This photo of Manhattan Skyline is courtesy of TripAdvisor
A new month means a new bloggers' link up with Runaway Kiwi, Adventures of a London Kiwi and 80 Pairs of Shoes and this time the topic is what was THE moment you needed to pinch yourself on your travels.
Now with the risk of sounding blase, the more you travel, the fewer these moments get. So for my travel pinch me moment I have to travel back in time. For me it happened in New York City. It wasn't really a holiday and it wasn't even the first time I was in the Big Apple, but it sure counts as a 'pinch me moment'.
In 2001 I left Amsterdam to live and work in New York as a rep for a touroperator. The company had put me and my co-workers up in an apartment in Astoria, just across the East River from Manhattan. My daily commute usually consisted of a subway ride to and from work, but my first night out turned into a late one I decided to take a cab home.
Now normally a tax ride home after a night of cocktails is nothing to write a blog post about, but this one took me across the Queensboro Bridge that links the island of Manhattan with Long Island. The ramp onto the bridge is hidden between towering high-rises on 59th street and when you ascend the bridge here it almost feels like your soaring between the tower blocks. The minute we hit the top level of the bridge I turned around and watched the most famous skyline in the world grow wider and wider. I sat there back to front in the backseat in that cab till we turned off the bridge into Long Island City and the skyline disappeared behind Queens' urban sprawl.
This photo of Manhattan Skyline is courtesy of TripAdvisor
But really, if I'm honest, my 'pinch me moment' should actually be plural as I probably took that ride about a hundred times and every single time I would turn around in my seat and take in that view. For as long as I was living in Queens that taxi ride home never got old.
I love that your pinch myself moment was really one that you got to experience over and over again when you were living there. That is so wonderful that it never got old. Best part about seeing the world! x
ReplyDeleteIsn't it! :-)
ReplyDeleteWow wow wow...I've been to NYC a couple of time but have never seen it look so beautiful!
ReplyDeleteLove Runawaykiwi
Yes, these pics are pretty awesome. Wish they were mine! ;-)
DeleteThat is so cool, Jaklien! I love that story! Even though you got to repeat this drive often, I bet nothing beat seeing it that first time, though!
ReplyDeleteTrue. It was that first time that I was thinking: I really live in this fantastic city!
DeleteI love that skyline view of New York too! Coming in from either JFK or from Newark suddenly the Manhattan skyline just looms up. Even at night, all the window lights are twinkling like stars - I'm always amazed at how many people are awake and I always what they are up to. All those windows, all those lights.
ReplyDeleteI know. It's worth ditching the train and taking a taxi for!
DeleteWhat a commute!!
ReplyDeleteI know! I do miss it!
DeleteI do think it's the best skyline in the world!
ReplyDeleteI love this, Jaklien! I agree with the others - you had the best commute! :)
ReplyDeleteThe one I have now is not so bad either! :-)
ReplyDelete