart rate reading I ended up peaking quite high after first meeting Usagi. Haha, literally making my heart beat fast right there. 😓

10:00 AM

We walk for a while and reach our first destination, Kinokuniya, a book store that focuses on Japanese culture. We browse through the collection of books and figures and note some that we've both either read or watched before. In a display case I see a figure that I was considering on getting back in Chicago when I was at a different Kinokuniya, but decided against getting it. We see the manga section and I pick up a copy of Horimiya and show it to Usagi. We were both pretty big fans of that series and decide to take a quick picture. Usagi mentions a few other titles that catch their eye and how some they preferred some titles over others. It turns into a discussion about magical girls at some point and after seeing a Sailor Moon wand, I couldn't help but to take a picture of me doing a magical girl transformation.

We pass by a section full of Weathering With You merchandise. One of the things we planned to do today was to watch that movie together, so I jokingly pick up a copy of the novel with me and tell Usagi that I'd get it. I should've expected it but Usagi takes the book from me and ends up buying it for me. Ahhh that's the second time!

11:00 AM

Our next destination was Central Park. We figured it was one of the staple places to go while visiting NY and planned to spend some time around there before grabbing lunch. I'm not one for much pictures but since I was the visitor in this case, Usagi was pretty quick to take pictures of me. I couldn't complain.

Before leaving the Central Park area, we stopped by a mall on the southwest corner. We didn't really have any specific stores we wanted to go to but we ended up stopping by a Papyrus store since it looked like they were closing. They had these animated decorations that were pretty pleasing to look at but I didn't want Usagi to buy my anything else so I just admired them. Besides, I wouldn't have a good place to display these anyways. Unsurprisingly enough there was also an Amazon Books store in that mall. They also had other random popular items in addition to the plethora of books on display. Usagi notices an air fryer and ended up talking about how they really like the one they had at home. "Maybe I should try buying one." I remark. I've thought about it before but never really thought about seriously getting one. Maybe after seeing Usagi talk about it I would re-consider.

12:15 PM

Usagi reserved a lunch table for us at Her Name is Han. Their menu was pretty simple and a lot of the things looked pretty good so I settled for something safe, an order of grilled bulgogi. Most of the customers were Korean and I'm totally not Korean but I am Asian, so it was pretty disappointing that they didn't ask me in Korean first. I guess I'm used to Chinese places that I've been to with friends where they assumed we spoke Mandarin or Cantonese and talked to us until we awkwardly responded in English.

As I eat my lunch combo, Usagi keeps encouraging me to eat. They were really concerned about me not eating enough, but fortunately it was enough for them to see me finish my main course. Of course, the veggie side took a bit more convincing to finish, but I think regardless if I was sick or not, that would be the last to go. The bulgogi was pretty good though. Maybe it's because I was still pretty sick at the time and was coughing every now and then. Luckily this was slightly before the Coronavirus pandemic so it didn't attract to much stares but still I wanted to more or less apologize for being sick. Not too long later, we grab our things and carry on to our next destination.

2:30 PM

I guess it's about time I talk about the primary way we got around: the subway. I've been used to the Chicago equivalent but the NY one was... different. The biggest change would probably be the sheer amount of train connections in Manhattan.

Usagi pre-planned all of the travel routes beforehand because they were worried we'd get lost. I tried to assure them that we'd be fine, though that comes with the assumption that our phones wouldn't just die in the middle of the day.

Around this time, we get to 9/11 Memorial. Apparently it was also Usagi's first time there and I kind of felt bad after going because it was a pretty somber place full of emotions. While walking around the memorial and looking at the remaining fragments of the structure, I couldn't help but wonder if Usagi needed a hug to cheer them back up but they did mention they were okay. ❤ Apologies! but I don't necessarily regret going there. I think it was a pretty emotional experience that's worth going at least once. Thinking back now while writing this, I can still hear the voice overs of victims of that tragic day and how everyday life was forever changed.

4:00 PM

We've been walking around quite a bit and I could tell Usagi was getting a bit tired. As we waiting for the subway to depart, Usagi mentioned which station we'd be getting off of and that they were going to rest for a bit. I affirm with them that I'd watch out for our stop and let them take a break. I take out another cough drop and watch the scenery pass by. MTA trains are so much wider than the trains the CTA uses. I was kind of jealous to be honest.

Around 4:00 PM we reach Madame Tussauds. When I heard we were going to a wax museum, I was thinking candles for some reason. I didn't really research any more but Usagi was pretty much determined that it was worth going here, and boy was I in for a surprise.

It turns out it was indeed a wax museum, a museum filled with accurate wax sculptures of famous people, and wow - some of those really looked real. It also had other random funny areas like one that morphed your face into something else. Usagi had a kick out of that one.

That experience was totally worth it. To be fair, I would have never considered it if I was the one planning it but thankfully Usagi was the one planning it and kudos to them for picking a great attraction. 👍 We had some time to burn before dinner so we stop by a Starbucks for a few minutes. At this point, both of us are getting a bit tired so a sit down was greatly appreciated.

5:30 PM

Dinner time! And oh man, Usagi one upped me once again. Dinner was at a place called Ootoya and it was packed. Apparently they only take reservations during the afternoon and in the evening it was a waiting game. Our time slot was the last reservable time of the day and I could totally understand why Usagi wanted to meet our reservation time. Within a few minutes, we were seated and we got around to picking our menu.

I think the drink we got was the Hot Lychee drink and it was pretty good. I've been kind of craving it since, but I'll have to figure out either a way to replicate it or to find a similar drink some other time. We also got a bunch of food yet again, but this time I was a bit closer to actually finishing my portion. I didn't even realize my hair was all messed up but hey who cares, the food was delicious.

We had some time before the last event of the day so we walked around Times Square for a bit.

Now that the sun's gone, the signs around TImes Square is much more prominent. You start wondering how people are used to all these lights. At least there's no street lights, I suppose? Before we leave for the movies, we grab a few more pictures.

6:45 PM

Alas, we've hit our final waypoint. Weathering with You was still showing in a few theaters and we decided we'd watch it together in person since neither of us has seen it before.

In hindsight, I should have realized that $26 for a ticket didn't sound like a normal movie theater price, but I sort of just assumed that was the tax of watching something in NY. Little did I know that that movie experience would be truly unique in its own sense. I think Usagi was as surprised as I was but I think we both enjoyed it. Funny enough, right after we watched the movie it started raining on the way back home. Coincidence again?

I've talked about this before but the tickets we got was for a full 4DX experience. With flashing lights, water sprays and tilting chairs, I was amazed I still was able to concentrate on watching the movie. I'd totally recommend y'all try it once if you're interested.

8:00 PM

Nothing gold can stay.

At this point we were pretty exhausted from rolling around and getting splashed by water so both of us probably just wanted to lie down in a soft comfy bed at this point.

Before I forget, I ask Usagi to come back to the hotel real quick as I had something to give them. I go back to my room and pick up the gift bag I got earlier that day with a Sailor Moon mug inside and a card that I hastily wrote after I took a shower that morning. I don't really even remember what I wrote, but I think I apologized for being sick and then thanked them for being an awesome person.

I didn't exactly want to say goodbye just then so I grabbed my umbrella and told Usagi I'd walk them to the bus station which was conveniently (or not) just across the street. They were probably concerned I'd get even more sick if I go out while it's drizzling but I didn't mind. I've known Usagi for like what... several years at that point? I wasn't going to let rain stop me from spending a few more minutes together.

I end up grabbing a parfait at the bus station because why not. I want to spend a bit more time but the day is nearing it's end and Usagi still had to go home. I kinda wish I stayed for another day or so but oh wells. I figured I can always go back depending how this first visit went. (and then the pandemic happened, but that's another story...)

It was a very fun Saturday. I can still vividly remember parts of it a few months later. Luckily I was able to visit before this pandemic hit, otherwise it would have been a bit harder. I would totally visit again if I am able to. ❇

I think I've opened up more to the idea of traveling alone ever since then. I've also expressed interest in maybe doing another trip by myself somewhere one of these days. Sometimes, even if you don't have a destination, it doesn't matter. Just partaking in that experience is all you need. Then you can figure out your own steps along the way.

10:30 PM

As I recall the events that happen throughout the day, Usagi sends a copy of all of the pictures they took throughout the day. They also mention, "And sorry I couldn't help much with expenses". Ahh! You've done so much already silly. This whole day was special because of you. Thanks for spending your weekend with me and making all these memories. It's definitely something I won't be forgetting any time soon.

February 2, 2020

7:30 AM

I head out early to make sure I don't miss my flight back home. On the ride back to LaGuardia, we run into a traffic jam but luckily our driver was still able to get us there on time. After getting through security, I stop by an Au Bon Pain and grab a sandwich and orange juice for breakfast. I stop by the gift shop to get a NY magnet as well as a souvenir. Then there was some waiting until we were ready to depart.

Armed with a warm fuzzy feeling and about 10 more cough drops, I did the only thing left to do that day. I relaxed in my seat, put my headphones on and hit play again until I landed back in Chicago.