The Most Romantic City In The World?

Recently I was asked what I thought the most romantic city for couples was? 

Yes immediately my brain flashed up images of the Eiffel Tower, Venice and pretty beaches on the other side of the world but in reality I haven't actually been to any of these so feel like I can't choose them!

Somewhere I have been is New York City and even though I went with a best friend when I went twice back in 2012, I still saw the romantic side of the city and what it has to offer for loved up couples!

New York is the backdrop to so many amazing love stories, I mean ... Ross & Rachel, Carrie & Big, Blair & Chuck - that list is definitely endless for both soapy and dramatic relationships! The city is full to the brim with amazing tourist sights, beautiful scenery, amazing shows, delicious foods - it really is like nowhere other, the buzz of NYC is something I'll never forget. 

Like I just mentioned New York City is an incredible place to visit if you are a foodie couple and nothing epitomises NYC more than it's aray of foods! The amount of romantic,fun and unique meals and snacks you can enjoy is one of the best things about a trip!

Not only this but the sights and sounds they have to offer are literally like nothing you will see anywhere else - the for one skyline is breathtaking.
With the amount of songs, TV shows and movies focused in NYC you really could be entertained for years by it and I think just about everyone has dreamt of going to New York.

I've been challenged by MSC Cruises to create a romantic bundle of things that, for me, represents New York and it's love story atmosphere.

LOVE STORIES

The list goes on and on for these! You must all have a favourite movie or TV show which was set in New York City.

 I mean... Sex and the City, Gossip Girl, Friends, Serendipity, Maid In Manhattan, New Year's Eve, New York I Love You, Breakfast At Tiffany's.  There are some pretty epic love stories there!

So these were a MUST for my bundle. There is nothing better than cosying up and watching a rom-com or love story (as long as you can talk your partner into it!).

 From watching Carrie & Big finally tie the knot in the SATC movie to Blair & Chuck realising they were perfect for each other to Rachel getting off the god damn plane (thank God for the left phalange problem!) these all take place in the beautiful New York City - doesn't it make you want to have your own little love affair there?

Here's a Romantic NYC DVD marathon ...

THE FOOD

Okay, so I have invested in the greatest recipe book... ever! 

New York is seriously famous for it's amazing foods - whether it's breakfast, lunch, dinner or a snack off the street, New York is the home to the most iconic American flavours!

New York Cult Recipes is an epitome of awesome NY foods so, in light of it's romantic flare, me and my the boyf decided to attempt some of the fun recipes inside and send ourselves on a tantalising, mouth-watering trip to the USA!

 First up the Tuna Melt!

Now this has got to be hands-down the best sandwich I've ever eaten! 3 slices of bread, cheese slices, a special tuna mix - fried to perfection!

This is amazing!!! I literally want to jump on a plane and go to every cafe in NYC.

Next - the USA's famous Sloppy Joe's! My boyfriend is called Joe so he is a big fan of this one!

The recipes in this book are super easy to follow and don't take long at all! We are definitely going to be trying alot more from this! Romantic trip to the NYC every weekend I say!

Last but not least.... my favourite - dessert!

Nothing says New York more than New York Cheesecake so we HAD to buy some! We seriously enjoyed this authentic yummy pudding - someone take me to cheesecake factory like NOW?!

THE SCENERY, THE SIGHTS AND THE SHOWS

For me when I think of New York the first thing that pops into my mind is the sight-seeing. Those iconic places like the Central Park, Times Square and the Empire State Building just shout romance too me! There's nothing more amazing than sharing an experience like that with a loved one.

I've included the pretty lights in some of the photos - because NY is famous for it's gorgeous lights throughout the city isn't it?! The skyline - full of lights, Time Square is one big light-fest, it just looks so perfect at night!

Tiffany & Co - what's more romantic than one of the most gorgeous jewellers in the entire world?! Ahhh what I would do to have a box full of their stunning jewels!

Last but not least - the shows. I am a huge musical fan - like huge! And I don't think there would be a night more perfect for me than in New York eating the incredible food and then seeing a show!

I have been to Broadway and I feel so grateful, my list of "need to see's" though is as long as my arm. Rent is a musical I've never seen so it was a must for this romantic bundle. I can't wait to have a cosy night in with the lights off pretending I'm on the otherside of the Atlantic with my loved one.

So there we have it - do you agree with me that New York City is the most romantic city in the world?! I love this bundle I have put together - it makes me super happy!

I dream of the day I can go back - but for now I'll enjoy the food, movies, music and everything I love about that place from the comfort of my own home! (Next on my list.... making my own NYC pizza and cupcakes!)

Thank you so much to MSC Cruises for challenging me - I've had a total and utter blast ( and Joe has too!)

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Kirstie's Travel Diaries #6 - JFK to LAX

Catch up with #5 here.

DAY 7 (06/03/12)

Flight #2 was upon us today, it was time to leave the chilly east side and head over to the (hopefully) sunny west side of the US and go to California!!
Yes today was the day we were off to Los Angeles and we were VERY excited. It was alwasys a  dream of both of ours to visit Hollywood, the beaches, the hills and everything else that comes with LA so the fact we were flying to that very place today was baffling! 

Google 

Our flight was at 12pm so we decided that leaving the hotel at 9am was sensible, even if there was traffic we'd still get to JFK in time to check-in and grab something to eat before the 6 hour flight across the whole country.
We hopped in a taxi that was already outside our hotel and made our way towards the airport. In no time at all we were there, lugging our bags and suitcases through departures and heading the the check-in desk! 
We met a few other brits who we had a short chat with, they were from London and on their way to Miami! (Spring break was starting soon)

We checked in all our luggage which luckily wasn't any extra and went to go through security and head to our gate. It was at this point when I looked at both mine and my friends boarding passes and realised we were sitting at different ends of the plane - not.cool.
We ran back to the guy at the desk and begged him to move us next to each other - luckily this was possible and we ended up with the awesome exit seats - hello leg room!!
The flight itself was easy peasy. So comfy with the extra leg room and the flight was actually pretty empty too! I manged to watch part of Harry Potter (DHP2), Horrible Bosses, Friends With Benefits & some of the Glee movie before we landed at LAX. (photos below are from the plane window, us being silly and my friend watching The Smurfs and me watching Harry Potter.... we are so social!)

We were immediately in a good mood as soon as we saw the 'Welcome To Los Angeles' sign and I think I had to pinch myself to fully believe that I was there!

Now.... this is where we had a little teeny bit of trouble! We had realised the night before in NY that we had no transport from the airport to our hotel and knowing that the traffic in LA can be ridiculous we thought a taxi could be quite risky. 
So we found a company online and called up asking if it would be okay if we just showed our confirmation emails on our phones to the driver as we had no way of getting hold of a printer before we arrived, they said yes so we thought that would be enough, we were wrong.
The driver would not accept it and said he MUST have the paper work so we ended up having to pay another $32 between us to get ourselves to the hotel which was very frustrating. (moral of the story, always plan ahead.... we did we everything but this!)
We were the last to be dropped off so we had a little tour around the neighborhood first.
 I don't remember everyone who was in our minibus but I do remember a British couple who got out the stop before us and a couple of American ladies who lived locally and were going home. We talked to them for ages and they were asking us loads about what celebrities we liked and if we were fans of Kate Middleton!

Finally we got to our hotel! The Hollywood Orchid Suites, we had booked this through hotels.com and where it had seemed like a pretty decent place, and it was.
 We had booked our stay in 2 separate parts so for the first 4/5 days we were in one room and for the last part of our stay we were in another.

Google

Our apartment was huge, full-on lounge, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom - was amazing compared to our room in New York (which was tiny!)! 
We thought we'd have a little look around our surrounding area (before it got dark) as we knew we were really close to alot of exciting things. We were behind the Hollywood & Highland centrer and it took us all of 20 seconds to be inside it, through there you come out onto Hollywood Blvd. which is home to the kodak theatre, the Chinese theatre, madame tussdads and of course... the walk of fame! (aswell as soooo much more!)
We had heard Hollywood could be a bit dodgey after dark so after we had spotted the Hollywood sign for the first time we decided to grab some food and drinks for our apartment and get an early night so we could go out and explore everything in the morning!

As we got in the lift upto our floor we noticed a sign of "upcoming events in the area" and there was something going on the next day.... Felicity Huffman (Lynette from Desperate Housewives) was getting her star on the walk of fame along with her husband William H Macy at 11am!!! (We knew wherewe were going the next morning....)

NEXT POST - THE Desperate Housewives, a view of LA, Homes of the stars, Madame Tussauds & more.....

Kirstie's Travel Diaries #3 - Lost In New York

Catch up with #2 here.

DAY 4 (03/03/12)

This was a Saturday, after falling asleep in seconds the night before from being so exhausted, we woke up at around 8am feeling funky, fresh and ready for another exciting day in New York. After both getting ready it was around 10:30am and we decided to set off to somewhere we both had high on our list of places to see, central park. We made sure we wrapped up extra warm as we had been so so cold the day before and started towards Times Square as we knew eventually if we followed that road we would end up at the park.

 Once we arrived at Times Square we thought it was the perfect opportunity to get a quick bite to eat to fill us up for the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon (you will get to learn quickly that our eating habits on this trip weren't great) and even though it was early we headed for that golden M, hello chicken nuggets.
Chicken, fries and 20 sachets of mayo later we headed in the direction of the park. Even walking through the streets of New York is exciting  you are always noticing something different and the feel and pace of everything is always so quick and vibrant. 
When we approached the park it was obvious that we were tourists so... queue the tour guides. Every 2 seconds we were approached by someone who wanted to sell us a "fantastic, unique CHEAP"  tour of the park in one of those little bike/carriage things... I forget what they are called!

We actually decided against this and set off on foot alone into Central Park. Now... Central Park is BIG and I mean huge. It is 840.01 acres and it feels ten times bigger than that! 
After walking for about 45mintues we had seen so many places we recognised from TV/Films and it was all so fancinsating and beautiful BUT we had come to one resounding conclusion, we were lost. Seriously lost. 
There are lots of people in Central Park BUT nine times out of ten they are either running or tourists aswell and as we couldn't bring ourselves to ask someone who was running (way too awkward) we carried on walking hoping to find someone who looked helpful.
We had decided that we wanted to go to the zoo and we'd seen a few maps around the park but we didn't seem to be getting any closer to it! Eventually we found a police officer who kindly gave us our own personal map and told us that actually we had already gone past the zoo (of course). So we decided that the best thing to do was to head back to the main road and walk down the side of Central Park on the street until we found the zoo and thank god - it worked.

A short walk later and we were there, Central Park Zoo. We went straight in, got our tickets and had our cameras at the ready. 
First place we went to was the seal enclousre, which is actually a really pleaseant open area! We stayed here for so long becuase they were just so entertaining, jumping out of the water, coming right up and out of the sides, climbing around - they were definitely putting on a show. We had a favourite who had one eye, he/she was hilarious and we took so many photos!

We then headed over to the polar bear and wow. Such a beautiful animal and even though she (I think it was a she) was just sleeping and relaxing you could watch her for hours! There were a few view points and there is one down a flight of stairs which gets you level with the water that is in the enclousure which gave us an amazing view (hence the photos). If you were ever to go there when they are in the water I bet it is incredible. 

Now central park zoo isn't like it looks in the movie Madagascar and it isn't actually that large, so after checking out the rest of the pens and enclosures (I loved the penguins) we thought it was a good time to head out back into the city and check out some of the shops we had wanted to see. If the Zoo is on your list of things to do I would still definitely go just don't base a large portion of your day around it.

Not far from Central Park we found fifth avenue and along with that FAO schwarz. This huge toy store is known for it's 'big piano' and with it being up there with my 'things to see in New York' we headed on in. Well I am a huge big kid anyway so this store was just a playground - so much fun and some truly awesome things such as wizard of oz and harry potter barbies and huge lego statues. When we got to the big piano it was of course full of children and I didn't really fancy queuing up with them all and looking like a crazy woman so I just got a few photos.

After this we headed outside and spotted the amazing building which is the Apple store. If you haven't seen it before it is a huge clear cube on the street and the store is actually underground. You go into the cube and either take the stairs or a lift to the store below. Now obviously we weren't going to be buying anything from apple (we were on a budget here people and where am I going to pack a mac?) but we had a quick look around anyway - we couldn't not.

Now it was time for a bit of girly time and after popping into the Ugg store (my feet we freezing in Converse and I was seriously considering buying some) we walked over to the world famous Bloomingdales.
  Our mission for this store was to find the iconic 'brown bag' and after going to probably every floor we found them. I got the 'little brown cosmetic bag' and my friend got the 'little brown bag'. Bloomingdales is fab to look around BUT I'm really not a fan of people trying to sell me things, I know they are on commission but people that come up and start smearing things all over your hands and basically saying you have to buy the product - no. just no. 

A few little stores later and we decided that we wanted to head back to Times Square and check out a few of the stores we had seen there. We knew we were quite a walk away and were starting to get a little tired so we hailed a taxi and were there in minutes. We went to Sephora and Mac and both had a little shopping spree. 
The main thing I wanted to get at the time was Taylor Swift's perfume Wonderstruck as it wasn't available in the UK yet. So I headed straight for perfume section in Sephora and found it and then we both got the Viva Glam Nicki lipstick from Mac which at the time was brand new so we found that very exciting. 

We walked back to out hotel,which like I said before is about a 15/20minute walk straight down from Times Square,  grabbed a slice of pizza for dinner and went and had an early night because we knew that Sunday morning was going to be an early one.
 We were off on a day trip to Washington DC!!

NEXT POST - We head to Washington DC to see The White House, Ab Lincoln Memorial, Madame Tussauds, The Smithsonian museum and so much more....

Kirstie's Travel Diaries #2 - A Sightseers Heaven

Catch up with Day's 1 & 2 here.

DAY 3 (02/03/12)

So this was our first morning waking up in America and it was a bloody early one! With our body clocks being 5 hours ahead we were up and wide awake at around 6am (aka 11am!) so up and ready we got and we wrapped up seriously warm because it was actually so much colder than we were expecting!
Luckily we had both worn big thick hoodies from Jack Wills & Hollister for the flight - little did we know they were going to turn out to be life savers on this trip. We knew the first thing we wanted to do was to head to DASH (The Kardashian's Store in Soho) so once again the iPhone was out we had our map telling us which way to head.
After around 30minutes of walking we found it tucked away a few stores down from Chanel on Spring St.. What we hadn't realised is that stores open a bit later in this part of town and DASH didn't open until 11am so instead of waiting around we took a few photos outside and vowed to go back before we left the city so we could have a look round and get some merchandise! 

Next stop was The Statue Of Liberty (yup, today was going to be a sight-seers heaven) so we hailed a taxi, which is always awkward when you first get to NY but I'd like to say we are now experts, and we were on our way. 
Before we headed over and got our tickets we decided that we needed some breakfast, we saw a little supermarket type shop and thought we'd try out luck. Well this had everything - including a cafe area upstairs to go and eat your purchases! I settled for a chocolate chip pancake (hey I was in New York) and it was huge!! This is the first time I thought to myself their portions are huge and it wouldn't be the last!
Breakfast eaten, a little bit warmer and with a few snacks bought we headed over the road and towards the ticket office. 

The queue for The Statue Of Liberty was pretty big but with all sorts of people waiting from all over the world it was quite a good location for people watching. Although saying this this didn't make me feel any warmer and I was so grateful that I had packed my mittens that morning! After about an hour we were in, getting our bags checked and heading towards the boat.
Living on an island I am very used to ferries and this one just felt like I was at home. Growing closer and closer I was getting more and more excited, my friend had been before but this didn't make her any less excited as I. We hopped off the ferry and followed the crowds for a walk around Liberty! This was a perfect spot for photo taking and you'll get to learn from reading these posts that I do tend/love to get a bit snap happy - but I see nothing wrong with this when making memories! You can see the skyline of the city across the water and of course you are up close and personal with The Statue!

We stayed here for probably around half an hour but the wind was so icy cold that we had a quick look around the gift shop, took photos with stupid hat/masks on and walked back to the ferry. Next stop on the ferry was Ellis Island but we decided to skip this as we had lots planned for this day.

We got off the ferry and were greeted with street performers, these awesome guys doing some amazing dancing and gymnastics and had a massive crowd around them. after watching them for a little while we ventured off and went to ask for directions for Ground Zero.
We thought we would have to get a taxi there but after talking to a lovely traffic warden (I think thats what he was anyway) he kindly pointed out to us that "that is the freedom tower right there". We weren't far from it at all so we were off on foot and heading towards the 9/11 site. 
I always knew it was be eerie and even standing in the queue you could just feel that everyone around us felt the same. As we were in New York is was something at the top of our list of things to do and I am so so glad we went. Obviously security, like a lot of the landmarks/tourist attractions, is tight and again we went through the metal detectors and bag searches just like at the Statue of Liberty. 
We went to ground zero just before the museum had opened so it was just the water fall fountains there at this point. 
They are incredible and the size of them just really does make it hit-home how big these buildings were and how many people's lives this affected.
Ground Zero isn't somewhere you hang around for a long time and after a little while we made our way back out and into the store which is situated by the exit.

Now like I said before, this was a major sight-seeing day so yeah you guessed it next stop for us was The Empire State Building.
We got a taxi from Ground Zero and I can't quite remember how long it took but I can't imagine it was long! We were nervous that we were going to have to queue for ages but that wasn't a queue in sight so up we went. 
A fairly expensive ticket and 86 floors in a lift (elevator) later and we were at the top... and getting probably the most wind swept I've ever been in my life. What an AMAZING view. You really get to see the beauty and uniqueness of New York and I could of spent ages up there. But with the cold weather and time ticking on we decided to head back down and make our way back to our hotel.
As easy as that sounds we managed to totally and utterly balls it up. We went to a store and got some food for our room back at the hotel and some well needed bottles of water. As we started making our way back to the hotel location we started to noticed that actually we had no idea where we were going. And... I may, MAY, have made a teeny tiny mistake in thinking our hotel was on 152nd when actually it was on 125th (or something like that) so after walking around 52 blocks more than needed and spending some of our trek in a part of New York I would never want to go back again to we made it back to the hotel. Baring in mind we had been up since around 6, and just carried 24 bottles of water alot further than needed, we were exhausted but our day wasn't over.

When planning this trip we made sure we had tickets for a few things while we were in each state. Tonight we had some of those tickets and they were for Spiderman : Turn Off The Dark the musical on Broadway.
Luckily Broadway was only around a 15 minute or so walk from our hotel and we had seen where the theatre was the night we had arrived and gone to Times Square so we knew where we were going.
Our seats were right at the back of the circle but this didn't matter at all - The musical was amazing. If you are in New York and wondering what show to go and see I would definitely recommended it! Where else are you going to have Spiderman running out of the door right next to you and jumping off of the balcony. So so brilliant, modern and unique with an amazing cast, storyline, soundtrack and set. (I've even got the CD and love singing along).

We left Broadway and it was chucking it down with rain but instead of trying to hail a taxi with the hundreds of other people around we decided just to go for it and walk as fast as we could. And that was our first full day in New York done and dusted.

NEXT POST - Seals, Polar Bears, Central Park & a spot of shopping.....

Kirstie's Travel Diaries #1 - The Start

So these are post's I've been thinking about doing for a while. I went travelling around America last year and have decided to take you on a day-by-day guide of my trip! I'll probably be uploading these once or twice a week and  you can look forward to hearing about New York, Washington DC, LA, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Florida some more New York and everything in between each post will contain a day or two worth of photos, memories and thoughts! Get ready for landmarks, hilarious situations and a few celebrity guests.............

DAY 1 (29/02/12 )

This was 29/02/12 (Yup! Leap Year) it was a Wednesday and me and my best friend (that is who I went on this crazy journey with by the way so you are going to get to know her pretty well!) left our homes and hopped on a boat... yeah that happens.... and took ourselves off to the coach station. Our coach, of course, was late and we started to get chatting to a lady who we thought was wearing some form of slippers - she was off to Thailand on her own, brave.

 Coach turns up and we bundle on and get the awesome seats with the extra leg room near the front! Headphones in and excitement building we were there in no time, Hello Heathrow. Now our flight wasn't until the Thursday so we'd booked the travel lodge at Terminal 5, which by the way was super cheap for 1 night. After alot of wandering around and question asking to anyone in a high viz jacket we managed to get ourselves (and ridiculous amount of luggage) onto a bus and get ourselves to the Travel lodge. Bags in room and tummy's rumbling it was time for dinner. Fish & Chips was the choice, bye bye England (who were actually playing football live at the time of eating this) and then it was off to sleep our last night in England for a while. Although before this we had to watch the last in the series of TOWIE...duh!


DAY 2 (01/03/12)

The day had come, we were up, out and in Heathrow before we knew it and after some luggage issues (someone had a heavy suitcase and that someone wasn't me!) we were through security and in a weather spoons having breakfast. By the way I haven't mentioned yet that we are flying to New York JFK. At this point this would have been the longest flight I had ever been on and the biggest plane , I'd only ever been to Europe before, so my nerves has started. I'm not scared of flying at all I think it was just the thought of being stuck on there for 8hours. Our boarding gate wasn't announced til about 30mins or so before our flight so getting there was a panic and rush but we made it and then it was time to get on the plane. 

We'd boooked our seats online and from the looks on the picture we were in a row of 2, just us 2, cosy. We were wrong. We were the window and middle seats and blocked in by a stranger and I hate this. But this stranger turned out to be a guy called Jimmy who was off to New York for his sisters 21st, we had 8 hours together so we got to chat to him quite a bit - Hey Jimmy! So after 8 hours, a few attempted films, a few random conversations and a few photos - we were there. 
We were in New York and the excitement had started before we had even left the plane, we had to circle to airport for a bit while Airforce 1 landed in front of us with from what we were told OBAMA on the plane. Amazing start we have just landed and so had the president! 
Now it was the point where you need someone to let you in the country, this didn't take too long and was pretty friendly and easy (minus the fact it was about 50degrees I swear) and I was just excited about getting my first ever stamp in my passport. 

Yellow taxi virginity taken and around 30minutes later I was gobsmacked. The first time you drive towards the skyline of New York is incredible and it really had hit me that I was there and living the dream.
Our hotel was a Holiday Inn about a 10minute walk from Times Square so once we were there, and had sorted out some tax payments that we had no clue about and kind of just agreed and handed over the cash, we decided that we'd make the most of evening we had left. Our flight had left England around 1pm, took 8 hours so in our heads in was 9pm but in NYC reality it was only 4pm when we landed.
It was now probably around 7ish and I, like any tech-savvy twenty-something, got up my iPhone and it's maps (LIFE SAVER) up and worked out where we were and how to get to the iconic Times Square. 

 'WOW' Is all I could think, Times Square at night is such an incredible sight and I hadn't even been in America for a few hours and I was already having the best time of my life. On the way we had past so much and were already getting a feel for the atmosphere of NYC. Madison Square Garden, police on horses, crazy traffic, it was awesome.
 Photos taken, excited squeals squealed and a massive macdonalds later and we were exhausted so decided to head back to the hotel and chill for a bit, we knew whatever happened that we would be waking really early the next day so we thought we might aswell take advantage of it and get up and do as much as possible.

Next post - The busiest city day, sightseeing, taxi riding & Broadway show watching.