ITINERARY
November 2015 - 5 days @ Bryant’s Apartment, in Brooklyn
February 2018 - 6 days with Daniel (#ValentinesDay) @ Shertaon Tribeca (my favorite area!!!)
July 2019 - 3 days with my best college roomies Yu & Caressa
+ SO many business trips here, too many to list
HIGHLIGHTS
Visiting Columbia Business School -- it was such a beautiful school and I immediately fell in love with it
Seeing so many friends in New York no matter which time I go. NYC has truly become home to so many treasured friends.
Going bar hopping with Benson (+ Benson’s hometown friends), Caroline, Bryant, and Tanya.
Second time around seeing JZ, Mich, Caressa, Caro, Tanya Kang, Bryant.
Spending time with my college roommates, when we came before I left for China.
Eating really good food. I know I have this as a highlight in almost all my blogs —- but who doesn’t go to New York and NOT eat?
New York style pizza is my favorite and thin crust makes me swoooon. Daniel and I went on this rampant and tried pizza everyday (my god) and below I ranked the pizza’s I liked in the order I liked them best (but they are seriously all true winners!!!!)
Rubirosa -- introduced me to vodka sauce pizza and oh my it made me wonder why does not pizza uses vodka sauce (cream based tomato sauce)?! Out of all places, the crust was the thinnest and crispiest here.
Juliana’s -- perfect for those wanting to try half and half of white and margherita style pizza.
Prince Street Pizza does sicilian style (fluffy square cut) pizza right! Famous for their spicy spring (aka pepperoni square), their pepperoni was crispy and so flavored.
Artichoke Pizza -- (we had artichoke and crabmeat) both were delicious, but also really heavy. Stop by a joint near the highline for a true NYC experience.
Joe’s Pizza -- Quality slice for $3.50! Throw on oregano, parmesan and chili pepper flakes— fold that baby in half and BOOOM you got yourself an authentic NY pizza.
Fast fooding' it at Xi’An Famous Foods. Famous for hand-pulled noodles and dumplings. Throw lots of spicy oil sauce on every dish here, and you will be thoroughly satisfied. This is the restaurant I will miss most in NY, and will cry tears of happiness if this ever moves to SF.
Starting my morning right with some bagels and coffee.
Russ & Daughters -- smoked fish and scallion cream cheese
Coffee Project -- smooth nitro coffee
Desserts for the sweet tooth in me.
Big Gay Ice Cream is worth the hype… and every lick
Eileens Famous Cheesecake was featured on worth it, and was worth my $3.50.
Eating Momosan Ramen & Sake on a cold winter night.
Stumbling my way home to find late night drunchies.
Empanada Mama -- late night empanadas.
Halal Guys -- somehow ended up eating (and spilling) all of this in Tanya's hotel room one night.
Having fun with NYC's poppin' nightlife.
The Press Lounge -- a bar with a pool where you can see the whole highline
BEA bar -- awesome faux outdoor vibes while still being indoors
KTown -- has the cheapest drinks by far in Manhattan
Going to Speakeasys galore!
Raines Law Room made some of the best drinks I’ve had (lavender egg white yummm) and was just down right SEXY.
Little Branch and relaxing in the lounge there with Daniel and some of his friends from college (Chris, Winne, Stephanie, and Anthony).
Amazing museums that I could easily spend days browsing through
MOMA: Free on Friday's. Great to catch Van Gogh’s Starry Night and my personal favorite The Olive Trees. Also has one of the largest sized Monte’s Water Lillies that span across three walls.
MET: (choice based donation) to see collections of art from around the world (my grandfather’s work was even featured once!) and has one of the largest collections of Monte’s Water Lillies (a full room).
9/11 Memorial Center: Such a well made museum (Robert Deniro does the audio voice over :O )! Recommend bringing headphones for the audio app. I think 9/11 Memorial Center was touching and in my opinion a true must see. It made me feel proud to be American, gave me new respect for our brave fire fighters and police officers, and most importantly reminded me of the resilience of the human spirit.
Catching Broadway shows. I’ve gotten a chance to see Phantom of the Opera with my parents, Peter Pan with Caressa, and Wicked with Daniel!
Pro tip: If you aren’t set on going on a certain date, best advice is to download Gametime and wait an hour or two before the tickets come out, and you can get great tickets for a cheap price. I got Orchestra Center seats for Wicked for $73!
Walking through Central Park in rare 70 degree weather in February, and feeling as if I was a cast in Little Manhattan
Heading up to the top of the Empire State Building (often times I don’t think paying $ to see views at the top of buildings are worth it) but this one totally is and is very iconic. Recommend coming here at dusk to catch both the sunrise and night view.
Walking through Chelsea Highline– I really appreciated this work of art, and even though most of the shrubs was dead it’s still very cool.
Getting to see Uber NYC office. LOVE working at Uber and one of the best parts is being able to see new offices and meet people from around the world.
Shopping in SoHo! No sales tax on clothes and shoes under $110… need I say more?
Statue of Liberty is BEAUTIFUL, and I honestly recommend making the trip to see it in person (and not just on the ferry). Go early and reserve tickets online (wait was less than 30 minutes) and on a sunny day it has a beautiful view of the NYC skyline. Enjoyed pedestal access for an extra $7 and gave a unique view of the city. (Though I will say they REALLY need to revamp the logistics behind Statue of Liberty).
Traveling through New York on public transit. Spent the whole time walking or on public transit (even in snowing / rainy weather!!!). If hitting up NYC for more than 5 days recommend buying unlimited 7 day pass for $32! (And at a single ride being $2.75 it is worth it!!!!)
Watching Todd Barry at Comedy Cellars. Make reservations and enjoy a fun comedy show (sit at front two rows at our own will). Two order minimum per person, but not bad– paid $45/ person for a drink, food, and cover cost to get in!
Walking through Oculus. Not much too see, but a fun sight to see.
Going to BBDO's Party. Thanks Bryant for taking Caressa and I.
Taking a sunset boat tour, absolutely beautiful and one of the highlights on a hot summer night!
lowlights
Getting sick towards the tail end of the trip and having Caressa buy me advil as I laid on Bryant’s couch.
Insane prices (and I’m from SF so I’m used to outrageous prices) but who pays $17 for a bagel?! (Re: Russ and Daughters Cafe– next time I’m going to opt for just the grocery mart instead)
Gershwin Theatres being behind on the times. Print out your ticket ahead of time because they don’t accept mobile tickets. (Found this out 10 min before it was about to start, ran to USPS to print and that uncomfortable rush was just meh.)
Not booking ahead of time for Statue of Liberty. Wanted to climb to the top of Statue of Liberty and peep through the crown but tickets were all sold out.
Go City Cards are NOT worth it! Daniel and I paid $86 for three attractions (Moma retailed at $25 or you could go free on Fridays, Statue of Liberty retailed $18, and Empire State Building retail $34) overall not worth it, and you’re better off buying the tickets online so you don’t have to wait at willcall to pick up the tickets.
Getting stuck or left behind on the ferry for Statue of Liberty!!! Ques could really work better at Statue of Liberty, and ferry connecting from Statue of Liberty to Ellis Island cut us off so we had to wait another 40+ minutes to get to Ellis Island. All in all JUST seeing Statue of Liberty was a four hour ordeal, while worth not sure if I will be back there…
for next time
Bunch of food that I never got to try…Magnolia Bakery for banana bread pudding, Levaine’s for chocolate chip cookies, Two Red Robins for cheesecake and cupcakes.
Musuems to visit: Guggeinheim and Cloisters (far north)
