Final Day In NYC

Whoever thought it would take so long to pack 4 months worth of stuff into 2 cases? 

6 hours later, I had given up. I had managed to close one of them, but attempting to lift it once it was packed, forget about it! 

Who knows what was running through my head when I decided to go out and shop. With two cases that were about to burst (which later cost me $180 in excess weight, both reaching the limit of 32kg) I decided to go out and do my final bits. Sperry, Victoria Secrets, LF, Club Monaco, Brandy Melville, Steve Madden, Forever 21, Adidas, Ralph Lauren... I could not stop. It didn't even cross my mind that I was going to have to put all my new purchases in my carry on. 

So having shopped till I dropped my gorgeous friend Callie and I went to grab dinner. We were already in Soho so we ventured into Boom on Spring Street. We both really fancied Italian, so with a great food menu and wine list, as well as a live band, we both were very happy. 

A quick outfit change and headed back out for drinks and nibbles with my lovely new Dutch trio at Fig & Olive in the meatpacking district. The food was great, drinks were great, company was great, and being given complementary cocktails by the bartender, well that's great too. 

My last night to go out in NYC so where better to go than 1 Oak. I normally always end up in 1 Oak whenever I go out as a sort of after club, as it is the only club in the meatpacking district that really starts getting good at 2.30am. We had huge a table full of friends, endless bottles of Dom Pérignon and it sure was an amazing night that will never be forgotten.

Waking up early to finish off my packing and check out by 11am was pretty horrendous, but having my wonderful French friend Marie-Adeline there to help was a lifesaver. Since working together at Anna Sui - starting and ending our internship together - she has been a great friend to me, therefore who better to spend my last truly American style breakfast together than her. We ended up at the Tick Tock Diner in Herald Square and ate inedibly huge servings of pancakes and smoked salmon bagels.

After bit more faffing around (and a quick trip to Sephora to pick up some essentials that you can't get in London), I headed up to 58th and Maddison to the infamous Lavo brunch. As previously mentioned in an earlier post, brunch in new York is not a snack between breakfast and lunch, but a full on party with unlimited amounts of wine, champagne and vodka. I wasn't flying out till 10pm, so why not go out with a bang. Glow sticks, sunglasses and a few glasses of proscecco, the Lavo brunch was amazing. Where else can you eat waffles and eggs benedict and within a few minutes of finishing, the lights are dimmed, music cranked up and people start dancing on the tables. A full scale night club at 3pm in the afternoon.

It didn't feel like I was leaving driving back over the Brooklyn bridge towards Kennedy airport. To be driving away from the most amazing city that I was lucky enough to all home for 4 months, it was all a bit surreal.


Subbing the word 'and' into a very typically American phrase felt like the perfect way to describe my last day in New York.

Go big and go home.

And that is exactly what I did.