Recently I decided to fly to New York. It's one of the best decisions I've made in a long time. I've always wanted to visit New York and I'm really not sure why I haven't been before. I certainly know I'll be going back, more than once. I'm ready to book another trip already. This is the first of my New York posts and I cannot wait to share this crazy adventure with you. I can't wait to show you how I spent my weekend in New York. Let's just say, it's so much more than a 'concrete jungle' and you could honestly spend years there and still not do even half of what New York has to offer...
As soon as we arrived, we put our bags down and ran into Central station to grab a Shake Shack. I've never eaten at Shake Shack before but have only ever heard good things so I decided to try it out. In true me style, food was the first thing on my mind on arrival...
The fries, the succulent meat, the bread... heaven in my mouth. I still think I preferred FiveGuys, but I'm glad I tried this famous burger joint. 
We had a quick stumble through the market in Central station and I wanted to buy everything, the flowers were perfection.
After drooling over everything in the market, we soon arrived at the Residence Inn by Marriott in Manhattan and were upgraded to the penthouse suite on arrival - always a bonus. The staff were absolutely incredible from the minute we entered. We were truly blown away by the size and comfort of the room. I haven't even told you about our balcony area yet...
Anywhere with Paul Mitchell hair products is a winner for me.
The room came equipped with it's own kitchen and the plushest work space too - giving me the perfect excuse to do some emails before heading out into the city that never sleeps.
If the room wasn't enough to wow us, our outdoor area certainly was. You'll have to wait for my vlog to see a proper video of this as I couldn't capture the size of it on my camera, but we basically had a private veranda outside looking out to New York. This veranda was pretty much the same size as the room and therefore, huge and just simply amazing. I could have happily stayed in this room forever.
I quickly freshened up and then we walked down the road to the Rockefeller building to try and catch the sunset.
Jumper: Identical here and here / Boots: Old, All Saints but similar here, here and here / Skirt: ASOS, old, similar here and here.
The location of the hotel was fabulous, within minutes we were at the Rockefeller plaza - a huge tourist trap but I guess it was a good place to spend my first evening in NYC.
We quickly popped into the NBC store so I could check out all of the Friends merchandise...
and then we saw the huge Rockefeller building in all it's glory.
The concierge at the Marriott sold us tickets to go to 'the top of the rock' - they were so affordable plus we got queue jump (the queue was huge so it's well worth buying from your concierge!) - it was actually quite a misty day so they recommended that we used our tickets later in the week when the weather was better. 
Instead we spent the rest of our evening exploring.. first stop, the lego store.
Instead we spent the rest of our evening exploring.. first stop, the lego store.
We checked out the city lights...
and then stumbled across Times Square. New York may be big, but it's so easy to just stumble across amazing, famous areas - every single street has something notable and exciting on it.
Lets just say I was in the M&M store for quite a while...
Next we took a little stroll down Broadway and eyed up all the shows
The city was bustling and so alive.
Necklace: LVNDR
and we even got the chance to watch this beautiful bride and groom right in front of us. I felt like I was on the set of a movie.
We had a little photoshoot with the characters in the square (be careful, they can be quite aggressive if you don't tip them)
and naturally I headed into the special MAC store on Times Square to stock up on supplies - MAC is so cheap in America...
My favourite shop was the Toys R Us store, complete with a Wonka shop
and a Barbie store.
Not forgetting the biggest muffins I've ever seen.
Times Square is booming. Truly and I loved every minute of the electric atmosphere. We grabbed a slice of pizza (99 cents for a slice bigger than my head) and just watched the world go by.
After a long evening, we headed back to our gorgeous veranda and took in the city noise, lights and air. After all, New York is the city that never sleeps.
Watching the world go round from our incredible balcony was like a dream come true. I've never felt so content.
I had a great nights sleep with these amazing ear plugs though - a great addition from the Marriott. I actually asked for another pair too so I could bring some home with me - what a handy little hotel extra.
The next morning we rose early after an incredible nights sleep,
we made our own waffles in the breakfast area (highlight of my day)
then walked a few blocks and we were at Saks 5th avenue - the best department store ever. The location of the Marriott was just incredible and I would highly recommend staying there - you're in the heart of everything.
To refuel we grabbed a S'Mac mac and cheese, reportedly the best mac and cheese shop in New York.
It was food-coma heaven. I'm not sure my heart liked it too much but my taste buds were tingling.
We jumped on the subway and headed towards the 911 memorial.
Words can't explain how much it broke my heart; 'in memory of those who fell and to those who carry on, across all cities and towns, across all generations'.
Afterwards, we hopped on the last ferry of the day and decided to go and say hello to the Statue of Liberty. Even though it was a murky day, a murky day in New York is certainly better than a sunny day anywhere else (maybe not as cool as Jamaica but that's a different kind of trip).
I took in the sights
and within minutes I was stood right next to the Statue Of Liberty.
New York looks beautiful from every angle.
That evening we decided to go to Ripley's Believe it or not museum.
It was erm, interesting to say the least. The most random place I have ever visited. The Buddha above is made from a million dollars.
We joked around a little bit...
and then decided to sneak off to a roof top bar for some drinks. We watched the empire state building glow in all it's glory as we sipped the rest of the night away.
The following morning we hopped onto a subway to meet an old friend...
He took us to a local and fabulous meat joint in East Village. I'd say East Village is very similar to Camden in London.
The boys scoffed on pulled pork burgers and beers whilst I had chicken and beans. I promise it was good.
Next we were taken to Wall Street, my friend works here and it was pretty exciting to see his work place.
Wall Street is exciting but the Tiffany store on it was even more exciting...
Huge, sparkly and grand - what more could a girl want? Unfortunately I didn't leave with a little blue box... maybe next time?
Next we headed up to floor 47 of my friends building.
I didn't expect to see such amazing views from his desk. I could have stayed up there for hours.
We jumped from view to view and a few hours and an outfit change later, we were at the Top Of The Rock and finally got to watch the New York sunset. 
The view was just breathtaking.
I would highly recommend booking your slot to go to the top of the rock at 5:45, it means you get to see the sunset, dusk and then the city light up. I can't thank the Marriott Residence Inn New York Manhattan/Midtown East enough for their amazing concierge service helping me out with this!
I'll leave you with some photographs of the beautiful city view of New York, no words are needed.
Have you ever visited New York? Do you want to visit New York? What's your favourite thing to do in New York? Have you done any of the above?
Lots of love, Em x
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