So when I first planned this trip, I knew I wanted to stop in New York as the flights I wanted to take were with Swiss Airlines and the only way to guarantee the new service was out of New York City. Now in saying that, the dates coincided with my birthday, so really, what better way to spend a birthday than in New York City. Sure I would be alone, but hey.. who cares. I am used to being alone and enjoying myself still.

After flying across the country and arriving in New York I was looking forward to just a few days in a room on my own. Some alone time was going to be good, no guilt, no nothing, just pure unadulterated personal space. The hotel I had chosen I had booked so much in advance I had totally forgotten about any of the costs etc and even stopped caring really. But I booked myself to stay at the Element Times Square West. Located just off 8th Ave and West 39th St it was literally like 3 blocks to time square. Location… tick! It was also brand spanking new at the time so even better it was new and was looking damn good. Free Breakfast, Wifi, 24 hour gym and a laundry on site, small kitchenette in the room (the rooms were more like a studio than anything) win freaking win!

The whole hotel was great when I arrived, checked in with ease and while playing on Four Square realised if I checked in at the hotel, I could get 2 bottles of water, saving me a trip to the covience store at 10pm at night. This was getting better and better. The room was much larger than expected and the bed was just soft and dreamy, I was in heaven. I hit the sack pretty quickly after a quick set up of a few things and working out some stuff for the morning. There was one thing I didn’t do, and you will see what.

I set my alarm for 530am, sunrise was meant to be 6am. Why so early? Well I had two mornings in New York. I figured to make the most amount of my time, I would do something I have always wanted to do, run through Central Park. I figured if I did It the first morning or planned to and the weather was crap I still had one more morning. So to maximise time I wanted to be in the park by sunrise. What I forgot though was to fix up my phone to the correct time zone, it was still on Chicago time, one hour before. Woops! So when I woke myself up at what I thought was 5am and saw it was light out, I immediately knew something was a miss. I rolled out of bed, looked at my watch, ah crap! I was now behind. So I jumped out of bed and fled uptown in a cab to 86th Street, where I was to start my run around the Reservoir track.

I have always wanted to make that run and 2 laps around the Reservoir is just over 5k so perfect for me. I ran to my hearts content, seeing so many other people doing the exact same thing. I am sure all the other people running were thinking what a weirdo as I was running with the biggest smile on my face. So big I swear I would hurt myself from the grin. It felt so good to finish that run, hell I could of kept running I was feeling so good!

With the run complete, I jumped back in a Cab to the hotel (was going to the use the subway but didn’t) and back to the hotel where the crazy morning would begin. Todays plans were: Run, Breakfast, Shopping, United Nations Tour, Canal Street Shopping, Crumpler East Village, Chelsea Market to get some lunch, Walk the High Line, A Cup of Disposable French Press Coffee (yes that’s right a plunger in a disposable paper cup) at Foodparc, Then back to the hotel and a Broadway show. But for some reason I checked the Daily Show/Colbert Report Ticket Twitter feed first thing. I don’t know why as I had pretty much given up trying. But low and behold, 4 tickets to Colbert Report, for tonight, released 3 mins prior. GOGOGOGOGO.

I jumped on the chance and I got a ticket! I couldn’t believe it. What a score. So rather than a Broadway Show I was going to Colbert, but since I had to be their earlier, I had to shuffle around a few things like when to eat dinner etc. But no biggy. So I fled off on foot exploring the city to do a bit of shopping (in the process getting myself lost by going way past where I should of) and then heading to the UN building for my tour. As I got there earlier than expected and didn’t get stuck in security, I tried to get on an earlier tour, but they wanted me to buy a new ticket, so I did, what the hell. The Tour was great, got to see the Security Council & General Assembly chambers, post a couple of postcards from the UN and also buy some stamps for my mum. I hiked it back to Grand Central after this, discovered the Central Market (omg the food was amazing looking) and grabbed a “Black and White Cookie” for some nourishment. The B&W is more like a soft cakey kinda cookie with a Chocolate & White icing on it. Yum++ and you can only get them in New York. I jumped on the subway down to Canal St (getting on an express and skipping my station which meant backtracking on a local train 1 stop) and picked up some tacky I <3 NY shirts (my first ones and some as gifts). Then it was off to East Village via 2 subways and to the Crumpler Store. I picked up some stuff there (impulse buying… love it) after checking out the newest store design and just seeing how cheap the bags are overseas. Then the walking began. From Crumpler to my hotel via all the stops was about 3 or 4 miles and I was going to make sure I worked off that nights dinner, my lunch and that cookie. Chelsea market was a damn huge temptation, I was lucky to make it out of there alive I think.

The High Line was amazing (for those that don’t know it is a park built on old raised railway tracks running at present from 10th St to 30th Street in New York. It was a great looking park with heaps of places to sit and relax or just keep going. I enjoyed a bit of lunch under the standard hotel and continued on for my coffee date with Foodparc. After that I hoofed it back to the hotel to go to the Post Office and send home the last of my purchases from that trip via a shopping stop on 34th street. It was a full on day but the fun was sure to come!

When I got up to the Colbert Report taping, I was running a bit behind as it was hard to find a cab at that time of day and probably should of just gone earlier. But I was worried I wouldn’t get a ticket as they oversell the crowd every night and just having a ticket reservation doesn’t guarantee you in the crowd. I was so nervous, using the “its my birthday tomorrow” line to try and get me in. Thankfully I didn’t need to as I got my ticket and after lots of silly photos, lots of hurry up and wait timel, we got into the crowd. It was such a good show I loved it. After the taping a lovely couple I was chatting to in line gave me a Wrist Strong bracelet they had scored during the taping as a birthday gift (thanks whoever you are) and I was over the moon. Wandered Time Square to find some dinner and ended up at a diner with meals that I just could not finish. But the one thing I was looking forward to that night, dessert!

While watching a random food show one day I heard about a place called “Shake Shack” and how they serve an ice cream concoction called a “Concrete” which was meant to be so thick you couldn’t even scoop it. So I just had to try it. I went with the flavour “Jelly’s Last Donut” and it tasted good, but it wasn’t as thick as advertised, I think they ended up leaving it sit for to long before handing it over to me (it was really busy). The sleep that night was well deserved.

Day 2 would bring my birthday, after a work out and breakfast on the run, again more walking after a subway ride. This time I jumped the A train (fastest way to Harlem!) to Brooklyn and was going to Walk Across the Brooklyn Bridge. It was so easy to find and soon enough I was powering it over the bridge, all while trying to complete a challenge set out to me by my coworkers. But to be honest I was so loving every minute and enjoying my birthday I didn’t care. I was wandering uptown to my lunch stop in SoHo via a crumple store (which turned out to be closed) and since I had heaps of time to kill, I did something utterly random.

In San Fran I had seen the “Art of Shaving” and was thinking had I the time, I could of gotten an old school shave and a haircut for like $85… sounds good. Unfortunately I didn’t have the time then, but I thought, I have some time now, why not get a hair cut, I sure did need it, I was looking pretty scraggly. So out came google maps and with a few trusty clicks I was walking to a Hair Salon close by. Unfortunately they couldn’t take me till 1pm (no good) but pointed me in the direction of a few more Salons with the warning that it won’t be cheap. What the hell, I still have USD to burn. So I was walking down the street and saw what looked like a Salon, walked in and after being told a price and that they can take me right then, it was on. What I didn’t realise at the time was that I had just walked into a Celebrity Salon, one that is apparently pretty famous. I even got to meet the owner due to a mix up (almost had him cutting my hair… damn) but what the hell. Awesome if you ask me. It was the most expensive, longest hair cut in my life, but Rayna deserved the $20 tip I gave her on top of the $94 hair cut cost (that’s right total cost of a hair cut $114). But she made me look DAMN GOOD! I was over the moon, looking sexy as, new body, new look, new clothes all in a City on my 30th Birthday… Fuck it!

I hiked it as quick as I could over to my lunch destination “Katz Delicatessen” in East SoHo. It took about 10 mins but I had to get their quickly to avoid the lunch rush, and I did by sheer minutes. I had been told pretty much what to get. Pastrami on Rye with Mustard, Motzah Ball Soup, Potato Kinish & Pickles. I washed it all down with a Seltzer (Soda) Water. It was the most fantastic meal of my time so far. The Pastrami was like nothing I have ever had before, the Kinish light and fluffy and the Motzah Ball… It was like a ball of cloud, floating in a gorgoues broth. I wanted to have it all over again. With that done it was back to the hotel by Subway and then the fun journey was yet to keep going. To the Airport I was bound… but lets leave that for the trip report.