I’m back, and I had a fantastic time. Click read more to see the rest of my photos and read what happened. Just a warning, it’s fairly lengthy.

Tuesday
I got up very early on Tuesday, having not had much sleep anyway, and took the many trains to Heathrow. I arrived with lots of time to spare and checked in, then went and had some food while I waited for my flight. The boarding all went smoothly (I’m far too used to Easyjet and their severe delays) and the 7 hour flight wasn’t too bad. I watched Get Him To The Greek, played on my DS a bit and listened to music.

Departure at Heathrow

Airplane

I was getting really excited as we landed, although not looking forward to the queue at customs and immigration. Luckily for me the queue was only small and the person I got was in a good mood and liked my hair lots, so I was sent through quickly. Luggage was collected and then I got the Airtrain to Jamaica and the LIRR to Penn Station. I had a moment of panic at Jamaica when the ticket machine wouldn’t accept my card (you get the option of either debit card, credit card or ATM card and none of them seemed to work) but I managed to draw some money out at a cash point and successfully bought my train ticket.

To be honest I was confused with the ATMs and cash points for pretty much my whole holiday. My card had money that I had put on it, so technically that makes it a debit card? But it’s also an ATM card? Or did I have to withdraw money from the savings bit or the checking bit? God knows. And you have to do this silly thing where you put your card in and pull it back out again so it can read the magnetic strip and I had to sign for everything. Chip and PIN are so much easier!

Anyway, when I got to Penn Station I took the subway to my hotel, and the subway was also confusing! There are not many signs or maps explaining anything, and I got on an express train without realising. Luckily the stop by my hotel was an express stop, so I didn’t miss it. It took me a few days to figure out how it all worked haha. I much prefer the London Underground.

The subway stop was only a short walk to my hotel and I checked in, paid the balance on my card and went upstairs and got a massive surprise when I opened the door. I had booked a room with a queen bed and ensuite, but somehow I had a room with two queen beds! It was lovely, so much room and really nicely decorated. The bathroom had a large wetroom-esque shower and the beds were very comfy. I would definitely stay there again. (Hotel 99 for the curious)
I quickly unpacked all my stuff, set the alarm on my phone for a few hours and had a well deserved nap.

A friend, Sandra came to collect me at my hotel in the evening, and we made our way downtown to Grand Central Station.

After getting lost around Grand Central for a bit, we went to a Japanese restaurant for some dinner, which had really cheap and tasty sushi. We sat at the bar and watched the chefs cook 😀 We also got given some hot liquid, which we weren’t sure whether it was tea or to wash your fingers, so we just left it haha. We went over the road to a karaoke bar and had fun sitting at the bar and watching all the drunk office workers singing. Laila joined us shortly after and we had a nice time discussing bands we like, mental fans and general squee over the following day. We were supposed to meet another friend after she had seen a musical, but we were all too tired and ended up leaving the bar around 10:30pm. I managed to sleep solidly throughout the night and woke up around 8am. Amy 1, Jetlag 0.

Wednesday
Sandra came and collected me from my hotel again in the morning, and together we made our way to Times Square. I’d end up seeing a lot of it over the week as it was the main interchange station from my hotel line, and it was always great fun. A bit like Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square and Oxford Street smooshed together. Lots of people, bright lights and shops. I loved it!

We walked down to the theatre where we met the others and we went to a nearby diner for some breakfast and a chat. I was incredibly amused by the giant bottles of coke, they were almost 600ml! Everyone else just looked at me strangely haha. I think most of us were too nervous/excited to eat properly, but it was pretty good food anyway. After we had finished, Laila, Davy and myself went to Fifth Avenue for a bit of a wander and got back to the theatre just before they started seating. I knew I was already sitting next to Laila, but imagine our surprise when we found out Davy was next to us too! We had fantastic seats on the second row in the middle, and the actors were ridiculously close.

I’m always awful at writing reviews of things because I forget all the details and just say things like “Amazing! Fantastic! Lovely!”. All those words apply to Angels In America, and so many more. It was a beautiful experience. All of the actors put in a stellar performance (with the exception of Zoe, who we all felt was a little bit forced) and the set was a work of genius. It had large rotating parts and every different configuration looked so unique. You become emotionally invested with the characters immediately, and there were a fair few moments when I teared up. Seeing Zach perform onstage was incredible and I think he brought a much softer and likeable side to the character of Louis. The terrible decisions he has to make have you feeling very sympathetic for him, as many people in his position would be hard pressed to stay strong and do the ‘right’ thing.

All too soon the first part was over (surely the mark of a good play, that 3 hours can fly by without you noticing!) and we shuffled out into the lobby intent on a trip to the loos. However Laila spotted Zach by the exit so after some deliberation, we made a beeline for him. He was waiting for someone and propping the door open, so we quickly explained how we had come from England to see the play, and how wonderful it was. He was very lovely and kept thanking us and asked if we were coming back for the second part, so we replied that we were seeing the second part that night. He told us to have a nice dinner break, and we said thanks and then all ran back to the toilets and exploded in fangirl squee.

We went to a Dunkin Donuts round the corner to try and have some food and discuss the play (and the peen) and fangirled some more. We also had some good discussions about fic, although luckily our topic had changed from pinto fic to trek fic when we left as Zach overtook us on our way back to the theatre. He was on his mobile so I don’t think he heard anything, but we still almost died of embarassment. What a close call! We collected our tickets for the next part and found once again that Davy was sitting next to us! We must have literally all booked our tickets one after the other.

The second part was a bit lighter with more funny parts, although still just as powerful. There was lots of nakedness, kissing and nipple biting which I very much enjoyed. We noted that Zoe seemed a lot better in this part so maybe she just takes a while to get into her stride? It was a bit longer but the 3 1/2 hours still seemed to fly by, and the ending was very poignant. I think we were all a bit speechless when we came out into the lobby. The others got their books signed by some of the other actors, and then Zach came out and we kind of froze. He was talking to someone he knew for quite a while so we just hovered nearby, and then he went to leave so we quickly jumped in and asked him to sign our books and playbills. He seemed very tired so I didn’t want to ask him for a photo, and I just said thanks and how much I had enjoyed the play. I think Laila mentioned how she wanted to come back and see it again already, but he pointed out the next day was a holiday. Then he left and we waited around a bit more for Christian Borle but got told he had already left earlier. Again there was an explosion of squee when we got outside and we were just on a massive high, it was so much fun. Unfortunately Laila was leaving the next day so we said our goodbyes and I headed for the subway. It was so great that I could share the whole experience with two people who got it totally. We all felt exactly the same way and I think it improved my enjoyment a million times.

Thursday
I had intended to get up earlier on Thursday to go and get a good spot for the parade, but laziness kept me in bed and I woke up at 9 and watched it on the tv instead! I met up with Sandra and we went to go towards the Empire State Building, but had to take a strange roundabout route to get past all the roads blocked off for the parade.

We eventually made it to the Empire State Building, but I didn’t fancy queueing to get in so we went into a comic book store across the road instead!

We had a nice time browsing around inside, and I picked up Volume 2 of the Astonishing X-Men for only $11, a Tank Girl coffee table art book and an MSI comic that I didn’t even know existed. The guy at the till liked my hoody too 😀 (The threadless hand/Vulcan salute one)

Afterwards we went to Union Square and had some lunch while waiting for Davy. We went to see Unstoppable at a cinema round the corner, and it was actually quite enjoyable. Quite predictable, but I may watch it again in the future. We enjoyed the large screen gratuitous crotch shot!

We were going to go and get some Thanksgiving dinner somewhere, but none of us were very hungry. So instead we took the subway down to Little Italy and went to a small italian restaurant for some pasta and pizza. It was only about 6:30pm when we had finished and we were quite tired, so we decamped back to my hotel for some crap tv and food.

Friday
On Friday I got up nice and early for some severe Black Friday shopping. I went to the top of Fifth Avenue, starting off in the Apple Store where I almost bought a wireless keyboard and trackpad but realised I didn’t really need it. The store is lovely and futuristic, all glass and steel. Very nice!

The view down Fifth Avenue

I went into FAO Schwartz next. It wasn’t as big or fun as Hamleys, but I did enjoy playing on the giant piano and going through all the stuffed toys. I bought myself some Uglydolls and had a look at the Harry Potter stuff and the sweets, and decided to come back on Saturday to spend my remaining money on sweets for my work. Next I went to Bloomingdales to get my friend a bag and to splurge at the Benefit counter. I got myself a new Hello Flawless, some Posey Tint, Dandelion blush and got a free highlighter powder. I browsed around Bloomingdales a bit more, but department stores never usually interest me much. I’d rather just go to the specific store I’m after. I stopped in at Victoria’s Secret to get my friend a perfume and then walked down Fifth Avenue to 42nd Street.

I was considering going in Borders but they had a Justin Bieber book signing going on, so I quickly carried on past! I then got a subway down to Union Square for a mooch in Forbidden Planet (I got another Tank Girl volume, Sandman: Preludes and Nocturns, the new Kirk/Uhura Bearbricks double pack and a lego minifig) and then headed down to East Village in hunt of Toy Tokyo. They had moved buildings so I walked a fair bit more than I intended but found it in the end, and got a selection of blind-boxed items and a cute Batman plush. There were some pretty cool shops in East Village, kinda like the stuff you would find in Camden. I had a nice time looking at the clothes and boots and got myself some Special FX hairdye for a lot cheaper than England prices!

SoHo was my next destination, Spring Street and Prince Street for MAC and Kidrobot. I spent a looong time in MAC, browsing all the lovely things and trying to find a nice lipstick. I ended up spending a small fortune in there! I got a Diva lipstick and a lipliner for Nat, One of the Tartan eyeshadows and a black eyeliner for Nik, Lickable lipstick (the same shade as my hair!), the cool Tartan pigment set, two eyeshadows and two eye brushes. Kidrobot was totally packed so I didn’t spend as much time in there as I would have liked, so I just picked up some of the special holiday packs ( Large Labbit series 2, Disco pimp Smorkin Labbit set and a blind boxed smorkin labbit, Dunny holiday special, Two-tone and 2010 series) and got out of there pretty swiftly. I went into Lady Footlocker and got some lovely purple lowtop converse on sale, and then discovered the Converse store on my way back to the subway so of course I had to make a visit.

The Converse store was like the place of my dreams. It had floor to ceiling red, white and blue converse at the entrance and then every style of Converse you could think of inside. I asked for white hitops for my brother but they were sold out of his size, so I got myself some gorgeous silvery grey hitops. They were quite expensive, but so nice I couldn’t resist.

By that point I had visited all the shops I set out to, spent far too much money and had too many bags so I went back to the hotel.

Check out the awesome Kidrobot bag on the back right! I wanted to keep it.

I went for a stroll through Central Park which was cold but had lovely views. It was so massive and I only managed to see a small part of it. Next time I’d like to spend longer just having a wander around.

I had decided to try and see Angels in America again that night as I didn’t have much else to do, so I went and met Sandra at the theatre. We joined the waitlist queue about 15 mins before it opened and there were about 10-12 people infront of me. Luckily I managed to get a ticket, only a stair one, but still a good view.

The second part is definitely my favourite of the two, with the humour and all the angel bits, so I’m glad I had a chance to see it again before I left. Sandra had also made friends with some guys at the previous performance so we were talking to them in the intervals and they were very nice. They seemed quite shocked that we had come so far just for the play.

After it had finished (and my bum was quite sore after sitting on a step for so long) we hung around in the lobby and Sandra got her book signed by most of the cast members, and then Zach came out again. I didn’t want anything signed this time, so after Sandra got her signature I seized my chance and quickly blurted out “Do you mind if I get a quick photo?”, he smiled and said sure.
Be still my beating heart! After some confusion with cameras I got my phone out and Sandra took our photo. I took Sandra’s photo for her and then another random guy so we joked that I had become the photographer for the night. I’d like to say that I said something profound and meaningful, but in moments like that my head is always a blur so it was just something along the lines of “Thank you, I loved the show, it was wonderful, you were wonderful.”
Good enough anyway. I’m so glad I plucked up the courage to ask for a photo, otherwise I know I would have regretted it the whole way home. Again there was a third bout of post-theatre squeeing, although this time it mostly consisted of “OMG I TOUCHED ZACH, YOU TOUCHED ZACH, WE TOUCHED ZACH!!!”

I said my goodbyes to Sandra when we got back to my hotel, as Saturday was my last day and I wouldn’t be seeing her, then it was time for bed.

Saturday
I got up early again and packed all my bags, then I checked out of the hotel and left my suitcase with the reception. I made my way to the Rockefeller Center and had a look around the ice rink and surrounding area. They had lots of christmas decorations up and it looked very pretty.

I went up to the Top of the Rock which had beautiful views of the city. It was absolutely freezing up there, but as it was only 9:30 there weren’t many people.

Afterwards I went to get some breakfast and then it was on to the Museum of Modern Art. Unfortunately I got a bit distracted halfway through as my feet were killing me and I just wanted to sit down, but I generally enjoyed it. There was far too much Pollock, but they had some pieces that I had wanted to see for a long time so I was happy.

I went back to FAO Schwartz to get lots of sweets and then I sat by the entrance to Central Park for a while and watched all the horse-drawn carriages going past. Eventually I made my way back to Times Square in search of a Footlocker and my brothers white converse (which turned out to be behind me while I was searching for it) and got to snap a few more photos. I don’t think I did too badly with a broken autofocus.

I watched a Drag Queen wedding and got harrassed by the comedy club canvassers, and then it was time to go back to my hotel 🙁 The journey back to the airport was pretty uneventful, although I had to put $20 on my metrocard as I didn’t have any smaller change. Useful for next time! I spent the last of my money at the airport on more sweets (Mmm Reece’s pieces) and then began the loong flight home. I mostly slept as it was overnight and then I woke up in England and it was -4 degrees outside 🙁

In short, I had an absolutely fantastic time, didn’t do half as much as I wanted to and met some lovely people who made my time really enjoyable. Thanks to everyone I met, and also thanks to the 50 or so random New Yorkers that told me they loved my hair and my accent.