It took five years of arduous saving to finally get to travel. I was originally going to travel with friends, but due to the constraints of everyday life (marriage, careers, etc.) it soon became obvious that this was going to be a singular trip.

      I set off early from England, waving goodbye to friends and family and for the first time stepping completely into the realms of the unknown. Sure I had seen America on myriad television programmes and films but that was hardly the same, was it?

      I arrived late in the afternoon at JFK, and due to baggage problems I didn't exit the airport until after 7 pm (mid March) and by the time I had negotiated the subway and got out at 52nd Street it was dark, raining and cold!

      My first thoughts of Manhattan were that it was indeed exactly the same as I had seen in the movies. Thousands of people with places to go and no time to get there. Buildings taller and more daunting than mountains. I asked a few people directions, mainly street vendors, and soon realised that many of them either didn't speak English or weren't interested in helping unless you purchased goods from them. So I struggled on alone. I had vowed to myself that I would not take a taxi the moment I arrived and would instead navigate my way around the city so that I could get a feel of the place. After an hour of wandering aimlessly, wet, aching and cold, I swallowed my pride and jumped into one of the famous yellow cabs and headed for my hostel.

      On arrival at the hostel I was greeted by the news that the one night I had booked could not be extended, as it was St Patrick's Day the following day, a fact that I had completely overlooked whilst planning my itinerary.

      I left the next day to travel 2 hours north to Hartford, Connecticut, planning on returning back to New York in a couple of days. I took my first Greyhound bus journey and was pleasantly surprised. After hearing various horror tales of homicidal maniacs residing at the backs of the buses and drivers without the ability to converse humanely I was relieved to be greeted by a smiling and courteous bus driver and a bus full of people, none of whom seemed to want to eat my liver for breakfast. On top of this there was a free movie showing on the bus, which helped to make the journey even more pleasant.

      Hartford felt more like a small town. The hostel was located in a tree-lined avenue just across the road from the house Mark Twain called his own for 20 years. The house had been gloriously renovated to look as similar as possible, inside and out, to the way it was when he lived there. Walking around I could almost sense the ghosts of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn skipping around behind me.

      I arrived back in New York ready to tackle the Big Apple with vigour. I had 4 days now booked and intended on seeing as much as I could. The first day I spent meeting people in the hostel, making new friends that I was originally worried would never materialise.

      The next few days continued in a film-like trance. Central park, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, even riding the subway felt as though I was an extra in the latest big screen movie. Standing on top of the Empire State Building, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up on end. The view from there is amazing. I certainly took great pleasure in looking down on the world below. Central Park was much bigger than I imagined and whilst it was cold and grey, I could see that in the summer it would be beautiful, a true oasis in the middle of the madness that is Manhattan, although I was reliably informed that at night it takes on a very different hue.

      Times Square was another landmark for me. Thousands of people pass through there every day going to and from work, ignoring the glitz and glamour of the place but I stood there captivated for a good while. The huge neon signs, advertisement boardings, like everything in New York, were hugely oversized and impossible to miss.

      I left New York after 4 days, slightly exhausted by the frenetic pace but very much enamoured with the city as a whole. At some point in the future I will return, hopefully in the summer to see Central Park on full foliage and so that I don't have to wear 5 layers of clothing just to pop across the road to get pizza.

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