#nycgw: part 1

Yes, we did have an official hashtag for our NYC girls' weekend. We're just that cool.

Since it's been almost a week (craziness!) I thought that I should blog about our trip before I forget. Things like that happen frequently, you know. Even though it was just a few days, we took quite a few pictures (mostly Instagram), so I thought I'd split our trip up into a few (probably three?) posts so that it's not a super long post. :)

Last Thursday, my mom and I headed out super early in the morning to drive to Atlanta to catch our flight to New York City. Even though the airport is about 2 and a half hours from home (plus the whole time zone thing that "adds" an hour), it's easiest to drive there and not fly out from Montgomery. Plus, it's cheaper! So, we got up early so that we could get to the airport early for security and all. We didn't run into that much traffic, made a quick Chick-fil-a stop, and after a little driving around at the airport, we found where to park! Once we got all checked in, we went through security, where we had some really nice TSA agents! I feel like most of the time I just complain about how rude they are, but the TSA agents in Atlanta were really nice- probably because it was a Thursday morning and they weren't that busy. After a little waiting, we were able to board our plane and fly to NYC! We had really good weather (and left a little early), so we arrived in NYC earlier than expected.

We got in a really scary taxi cab and got to our hotel. Seriously guys, never take a cab. Our driver was talking on the phone, didn't know how to get to our hotel (which was basically in Times Square), and wasn't a really great driver. I liked the subway we took so much better. But, we finally got to our hotel (we survived) and got all checked into our room. We did have a "seriously?" moment when the hotel desk person told us our room number. Yes, we were in room nine-eleven. Seriously.

We stayed at Hotel Mela right near Times Square. I expected it to be a little further from Times Square (because it wasn't super expensive), but it was actually in a great location. It's on 44th Street, so we walked a little bit (like a minute-literally) down the street and were in the middle of everything. We were able to walk to the theaters, restaurants, shops, and street vendors very easily. Yet, since it wasn't in the Square itself, it was a lot quieter than we expected. I didn't have any issues with noise and sleeping at night- and I'm from the country where we have crickets. :) It was a smallish-room, but since it was just my Mom and I, we were fine. For the prime location and cleanliness (no bed bug worries here!) and the price (not the cheapest, but cheaper than most Times Square hotels- but it wasn't sketchy at all!)-I'd definitely recommend it to others visiting the city!

Then, we went exploring in Times Square. There are so many people there! It was crazy. Since I still wasn't feeling well and we were pretty tired, some of our plans changed. We didn't go to Mood Fabrics or the New York Public Library. We walked by the Toys R Us, but we didn't do the carousel. We did go into the Forever 21, but it wasn't anything that special. It was more overwhelming than anything. Around 4, we went by the TKTS booth, and since there wasn't too long of a line, we decided to see what we could get. At first we were thinking about Mary Poppins or Jersey Boys, but after talking to some other people in line, we decided to see Phantom of the Opera. We waited in line for maybe 30 minutes, and we were able to get seats in the front row of the front mezzanine. With that bit of excitement out of the way, we headed to find some dinner for the night. We found a cute little place across the street from our hotel called Cafe Un Deux Trois, where I ordered a yummy quiche. Then, we went back to our hotel to get ready for Phantom! As you can kind-of see from the picture below

Phantom was AMAZING (seriously, how can I compare theater in Alabama to Broadway??). Mom and I were both still super tired, so it was a little hard to stay awake (because it's such a dark show), but it was really, really good. It was an amazing show- phenomenal. If you're interested in more "classical" theater/Broadway, I'd definitely go and see this next time you're in NYC!

Okay, that's all for tonight. I'll work on what we did Friday and post that soon! :)