〈2025-01-06〉New York Trip🗽：Day 1

The first time I travelled alone in the USA and the first time in my life I travelled to New York City began.

First, I went to Toronto City Airport for the first time. Pearson Airport is not convenient from Toronto city center, but City Airport was very convenient because there is a free shuttle bus from Union Station, so I could get there quickly. However, because the airport is small, I couldn't take advantage of the system of immigration for the US in Canada, even though I was coming from Canada to the US. (When entering the USA from Canada, you can usually take US immigration in Canada.) So, after an hour-and-a-half flight with Porter Airlines, I went through immigration at Newark Airport. I was very scared because I had heard that immigration checks in the US were getting tougher year by year, but I could pass it. The first queue I was taken to was too slow and I had to wait for almost an hour, and the Asian girl in front of me was sent to another room....scary😱

After entering the US, I took a train to reach Manhattan. At first, I was planning to go to the 911 Memorial Museum, but I realized at this time that reservations could not be made on the day, so I had no choice but to take a walk around Times Square.

For starters, I had a poke bowl at Red Poke. It was different from Japanese seafood bowls, but I was happy to have something similar for the first time in a while. It wasn't cheap when converted to Japanese yen, but it was more valuable than the price.

Afterwards, I went to Times Square. It was really impressive that the streets were surrounded by electronic public notices. But I used to live in a city with a nightlife district, not as big as New York, so I felt nostalgic.

Since I was there, I decided to visit some New York branches of some famous stores. First, I passed by Ichiran. I love Ichiran and I wanted to eat it in New York for the first time in a long time, but it was too expensive and I could eat it back in Japan, so I gave up. I wondered if the taste is the same as in Japan. Then, on my way to the Nintendo Store, I happened to see a Christmas tree in front of Rockefeller Centre. I have to confess here that I actually didn't know New York very well. I made a schedule by writing down the places I wanted to go that I saw on vlogs and so on, but I didn't do any research on anything else. So it wasn't until about the second day of my trip that I realized that this building is Rockefeller Center, and this tree is one of the most famous Christmas trees in the world. I then went to the Nintendo store. There were various goods and statues of Mario and his friends. There was a place where I could try out games, so I played Mario Kart for the first time in about 10 years. I love watching videos of playing games on YouTube, but I haven't had a game since I was a kid, so I'm really bad at playing games. But 10 years ago I was driving in the wrong direction in Mario Kart, but this time I was able to drive forward🤣 Then, I went into the bookshop next to the Nintendo store because it looked cute. The way of display was unique and cute. Next, I went to the Disney Store. There were Mickey and his friends' goods associated with New York and so on. Personally, I fell in love with the escalator to the second floor and the Princess Corner on the second floor because of the Disney-like decoration. Next, I visited two chocolate shops. The first was Hershey's. I didn't know this company, but apparently, it's world-renowned. When I entered the shop, they gave me some chocolate to sample. There were oversized chocolates and chocolates that you could print your photo on package. The second was m&m. I knew about this one, but I didn't know they had character goods for each colour. There were chocolates not only in red, blue and yellow but also in silver, light blue etc, which I thought could be used for art.

Finally, I finished my walk on the first day in New York and went back to the hostel. Good night🌙