#HASHTAG #NEWCHAPTER

I haven't been writing in my travel journal, but sometimes I know that I don't need to write things down to remember. I know I'll always remember the amazing couple of weeks I've had here in the UK, and I will never forget the moment (albeit bittersweet) that I let go of things that were holding me back and looked towards the future and this incredible new part of my life.

THIS IS A BRONX BOUND LOCAL TRAIN NEXT STOP IS 42ND TIMES SQUARE STAND CLEAR OF THE CLOSING DOORS.

Just a snap that I took while I was waiting for the subway yesterday.

A NEW YORK MINUTE.

There are only a couple of things left on my NYC bucket list, and last week I ticked a couple of things off - the Guggenheim, eat a NYC pretzel, and buy an I love NY t-shirt.

Today is the start of my last week in NYC and although I'm sad to be leaving, I'm just as excited to be flying away to explore a new place. It does feel strange to be getting onto a plane that isn't bound for Australia, and I'd be lying if I said I haven't thought about getting onto a flight home. Even though, technically, I'll be closer to home in London that I am here in NYC - in distance and time - I feel like I'm going to be further away. I feel like every day I spend exploring a new place is another day that I slip a little bit further away from my friends. I worry that it'll be harder for keep in touch, harder to connect, harder to find something to talk about. I worry that things will have changed so much - both in myself and in the people I left behind - that things won't be the same, and that makes me sad. Although this adventure is a great new beginning (and I'm not saying that things were bad at home, just that I needed to make changes in my life, attitude, and behaviours) it's really hard to let go of the past. I thought that being halfway around the world would make letting go easier, but it hasn't.

I don't want to sound ungrateful for the opportunity I have to travel like this and go on an incredible adventure. I know that I'm doing something that many people will never be able to do and I'm so lucky that I can and am. I can't stop myself for feeling like this and I wanted to write in down, after all, this is a journal.

I didn't start this post with the intention of writing what I have, but I want to write as honestly as I can here - the good, bad, and ugly - and today I started writing and just kept writing and this is where I ended.

TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME.

I went to the Yankees vs. Toronto Blue Jays game last week and despite knowing nothing about baseball and having no idea what was going on most of the time,  I had a great time. I sat in the bleachers with a bunch of Yankee fans, ate cheese fries and drank soda, and heckled the left field.

THE TOP OF THE ROCK + AN AMAZING SUMMER'S NIGHT.

Equals an a-freaking-mazing view of New York City.

DEAR DIARY: I'M NOT SORRY THAT I HAVEN'T WRITEN.

A quick snapshot of what I've been up to in NYC this week. I took the Staten Island Ferry and admired the Lower Manhattan skyline, spent a good chunk of time walking up and down the fabric lined aisles at Mood, soaked up that bookstore smell in Strand Books, and took a walk through the Park Avenue Tunnel.

I've been living in NYC for two months now and I still have those this-isn't-real-I-must-be-dreaming moments. Even more amazing than the tourist bucket list moments are the moments when I'm doing something mundane - like juggling my groceries on a busy sidewalk, trying to get my metrocard out of my pocket without spilling my Americano* - and I catch a glimpse of the Empire State Building. I'm in New York City. I'm actually in New York City. I could say it a thousand times from the top of the Empire State Building but it still wouldn't feel real.

I was worried that if I didn't keep a journal throughout my time here that I'd wouldn't have any way of remembering the time I spent here, but I know now that I won't. Sure, I won't have a record of what I did each day, but I'll always remember the moments that took my breath away, the moments when I fell even more in love with the city, and the moments when I was so so happy that I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. 

And even if those memories start to fade away, I'll still have the Instagram snaps.

* An Americano is a black perculoted coffee that I have come to absolutely love. Something that I never thought I would say. It's true that New York City changes you.

A SHORTCUT THROUGH CENTRAL PARK.

I like shortcuts. And I like taking shortcuts on a sunny Sunday morning. And I love finding myself still wandering around Central Park hours later.

A LAZY SUMMER AFTERNOON.

I won't ever forget how lazy summer afternoons in NYC feel. The feel of the sun on my shoulders, the chill of the iced coffee you grab from a street vendor on the corner for a dollar fifty, and the smell of the night as it rolls in as the sun sets.

DEAR DIARY: CHANGE OF PLAN, I'M GETTTING FROYO.

I was going to take the Staten Island ferry across to Staten Island yesterday afternoon, but things didn't quite go to plan. First the subway was suddenly blocked - meaning the trains stopped running on the line - due to an investigation. After couple of minutes, during when I tried to figure out how to get downtown on another subway line, a train turned up, and I hopped on. Then the train stopped at 72nd and the conductor announced (and you can barely hear what they're saying over the sound of the train) that the train was going express from 72nd to 42nd. For an express train, it went pretty slow. Once the train got to Times Sq almost everyone got off (it always freaks me out a little when this happens) and the train sat there for ages. And this happened again at 18th. And then again at Houston. And then at Chambers it stopped and the conductor told us that it was out of service, and to take the 2 or 3, or walk and get the 4. At this point I'd been on the subway for an hour and a half. 

I decided the only thing to do on a sweltering summers day in the city would be to ditch my ferry plans and go get fro-yo.

Rebecca.

DEAR DIARY: THE BROOKLYN FLEA MARKET.

Dear Diary,

On Sunday I made the trek to Brooklyn to check out the Brooklyn Flea Market. Three trains and a detour through Williamsburg and I arrived, scorching under the sun, and headed straight for the limonade stand. 

Fresh limonade in hand I took a stroll around the market, stopping to rummage though trunks of stuff - huge safety pins, historic maps of almost every city in the world, and old scrabble tiles - and chat to local artists.

The flea is held at the East River Skate Park, and at the end of the park is a tiny beach littered with debris from hurricane sandy. I stood on a big old wooden sleeper and look out across the river at Manhattan, remembering the last couple of beaches that I'd stood on - Beach Number 5 in The Andaman Islands and Largs Bay, at home - and it made me smile.

When I think back to my trip, or about home, I get incredibly happy, cry, or wonder if it's all a dream. I seriously can't believe that I stood on that beach on Havelock Island (even though I have a scar to remind me), saw sunrise at the Taj Mahal (almost!), and drank tea in Darjeeling (and mum would be drinking if too if the package we sent back hadn't been returned to India again!). And I can't believe that I'm now living in New York.

It kinda scares me that my dreams are coming true.

Rebecca.