Everyone says that the most beautiful place to be during the holidays is New York City. The tree in Rockefeller Center is lit up at night, and the big stores like Sacks and Macy’s decorate their windows for the Christmas holiday season. People all over the world come to New York City during the holidays to watch the ball drop on New Years. It’s the place to be if you want to experience the holidays the right way. It’s almost like a wonderland. I’ve gone to New York City almost every year to see the sights, watch a Broadway show with my family, and eat the most delicious food I’ve ever had in my life during the Christmas holiday, but little did I know this year in New York would be more like hell than a wonderland.
I got on the train with my family and headed to New York a couple of days after Christmas. Our plan was to go see a Broadway show, and shop around the city while my dad waited in line for the tickets. We were all bundled up for the cold weather layers on layers, and I sat on the ride there and slept for the hour ride as the train started to get packed with people. I woke from sleeping and discovered three people hovering over me, watching me sleep. The train was crowded for a Wednesday! It was an indication that the city was going to be the same way. When the train got to Penn Station, my family followed my mom has she weaved through millions of people up the stairs and to the top of the city.
After waiting about a half hour for a seat to eat breakfast in a crowded dinning, and waiting about another 15 minutes for our waiter, we finally got to explore the city that is New York. I tried to keep up with my mother as she walked fast through the people exploring the city as well. I discovered that most tourists in New York City like to stand at the corner and slowly walk across the street as they stared up at the sights of the buildings. Of course since I’ve been to New York City over a million times, my family cut around the corners and the crowds of people to be first to cross the streets. We were a family on a mission.
I was already freezing even after being outside for five minutes, it was below forty degrees in the city after all even though I was wearing winter clothes on winter clothes. My sister and mom had to walk into a store to buy another pair of paints because it was so cold. Walking into the store, you couldn’t even stand in one place for a minute without someone saying excuse me and the Starbucks wait for your hot drink was over a half hour with one guy doing all the work. Getting back outside with my Starbucks, my family and I couldn’t even walk into the beautiful Cathedral on 5th Avenue because we couldn’t bring drinks into the church, but it made no sense because it looked like the guard in the front was letting everyone walk past him but our family. We could only take pictures from the front entrance. And this was after my aunt and I had to dodge a lady on her cell phone, slowly pacing back and forth. I pushed through her already getting angry at the fact that I felt like I was back in a high school hallway, and the lady on the phone ended up yelling at me for pushing!
My dad then left to go stand in the long line for Broadway tickets as my mom, my sister, my aunt and I continued to shop with the gift cards we got for Christmas like Sephora. When we went inside no one would move, they all stayed put in their spots looking at the makeup, and most of them consisted of 12 year old girls. I said excuse me of course but none of them listened to me. I had never experienced people so rude in my life when I went to New York City. After getting out of the crazy crowded stores a couple of days after Christmas, pants and shirts all laying on the ground and left there in Top Shop, we found our dad who discovered there were no Broadway shows that were playing that looked interesting. By the time he got to the window they were all sold out. The rest of the shows playing were some that we had never heard of before. It wasn’t worth it to spend so much money on a show that we didn’t even know what it was about. My dad stood in line for two hours for nothing as the rest of my family watched from the sidelines, an old lady pushing through my aunt with absolutely no room to get through and my aunt even told the lady “there’s no room I’m sorry” and she still pushed her! So rude! My dad got out of line and was disappointed after waiting two hours we weren’t going to see a Broadway show, and we followed the heard of cows to a restaurant that was over an hour wait. Meanwhile my phone had been dead for a while, and I had gotten absolutely no pictures during the day! My sister and I looked around for an outlet in the restaurant but they had nothing! I had to ask the hostess to plug my phone in under a booth and my sister had to plug her phone in under the bar!
After eating a defeated meal and realizing that the train home was in twenty minutes, we hurriedly ran out of the restaurant throwing back on our winter gear and ran through the streets to Penn Station. My sister and my mom lead the way. My sister even punched a kid in the face by accident because my mom was pushing her to run faster as she held her hand, and my aunt and I ran behind, my dad following us closely. I was out of breath and I was sweating! I was no longer cold. We got through the heard of slow and rude people and caught the train but it ended up being the wrong one! So we had to transfer trains like we were switching a flight! We all stripped on the train because we were all dying of heat. I just wanted to be home! I was exhausted from walking through the streets of New York all day and my feet hurt so bad!
Of course my family decided to walk back home after the frustrating day and we finally arrived at my aunt’s house.
Looking back at it, it was a day in hell. I know we didn’t end up seeing a Broadway show, or really enjoying the views of New York City because of the hustle and bustle that was around us, but at the end of the day I realized that it didn’t matter. I had my family and the story to tell. I had gone through a day in hell with my family. I had experienced it all with my family.
The laughs and the smiles that we all had on the train after the long day is all what mattered in the end.
I still love New York City because of that.
