New York for New Years
25 Jan 2012
Since I was young I’ve always wanted to go to New York for New Years. I’m not entirely sure where this idea came from, but when planning a trip to America this was on the top of my to do list!
Upon arriving in New York we stayed in a hostel/hotel on Broadway, it wasn’t exactly high class living but it was in a good location. I went in Winter (obviously, for New Years), and a word is warning, it’s freezing in New York at Winter. Even colder than London (say what?!). So, while in New York I did most of the main sights: I ferried over to see the Statue of Liberty; went up the Empire State Building; walked 5th Avenue; trekked through Central Park; visited the Apple Store in Grand Central Station; got blinded in Time Square; rode the subway; and visited the 9/11 Memorial.
Walking around New York is a magical experience, it’s exactly how you’d imagine. Everybody where you walk around in Manhattan is surrounded by spectacularly beautiful sky scrapers, and the city has a wonderful atmosphere. It’s something else. I also definitely recommend taking a trip to Central park, it’s surprisingly massive considering how central it is; but I guess it’s all in the name — duh.
So that brings us to actual New Years Eve. For New Years Eve we moved to a fancy hotel. It was easily the nicest hotel I’ve ever stayed in (even if it was just for one night). The room was on the 35th floor with amazing views overlooking Central Park, does it really get much better?
Our plan was to spend New York in Time Square to watch the ball drop. We originally planned to leave the hotel at around 3pm to head to Time Square, but in the end didn’t leave until 4pm. In hindsight it would have been better to go even earlier, but that does mean even more time standing up!
They start closing off the roads pretty early, so when we got there it was getting more and more difficult to cut across to Time Square. We had to walk about 10 blocks away from Time Square just to get through, and this was at 4pm! When we eventually got to the right place we were herding into a pen like sheep, they have pens along the entire road that has a great view of the ball drop and they fill them up as people arrive. In the end we were probably 5 blocks away from the ball drop, but still had a great view.
There was an estimated 1 million people at the ball drop this year, and if you’ve ever wondered what a million people look like, then I highly recommend it. My main thoughts on the subject, very cosy, and lots of accidental groping.
After getting into our pen we were able to settle down, because of the unique situation everybody is much more talkative than they might be usually and I got the opportunity to talk to lots of cool people from all over the US. During the wait we spent a lot of it sitting down on the road, which wasn’t really all that comfortable, but it’s better than standing for the full 7 hours!
To make the time pass a bit quicker, they have a mini-ball drop every hour to celebrate the New Year in the other countries around the world. 7pm was New Years at home, so that one had a few extra cheers from me, along with some iMessages home.
So in all, was it worth it? Standing around for 7 hours for some fireworks? In a word, yes! It was a once in a life time experience, and while I wouldn’t want to do it every year, it was an amazing experience. The atmosphere of 1 million people celebrating New Years together is crazy, but unforgettable.
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