Travel Diary: Fall in NYC 🍂🍃

The city that never sleeps.

The Big Apple.

The concrete jungle.

NEW YORK CITY. Fall is my favorite season [unfortunately sometimes Chicago likes to skip over this sweater weather] and this time I decided to travel to the city that has over eight million people and counting. Scorpio season is in full effect and this year I wanted to take a solo birthday trip and spend one week in NYC!

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Something I told myself I wanted to try at least once was to travel somewhere by myself. I've heard stories from a couple of my friends and have seen different posts from followers on social media about picking a destination on a map and traveling solo. I figured the perfect time to try this was last month for my birthday as a treat to myself and I'm honestly so glad that I did it!

Besides loyalty and passion, one of the other main characteristics of scorpios is independence. Ever since I was little, I've always been a super independent person, so naturally traveling by myself turned out to be a huge success. I actually visited New York once before about six years ago for a conference held by a national organization, Her Campus, that I was fortunate to be the president of my senior year of college. I actually didn't 100% enjoy my first trip to NYC, so this time around I was glad to have had a much better experience.

New Yorkers - there is definitely something special about your city. Being a city girl myself, I'm accustomed to living in a place with a lot of people, having a surplus of choices when it comes to food and entertainment, and unfortunately expensive stores and high city taxes. Either way, I had such a fun time and would definitely be up for visiting again in the future.

I spent about four days total in NYC and actually accomplished exactly what I wanted to do and see. One of the major benefits of traveling solo is being able to do what you want the entire trip. I wasn't constricted by time or money or stuck discussing which tourist destination to visit next. While NYC is huge I didn't see it all, BUT I did hit all the spots and things I wanted to do while I was there.

Continue reading below for all the touristy things I did during my NYC trip such as where I stayed, what I ate [hint: involves plenty of dessert destinations due to my huge sweet tooth], and where I visited. Hopefully this inspires and encourages anyone who's ever thought of traveling solo to just buy that plane ticket, get that airbnb, and just take off! ✈️🌎

WHERE I STAYED...

Manhattan | New York City

Hotel Pennsylvania - right across Madison Square Garden

The best thing about this hotel is the location. I was able to literally walk everywhere [I'm a runner, so I don't mind walking all day].

PLACES I VISITED...

The Vessel

Hudson Yards

Central Park

Brooklyn Bridge

Dumbo

World Trade Center

9/11 Memorial Site

Soho

KITH

Bryant Park

New York Public Library

Rockefeller Center

WHERE I ATE...

Cha Cha Matcha - because I'm obsessed with all things matcha

Bouchon Bakery

Chelsea Market - Lobster Place

Joe's Pizza

Levain Bakery

Dominique Ansel Bakery - known for the famous 'cronuts'

KITH - I mainly went for the cereal blended ice cream