20 hours of travel, 9 days in the Big Apple – my New York trip

Arrival at the grubby hostel

The travel day of my first long-haul trip was long. Awake at 6, off to Amsterdam by car at half past 7, a smooth airport transfer, check-in, hunting for food, boarding – which we nearly missed because of the food hunt. Then an eight-hour flight that really did fly by thanks to good entertainment. Even so, we arrive completely wiped out, and weren't prepared to then wait two hours at border control – that wasn't exactly on my bucket list. After that it didn't get any better: the transfer from the airport to the hostel took so long that, all in all, we didn't arrive until 20 hours later.

And the hostel was more of a dive. Room 103 – on the "first floor", which here means the ground floor – had obviously not been cleaned, which earned us an immediate move to room 210. At least a made bed gave the visual impression of cleaning, but you weren't allowed to look any closer. The shower and toilet were, on the cleanliness scale, downright disturbing. Luckily we were so tired that we couldn't spare a thought for whether the blanket had been used or not. 9 pm local time, but for us already 3 in the morning.

Central Park, Times Square & right inside a TV series

After a bad and freezing night we first have to shower off the grime, then set off into Central Park with an avocado sandwich and a coffee to go. From there we head to Times Square, just as impressive as everyone says. Enormous screens on every building, and you don't even know which advert or which giant sign to look at first. So many impressions all at once. At Bryant Park we listen briefly to a Scottish band playing something on the bagpipes – really, on every corner you're basically in a different film. The public toilets in Bryant Park were actually cleaner than ours at the hostel; we make a mental note of this tip for later.

On we go to Grand Central Terminal, where we immediately feel as though Serena from Gossip Girl has just walked past us – the legendary opening scene has to be re-enacted, of course. Then we set off to find the Empire State Building (which you don't really need to look for, since you can see it well from just about anywhere) and the Flatiron Building.

After a coffee we head to the Public Library, where Anne gets a compliment on her camera from a stranger – not the first time we're surprised by the openness and the compliments of New Yorkers. Then it's on to the Rockefeller Center, where we have a discussion about exactly where the Christmas tree actually stands. We wander around there a bit longer in search of toilets before making our way to McGee's Pub. Since the pub is the one that inspired "How I Met Your Mother", we order two cocktails called "Pineapple Incident" and take a short break from the sensory overload.

After the break we grab some fries and spend the time until sunset in the lower part of Central Park. The way back on the subway is exhausting, because of course we took the wrong one – which stretched the journey home out unnecessarily. Today we walked 21.9 kilometres in total. That's a half marathon!

Top of the Rock & the little Lady Liberty

After a sandwich for breakfast we head to Top of the Rock. The ticket for it gets booked on the subway – handy, so we can go straight up. The view is simply beautiful, especially with today's good weather. I think we spend an hour and a half up there, take a thousand photos and enjoy a view I certainly won't forget any time soon.

Then it's all the way down to the Staten Island Ferry, which we take across. A good tip if you want a nice, free glimpse of Lady Liberty. It's also, incidentally, one of the few things that are free in New York; we can hardly believe we're let onto the ferry without anyone charging us money anywhere. We're a little surprised at how small she looks compared to all the skyscrapers – but she's beautiful all the same.

Back in Manhattan, both starving, we grab "Falafel over Rice" with hot spice sauce. And oh boy, that sauce really was hot and spicy. "Tasty, but very painful" was the fitting comment.

With burning mouth and stomach we walk along the East River to Pier 35, passing under the Brooklyn Bridge – very impressive. Unfortunately the route runs the whole time beneath a motorway that's incredibly loud. From Pier 35 you get a wonderful view of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge, and we even manage to get a spot on a swing bench. Here the view of New York is bearable. After a final stroll through Central Park we're back at the hostel. Tomorrow it's off to the Harry Potter play – we snapped up tickets for the next day on a whim, and if you're already on Broadway, you have to make the most of it.

Chinatown, Central Park by bike & Harry Potter at the theatre

We spend the morning planning the week. First it's off to Chinatown and Little Italy, where we eat some noodles. "Andiamo fratello, non Mastroianni tutti i funyuns" to the people who remember that Marshall once briefly lived in Little Italy. A "nice sunglasses" earns me my next compliment. This can carry on.

Central Park is actually much bigger than you'd think; our little bike tour is about 10 km. All around the edge of the park you can rent City Bikes and do a magnificent tour of Central Park on the dedicated bike lane. Even though the City Bikes feel like they're stuck in minus first gear, I can absolutely recommend this tour, because without a bike you don't stand a chance of seeing all of the park – even though we pay it a visit every single day.

Afterwards we make our way towards Broadway. Great effects and an incredibly strong play! The three hours of theatre fly by. At first I was sceptical, like probably all Harry Potter fans who read the book of the play and thought, what on earth is this. But I've rarely been so pleasantly surprised, and I'd watch the play again in a heartbeat. The effects were just amazing – you really had the feeling it was magic. Afterwards we head to Times Square, which looks incredibly beautiful at night. For "just" 10 dollars there was a pretzel that tasted like it had been deep-fried in hot-dog water. Slowly I'm starting to think nothing can surprise me any more.

A day to just drift

The motto of the day: go with the flow. First we head to the Metropolitan Museum to have breakfast on the steps à la "Gossip Girl". At a supermarket we each grab two bagels, guacamole, watermelon and a coffee – a premium breakfast. Then we simply sit in the sun for ages and watch the first people buying their fast food just after 9. America really is different.

When we finally manage to get going, we walk through Central Park to the famous carousel, which is, however, extremely disappointing. From there it's on to "Gray's Papaya", a place that appears in "How I Met Your Mother", where we get the famous papaya drink – which was surprisingly tasty. From there we go looking for the exterior filming location of Ted's apartment. I didn't really recognise it, but it was cool anyway. The Upper West Side really is very lovely.

Then we head towards Greenwich Village. We pass through Washington Square Park again, where for the first time we're offered weed with the line "Weed, weed, weed, friends for life, friends forever!" With a sales pitch like that, you can almost not say no. After that it's on to Bedford Street, to the exterior shots for "Friends", through Christopher Street and on to Perry Street with the exterior shots for "Sex and the City". We also look for Dr Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum – I didn't really recognise that spot either, but it was cool all the same; once again the day feels like a shooting day.

After some delicious rice with vegetables, we pass the biggest comic book shop in the world, our last stop before the hostel.

Brooklyn and the class divide

Today we've decided to go and see Brooklyn. To do that we head to Lower Manhattan and then walk across the Brooklyn Bridge – something you have to do when you're in New York! At the pier we do a quick loop, then head to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, where a few cherry trees are in bloom – very pretty. Brooklyn feels like a different city compared to Manhattan and lives up to its reputation from most TV series. It's striking how much you notice the class divide here.

After a slice of pizza at "Joe and Sal's" we head back over the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan. By now it's almost 30 degrees today – at the pier two days ago we were still wrapped up in hats, scarves and winter coats. The weather swings are dramatic. But that calls for a little refreshment and an iced coffee at Starbucks. To round things off, we go to the "Friends" Experience, where the show's sets are recreated and you can take photos. All the staff seem extremely fed up, but the experience nicely rounded off the whole TV-series adventure.

We conclude that the staff here either hate their job or love it – there's nothing in between.

9/11 Museum, Wall Street & a rooftop with a view

After another breakfast on the steps of the Met – the best breakfast spot – we head to the 9/11 Museum. Dressed summery today, we freeze terribly; you can't rely on weather apps. The museum was, in a sad and oppressive way, extremely moving – rarely has a museum drawn me in so completely. The tragedy was portrayed so vividly, and you get an insight into what feels like every family life that was destroyed, until the tears came. Stories of the heroism of helpers and firefighters who sacrificed themselves, and final farewell voicemails, brought me to tears again. Three hours later we come out of the museum utterly shaken and look at the huge black craters marking the spots where the Twin Towers stood.

After recovering a little, we head to Wall Street, where we see the Charging Bull among a crowd of people, and continue to the banks of the Hudson River, along which we walk a good stretch. You can just walk endlessly along the Hudson and still be impressed by the skyline. Then we grab donuts and an iced coffee at Dunkin' Donuts – where we're treated to a terrible coffee, from the kind of staff member who hates their job. After that it's back to the hostel to head out to the rooftop bar of the Empire Hotel. There we order fries, a cauliflower pizza, a Gossip Girl cocktail and an Aperol, and pay a whopping 65 dollars. Ouch. The view was only so-so, too, but then we were seated on the low-budget side with plastic chairs.

Before heading back to the hostel, we stroll through nighttime New York City and discover a rollerskate 90s party at the foot of the Rockefeller Center.

Natural History Museum, the High Line & final errands

We started with a visit to the Natural History Museum – basically just a museum full of stuffed animals arranged with no discernible logic. But we did see the famous dinosaur skeletons. We also come across the famous Dum Dum from "Night at the Museum". Then we roam around Central Park, grab an iced coffee and head to the Meatpacking District, a commercial district in the west of the city. There we discover the High Line, which runs along former elevated stretches of railway track – a kind of pedestrian promenade between the high-rises along the old rails – and give the "Falafel over Rice" another chance, this time without stomach ache afterwards. We gratefully declined the spicy sauce.

We eat on the banks of the Hudson River and visit a futuristic garden complex. Then it's back to Bryant Park, to the best public toilets in New York, so we don't have to use the ones at the hostel.

The last day and saying goodbye to New York

Today we visit our regular deli again to buy a Veggie Special Avocado Gourmet Sandwich, and have breakfast in Central Park. On the last day we finally managed to get our coffee to go without it being wrapped in plastic and put in a plastic bag. When we explain to the New Yorkers that there are no plastic bags in Germany any more and that you bring your own reusable bag to go shopping, we're probably declared insane.

Then we head to Grand Central Station once more and visit the Goliath National Bank building (Barney's workplace in "How I Met Your Mother") and the New York City Palace Hotel (Chuck's long-term residence in "Gossip Girl"). After spending almost an hour marvelling at the bizarre Easter Parade, we quickly eat a wok in Bryant Park – our favourite park is of course kitted out with chairs and tables too. So we enjoy the view of our beloved toilets. Then we go to the 5 pm screening of "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore". The cinema is huge, the seats like Chandler and Joey's, and only a massage function is missing – which, for 27 dollars, I would actually have expected. On the way back the subway plays up again and spontaneously skips several stations, so that in the end we're let out a few stops too far. Even after a week I still haven't understood the subway system; it really does whatever it wants.

After a relaxed breakfast at Bryant Park – there's baguette and cream cheese – we slowly make our way to leave the hostel behind. We even have an unproblematic subway ride for once, and that despite the suitcases. Changing to the AirTrain, we find a couple to give our weekly metro cards to – after all, they're still valid for five days.

Luckily we're at the airport very early, because a long queue awaits us again at security. 40 minutes of waiting would have been far more unpleasant under time pressure. After that we even have time to eat in peace: at last there's a veggie burger and some donuts to say goodbye to the typical American food. We pass the rest of the time strolling around, two rounds of Skip-Bo and one final trip to the toilet in the USA. Then we take off and, for the return flight, even only need around 6 hours 15 minutes.

What the trip cost

Over the nine days we tracked all our expenses for the two of us: