One last hurrah before the adventure begins: a girls trip in New York City

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Before leaving for South Korea in the middle of august, I just knew I had to fit one last trip in with my best friend. We met the very first day of our freshman year of college, lived together for the next two years, but hadn’t been able to see much of each other for our senior year or even this summer.

We both had pretty busy schedules, and finding a time we were both able to go on a trip together was tricky, but we decided to try to go during the week as opposed to the weekends (spoiler alert: even though this isn’t do-able for most people, it made our experience in the city so much better. All the typical touristy areas were so much less crowded than usual which made getting pictures so much easier, wait times were less, and we could snag last minute reservations at restaurants).

Additionally, we made the decision to drive from where we live in Virginia. We parked in New Jersey for about 5 dollars a day, took the PATH train to the city, and the subway to our Airbnb. It took about 45 minutes, but we packed semi-light so it wasn’t a big deal. Saved money on flights, and we didn’t have to wake up every morning to move our car as they clean the streets. It was a win-win! If you’re interested in doing the same, we parked at 808 Pavonia Ave. Jersey City, NJ 07306. We booked in advance!

We had both been to most of the typical touristy things with our families on previous trips, so I don’t think this would be a very good “NYC for first-timers” guide that let’s you see everything the city has to offer, but if you’re looking for a good time with you best friend in the big apple while still getting all the best photo-ops, you’ve come to the right place! We had 2.5 days in the city, and here’s what we got up to. If it’s your first time visiting NYC I would suggest taking a walking tour!

Day 1: Explore Soho, Dinner in Greenwich Village, The High Line, Hudson Yards

By the time we got to our Airbnb in the upper east side, washed the SWEAT off of us (accumulated from the trek from the parking garage to the room), and got ready for the day, it was 3 pm. We decided to just head to Soho to browse some shops and take some photos of the gorgeous architecture.

We put a Zara into our maps (GOOGLE maps, not apple maps by the way, the only direction app that will steer you correctly), bought a 7 day unlimited ride subway card, and set off.

We bought some new clothes, snooped past some designer stores, took some pictures, made some last minute restaurant reservations at Casa la Femme, and headed to Greenwich village around 5:30.

I saw this restaurant, Casa La Femme, on TikTok, and it’s definitely mid-range pricing for New York. It was probably our most expensive meal out, but the atmosphere was so beautiful that I knew we had to go! It was Egyptian cuisine, which I am always here for. We got to our reservation a little bit early and had our pick of the outdoor seating! Another perk of non-weekend trips.

I got the guavatini and it was the most delicious cocktail I’ve ever had. The food was slightly mediocre for the price, but the waiter was cute which made up for it. Lauren got the stuffed grape leaves, and I got the couscous salad with some BOMB falafel added in. I finished it out with the Baklava because and I quote, “Its our first night in New York we gotta blow some money.”

cool Emma, very cool.

From there, it was a short 20 minute walk to the High Line, something somewhat touristy that neither of us had ever done before. We walked right along the water the entire way there, and the Brooklyn skyline was gorgeous.

On our way to the entrance of the High Line, we walked right past the newly-opened Little Island, which Lauren’s mom told us we couldn’t leave New York without visiting. While the engineering of it is really cool, and it was beautiful at sunset, it was nothing to write home about — whoops, I said it.

We got to the High Line trail right as the sun was setting, and the weather was perfect. This actually ended up being one of our favorite things we did during the entire trip. We had no issues getting pictures without people in them, and had the majority of the walk mostly to ourselves. We stopped at a few benches along the way to watch the sun go down and marvel about NYC real-estate.

“Emma, what would you do do be medium rich. Like we don’t need central park penthouse views but like, I wouldn’t mind a 6 million dollar high line condo? Like how far would you go?”

Turns out, there’s more we would do than wouldn’t LOL.

Also, If you can fit it in your budget, the High Line feeds right into the Edge - the highest observation deck in the western hemisphere. I’ve seen pictures from the top and it is absolutely breathtaking! We had to choose between what views to pay for and the edge just didn’t fit into this trip, which just gives me another reason to come back.

Also at the end of the High Line is The Vessel, which is basically just a big public art installation? It’s one of the focal points of the Hudson Yards. The best photo ops are inside, but we were ballin on a budget after that dinner and by the time we got there it was closed anyways.

We snapped a few photos from the outside and honestly looking back on them it just looks like a big pinecone.

(Paired with a photo from the walk to dinner because that low-light photo is honestly just too appalling up close. Definitely not instagram material lmao).

Day 2: Top of the Rock, Central Park, Museums

When we were looking into things to do on this trip, one of the things I had my heart set on was visiting the top of the Rockefeller Center. On my first trip to NYC that I took with my family, we never got to see any sort of skyline view, so it was one of the other touristy things that was a non-negotiable for me (Also why we didn’t do The Edge on this trip).

We booked our tickets the night before, which worked for us, but once again we went during the week. If you’re going on the weekend maybe try to book as early as possible.

Before setting out to our 10:30 time slot, we stopped for a quick bite to eat at Hutch and Waldo, an adorable Australian-inspired cafe with delicious food and reasonable prices. And then we spent the next hour missing trains and getting lost in the Subway so it’s a good thing I had a yummy breakfast to sustain me as I cried at google maps, cursing it for making us miss our time slots.

But all’s well that ends well — We did miss our time slots by about an hour, but thankfully they have a policy where they will honor your tickets no matter how late you are! They understand tourists being lost in the subway and have adjusted accordingly LOL thank God. We were able to go right up, once again probably thanks to the fact that it was a weekday.

We browsed through the small informational exhibit in the lobby before hopping in the elevator and riding to the top of the Rockefeller Center! There are quite a few different observation decks, some facing the Empire State building, some facing Central Park. We could even see the Statue of Liberty, despite the ridiculous amount of pollution clouding the view.

It was GORGEOUS up there, and easily something that I would absolutely recommend. It wasn’t very crowded at all and we had the place to ourselves, save for a few other fellow tourists.

Lauren is as committed to the photos as I am and was very happy to run up to the higher observation deck to “get the shot” for me. And for that I am very grateful.

After descending, we decided to grab some coffee at Magnolia Bakery, which an enthusiastic security guard happily guided us to, before setting off for a walk through Central Park.

It was HOT hot outside, so while our walk was short, it was very effective. Thankfully the majority of what we both wanted to see in Central Park was on the south side of the park, so we were able to pack it all in before heading to some museums to beat the heat.

I wanted to get the iconic picture on the big rocks with the skyscrapers in the background, and Lauren wanted to snap some at the Bow Bridge. While I don’t think these are quite the rocks I was thinking of, it was good enough for me! I put Umpire Rocks into google maps and we found Bow Bridge pretty easily after.

(If anyone knows where the actual rock-skyscraper photo is taken please let a girl know).

In a perfect NYC itinerary, You would go from the Top of the Rock to Central Park directly to the MET, because the Met is right on the East side of the park. One downside to going to New York City on a weekday, however, is that the majority of the museums we had on our list were closed until Thursday! So plan accordingly.

Bummed out that we couldn’t explore more of the MET (both of us had been there before and loved it enough to want to go back), our next course of action was to go to the Whitney. To be quite honest, I have no idea what the Whitney is but Lauren insisted that I would love it.

And then the Whitney was closed. So finally, we set out towards the MoMA — the Modern Museum of Art.

Now, I’m not a huge modern art fan, I much prefer my renaissance, impressionist, and post-impressionist art, so I was skeptical. But the MoMa has some of that as well! It’s a small amount, but when I got to see a massive Rousseau (I have a Rousseau print from my ex-boyfriend that follows me to every single new dorm room or apartment I live in — Rousseau is such a favorite of mine) It was well worth the 25 dollar entrance fee. And then Starry Night by Van Gogh appeared - and my day was made.

The rest of the museum was slightly underwhelming to me, simply because modern art is not my forte, but If it’s yours, by all means definitely make a stop!

By the time we left, we were laughing at everything — slap-happy mode had entered the chat. Our feet felt bruised, we were still so sweaty, and we had to go home early.

We stumbled into bed, propped our poor feet up on pillows, and watched the previous day's Bachelorette episode on Hulu, only leaving our airbnb to head directly downstairs to the Italian restaurant below us for an Aperol Spritz. We ordered a few different Bruschettas before we realized we got free bread anyways so it was a wonderful surprise and overall successful mini-outing. Gotta carb-load for another day of 25k steps.

Day 3: Brooklyn

Although one and a half days aren’t enough to fully appreciate Manhattan, Lauren and I opted for Skyline views of Manhattan instead and made our way to Brooklyn. We took the subway to the Brooklyn Bridge after snagging some Bagels from a shop across the street from our Airbnb.

For some reason I remember the Brooklyn Bridge being so much longer? When I went with my family we literally walked halfway and turned back — probably because of the sweltering heat. But thanks to some storms that rolled through the south two days before, we had a fabulous day of 75 degree weather, and the breeze from the water made the walk extremely pleasant. And once again, shoutout to Wednesday for its minimal crowds and pedestrians. We had the bridge essentially to ourselves.

After getting off the bridge, we made a hard left and set out for the iconic Washington Street photo op, with the Manhattan bridge wedged between two beautiful brick buildings. We had to wait our turn for this one, so I can’t imagine how it would be on the weekends!

From there, we headed down towards Brooklyn Bridge park, where we took a few photos of the skyline and laid in the grass under the bridge, contemplating our next move.

Spoiler alert: our next move was snacks. and then we got a cocktail, and then we decided we were going to drink our way through the day — so unfortunately we don’t have too many touristy things in Brooklyn on this itinerary.

After the initial snack and drink at Fabrica, we took the ferry to Williamsburg for 2.50 or something extremely reasonable. In Williamsburg we hit the Brooklyn Brewery and later, a bar called Midnights, where we spent hours talking to the bartender and trying a good chunk of the Menu. From there we popped into Le Crocodile, where we got G+Ts and made a friend we convinced to come back to Time Out Market with us.

Now at this point it was pretty late, and we honestly didn’t explore too much of Time Out Market. We simply grabbed a drink and headed straight up to the rooftop.

The views were gorgeous, but we didn’t quite make it in time to watch the sunset. I definitely would’ve loved to see that so try to plan accordingly! The city lights helped to make up for us missing the sunset views from the rooftop, but it just wasn’t the same.

We sat up on the rooftop for quite some time, and I made friends with a group of Irishmen. It was a very good time!

At the End of the night, we walked back across the bridge for some final views of Manhattan before we left the next morning. The views of New York City literally will never get old.

Overall, I think Lauren and I did NYC pretty dang well. We saw everything we came for, and while we are leaving tired and sore, it just goes to show that we definitely spent our time wisely.

We were ballin on a budget during this trip, so if thats you, and you’re planning a girls trip in New York City— this is the itinerary for you. I’ll be back for sure, hopefully next time with a little bit bigger of a budget; I want to experience the boujee-er side of the city someday!

But for now, we wouldn’t change a thing. I loved having this one last hurrah with my best friend before we part ways for a little bit. I’ll miss her so much!

Send this post to your best friend! What city would you choose for a girls trip?

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