USA, May 2016

👩‍🦰 My second trip to the US did not start off well - customs took my Vegemite!!! 😭😭 Despite this massively un-Australian act, I managed to stay strong and persevere. I had a very long 29 hour journey ahead of me - Perth to Sydney, Sydney to Los Angeles, then LA to New York City. It was hectic. For the flight to LA I made it in my seat with just 9 mins to spare before takeoff! Phew!

After a very long trip, I finally arrived in NYC and checked in to my Airbnb in the Financial District. AirBnb is an awesome but bizarre concept. I let myself in to a stranger’s home, showered and ordered myself delivery Chinese (I didn’t want to wander the streets and become the inspiration for a Law and Order episode!) then I spent some time chilling in Jean's room - I surmised that he was a doctor of some sort based on the clues around his super funky bedroom.

I had to cart my suitcase (27kgs worth of luggage) and an overnight bag up 3 very narrow sets of stairs, stopping halfway up each set of stairs to breathe and I was sweating by the time I got in the room! Not a very exciting room view either, but jet-lagged had me passed out at like 5pm enjoying the view of my eyelids.

Unfortunately, my early bed time meant that my body clock was all out of whack, and I was wide awake at 4am. So I was up bright and early after a couple hours just lazing in bed on my phone.

I went for a walk around Wall Street, which was just a 10min stroll from where I was staying. I checked out the charging bull but it was being swarmed by tourists so I took a quick snap then moved on to see the Statue of Liberty. I didn’t want to jump on a ferry so I just checked it out from the mainland. She was smaller than I expected!

It was a beautiful day for going walkabout. I think my legs were about to call it quits, I walked all the way to Times Square, almost 7kms away. I passed the Empire State Building and had some Italian man stop me to ask if I 'speak Italiano' then when I said no he rattled off something I'm assuming was lewd given the gestures he made with his hands…only in New York haha!

There’s the stereotype that Americans aren’t the most friendly of people, but I’ve actually found the opposite to be true! I had so many people come up and compliment or greet me and a man even crossed the street to tell me to have a wonderful day.

The next day I had to work on a photoshoot and do some other bits and pieces, then it was off to Corning in upstate NY for two weeks to meet with a magazine owner who I was hoping would help me get a visa. I jumped on a Greyhound for the 6.5hr 2 bus trip and was surprised by the view along the way - who knew New York was so green and cute? I’d always had visions of the concrete jungle in my head whenever anyone mentioned New York, and I didn’t realise just how much more there was to it.

Corning is super pretty and such a nice little town, very quaint and surrounded by so much lush green nature. There isn’t really much to note in the area, but while here working I went to the Windmill Farm and Crafts Market near Penn Yan, 1hr north of Corning in the rolling hills of upstate New York. The Windmill is host to over 175 indoor and outdoor shops, there’s plenty of food options, six wineries, a brewery and a distillery. (Photos below taken from the Windmill website)

We stopped off for a quick photo op at Seneca Lake before we left. It’s such a pretty spot, and it was a beautiful day weather-wise. Had I realised how close we were to Niagra Falls (just another 1.5hrs drive away), I would’ve made a stop there too, but I guess that’s one for next visit.

I left and made my way to Baltimore, Maryland for an epic full day photoshoot (at least 10 different looks total) but I didn’t have time to do anything else while there. I ended up spending an extra night there because I only had 15 mins between 3 buses (the options to Corning are very limited!) and my first bus was 40 mins late, putting the whole trip out. Luckily the hotel was right next door to the bus station so I just grabbed some food and chilled out for the rest of the day.

The next day I had another missed bus but thankfully managed to make it back to New York. We visited Mark Twain's grave then took in this beautiful view over upstate NY at Harris Hill. So much green! I blended right in.

It felt like I spent half of the trip on buses. I headed right back into NYC for a meeting with an immigration lawyer, who basically told me that I had Buckley’s chance of moving to America, so there goes that flight of fancy! I checked in to my AirBnb for the night, just a couple of streets west of Central Park, then I wandered around for a few hours before shutting down for the night.

I spent the next day in Central Park shooting a film clip with Jamall Anthony, a super talented musician that I’d met through Facebook. He asked me to play his love interest for his beautiful tune 'I Will Always Fall' and we both wandered through the park not crossing paths, then eventually reunited in Times Square at the end of the clip. We had a lot of fun filming and it’s funny that people in NYC are so unfazed by it all, it must be such a common occurrence there.

For my last day I went back to Central Park and spent a few hours just walking around taking in the sights, checking out the view from the top of Belvedere Castle, a miniature castle in the park, a magical little spot. It’s amazing to be inside such a huge park and look out to see the skyscrapers of New York towering over the trees at the edge of the park. New York City really does live up to the hype.