Here's my review on the infamous city of New York.

New York was a juxtaposition of grand luxury stores with opulent Christmas decorations paralleled by groups of homeless people smoking crack immediately outside the doors. A city brimmed with history and importance lessened by graffiti and lewd posters. A common theme I saw was how hard people would hustle, even on New Year’s Eve. I was walking back from the ball drop- which I will delve into in the next section- where the streets were lined with people down on their luck making money off run down food stands and New Year’s party paraphernalia. New York is a revolting and gut wrenching portrayal of capitalistic America.

Getting There & Accommodations

Something I feel I should mention is that driving laws don’t exist , our drivers took some wild u turns while getting us to our destination. Police also do not care, they watch people jaywalk, cut people off on the road and this was somewhat alarming to me. There is a lot of chaos on the roads there so if you're an anxious driver I would not recommend driving unless you are being driven.

I stayed at Le Meridien in Central Park, New York and it was a below average experience for me. I was awoken by construction everyday that was not mentioned anywhere when booking. It had clearly been going on for some time and I had not read any reviews mentioning it which was bizarre. I found the fact that there was no room service and the room itself did not feel or look clean made the hotel a solid 4.5/10 for me. Additionally I have never had housekeeping say we couldn’t be in the room while they clean so that was also strange.

The Ball Drop

This is something that I have mixed feelings about, in that I am glad I did it but also I hated it. Getting to the ball drop means either arriving at 3pm to get a good spot and being there until midnight or selling a kidney to afford an easier method. I chose the second option because standing somewhere from 3pm to midnight was just not physically possible for me. We went to a restaurant/bar called Mchale's that was selling tickets to go to see the ball drop. They were incredibly overpriced considering we weren't that close to Times Square also the experience itself sucked.

It was raining New Years eve so we were soaked, you have to enter these barricades set up by the NYPD and the line to get through the front was almost impossible as people kept trying to barter their way in, despite the police saying they could not. We eventually got to the front and were let in because we had tickets to get on that specific street but being pushed and shoved in the pouring rain is something I will never participate in again. The actual countdown was overhyped and romanticized in movies. It was a shaky 4/10 experience I would not recommend.

Everything I Hated

I have a good long list so buckle in and grab a snack, well maybe after this section. So the first horrible thing was both me and my boyfriend got food poisoning the second day we were there. It was the most awful experience of my life, considering I have literally never had food poisoning this bad before. I was up until 4am vomiting (sorry TMI I know but important to note). I don't feel like we ate anywhere sketchy, mostly restaurants and cafes so after this I was incredibly weary of food here.

Second thing I hated was the fact that New York is literally just overcrowded photo ops, money grabs and tourist traps. Everything costs an arm and a leg here and in my personal opinion it was not worth it. If you're into a big city experience I would go to Toronto. It was much cleaner, I could breathe fresh air and it was not nearly as expensive.

Another qualm was despite the city being so big , most venues , restaurant and hotels were minuscule. A great place to visit if you’re a billionaire honestly but for the average person I feel like it will be a let down. The real estate is so expensive making most accommodations so incredibly claustrophobic, another adjective I would use to describe New York.

This is just a miscellaneous thing that made me mad which was that there was ads for hospitals because why help people get better when you can profit off of it. Can you say dystopian?

Things I Did Not Mind

One of the most appealing things about New York to me was the history. How many famous careers were started here, how many streets had monumental historical events take place, the streets named after iconic families and mentioned in successful shows. There are buildings literally hundreds of years old. When I think of Park Ave it reminds me of Sex and the City, a show that definitely romanticized New York. When I think of Central Park I think of Friends and the place where Chuck and Blair got married in Gossip Girl.

I learned about famous families like the Vanderbilts before coming to New York and seeing a street named after them was also pretty cool. Watching Hamilton also really showed some interesting historical perspectives.

Hamilton

I might get some serious flack for this opinion but despite an amazing performance from the cast, the broadway production Hamilton felt lacking. I thoroughly loved the acting and singing but ultimately the lack of set changes, small theatre - which I'm sure they can’t control- made it an experience I feel like I could have recreated elsewhere without breaking the bank. I saw Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Ed Mirvish theatre in Toronto and I enjoyed it a lot more. Alternatively even in my home city of Calgary, I have seen more grand productions which leads me to say what’s the point in coming to Broadway?

Gross

Honestly I needed a whole section to talk about how disgusting New York is. If you want a place covered in garbage (they forgot to add alleys when planning the city), smells strongly of urine everywhere and is so heavily polluted that you can't smell fresh air anymore I would recommend New York. On the other hand if you want a place that's affordable, not claustrophobic, and smells clean I would recommend anywhere else.

Final thoughts

My final thought is to summarize if you're considering going to New York, don't. It's a great place to go if you love the smell of urine and pollution, as well as a great place to induce crippling anxiety caused by overcrowded and million year old structures that look like they could fall apart and kill you any minute.

I would like to apologize for the negativity in this article however I feel like it's necessary to tell the truth when it comes to such an overexposed and over romanticized large city. A positive takeaway I got from this trip was how lucky I am to live in my city and I will not be tolerating anymore Calgary slander haha.

Love,

Simran