We spent the first part of July this year in New York, after spending June in Europe. I had carefully planned my wardrobe to take into account summer temperatures, garment weight, maximum style at maximum comfort. Europe worked well with what I packed so I just couldn’t wait for New York.

Due to those unforeseen circumstances that always seem to happen to us, we had no luggage the majority of our stay in New York. That meant no carefully selected wardrobe, accessories, hair straightener, hairbrushes, make up (other than my necessities that were in my handbag), no perfume and none of the amazing shopping I did in Paris. Oh, and no underwear… The airline gave us a grooming bag and a $100 voucher each to go and buy some undies and clothes. My first thought was ‘Dear lord, what can I buy for $100 in New York?!”. I had this awful image of us walking around in cheap shorts and ‘I HEART NY’ t-shirts for the rest of the trip. Gulp.

We arrived to our hotel very late at 9pm, we stayed at the Paramount Hotel in Times Square. Staff there were lovely and helpful – they recommended we go to Forever21 as they were open till midnight. At this stage I was in love with America! Retail shops open till midnight, that’s even better than shops in Europe being open till 8pm (note to Australia – catch up!). At Forever21 I bought enough clothing and underwear for a few days and somehow I managed to get all that for $98.

We made the most of the time we had there and loved every minute despite the circumstances. I am certain there will be another trip to New York soon, this was just an interesting start to a life long affair…

37 degrees Celsius and no hair straighteners...

Danny

My favourite photo

Macy's

Flat Iron building

Flat Iron building detail

The start of my obsession with the American flag...

Manhattan Post Office on the right - it's open 24 hours!

Empire State building in the back

Chewing gum marks on the sidewalk

We tried really hard not to look like these folks

Manhattan cemetery

The last of the colonial houses in Manhattan

The Waldorf Astoria

Don Draper's office

Image copyright © Vanja Stace