We rode the Amtrak back and upon leaving the train, I was immediately greeted by the stench of the subway, and I knew for sure I was in New York.
My Sister decided that since it was our last night in New York, she wanted our stay to be a little better, so she booked a slightly more expensive hotel that was in a prime location, literally across NBC Studios at 30 Rockefeller Road.
View from the hotel room, the white building is the NBC Studio, which was the Studio where we had a tour of during our 2 day.
Unfortunately, the only thing that was better about this Hotel was the location because it was really really small. The lobby of the hotel was super small, the hotel room itself was also really tight and narrow, it only had one bed so I had to sleep on a sofa bed, the walkways are really tight, the bathroom is really small and the whole hotel just felt really squished up.
That being said, I did really like the Interior of the room, even if I don't get to sleep on the bed, it looks more much modern than the other 2 hotels and the colour scheme is probably something I will want to have for my own home in the future.
So the point of this trip back to New York, aside from it being easier to get to JFK Airport the next day, was mainly to get all souvenirs, we didn't buy much during our first trip because packing our bag full of souvenirs then would mean having to travel to Washington and back to New York again with all those souvenirs in the luggage and that wasn't really ideal.
Of course aside from Souvenirs, I also had wanted to make sure to visit Magnolia Bakery one last time, so after our dinner at a Japanese Steak House, which was something like Pepper Lunch, which was pretty good, we made our way to the bakery and unfortunately, because it was really packed, with a queue that was lining outside the shop itself, I decided to drop by again much later at night since the bakery would be open till midnight.
We headed to the nearby Duane Reade and got a bunch of candies and snacks to bring home and I took a long time contemplating whether I wanted to buy a bag of candy for my office colleagues or not because I am not very close to all of them and even though I definitely wanted to get some stuff for the ones I am close to, I just didn't feel like the ones that I weren't were obligated to getting any sort of souvenirs from me.
The last time someone went overseas in my company, he actually brought back a few bags of chocolate, hardly anyone ate them and looking at the bags in the fridge,barely untouched for the first few weeks just made me feel really bad for that colleague. It's underappreciated and no one thanks you for it, so why even bother, I would rather get individual gifts for people I know will appreciate them and also just people I actually want to get gifts for, no point wasting money on everyone.
Anyways, after purchasing quite a few bags of candy and loading them into my luggage back at the hotel, I headed out when the sky got dark and went back to Magnolia Bakery, this time the line all contained in the shop itself. There were like a bunch of people standing outside the bakery initially that I thought were queuing up, but then they just turn out to be just standing around, thankfully I didn't join that cluster fuck thinking it was a line because that would have been a huge waste of time and also extremely embarrassing when they suddenly just left together and I am just left standing there like a stupid tourist.
Since I had cupcakes the first time I visited the place, this time I decided I wanted to try their famous Banana Pudding and also just get a piece of their Cheesecake, which is served in a small round.
Medium Serving of Banana Pudding and a Red Velvet Cheesecake.
The cheesecake is actually really nice, but I couldn't finish it because it was too much. I did attempt to make their cheesecake before following their recipe and I can say they taste pretty similar.
What I like about their cheesecake is that the cheese taste isn't super strong, so it was like eating a very thick and dense mousse, plus the color looks pretty.
I wasn't a huge fan of the banana pudding though, and googling the recipe has made me realize that nothing in the banana pudding is made from scratch, which is just disappointing. The recipe is shared on the Magnolia Bakery's Website and it is essentially instant pudding mix folded with some whipped cream, Nilla wafers and fresh bananas. I could have made this myself, and this medium size cup of banana pudding was about $7 USD, which is crazy expensive for something that was made using mainly instant pudding mix and boxed biscuits.
I got the medium because they were out of small and the large one is just not a good idea, I only had 1 night and the next day to finish everything, if I had a few more days, which I honestly wish I did, I would gotten more cheesecakes and have them throughout the remaining days. Oh, and the reason why I couldn't get a cheesecake during my first New York visit was because the Ameritania Hotel locked the fridge for some reason, so my Sister and I couldn't get any perishables,, which was such a waste because it was our longest hotel stay and I could have used some dairy based drinks in the fridge, like those bottle of coffees from Dunkin Donuts, which I did not manage to try even though I told myself I had to, another regret to add to the list.
So the night essentially ended with me stuffing myself with the Banana Pudding and then falling asleep, feeling sad knowing that this will be my last night in New York.
I woke up pretty early the next day, at about 5.30 am, for some reason I kept waking up early in America, only once did I sleep till 8am, the other times I always got up at 6.00 am, not that I was complaining, I would rather spend more time awake than asleep on my last day in New York.
Started the day with Cheesecake.
And I did my best, tried really really hard, I would have liked to pair it with a hot cup of tea or coffee, but there wasn't any available so settled for the final can of La Croix I got from Washington.
My sister got up about 2 hours later, we washed up, skipped breakfast and headed straight to the nearest Milkbar at Chelsea to get our cookies.
A dozen cookies, strictly for friends who deserve them because its of limited quantity.
I ordered a Birthday Cake Shake on my first day in New York, and on my last day, I ordered a Birthday Cake Latte, it feels like such a full circle experience for me, starting and ending the trip with a Birthday Cake flavored drink from milkbar.
I was drinking it in Starbucks though, my Sister had to use the bathroom, so I had to be really conspicuous about it and I hid it behind my bag of cookies, was really tempted to replace the pink straw to a Starbucks green straw, just to really sell it, but the bag felt like a good enough cover.
After this, we took our final Metro ride back and went to the MoMA Store to get some last minute gifts for my family members.
It was really difficult to shop there because even though everything made for a great gift, 90% of the items there were way too expensive for me to get, so most of the gifts I could get for my friends were strictly MoMA branded gifts that were more affordable but definitely still a little too expensive in my eyes.
We were at the MoMA for a while, then headed back to the the Hotel after, packed everything up, checked out of the hotel, left our luggage with the hotel and headed out for our final lunch.
It was a hot day and I kept thinking this must be New York physically preparing me for my trip back to Singapore, except I completely forgot about the crazy humidity in Singapore. I wasn't sweating in New York on the last day despite the higher temperature, but the moment I landed in Singapore and was walking into the airport via the jetbridge, I just started feeling sticky.
Our final meal of the trip. After the steak I had the previous day in the Japanese restaurant, I was just craving for more steak, so I ordered it and it wasn't as good, it did satisfy my cravings for steak though, so it did it's job, although my one complaint was that the stick was not done to my request, I asked for medium rare and they just gave me well done. It was a very thin piece of steak.
After lunch, we still had a few hours to kill, so my Sister and I decided to split up once again, she do her own thing and I will do my own, then we will meet back at the Hotel Lobby to prepare to leave for the airport.
I had clearly overestimated the things I wanted to do, we had about 2 hours of time to do our own stuff, I was done in about 45 minutes. If I had more time, say if I had till night, I would have maybe visited SOHO and gotten cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcakes, or even took a train to the Upper West Side, just to take a final stroll through the neighborhood, but I didn't want to risk it, so I just settled for the hotel lobby, probably the worst Hotel Lobby out of the 3 Hotels we stayed in because of how small it was and how limited the number of seating was, one arm chair and a bench that could sit just 3 people, and it was the most expensive hotel we stayed in, such a waste.
My sister comes back about half an hour before we leave and then the van that was set to pick us up and head for the airport arrives about 15 minute late.
It was not a good ride to the Airport because traffic was abd, the driver kept honking at cars while we were still in the Manhanttan area, calling out pedestrians for crossing when the light isn't red, because that is one thing that New Yorkers do, just cross the road whenever they felt like it, no one there gives a shit about the traffic lights, it's crazy.
The ride took about an hour and it was quite agonizing because of how bad the traffic was, thankfully my motion sickness was still manageable by the time we actually reached the airport, and as we were coming up into the different terminals, the driver ask everyone which terminal they were headed to, almost everyone in the bus was confused by the question.
My sister and I knew our Terminal, so we shared the info with the driver, then another couple shared theirs, then there were this bunch of French Tourist who were just confused and kept giving the driver the wrong terminal, one of them eventually figured the correct terminal after checking their flight online so their shit got resolved, but then there was this one particular guy who just completely did not give a single fuck...
Driver : Which terminal?
Guy : I don't know, I am taking Delta Airlines.
Driver : Which terminal is that?
Guy : I don't know.
... and the way he was saying "I don't know" was so nonchalant, like it was not his problem to deal with, that it was something the driver will eventually figure out for him, he doesn't even bother checking his flight details online to confirm the terminal and I was just completely blown away at his attitude.
Luckily for him, a few of the other passenger in the van happened to also be dropping off at the Terminal where Delta Airlines was located, so he did get to the right terminal, but my gawd, looking at how unbothered he was when the driver was desperately asking him for the terminal just makes him so punchable.
My Sister and I were the last to be dropped off because our Terminal was the furthest away. The driver was nice enough to lend us a hand with our luggage, so my Sister tipped him and we made our way into the Airport, did our check-in, went through TSA and the airport was kinda boring, it was definitely no where near as mall like as the one in Changi Airport, there were a few shops here and there, but we spend most of our time in the food court waiting, I got myself a Pretzel from Aunty Anne's and then got myself a Pink Drink again from Starbucks.
After a few hours of waiting and doing nothing, we were finally able to board the plane, I went to a nearby gift shop and got myself a last minute gift, a nice little soywax candle and that was it, the trip was officially over, we were in the plane and that was the start of a fucking nightmare of a ride. Now when I think back to that flight experience, I actually feel so upset that my amazing trip was had to end on such a horrible note because the airline allowed one fucking druggie on the plane and did nothing about it when he became a disturbance to everyone who was seated around him.
I had to deal with the druggie's antics for 3 fucking hours before I got moved, and even then, the new seat was also not great, so many shit happened on the flight back to Doha, my Sister actually helped me write in a complaint letter but the response to the complaint was just a generic...
"Sorry for the bad experience, unfortunately it was beyond our control...."
.... no, it was not beyond your control, you could have trained your attendants to deal with the druggie by confining him somewhere else where he wouldn't be a nuisance, but they did nothing, they left him where he was for the entire duration of the flight. I was lucky because I voiced out and requested to be moved, there were others who weren't so lucky and had to sit through his shit for 12 hours.
Now I am actually scared of taking such a long flight back because of the off chance I might get seated next to such an inconsiderate asshole. I was lucky because there were spare seats, but what if there weren't, am I suppose to just deal with it for 12 hours? Seriously, get your shit together Qatar Airways, this is the kind of experience that would scare anyone from taking long flights with your arline.
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