New York City! It's hard to believe that even though I've spent 14 years of my life living on the North American continent in both Colorado, USA and in British Columbia, Canada, and traveled across both countries frequently, that I've never actually been to NYC before. I stepped foot in the state of New York in 2011 when I watched the New York City Ballet perform in Saratoga while I was attending a ballet summer school nearby in Boston, Massachusetts, but that's as close as I ever came.
And while this trip wasn't a full-blown New York City experience - I want to come back and live here for a few years to properly see it all - a whirlwhind 21-hour layover was the perfect introduction to the beautiful chaos that is NYC.
I had just finished a five-week backpacking trip through five countries in Central America, a trip I had been manifesting since last summer when I quit my job and decided to take what I coined an "adult gap year", given I was taking it aged 28, instead of the typical gap year age of 18. My Central America trip would turn out to cover five countries in five weeks; the first three (Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua) with my partner Tobi and the last two (Guatemala, Belize) with Ina, one of my best friends from Salzburg.
On the way back from Belize, the best flight we could find to return us to Munich had a 21-hour layover in NYC and so we figured we could add one more stop to this crazy adventure.
Although it was a lot of work, I made daily vlogs on Instagram reels of every single day of this trip which I branded "the backpacking series".
→ Check out my episode of the Backpacking Series from my layover in NYC!
By flight: We flew into Newark International Airport in New Jersey, one of the two main airports servicing New York City. The other one you can fly into is JFK. We had a 21-hour layover between Belize City, Belize and Munich, Germany which gave us the perfect amount of time to explore NYC.
From Newark, a direct train brings you to New York City's Penn Station.
→ Check out my episode of the Backpacking Series of flying from Belize City to New York City!
By train: If you are traveling from within the United States, you can travel by train to New York City arriving at either Penn Station or Grand Central Station.
→ Book a train to New York City with Amtrak.
By car: If you are traveling from within the state or elsewhere in the United States, you can of course travel to New York City with your own wheels. Parking can be hard to find and expensive here so most people opt to use public transport within the city once they've arrived.
→ If you don't have your own car, you can rent one in New York City.
By bus: The Flixbus rus directly between New York City and 133 other cities across the United States.
Flying into Newark
First time in NYC!
We did a lot of walking during our 21-hour layover and tried to cram in as many of the main NYC tourist highlights as possible for my first ever time in the Big Apple.
→ Check out my NYC walking route on Strava!
For longer distances, such as out to Brooklyn, we naturally rode the famous NYC subway system which we could simply tap in and out of using a credit card! Of course, you can also grab one of the iconic yellow NYC taxis or book an Uber.
Streets of NYC
Ticket for Penn Station back to Newark
As we were only in NYC for one night, we were looking for something affordable as well as within walking or subway distance to everything we were trying to cram into our layover - no easy feat!
We ended up booking Chelsea Rooms, the perfect little place, just minutes on foot from Penn Station in Manhattan making getting around a total breeze. AND it was super affordable compared to average NYC rates. The owner was super kind and breakfast was included. We had to share a bathroom with the others on our floor but that was totally fine.
→ Book your stay at the Chelsea Rooms.
→ Check out other places to stay to suit your budget and accommmodation type.
Image via Booking.com
I mean, this is NYC and there are about a gazillion places you can dine and entire books have been written on the topic. To keep things simple, here are the three places I visited while in NYC on my 21-hour layover which I can recommend:
Dinner: Joe's Pizza
The classic. NYC is famous for pizza by the slice. And this is the best pizza in town. According to me who has only ever eaten at this one pizza place in NYC. But also the crowds of other people who were lining up down the street at 2am.
Breakfast: Butler
A cute little breakfast spot with an incredible view of the Brooklyn Bridge. The coffee was mediocre but the service, location and smoothie bowls made up for that.
Lunch: Beyond Sushi
An entirely vegan sushi place? With sushi that isn't just cucumber or avocado? YES. Phenomenal. Wanted everything off the menu.
I could easily spend a few years in NYC - that's how much the infectious energy of the city captured me. But alas, for my first ever visit I had just 21 hours to cram in as much as possible (and those 21 hours included the time between Newark Airport and the city plus a whole three hours of sleep somewhere in between...).
Here is everything I managed to see during my New York City layover; I can't wait to come back again and again:
Take in the energy of the streets at night
We landed in the late evening and beelined it to the train to get from Newark to Penn Station. After dumping our bags at our hotel, we spent the early hours of the morning wandering the brightly lit streets mostly in search of pizza - this city truly never sleeps.
Visit Times Square
It's not really a visit to the Big Apple without stepping foot in the iconic Times Square where countless bright billboards take up every single pixel in your available field of vision.
→ Check out the fun reel I made about waking up in Belize and falling asleep in New York City!
Watch the sunrise in Brooklyn
Well, we didn't get a sunrise, we got a grey misty morning, but we still made the subway trek at 6am out to be the first people at the famous Williamsburg Bridge spot in Brooklyn. Worth it.
→ Check out the fun reel I made about the Williamsburg Bridge viewpoint!
Spot the Brooklyn Bridge
Much more famous than its neighbour, the Williamsburg Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge is an icon spanning the East River connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn. If we'd had more time (and better weather), I would have wanted to walk over it... yet another reason to come back.
Explore Manhattan and its most famous buildings
After our sunrise mission, we spent the rest of the morning exploring Manhattan on foot spotting some of its icons, almost treating it like a treasure hunt of building-spotting:
- Flatiron Building
- Empire State Building
- New York Public Library
- Radio City Music Hall
- Rockefeller Plaza
- Carnegie Hall
Then, it was time for lunch and a return to our hotel to grab our bags and get the train back to Newark. Until next time, New York City!
Rockefeller Plaza
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Hi! I’m Jana, a Dutch-German-British-Canadian with a dream of seeing every country in the world. I am a storyteller, photographer and adventurer passionate about documenting and sharing my travels.
