It will always take a while for you to assimilate that yes, you are in New York
That also affects those who have read many positive recommendations but they still aren't sure if the Big Apple is really worth it (yes, it is!) . And, of course, those who have already walked down Fifth Avenue and want live a moment of nostalgia.
We have contacted several travelers who have been to New York to tell us what they felt in those first moments in the most famous place in the world. A lucky few who will soon be joined by you!
"Wow, it's true that I'm HERE", the feeling when you arrive in New York
A trip to New York cannot be compared to any other . And it is not because it is the most special place on the planet (everyone has their own), but because since we were children we have been bombarded with images in the cinema and on television of its skyscrapers, avenues and lights.
everyone knows the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty d. They are almost more familiar to us than our own street. That is why it is so common in the rookie in New York that emotion so deep that it causes a lump in your throat. Because you are finally there. And yes, it is real.
“I arrived stunned by the jet lag and the first impression was very chaotic. The first crazy moment was the next day, going down the street and seeing two lanes full of yellow cabs . I thought, "I'm in a fucking movie!" This very graphic explanation corresponds to Bea Q. , Professor of English.
The most famous skyline on the planet
His enthusiasm when talking about the metropolis brings us several smiles although he has not yet told us the moment when his head really clicked: “I know it sounds very typical but I was waiting at the dock to take the boat to the i Ellis Island and I saw the Statue of Liberty in the distance . It was at that moment that I thought 'I'm really here'. She reminded me of the scenes of The Godfather II, when Vito Corleone arrives in New York as a child.
That is the magic of the great cities of the globe. They are so special, so spectacular, that each person gives a different element to the heart. can be the solemn Statue of Liberty or the humble yellow taxi.
New York symbols are recognizable anywhere: taxis, smoke vents, iron stairs...
In the case of Paul Smith that item was crowded times square . "I think I still don't know how to put words to what I felt when I got out of the subway and I saw that square , because the adjective amazing falls short ”, recalls this young man with several trips to the city behind him.
“It was getting dark and everything seemed huge to me, built in a big way and without any control, but it was impossible not to be amazed by so many lights and screens. I was contemplating with my own eyes what I had seen so many times on TV and I was delighted”.
EVERYTHING IS HUGE
The references in these testimonies to the cinema or television are constant. As well as how gigantic everything is. It is one of the things that most impacts upon arrival. Surely if you have friends or relatives who have set foot in the city that never sleeps, they have told you about how enormous all things are, not just buildings. And if you've been there yet you won't have forgotten.
Alejandro is part of the second group and puts the focus on it: "My first impression was, I think that as for many people, that was huge . I felt tiny, everything is big. It is an amazing city, very alive, you always found something that makes r”.
Everything is huge in New York
We have internalized that we are going to see many skyscrapers but nothing prepares us for their height, unless we have previously been in Dubai or Hong Kong . But it's also gigantic C Central Park or the Museum of Natural History or Macy's or Grand Central Terminal or, above all, the One World Trade Center, the largest building in New York. It is built a few meters from where the Twin Towers stood, without a doubt the most impressive area of the city.
Iris Escrivá, who visited the city for the first time in the summer of 2017, was impressed by this place. “I was breathless looking at the memorial to the victims of 9/11. The void left by the Twin Towers invades you. It generates a feeling of extreme sadness for what happened.
Iris, who defines herself as a “modern, up-to-date, cosmopolitan woman with a huge traveling soul”, remembers with great admiration the most emblematic points of the city. But what has remained etched in her memory is that first moment when “I heard for the first time the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple. See the traffic and bustle of its streets. It is a feeling that I would not tire of repeating ”.
That feeling of being in a city that you already know almost everything about... but then it comes and surprises you
It is impressive to see how this city is capable of provoking so many feelings to so many people. Well seen, it seems as if those of us who visited it were mere puppets at the complete mercy of his will . Now it surprises us, then it makes us cry, suddenly it moves us, it also makes us scream with joy... In short, it is a place that makes you feel like the luckiest and most special person in the world.
Because after all, and in the words of Bea Q., “as the days went by, she had more and more the feeling that she was in the capital of the world”. No more no less.
The capital of the world