Nothing is better than a trip to New York City for the day with your best friend–except when there are surprises involved! Over our winter break from college, one of my best friends and I traveled to NYC for the day to give each other our Christmas presents…the catch? We didn’t know what either of us were getting each other, not until the very moment we arrived to it. I was feeling nervous, excited, and adventurous as we started our day bright and early.
(Skyline of NYC from ferry)
My present was given first; I drove us from Northern Jersey to Jersey City, only about an hour drive. Once there, I took us to a park near the Hudson, and I revealed what we were doing- we were taking a ferry to see the Statue of Liberty! Even though we had both grown up right near NYC and visited it multiple times, neither of us had ever seen the statue in person. Even though it was a cold January day, it didn’t stop us from making the most out of it!
(The Statue of Liberty from the ferry)
Once we got to the statue, my ticket also included access to the pedestal of the statue, which meant we had over 100 stairs to climb! It was a hike, but the view from up there was incredible. We had a mini photoshoot, but eventually it was time to head out and make our way over the river to New York. She had an amazing time, and we both got to experience a 1st together…even if the wind ruined our hair.
We had a few hours to kill before Ashley was going to give me her surprise, so we wandered around New York to see what it had to offer. We found a bookstore with millions of books inside, we found an adorable market with beautiful necklaces and rings, and we found what appeared to be a mall with a seemingly endless number of stores inside. We ended up eating at a small pizza shop near NYU’s campus, and talking about life in a Barnes and Noble we stumbled upon. Finally, it was time for us to go to the surprise she had for me. I had been wracking my brain trying to figure out where we were going, but it turned out to be better than anything I could have ever imagined.
(The mall we stumbled upon)
If you know anything about me, you know that my favorite thing in the entire world is chocolate- I could eat chocolate all day every day. Ashley knows this about me all too well, so for my surprise she brought me to Max Brenner, a restaurant with the most extensive chocolate dessert menu you’ve ever seen. It looked and smelled like Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, and I honestly thought that I had died and went to heaven.
(One of the many, MANY desserts we ordered)
We somehow maneuvered our way through public transportation all the way back to my car and watched the beautiful, dark skyline of NYC fade away into the distance. It was an amazing, cold, fun day that I will remember for the rest of my life. If you have a best friend that you want to adventure with, I highly recommend doing a secret surprise day…because really, who doesn’t love a good surprise?
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