TRAVEL JOURNAL: New York City – Memorial Day Weekend (Friday, Day 1 of 4)
*All names used in this post have been changed for privacy.
Back in May over Memorial Day weekend, I went to New York City!
I went with my husband (Han), my parents, my sister (Lottie), and her boyfriend (Seth). My family loves traveling to NYC. We’ve been there countless times over the years, it’s one of our favorite places because there is always something new to do or see or try. My parents go almost once a month, and I go maybe every year or so.
Han has come to NYC with us at least four times and has gone a few times on his own with his family, but Seth–whom my sister has been dating for slightly over a year–had never been to NYC before. I was a little nervous about this because if you've never been to NYC and aren't used to big cities, it can be very overwhelming.
I’m speaking from experience, here. Han and I took our friend Geralt and his girlfriend, Luna, to NYC back in January and they didn’t have a very good time. They enjoyed the Broadway shows and the food, but they both deeply disliked the city itself and were very uncomfortable with the crowds—especially on the subway. Which is fair! It's definitely not for everyone. So, I was nervous that Seth would not have a good time, and Lottie would be miserable.
Han and I stayed at my parent’s house Thursday night, along with Lottie and Seth, because our flight into the Newark airport started boarding at 8:30 AM or something horrible like that. My parents live about 45 minutes away from the airport, so we had to leave the house by 5:15 AM, which is absolutely disgusting. If you couldn’t tell, I am not a morning person.
The Cleveland Hopkins International Airport has two areas where you can go through security. There’s one all the way to the right side when you walk in, and one all the way to the left. We were there pretty early, so luckily there weren’t a ton of people, but Han said we should still go to the security line to the right, since we’ve had a lot of luck going through that line in the past. However, Dad insisted that we should go to the line on the left since the exit point would be closer to our gate. So, we listened to my dad and got in the security line all the way to the left. Mom and Dad have the TSA Pre-Check, so they got to go through the faster security line anyway, while Lottie, Seth, Han and I waited in the regular one.
The line wasn’t terribly long, but it was moving pretty slow. Then, some airport staff came over and said, “Does anyone want to move to the line at the other end? There’s no one down there, there’s no wait time!”
Han and I shared a glance that said, we obviously should have gone to that one.
We were already halfway through the security line though, and if we suddenly decided to walk over to the one we originally wanted to go to, there would definitely already be a line there by the time we got there. So we stuck it out.
Han and I got through security quickly, taking off our shoes and taking out our iPads and games, then putting everything back in our bags.
Lottie and Seth took a bit longer though, because apparently he’d brought his big thing of contact solution, not realizing he wasn’t allowed to travel with it. Han and I ended up just walking over to the gate, because it was getting close to boarding time, and if for some reason they got too held up and missed the flight, Han and I weren’t going to wait around for them and miss it too.
For some reason, while we were walking, Han wanted to drag both of our suitcases, so I was just carrying my backpack. I don’t really know why he was doing that, but he wanted to, and I didn’t mind.
We met up with Mom and Dad at the gate, and they were already standing in line for boarding so we joined them.
“Where’s your suitcase?” Mom asked me suddenly.
I looked over at Han, since he was the one dragging it around, but he didn’t have it. My stomach dropped, and my skin suddenly felt clammy and cold.
“Han, where’s my suitcase?” I asked.
“I gave it to you,” he said.
“No, you didn’t …”
“Oh, it’s over there!” Han said.
I glanced over to where he pointed and saw my suitcase standing alone in a small crowd of people who were waiting to line up for boarding. I quickly walked over and grabbed it after almost having a heart attack.
Lottie and Seth finally made it to us just a few minutes before they announced boarding. Just in time!
The plane was nice, there were three seats on each side of the plane, so I was excited to get the window seat and sit next to Han. I always have the window seat when I get the chance, and Han is more than happy to let me have it.
But when we got to our seats, I was so depressed because there was no window!
I always hate how the windows on planes don’t perfectly line up with the seats. The seat in front of me literally had two windows, and I had none! I was very sad.
The flight was uneventful, which was great. I love traveling, but I always get a little bit of anxiety flying, especially with all this weird news lately about airplanes falling out of the sky. Han lets me hold his hand during takeoff and landing. We were in the air for about an hour, then landed at the Newark Airport. We got an Uber into the city, which took about half an hour, so I took a nap.
The Uber dropped us off right at our hotel, the Hyatt Centric Times Square. It was only about 10 AM and our room wasn’t ready yet so we dropped off our bags. Han was a little nervous about dropping off our bags, he’d never done that before. But I reassured him that they put all our bags in a locked room with a code on it so they know whose bags are whose.
“Alright, what do you guys feel like eating?” Dad asked once our bags were put away.
“Breakfast!” I said. “Pancakes and eggs!”
Dad led us through the city, and there were a few places we almost stopped but it turned out they were too crowded. It was a little bit rainy and cool, but it wasn’t
cold and I didn’t need a jacket. I was wearing my favorite Sith sweater, and with my combat boots and leggings I was warm enough as we walked.
Finally, we stopped at a restaurant called
UT47. It was a medium sized restaurant, considering most restaurants in NYC are
tiny, and it had a sort of dark, calming vibe that reminded me of a fancy restaurant, except this place wasn't really fancy.
I ordered a chai tea latte and a smoked salmon bagel with cream cheese, avocado, and capers. It came with a small salad and a brownie. Everything was absolutely delicious.
If you haven't been to NYC before, you must know that they always put an insane amount of cream cheese on their bagels. It’s always too much for me, but I much prefer they put way too much than way too little. So I took the sandwich apart, wiped off some of the cream cheese until I had my desired amount, then put it back together.
That’s another thing … in New York City, you don’t eat your bagels one half at a time. You squish them together like a sandwich and eat it that way.
The salmon bagel was perfect. The salmon wasn’t too chewy–sometimes when it’s smoked and on a bagel, you’ll take a bite and the whole piece of salmon comes out, which is so annoying!–and there was a perfect amount of capers and avocado! Also, the chai tea latte was perfectly spiced and sweet. A lot of chai tea isn’t spiced very well, but this one was incredible.
The brownie was so rich, but it was tiny so it wasn’t too much, either.
Over breakfast–or brunch?–Dad asked us what we wanted to do while we were here in NYC. Nobody was saying anything, so I just mentioned that I wanted to go to the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) which houses the original Starry Night painting by Van Gogh. I also wanted to see the Natural History Museum, or the Bronx Zoo.
“So … here’s the thing, we can do any of those,” Dad began, “but every one of those individually is going to take at least half a day. And then you won’t get to do other stuff.”
I didn’t mind either way, I was just giving suggestions because no one else was. Since we've been to NYC quite a few times, we've already done a lot of the other touristy things on previous visits, and I was just listing things I'd never done before. But I saw my dad's point, there were a lot of things for Seth to see his first time in New York City, and he’d miss out on a lot if we went and did the things I wanted to do. Hopefully, Han and I can go do those things some other time. I think that would be fun.
Anyway, after breakfast, Dad took us on a tour of Midtown.
It off and on rained a tiny bit, but it was never pouring and it wasn’t cold. We were also walking at a fast enough pace that we stayed pretty nice and warm.
First, we went to Times Square and Dad pointed out the New Year’s Ball.
Then, we walked through Rockefeller Center, saw the 30 Rock building, and the bronze Prometheus statue. I’ve seen it countless times when we’ve visited, we even ate at the restaurant below the plaza before. It was a different restaurant back then, but still. It was very fancy.
Then, Dad took us to the Nintendo Store, which is right next to Rockefeller Center. Or maybe it’s in Rockefeller Center? I’m not sure. It’s nearby, either way! Han played a lot of Nintendo games as a kid--and as an adult--so he was very excited to be there, and Seth's only hobby is gaming so he enjoyed that, too.
We wandered around a bit inside the store, and it is very cool, even if you’re not a gamer. On the first floor, there were lots of Pokémon plushies, and upstairs you could test out some of the Nintendo Switches they had. Dad tried out some Donkey Kong game, and I had Mom play some Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
“I used to play this game with Uncle Tech! We used to spend hours playing Zelda together,” she said as she tried to get used to the controls. “It wasn’t like this back when we were kids, it was just a flat background, and all pixels.”
She died almost immediately in the game but she definitely thought it was cool how far the game had come.
Lottie played some Kirby game on the Switch and she was doing surprisingly well. I think she got through like two levels.
After that, we went to the New York Public Library Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. I have never seen a library so beautiful before! Dad was shocked that they’d never taken me to this library before, so we went inside but I was sad because we didn’t get to see any books! Apparently you need a library card to go into the actual part with the books, which makes sense. There are probably so many tourists that it would disturb people trying to study. But I was a little sad, because Dad said last time he and Mom visited the library, they were allowed to go in.
 |
New York Public Library Stephan A. Schwarzman Building
© Jessica McKendry |
The architecture was absolutely gorgeous.
Anyway, it wasn’t warm outside by any means, and again it was off and on raining, but every time we went inside a building we all started sweating because we were walking fast enough outside to stay warm. When we went inside, it was nice and warm but it felt way too hot.
Then we went to Grand Central Station. I always like going there because of the constellations on the ceiling and the huge open space inside. It’s so beautiful in there, and there’s even a market. We walked around the market for a bit, and everyone except me needed to go to the bathroom. Of course, the boys were super quick in the bathroom and the girls bathroom had a line out the door.
Mom and Lottie waited in line for a bit, but right before they were about to go into the bathroom, a janitor closed the bathroom for cleaning! Mom and Lottie were so annoyed. They said the woman in front of them was also so annoyed that she just went to the men’s room.
We found another restroom, and of course there was another line, so I waited with Han, Dad, and Seth for Mom and Lottie to use the bathroom. There was a little market stall that sold alcohol right next to where we were waiting, so Han of course bought himself a beer and Seth bought one with him. It was probably around 11:30 AM. We walked around Grand Central Station for a while, then we started walking back to the area our hotel was in.
On our way back, Han spotted a Steinway store, and Steinway is recognized to be one of–if not the best–piano maker in the world. Han learned to play piano over COVID, so he really wanted to check out the pianos. We went inside and all of the pianos were so expensive! One of them was over $400,000. Of course, we were absolutely not allowed to touch them!
Dad got a text that our room was ready, so we walked the couple blocks back to our hotel. When we got there, Dad checked us in and asked us who wanted this room–we got three rooms total, one for each couple, obviously. I immediately claimed it for me and Han.
We were all so exhausted from traveling and exploring by that point that we took a nap. It took me a while to fall asleep because Han kept making me laugh. I'm not sure how long we slept for, but I woke to the sound of Dad asking what we wanted to do for dinner.
"Ramen!" Lottie said. "Or sushi!"
"Sushi ..." Dad said. "Well, we could do omakase..."
If you don't know–which I didn't–omakase is a Japanese dining experience where the chef selects and prepares a meal for you instead of you choosing food from a menu. Whatever the chef makes is what you eat. The word "omakase" translates to "I leave it to you," as in "I leave the choice to the chef." Omakase is generally associated with sushi, but there are other omakase dining experiences. Of course, my Dad was referring to a sushi experience.
My parents have done omakase restaurants before, all of them sushi restaurants. Dad has loved them, and so has Mom! But you basically have to eat whatever the chef prepares, otherwise it's kind of rude. And you also need to try to eat the whole sushi in one bite, because they prepare the sushi perfectly so that all the flavors come out just right. Mom and Lottie can't even eat regular sushi in one bite, and the sushi they'd make at an omakase restaurant would be sashimi, not a sushi roll, meaning they're even bigger. Mom and Dad have even eaten sea urchin before (uni) at the omikase restaurants they've been to.
I'm going to be honest, I was nervous to do omakase. But Han immediately said he'd do omakase, and Seth did too. So I couldn't not do it if Han was going to. The only person who acted outwardly unsure about it was Lottie.
Dad made a reservation for Omakase by Korami at 10 PM. He insisted we go during their last available time slot before they closed. But we still needed to find a place to eat before our Broadway show, which was going to start around 7 PM, so we took Lottie's first suggestion: ramen.
Dad took us to a place called Sozai. It wasn’t too far from our hotel, but as our waitress seated us, she let us know that someone had a reservation for our table in about an hour, so we needed to be quick. It actually worked out perfectly for us, and Dad even explained to her that we needed to be quick anyway to get to our show on time.
 |
| © Jessica McKendry |
I ordered tonkatsu and ginger ale. I normally love ramen, but last year it felt like I went to get ramen sooo many times that I sort of got tired of it. Of course, Lottie ordered spicy ramen, and Han ordered katsudon. He loves katsudon, but he has only ever tried it with chicken katsu, so he wanted to try it with pork here, which is the traditional way to eat it.
I really enjoyed my tonkatsu, but I actually found that I prefer chicken katsu. The pork was a bit too fatty for me, though it still tasted really good. It was perfectly flaky and crunchy! We ate quickly and we were pretty much out the door within half an hour–maybe forty-five minutes, at most.
After dinner, we walked to the Belasco Theater on Broadway to see Maybe Happy Ending–which just recently won a Tony Award for best musical!
Maybe Happy Ending is a story about two Helperbot robots who, against all odds, fall in love, even as they are falling apart. But it's also about life, dealing with mortality, learning how to let go, how to deal with change, it's about finding humanity and love in unexpected places. It is a romantic comedy, but it will also probably make you cry. The music is charming and utterly enchanting as you get drawn into the narrative. It’s a short musical, and there is no intermission.
 |
| © Jessica McKendry |
Maybe Happy Ending kind of felt like a more hopeful and happy take on the same themes of Hadestown. Both musicals sort of focus on the joy of falling in love, and how if you follow love to its conclusion, it is always sad when it ends–whether it ends in a breakup, or ends in old age when one person inevitably passes away before the other.
In Maybe Happy Ending, it doesn’t quite end in the same tragedy that Hadestown does, but it is still sad and beautiful.
Anyway, after the show we went back to our hotel, changed into comfier clothes, and walked to Omakase by Korami. It was so cute and tiny! The waiters remembered Mom and Dad from their last visit there, and Dad explained that they had to bring us! The whole restaurant was just a small sushi bar that sat maybe 10 people at most, and there were two sushi chefs behind the counter.
First, the sushi chef asked us if we had any allergies, and Dad said shrimp, and I said shellfish. I was sad about it because I’m not always allergic to shellfish, and I’m not allergic to all shellfish, either. Like I can eat crab and shrimp just fine, but scallops bother me sometimes, and same with octopus. So, I thought it would be best not to take a chance. Then, Dad ordered a big bottle of sake and the waitress poured us each a small cup.
 |
Sushi before preparation
© Jessica McKendry |
 |
Sushi chef preparing the sushi
© Jessica McKendry |
That’s when the sushi started coming out. The sushi chef prepared the sushi right in front of us. He prepared one piece for each of us, then placed each piece on our plates.
 |
| © Jessica McKendry |
If you're looking for Americanized sushi rolls, like California rolls, spicy tuna rolls, Philadelphia rolls, etc … you're not going to find it here. These are nigiri, which are very traditional sushi. There is no soy sauce to dip the sushi in, and no ball of wasabi. While preparing each piece, the chef puts a tiny dab of wasabi inside the nigiri, then brushes soy sauce over the fish.
Again, you have to try and put the whole thing in your mouth. Normally, with regular sushi rolls, that isn’t a problem for me. But nigiri pieces are a little bigger, so it isn't always easy. Dad kept telling us he could put like six in his mouth all at once, and while it was hilarious, it was also probably true.
Lottie and I were nervous, despite the fact that we grew up eating lots of Japanese food–our dad is half Japanese, and we've been eating Americanized sushi our whole lives. However, we ate every bit of sushi they gave us, and we loved it! Some of them I had to eat in two bites because of the texture of the fish and the size of the piece, and I’m pretty sure Lottie had to eat all of them in two or more bites because she has a small mouth. Luckily, at this omakase restaurant, they don't judge too harshly if you eat it in two bites. I also liked every piece I tried, which surprised me! There was one I liked less than all the others though, and that was this one:
 |
| © Jessica McKendry |
It’s a smaller piece with fish eggs on top of rice, wrapped in seaweed. It’s funny, I used to like those big fish eggs when I was little, but as I got older I liked them less and less. And the flavor was good, but I just didn’t like the texture. The tuna was my favorite, but I also loved some of the white fish ones, I just don’t remember what they were called.
We also drank so much sake. Like SOOO much.
I got full at about the 10th piece of sushi, so I had to share some with Dad. I still took small bites of a few pieces, but I was stuffed.
Then, it was time for the uni. Uni is sea urchin, and it looked fine, but Mom has told me that the texture is awful. Like pudding, but salty. Mom has eaten it before, but only after drinking a lot of sake. I did not eat the uni, because again, it’s shellfish, and I’m sometimes allergic, so I was not trying to have an allergic reaction all night.
I am honestly surprised that Han and Lottie ate it, though. I was so proud of them!
Lottie was definitely drunk on the walk back to the hotel.
We had a great time!
Day 2 of this adventure continues here → Day 2 (Part 1)
