Holidays are coming

The flights are booked, I’ve already got my packing list started, and we’re sorting out what things we might do when we get there.

We fly in to New York, and then drive up to Boston for a day or so. Then we have a couple of days to pootle around Cape Cod, Providence, Hartford et al, before we head for Manhattan. A few days in the big apple and then on to Staten Island (for a wedding). So far we’ve got a day at Six Flags booked for some rollercoaster fun, an afternoon of kayaking in the lakes near Cape Cod, and plenty of time to wander and explore the towns we will be staying in before we head for the big apple. Bliss.

I have been in Boston before, I had a day to potter around before an evening flight. I did the duck boat tour along the river, with glorious autumn foliage on a beautiful clear day, I wander the city a little and I’m looking forward to having a bit more time to explore at a more leisurely pace.

I have never been to New York and, the closer it gets, (28 days to go!) the more excited I become.

This building excitement isn’t quite what I expected though, as New York has never really been on a list of places I wanted to visit. I’m not sure why, probably because it kinda feels familiar already, and kinda because it’s a massive city which will be rammed full of tourists and I can’t stand tourists even though I’ll be one too.

Yet as we start to figure out what attractions to visit, what places to eat, and what weird and wonderful things we can try out, I can feel the excitement building. We’ll be visiting Central Park, getting on the NY Subway, blasting down the river to see the Statue of Liberty via speedboat, and crossing the river on the Staten Island ferry. There will be hotdog vendors on the streets. We will visit Katz Deli and I’ll order ‘whatever she’s having’, just like a million tourists before me, there will be Times Square, Madison Square Gardens, pretzels, pastrami on rye (hold the mayo), yellow cabs, and I’ll likely spend most of the time remembering scenes from movies and being amazed by just how big those skyscrapers are.

New York exists in my brain as a fiction, a place only read about, or seen on screen. That is the New York I know and it’s a mish-mash of names and places and cultural references that, the more I think about it, the more it starts to overwhelm and the higher my excitement climbs.

Not only that but this is my first proper holiday in a couple of years, the last was a few days in Barcelona in March 2018.

I cannot wait.