It feels like I haven't written a post in a while. But today I'm here to tell you all about my exciting trip to New York. I already got a lot of questions from friends and family on how my trip went and what I visited. The trip lasted for ten days so it's not easy to talk about everything I did in less than five minutes. If you are interested in my adventure in New York, keep on reading! Or if you don't like reading, make sure to watch the first part of my vlog down below.

I guess I'll start from the beginning, the moment where I have to actually travel to NY. It's the first time I'm travelling by myself for such a long flight. When I look back on the travel part now, it actually isn't such a big deal. During my flight, I watched two movies and talked with Mike, a typical American guy who immediately introduced himself when he sat next to me. He told everything and more about his life and the trip he had with a bunch of friends to Israel. It felt like the time had gone by so quickly because six hours later we were about ready to land in the USA. 

As far as my flight with Brussels Airlines was really comfortable and we got plenty of food, my mood instantly dropped the minute when I entered the arrival hall of JFK. The waiting line for the border security for people who hadn't been in the States before was so long, the queue actually reached the escalators where we all just came from. During my four and a half hour wait, I watched Donald Trump signing all his presidential papers with all his different pens and getting more hungry by the minute. When I finally got through the security part, my friend Jennifer was waiting for me with a bag of Dunkin' Donuts. How good of a friend are you when you wait more than four hours and buy some donuts to share?

The plan was to stay in Carmel until Sunday. Carmel is a small town where Jennifer now lives for a year as an au pair with the kindest and sweetest family. They welcomed me into their house to stay a few nights until we had to leave to go to the city on Monday. After driving for two hours - because we were kinda lost - we finally made it to the house. It was almost dinner time (7pm in NY but in my head it was already past midnight) and jetlag had already hit me. I ate some bits of the lasagna the family made but then I decided to go to sleep because I could literally fall asleep right there and then. 

The next morning, Saturday the 21st of January, Jennifer and I decided to go shopping and have a relaxed day to catch up, because we hadn't seen each other in over three months. We went to Poughkeepsie Galleria and after lunch went back home. One of the kids from the family had a birthday party at 5pm so we went along and had a nice evening which finished off my first full day in America. 

On Sunday there was a meeting in the afternoon with some other au pairs to go ice skating in Bear Mountain. Because we hadn't planned anything before the ice skating, Jennifer had the idea to go to Bounce, an indoor trampoline park. Along with another family - the family of the boy who's birthday party we went to the day before - we spent an hour on the trampolines enjoying ourselves like little kids. After lunch we left to go ice skating where we met up with some other au pairs. I enjoyed this day a lot but I was so tired at the end of the day. Jetlag had really gotten me after all.

The following morning, Monday the 23rd of January, we packed our suitcases to leave for New York City. The mom of the family dropped us off at the train station where we took the train to Grand Central Station. 

I'm so grateful that I got to stay with this family for the first few days - THANK YOU! -. What Jennifer is doing as an au pair is something I admire and I would love to do the same, but I can't just leave my current life for a year. Maybe for a few months, but then again, America is quite a distance away... I already miss the family and the cute kiddies as I didn't say goodbye to them, but I'm sure we'll have a Skype call soon.

I hope you enjoyed the first part of my 'travel diary'. These first three days in Carmel went by so quickly but the real adventure still had to begin. If you are interested in the 'New York' part of my trip, make sure to keep an eye out for the second part of this post, which will be posted in a few days. 

- xoxo -

Chiara