[Travelogue] Summer '24 New York & Washington D.C. Trip ⑫ Day 6 Hudson Yards & JFK Airport

Hello everyone, I'm TRIP_YUKO and I love going out.

My best friend of 20 years moved to the U.S. for work. I decided to take the plunge and visit while they were stationed there, so this summer vacation was to America. I went to New York & Washington D.C.! Day 6, the final day in America. In the afternoon, I headed to the remaining New York tourist spots like Hudson Yards and the High Line.

Just walking

I walked about 2.5 km (about 40 minutes) from the Midtown ferry terminal to Hudson Yards. I didn't want to take the subway, so I stuck to walking and ferries from the morning. The subway is scary, you know 😅

12:00 Lunch at Pret A Manger

Lunchtime at the cafe & restaurant floor of the 20 Hudson Yards building. It is a huge new shopping mall that opened in 2019. I decided to get takeout from
the popular British chain "Pret A Manger", which was also popular in Hong Kong during my last overseas trip.

It looks small in this photo, but the drinks and salads are actually quite huge! The bread is also very dense, and it's almost too heavy to finish. My husband and I shared lunch.

The one thing I really wanted to eat one more time before my NYC trip ended was "salad"! I was treated to a lot of delicious food on this New York & Washington D.C. trip, but actually, the most shocking and favorite food was the "salad". The vegetables are so
fresh and the salad is incredibly delicious!! Honestly, I've lost the desire to eat salad since returning to Japan. I miss it.... 🥺💔

Culture shock

I ate my Pret A Manger takeout at a free table outside the store. Even though there were plenty of trash cans in the hallway,
trash was left on the tables and trash was dropped on the floor, so I had trouble choosing a table. Sitting at the table next to us were a slim mother and daughter who looked like tourists from Western Europe.

No way! 🫨

They left all their finished trash behind!! 😲😲

I was shocked and looked at my husband, wondering if people really just leave everything behind like that.

Then a different parent and child came along and

sat down without caring at all!! 😲😲

We couldn't understand either one... 😟 It was a moment that felt like nothing but culture shock. In any case, I felt a difference from Japan regarding trash in NYC.

Hudson Yards Vessel

The symbolic art of Hudson Yards, "Vessel". It is a structure designed by Thomas Heatherwick with an unusual appearance, but it's cool! It is currently closed and can only be viewed from the outside. Because of the reason for its closure, it is said that it might be permanently closed... By the way, Thomas Heatherwick (his design office)


designed the lower levels of Azabudai Hills.

13:00 The High Line

The High Line is a walking spot accessible from Hudson Yards. It is a 2.3km elevated promenade built on the site of a former freight rail line.

Since it is elevated, the views are great and the scenery is lovely, but there is no shade, so the NYC sun is intense.
It might not be the best place to visit in midsummer.

14:00 Killing time in NYC

I finished exploring more than the planned tourist spots, so I had time to kill.😱
I headed toward the hotel while taking a final stroll through the streets of NYC.

■Meatpacking District
As the name suggests, it seems this area used to have slaughterhouses, but now it is full of luxury brand shops and expensive-looking restaurants, making it super stylish! The atmosphere around here is definitely out of our budget.😂
It's a sophisticated city with a calm atmosphere, so it's nice just to walk around!

■ Bleecker Street
After leaving the high-society area of the Meatpacking District, I headed south on Bleecker Street. This place is also wonderful!! The buildings and the shops inside are all so cute💕 The cityscape is lovely.

■Washington Square Park
A representative spot in the Greenwich Village area. It was bustling with many people. I was too scared to enter in the morning, but by the afternoon, the crowd had thinned out as more people arrived.

■ Long-established high-end supermarket Wegmans

Crossing through Washington Square Park, there was a large supermarket called "Wegmans" at the Astor Place station. It is a
super popular supermarket on the US East Coast, and this Astor Place store just opened in October 2023.
It is a huge, clean, and very interesting supermarket!It is apparently a hot topic for having a Japanese fishmonger inside. Come to think of it, I did notice there were actual Japanese banners, I see now~.

Although I still had time, I had nothing to do, so I went back to the hotel to pick up my luggage and headed to the airport early.

15:30 To JFK by subway

From the West 4th Street station nearest to our hotel, we were able to take a direct train for about 50 minutes to Jamaica station, where we transferred to the AirTrain to get to JFK Airport. This location was really convenient.
Up until now, I had been avoiding the New York subway because I was scared of it, but at the end, I had no choice but to ride it.

There are other options like Uber, but it would be a waste of money. Since it's a line used by many tourists and business people, it should be much better, but I was still scared nonetheless.😅
It was probably quite safe in terms of the time of day but even so, there were clearly women gathering in front of me. I was wishing, 'Please get there soon!'

16:30 New York JFK Airport

Arrived safely at JFK Airport. That said, our flight is at 01:25 in the middle of the night. We have about 7 hours.😂 It would have been fine to arrive at the airport later, but I had heard that the subway is dangerous at night, so we avoided that and arrived at this time.

Even so, JFK Airport is a world-famous airport! Naturally, I thought it would be huge. I thought I could enjoy exploring the airport.

JFK is tiny!

JFK has 7 terminals that are finely divided, so it seems each one isn't that big.
There are almost no souvenir shops, and there are few dining options. If you are thinking of spending a relaxing time at JFK, please reconsider.

After various things (like eating something not very good), we had McDonald's nuggets for dinner. They are a bit different from the ones in Japan, they have a crispiness to them and are delicious in their own way! In the end, McDonald's is the last resort.

21:40 Departure

Five hours after arriving at the airport, we went through immigration into the restricted area.
I tried looking for souvenirs for my colleagues, but everything on display was chocolate.
Thinking it must be because of quarantine restrictions, I compromised and bought Godiva chocolate. (It has nothing to do with America. I should have bought it at Trader Joe's...)

All that's left is to have a drink in the area and wait! Around 22:15, we entered a bar-like shop.
Actually, it seems it was closing at 22:30💦 they were turning away people after us. No, no, you should have told us that too!

When we were having trouble with the QR ordering because we couldn't connect, a staff member came over and said direct ordering was okay. Since it unexpectedly became table service, we paid an 18% tip💰️

When I asked what time they close, they said, 'We're closing now. But you can stay there and drink,' so we had a slow toast and stayed🍻

Despite that, 10 minutes later, the cleaning seemed to be finished, and a complete aura of wanting to close was flowing.😂
Then the lady brought us plastic cups to transfer our drinks into.
I feel like it's because we paid the tip! but regardless of that, the thoughtfulness is appreciated🙂
I told her that this was my first time in New York and I enjoyed it very much, and thanked her for her help.
I was satisfied to have had the opportunity to have that kind of conversation.

We spent 2 hours sitting in chairs in an area with few people, a bit away from EVA Air.
Is JFK Airport really that small? There were people one after another who couldn't find a seat. I've never seen a scene where people couldn't sit down like this in Japan, though...

01:00 Boarding

It is finally time to leave American soil. Thank you for these 6 days! Farewell, my friend! I'll be waiting for you in Japan!