In mid-March I flew up to NY for a couple days for a whirlwind of a trip. I managed to fit a LOT into a short time, so let’s dive into what I did!

Day 1: Thursday, 13 March 2025

The reason for this trip was going to see a J-Hope of BTS concert in Brooklyn (see full concert post here), so I booked a flight up to NY early in the morning, with a tentative arrival time to the venue around 12:30-1pm at the latest. I engineered the stage for this concert, and I was all set to meet up with some of the production staff before the show to see my stage up close and talk technical.

I should have learned my lesson for traveling day-of a show last year when my flights to go see Seventeen in Oakland got delayed with weather storms… but alas. There won’t be a third time trust me. Very long travel story short…. My plane ended up leaving Charleston, having to come back, and then leaving again after some weather cleared up. So I ended up 5 hours late in my plans. At least I got to see sunrise before all the travel plans went to crap 😅

I will say, thank god for smart phones and travel apps. I was able to book an uber between the tiny airport in Long Island to get me to the train station as I was walking through the airport. I made that train with only 3 minutes to spare 😱, partially because I was able to buy my train ticket on another app. Take it from me folks, if you’re traveling somewhere with tight timelines or lots of travel logistics (planes, trains, and automobiles on this trip for me 😅), get all of the appropriate apps and be familiar with them before you arrive. It helps so much!

First view of Long Island coming into NY

Travel logistics talk over, back to the trip. So after a very hectic and LONG day of travel I arrived at Barclays Center in Brooklyn at 5:30 pm. If I was a typical concert goer, I would have had to go to my hotel first, drop off my bag, and then go get in VERY long lines to prepare to enter the venue at 7pm for a show at 8pm. Thank all the concert gods that for this particular show I had a secret weapon: my guardian angel aka my work colleague on the concert stage company side who I was supposed to meet up with at 1pm but better late than never!!! She let me in the side door (with my big travel backpack no less), got me a fancy wrist band, was able to store my bag in the crew storage area, and even get me backstage to see a few of the stage components before getting to watch sound check from the floor area. Without her this day would have gone SO differently, so a huge shout out to Cassidy, you are my HERO!

Between sound check and the actual show start I grabbed some food and then went to my regularly ticketed seat (I got my own ticket for this one), and had a magic time watching a truly incredible show. See my concert post for allll the photos & videos.

Day 1 - part 2

After the show I was riding the concert high feeling and decided to take the subway over to Manhattan. One of my Charleston friends moved to NY a while ago and is now a bartender at a great little spot on St. Marks Place downtown called Romeo’s. Back when I lived in NY I spent a lot of time in that area of Manhattan so it was a nice opportunity to reminisce while also getting to see a Charleston friend up in my old neck of the woods.

I had a drink and some dessert (who can say no to a chipwich after midnight?), and then made my way to one of the greatest things about NY: a 24-hour pizza place. I got my 2am veggie slice and got to indulge in some fantastic people watching (there’s truly nothing like NY). After having a VERY long day, I finally hopped the subway back to Brooklyn, and crashed at my hotel for some much needed and well deserved rest after that day!

Day 2: Friday, 14 March 2025

Day 1 included a concert, meeting up with work friends, and seeing a Charleston friend in NY. Day 2 was all about seeing older friends, which was a bonus gift for this trip.

I woke up rested after the exhaustion of the long day before and made my way to one of the other greatest things in NY: a proper bagel place. I got a magically delicious toasted everything bagel with tofu scallion cream cheese. Only in NY can you get tofu cream cheese in multiple flavors. Heaven.

Then I had some time before lunch, and it was a beautiful crisp spring day. So I decided to really do NY right and walked the Brooklyn Bridge over to downtown Manhattan. If you’ve never done this, it’s a really nice walk and the views are incredible. I always recommend it!

The bridge ends right near City Hall & Wall Street, which was perfect because the next set of friends I wanted to see work in that area of lower Manhattan. I was able to meet up with two of my best friends from college during their lunch break at a food hall called the Hungry Pearl. There are a bunch of options, so we all got to eat together & catch up. Seeing them always makes my heart happy so it was wonderful that the timing worked out to see them both!

After lunch I made my way up to Penn Station to catch another train, this time back out to Long Island. I spent the ride editing concert photos & videos, happily reliving the memories. Then I made it to Port Jefferson where I was meeting yet another old friend for dinner. She recently had a child so I got to meet the little one for the first time and catch up with her and her husband.

I stayed overnight with them so we could all catch up, including checking in on the now all grown up chickens that my doggo Fred and I met when they were only chicks! (See them when they were super tiny over here in an early NomadVic post).

Day 3: Saturday, 15 March 2025

After some nice quality time with my friends out in Long Island, and a wonderfully busy (if a bit hectic) weekend, it was time to head home. Luckily my flight back to Charleston was on time & uneventful. After the flight up was so chaotic, it was very nice to have a simple and relaxing flight home.

Thanks for coming along with me to NY for the weekend. I’m at a point now where I prefer life to be a bit more relaxed (hence my choice to live in Charleston). But every once in a while it’s important to fit everything you can into a short trip to really make the most of it. I was so lucky to be able to connect with friends from all different parts of my life, and see an artist and a city I love in the process.

Cheers to happy travels,

~ V