The Written Podcast: New York (Part 6) – Overwhelmed

At first I was overwhelmed; I was overrun.

Kept thinking how incredible it was to be standing in New York.

But then I spent a few minutes soaking it all in and calmed myself down.

And I grew confident.

And I learned how to go about.

The first morning of the first full day hit me immediately. After a decent night’s sleep my body clock had adjusted and was functioning correctly. I’ve woken up in many hotel room’s beds before, but I haven’t woken up in New York City before, and I especially haven’t slowly become aware that I was on my own in New York City. I knew at that moment, that fact about me being on my own would be difficult to fully contemplate. Adrenaline pumped through my body just by the mere mentioning of going outside and exploring the city, especially seeing the sights from atop the Freedom Tower. My plan was to go the furthest distance away and work my way up back to the hotel instead of darting about here, there and everywhere. That meant the Freedom Tower first.

But, the little research I did do beforehand showed me that Times Square was only but a mile away, or in other words, walking distance from my hotel. But, the little exploration I did last night showed me there was a twenty-four-hour diner just outside my hotel; and upon looking at the time I noticed it was only half-five in the morning. So before I go to the Freedom Tower, I must get some breakfast and then take a walk down to Times Square, is what I established in my head. I also sensed that the overwhelming sense of actually being in New York City was already getting to me, purely for the fact that I was actually there, and this wasn’t a dream.

I gathered myself together by checking out the directions on how to get to Times Square from my hotel, and getting myself ready to go out for the day. Showering and freshening myself up helped me adjust and calm down. Today was going to be a big day, there was no other way of believing it. And when I say today is going to be big, I wasn’t expecting literally everything to be big. The breakfast in the diner was humongous. I ordered French toast with Scrabbled egg and sausage, and it came on two plates, one for the toast and one for the egg and sausage. That I was not expecting. But it was absolutely delicious. I’m not one for big breakfasts, but I ate the lot with no difficulty. I felt incredibly full afterwards, but what I had planned throughout the day would surely burn it all off.

Soon I was heading down to Times Square. It was still fairly early in the morning. About half 6 if I recall correctly, and I was walking down the road. New York City has been commonly associated as the city that never sleeps, and with it being early in the morning, the streets were still as busy as they were in the evening. Hundreds of people were walking to and fro and the traffic was consistently at a steady pace each vehicle navigated all around the city. That part of the city’s life certainly doesn’t sleep, but there weren’t a lot of businesses open at half 6 in the morning.

Swinging by a quick tangent – Time Square has been heralded as one of the “crossroads of the world,” and, “the centre of the Universe.” It is one of the busiest pedestrian area in the world, and can be seen for quite a distance away. The gleaming lights from the massive advertisement boards could immediately be seen the moment I turned a corner. However, it did take me a couple of streets to fully establish that it was indeed Time Square, and that’s when the illusion started to kick in. With the way New York City is laid out, you can see a long way down the roads, and with it being so built up, the tall buildings appear to be closer than they actually are, so it appears that you’re walking a long way but not actually getting any closer until you’re practically at your destination, which was Time Square.

And what a place it is. It was truly overwhelming. The staggering amount of advertisements bombarding you from every angle, the tall buildings enclosing you wherever you turn, the ocean of people navigating their way to the best spot to recreate as many iconic shots of Times Square as possible for their own personal records, the zigzagging vehicles going every which way as they circumnavigated the crossroads. It only took a minute before I was truly overwhelmed from the excitement of seeing Times Square with my very own eyes and not via a photograph. I took so many photographs just to capture the incredible place from as many angles as possible.

What surprised me the most was that the shops don’t open until 9AM. I at first thought it strange seeing shops closed whilst walking down to Times Square, considering we’re in the city that never sleeps. It was confirmed to me that New York City is a city that does in fact sleep. One of the most recognisable and visited places on the planet having an opening time for the shops all around the perimeter was curious. Considering it is frequented by millions of people a year, shops sleeping is certainly one I never thought would happen. How much money do you think they’d make if they remained open 24/7? New York City does in fact sleep, just the shops whereas the vehicles and people do not. It does sleep, but makes sure to keep one eye open at all times.

I arrived at Times Square at 7AM, and the shops wouldn’t open until 9AM. I had two hours to drink in the fascinating place. Since it was only a mile down the road from my hotel, I instantly knew it was going to be a place I’d be visiting the most, so I didn’t spend too much time at Time Square considering I wanted to head downtown to the Freedom Tower.

TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT ARTICLE…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)