When traveling to New York City, there’s one thing you’ll always come away with. It’s not the minuscule, expensive souvenirs or the numerous shopping bags from Times Square; it’s the priceless experience gained no matter the outcome of one’s trip. Coming back home, preaching about the beautiful city and how amazing it is stems from overall total experience. Every trip has ups and downs, but no one ever truly complains about New York.

We had three consecutive distasteful meals and still came back home, stories and all, feeling more alive and well – yet physically drained and tired – than before. The city lights and atmosphere will suck the life out of you and use it to create the “Ooooh… Aweeeee… Woooow” moments as the crowd walks up onto 47th and Broadway.  You won’t get back the energy, but you’ll get back one hell of a memory.      

We fell victim to being fresh meat, the new tourist crowd for the week, when we bought tickets from a man who promised a “no wait line” for the Empire State Building. We sat in a line for two and a half hours for that same exact line, just to go up 86 stories, take pictures, and come straight back down. On the way up, a foreigner blurted out “I love you” after I told a couple in front of me about my newfound liking for learning to code. My dad made his presence apparent after that comment. We also walked up 6 flights of stairs to the observation deck because the elevator lines got that bad. Did we complain? Of course we did! But after all of that, we left with cold, red faces smiling, saying, “Send me that picture!” and no one complained about any part of it once we left the building. It wasn’t so much about the discomfort, awkward situation, and our annoyance with being stupid enough to buy and trust tickets off the side of the street. We were more endulged and blinded by the experience we possibly won’t ever get again, so the trivial matters that accumulated remained as a minute dilemma.   This happened in two of the four attractions we experienced, as it was the same for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island combo-pack. Still – when debating if we would do it again, differently this time, we’d decline the latter. 

The energy, and positive vibe the city carries with it’s continuous wind chill is breath taking. This is a place where every unfortunate, unexpected “yikes” that is set off, will suddenly become a not-so-bad nuisance in our everyday lives. Instead of taking the bits and pieces like we usually do, New York has a way of keeping those mishaps hidden, and revealing only the complete portrait, free of charge. 

A couple who traveled to New York in search for the "New Years in NYC" experience told us all about what it was like standing in the cold all day just to watch the ball drop. He was amazed as girls threw away expensive Coach and Michael Kors purses that day because without leaving baggage behind and out of the “cow pins” there was nowhere of entry. It was unreal to listen to what people would do just to scratch off a number on the bucket list. “How many times do you get to say you watched the ball drop on Times Square?” the man chuckled as we listened in awe. We questioned everything from his bathroom dilemma to his survival mechanisms without food for that day. All of which was little point to his story, “it was simply amazing.”

New York City has something every city needs. No matter what you do, the overall experience is never surmounted by the weather condition or another’s individual impact on our everyday lives. Instead, a great time derives from the memories taken away; they are an out-of-this-world recollection, reminding you of what an entire week with no complaints feels like: the experience of a lifetime.