New York at the Tail End of Winter
March is a funny month in New York.
Winter hasn’t quite packed its bags, but you can tell it knows its time is almost up. There was still snow tucked along the sidewalks in Harlem, rain in the forecast and enough cold in the air to make me reconsider whatever cute little outfit I had planned.
A Few Days in the City
Whether I’m traveling for work or pleasure, I genuinely enjoy moving through cities alone. I like deciding what I want to eat, where I want to walk and when I’m ready to call it a night. I enjoy my own company, and somewhere along the way, that became one of my favorite parts of traveling.
Not every moment needs an itinerary. Sometimes the plan is simply to see where the evening takes me.
There’s something different about returning to a city you once lived in. I don’t feel the pressure to see everything anymore. I know New York well enough to simply exist here. I can walk through Harlem and admire the brownstones with snow still sitting at their feet. I can head into the office for the day, grab dinner afterward and somehow end up walking through Times Square at night just because it’s there.
Just Existing in New York
This trip reminded me that some of my favorite travel memories are becoming the simplest ones. I love the big trips and beautiful hotels. I love getting dressed for dinner and planning experiences I’ve been looking forward to for months. But I also love this. Walking around a city alone. Taking myself somewhere good to eat. Revisiting an old neighborhood. Going to an event because it sounds interesting. Getting back to my hotel, taking my clothes off and climbing into bed completely satisfied with how I spent my day. I’m learning to romanticize those moments just as much. New York at the tail end of winter was cold, wet and brief. The snow was melting. Spring was somewhere around the corner.
Books, 2 Chainz & Dumplings
One evening took me to Barnes & Noble in Union Square to hear 2 Chainz and Charlamagne Tha God in conversation about 2 Chainz’s book, The Voice in My Head Is God. I spent the evening listening to their conversation and eventually got the chance to meet 2 Chainz and take a photo with him.
After two hours at Barnes & Noble, I was hungry. So, Chinatown.
I made my way to Noodle Village and ordered noodles and soup dumplings, which turned out to be exactly what I wanted after walking around New York in the cold. There is something deeply satisfying about sitting down to a hot bowl of noodles on a cold New York night.
And that was my evening.
Barnes & Noble. 2 Chainz. Charlamagne. Dumplings in Chinatown. Then back to my hotel in Hell’s Kitchen, into bed. No grand finale required.
Dinner in the West Village
I also made time for dinner with my good friend Chris at Arthur & Sons in the West Village.
We ordered spaghetti with shrimp and the spicy rigatoni alla vodka with chicken, the kind of dinner where you order a couple of things for the table because choosing just one feels unnecessary. Everything was well prepared, rich and delicious, and the spicy rigatoni ended up being one of my favorite meals of the trip.
Good pasta, a glass of wine and an old friend across the table. New York does simple evenings very well.
And for three days, I was simply there.
Working. Wandering. Eating dumplings.
Having the time of my life.