The day began early for Belle and I as we woke about 6.30am and couldn’t get back to sleep, so then had to wait for Abi to wake. After bringing breakfast from the French cafe dowstairs back to our room to eat, we left the hotel about 9.45am and took a taxi down to Times Square to join the Hop On, Hop Off Bus tour (included in the New York Pass I purchased before I left home).

The Downtown loop provided commentary on many attractions and we disembarked to book tickets for the 9/11 Memorial museum (would have cost $75 but was free with the NY Pass). My research suggested we would have to book a time, pass some time, and then return for our entry time, but we were at the ticket window at 11.55am, and given access for the 12pm timeslot.

The museum was very moving and especially eye-opening for Belle, who had many questions, but also asked how much longer we would be there an hour in because she was overwhelmed with the emotion of it. The video presentations about the World Trade Centre victims she found especially difficult as phtotos were shared on screen while their loved ones talked about them. We stepped outside into the sun and reflecting pool, and went from there into Westfields next door for lunch of prepacked salads.

From there we walked over to view the New York Stock Exchange and Wall Street, and then on to the Trinity Church to see the graves of Alexander and Eliza Hamilton. We then hopped back onto the bus for the remainder of the tour and returned to Times Square. We considered doing the Uptown Loop of the tour, but didn’t feel we had enough time, so shopped for souvenirs and M&Ms at the famous M&Ms store, and headed back to our hotel.

There we freshened up and changed and went back to the Theater District to see a musical. I overplanned and underachieved for today! I was hoping to do a lot more in the financial district, like walk Brooklyn Bridge and visit Battery Park and cruise past the Statue of Liberty, but there were just not enough hours in the day!

The girls grabbed a small nugget meal and chips at McDonald’s for dinner as we didn’t have much time to think about that before the show started at 7pm. We saw ‘Hadestown’, a musical about Orpheus and Eurydice, chosen because we happened to watch the Tony Awards when they won several awards. It was excellent, with good relevant messages for today.

We then took Belle down to the Times Square steps (holding our bags very tightly in the crowds of people!) to show her all the buzz and billboards at night. Interestingly, the stairs were blocked off by a row of policemen standing guard.

In the Playbill given out at the show (for free! Not like in Sydney…) they offered something free at Hershey’s World with any purchase, so Belle being a good consumer requested a milkshake as we happened upon the store. McD’s and Hersheys for dinner…..lucky we had salads and fruit salad for lunch!

That title is a Taylor Swift song reference for all my friends back home sitting in an online queue to buy concert tickets 😉 but also relevant as we arrived at 7.20am at JFK airport. A driver (airport transfers were organised by the travel agent) was waiting to take us into the city, which took over an hour with all the traffic.

Our room wasn’t ready when we arrived (check-in isn’t officially until 3pm but we just thought we would ask if they would mind our luggage), so we decided to walk off our jet lag and explore our near surroundings. We walked through Riverside Park (home of many Law & Order scenes, which Belle asked me to stop referencing because I was scaring her that she might find a body or part thereof hidden in the greenery haha).

We enjoyed the walk and ended up walking north for over an hour, when we ended up at Columbia University. They had several open day type events happening, and there were many parent and young adult combinations exploring the uni and their future study options, so we looked like we fit right in! It is a beautiful campus, and I will look for an online course to do there when I get home – especially after buying a couple of uni-branded souvenirs 😉

We headed back to our accommodation via Broadway, so that Abi could get a photo outside a cafe called “Tom’s Restaurant”, and we could also get a photo outside The Belnord Apartments (exterior used to film the location of the Arconia, a fictional apartment block in “Only Murders in The Building” starring Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez). We were so exhausted from all our walking by then, that we stopped in a cafe Abi found called “Joe & The Juice”. We shared a toasted chicken and avocado sandwich and an acai bowl between us to power us to keep us going. We then spent over half an hour in a Barnes & Noble bookstore, and Abi has some photos to send to her work group chat. That was only five blocks from our accommodation, so we returned just before the official check-in time.

Once in the room, we congratulated each other on not only surviving the day but getting to see and do some interesting things, and took turns showering (not having had one since we left home on Tuesday evening!) and unpacking. When Abi came out of the bathroom, she found Belle and I had both given in and fallen asleep! So she sensibly set an alarm and decided to rest for an hour too. Once that alarm broke our slumber, we decided to head in a different direction and find something for dinner before dark. We walked in the direction of Central Park (which Belle will also not go near at nighttime because of all the Law & Order episodes I’ve seen), and came across a Shake Shack facing the Museum of Natural History. We then headed back to our hotel as the sun started to set.

I feel quite safe in this neighbourhood, but of course we are still being aware. We intended to spend some time resting our weary legs, sorting photos and updating our travel diaries, but as I type both girls have fallen asleep at 10pm with all the lights still on. We have had a beautiful day together exploring an area of Manhattan which we didn’t pre-plan. The only issue so far is slow internet connectivity, so today’s post comes without photos as they are taking a long time to load to the icloud! I will hopefully be able to revise this post to add some tomorrow.

After months of planning, the day finally arrived. We had dinner at the airport with Ross, Jarrod and Isaac and my dad., and then said our goodbyes. Ross is usually randomly chosen to be “bomb checked” whenever we travel by air, but today it was Belle’s turn! She was horrifed.

Our flight to Hawaii left on time at 9.40pm and was happily uneventful. Both Abi and Belle had trouble sleeping though, while I think I managed five hours on and off. After going through customs, the departure board told us we would be travelling to New York from a gate in the A terminal, so we headed there to change into summer clothes, freshen up and wait for the next flight. There was not a lot choice for lunch, so we chose a chicken ceasar salad in a self-serve little supermarket to share. As Abi went to refill our water bottles, she noticed the departure board said we were departing from terminal C!! No announcement had been made so we were very thankful she noticed the change, as that terminal was a good 10+ minute fast walk to find.

Belle found Hawaii to be very welcoming and photo-worthy, as her pic out the plane window shows. She is looking forward to returning. Sleep was even more difficult to achieve on the second nine-hour flight, so we decided to just accept it and reduce our expectations of what we did once we arrived in NYC.

And so we are (finally) off again! Abi and I are heading to New York City tomorrow on her 18th/end of HSC trip, which has turned into a 21st trip as well given it is three years since we began planning for this! And Belle has scored herself a tag-along because she looked so forlorn at the thought of us going without her.

The sisters ten years apart – during the planning of our first family holiday to the USA, and planning the second!