Nichole Lauren

photography + Education

est. 2015

Welcome to the blog

The Big Apple! I’ve been here multiple times before ever since I was little, but this time was different. This time I visited a friend for a few days who works in Times Square, and since it was during the week, I had a good bit of time to bounce around the city by myself! Being a girl from a smaller town in South Carolina, I was a little intimidated by the thought of walking around big, bad New York City all by my lonesome. And yes, I’m 23 years old and very well-traveled, but I still get a little nervous especially in such a big city! But I’m here to tell you, I made it! And it was totally not intimdating at all. In fact, it was invigorating. Having no one with you, really opens up all your senses to the world around you because you aren’t relying on someone else to lead you around. This helped me experience NYC in a whole new way that I never had before. Everything is so vibrant and fast-paced. Immediately stepping out of the train station and into the city, I was hit with a rush of city life, and the vibe was phenomenal and invigorating. Don’t get me wrong, I love my little city and would not be interested in moving to NYC full time, but it was so fun to visit, and, in case you’re planning a trip up there soon, I thought I’d condense it into a blog post for you to enjoy! So, here’s how I spent my days with a few tricks of the trade mixed in along with pictures from my trip!

Sunday

I got asked to shoot a wedding with another local photographer in Pennsylvania in July, so I took that as an opportunity to head to NYC for a few days beforehand, and it worked out so well. Sunday, I spent the day traveling by train from Philadelphia to NYC and then took the subway the rest of the way to my friend’s place in Brooklyn. Pro Tip: the SEPTA and NJ Transit connect to take you from Philly to NYC. There are a couple connections, and you can take Amtrak direct for half the time but four times the cost! So if you’re traveling from another city, don’t forget about the trains! I was a little nervous about this part, but with some planning ahead of time, it was a breeze! Sunday night, we got to chill at home and head to bed early for an early morning the next day!

Monday

I rode the subway in with Margaret which made for an early morning, but I was headed for a full day starting at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. So I picked up a fresh baked bagel across the street and had some time to stop and eat in the bagel shop while taking in some excellent people watching opportunities. The museum was incredible! I had visited the World Trade Center as a little girl just three months prior to 9/11, so it was an emotional but very powerful time moving through the museum. I spent about four hours in the museum, but I moved through very slowly, taking it all in. So you could easily do it faster! I ended with a trip to the One World Observatory which was pricey but worth it for the once in a lifetime experience and sentimental value for me. I also picked up a Nutella crepe at Le District across the street from the observatory. 10/10 would recommend. Stop in the Oculus mall if you have time, it’s a very unique shopping and eating experience. You also can’t miss it– the huge white structure that looks like some type of sea urchin.

Margaret met me near the Brooklyn Bridge after work, and we walked across the bridge together and shared a delicious NY Style pizza at the well-known Juliana’s Pizza (YUM!) before walking along the Brooklyn Bridge park with the beautiful view of the New York City skyline topped off with ice cream from Ample Hills Creamery. SO good. We were going to take the ferry, but got rained…er, actually very heavily thunderstormed out, so we ended up Lyfting home instead. Never a dull moment with us!

Tuesday

We woke up SUPER early. Like 4 am!!! But we were on a mission to see Jimmy Fallon! We didn’t have tickets but had heard about the possibility of getting some for The Tonight Show if we got up early and waited in the standby line outside NBC studios in the Rockefeller building. So that’s what we did! And we had a marvelous time. They ended up letting 60+ people in on standby, and we were numbers 3 and 4 in line, so we didn’t need to get there are early as we did, but we had such a great time in line meeting people and bonding over the experience! And we got to see Jimmy!!! We came back to the show that they film at 5:30 pm each day and got incredible seats on the fourth row from the front in aisle seats nonetheless! Needless to say, it was the best experience of this trip. See video at the end of this post for more! I went to the Central Park Zoo as well on this day, and it was fun! I had never been, so I wanted to experience it. There wasn’t too much there, but for the price of admission, it was worth a visit, and the sea lions were adorable!! We turned in early after a visit to Junior’s Cheesecake followed by some Netflix that night and very satisfied with the day we’d had.

Wednesday

Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island for Wednesday. Great deal because one admission price gets you into both places. Pro Tip: if you know you want to make it to the statue of liberty ahead of time, reserve your ticket to visit the crown! Reservations should be made about three months in advance. If you’re okay with just making it to the pedestal, reserve that at least one day in advance. Day of tickets are only good for regular admission where you can’t get inside the viewing platforms of the statue which are really cool! Take the free audio tour at both Ellis Island and the statue, and take time to walk through the museum inside the statue. There’s so much to see at both places, and even going through them quickly is very time consuming but worth it! I spent my whole day between these two places.

We ended my last night wandering around the city looking for a rooftop restaurant that ended up being closed for a private event, but I still want to make it back there someday because The Press Lounge looks amazing! I wish we had been able to get in! All in all, it was an incredible time and a fantastic trip!