Travel

Manhattan. I am already blessed x3. My first visit to Manhattan was on a middle school bus trip – 2400 miles – with my son and his classmates, teachers, friends and families in 1999. In April 2001 I stood atop the World Trade Center with my son and daughter, my sisters and my mother. In November that same year, I visited Ground Zero with my husband.

When my husband and I dream the ‘what if’ dream, he wants 800 midwestern acres of forested land with a lake. I want a tiny loft in Manhattan within walking distance of Central Park, its 843 acres and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir.

While owning a loft appears impossible, a visit is within my reach. Airfare is $400 roundtrip. No passport required. The hotel is $248 per night.

My favorite place to stay is a 12-story hotel at 8th Avenue and West 51st Street, just a few blocks south of Central Park. I remember a coffee shop across the street and fresh baked muffins in the morning; the corner drug store with one-hour photo services and an articulate young man at the counter. He welcomes me like a regular. He says thank you. Our transaction ends. As I turn to leave, a friendly banter begins, the language changes. The young man is talking with the co-worker beside him, sharing a story in Español de Puerto Rico.

This encounter, the human heartbeat of merging cultures, is the treasure within Manhattan.

I stopped writing to count the change in the jar on our bookshelf.

Today it holds $61.90; tomorrow a bit more. I am on my way.



Travel by Chris Guillebeau
If we live truly, we shall see truly. - Ralph Waldo Emerson. Not everyone wants to travel the world, but most people can identify at least one place in the world they’d like to visit before they die. Where is that place for you, and what will you do to make sure you get there? (Author: Chris Guillebeau)