Fashion Travel Diary – Final Installment
So it’s been a hot minute since my last post, and if you don’t watch my YouTube videos, you would have no idea where I’ve been. But I’m finally feeling creative enough to put up something new. And what better than to finish off my FTD.
So if you’re reading this and have no idea where I’ve been, or why I didn’t post anything after New Orleans, this entry will be a recap of the end of my holiday.
Wednesday 28th October:
We originally had a 5pm flight to New York, but of course our flight was delayed by a few hours. So that actually led us to discover the amazing-ness that is live jazz and beignets! YUM! So after all we kind of enjoyed New Orleans, and had a really fun afternoon. The sun was shining and it was a really relaxed day.
We eventually arrived at our hotel in New York and by the time we got checked in, settled (into what was the smallest hotel room I’ve ever stayed in!) and ready for bed, it was 2am. I was so tired but so in love with the fact that I was again in my favourite city!
The next morning we got up – eventually. Checked out and wondered the city. We went into China Town for lunch and got dumplings, did a little shopping and walked along Brooklyn Bridge. It was perfect weather, the sun was shining and I was in my happy place!
At the bottom, just before we walked over.
Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Walking over the bridge, trying not to get taken out by cyclists!
Adam’s cousin Lara (who now lives in NYC with her Husband Michael) met us at our hotel to collect out bags and we ubered it over to Hobokin where they live. I was so excited for our week, and to spend time with family (I got a pretty good deal when I married Adam – his family is pretty great, especially Lara… you’ll see why as you keep reading)! We had a nice little family dinner together at their apartment that night and caught up on life as it had been over a year since we had seen them.
The next day was pretty lazy. We woke up a little late, took a stroll down the street to one of Lara and Michael’s favourite breakfast joints, walked through town, walked past some frat houses on our way up to the college campus, and walked around campus and soaked up the beautiful city view. We then had a very small late lunch (at around 3:30pm) at Grimaldi’s Coal Brick-Oven Pizzeria. O.M.G!!!!!!!! Talk about the best pepperoni pizza EVER!!!! We then caught the PATH train to the city and did a little shopping before we met Lara and Michael for dinner. It was such a fun, relaxing chill day … but I had started to get this cough (from Adam – thanks for sharing husband!), so we headed home after dinner and settled down for the night …
Fast forward to around 2am – I wake up with the worst fever I’ve ever had! My body felt like it was on fire but I wasn’t sweating at all. Adam had to get up and find a wash cloth to wet and put on my forehead, The cough started in New Orleans, and was now in full swing. I slept horribly, and ended up not getting out of bed until 11am for breakfast. I then went back to bed pretty much until 4 or 5pm when I had to get up and shower and make myself semi presentable, because Adam’s other cousin, Katrina and her fiance, Steve and his parents were all coming over for dinner (Steve had moved to NYC for work for 2 years, so it was nice to catch up with everyone). So all our plans for that day – didn’t happen. I went to bed straight after dinner, where I had a pretty rough night of waking up coughing and with my fever constantly returning.
Sunday 1st November: Again I didn’t really get out of bed, and still felt really terrible. I managed the strength to go out for lunch, came home and my fever returned. We then went to Hillsong Church in Time Square, and then after arriving home, so did my fever again.
Time to worship!
Stepped out of church, right into Times Square.
Monday 2nd November: Field trip to Philadelphia. This was a non refundable train ticket, and we didn’t want to give up the $200, so we were fortunately able to change the time of the train coming home so it wouldn’t be such a long day, and I wouldn’t be too exhausted. We saw the Liberty Bell, Eastern State Penitentiary, the Rocky stairs and ate a Philly cheese steak for lunch. When we got back to Lara and Michael’s that night, we walk through the door and Lara says, “You’ve been out all day and your sick, so I made you vegetable soup.” I told you she was pretty great!
Asleep on the train on the way there … I felt horrible.
Eastern State Penitentiary.
When in Philly, get a Philly Cheese Steak – it was AHHHmazing!!!
*By this point in time I had self diognosed myself with acute bronchitis. I’ve had it before (not this bad), and with the help of Mr. Internet, I knew exactly what I had. And thanks to Adam and Lara’s Aunty who had stayed with Lara and by chance had left the rights drugs behind, the exact steroid inhaler I had used when I had bronchitis last time, was just the thing to help me get on the mend! Although I was pretty exhausted for all of NYC 
Tuesday 3rd November: 9 11 Museum. WARNING – Do not go to this museum if you are brought to tears easily or are very emotional. Pregnant women, you’ve been warned! This was extremely confronting, sad, but also I felt like going through it was really honouring to those who lost their lives. I learnt new stuff, saw a lot of footage I’ve seen on TV over the years, and was just so moved, and probably felt every emotion possible.
We then met up with Adams other cousin Katrina, grabbed Shake Shack for lunch, where Adam decided it was a good idea to open his sauce packet on the bench I was sitting on, in my white jeans! Thankfully the sauce went on my thigh and not any other awkward areas… After lunch we trekked it all the way over to the Upper East Side to Kat’s apartment and hung out for a bit, and then had a stroll through Central Park.
Next on the agenda was drinks at a rooftop bar with my oldest friends, Elise and Damien, who just so happened to be holidaying in NYC at the same time! After a couple of yummy cocktails, it was time for dinner with Kat and Lara – family time!
Wednesday 4th November: SHOPPING DAY!!!! Now, shopping wasn’t high on our priority this trip – I know, shocking right! But the AUD was so bad against the USD and most things once tax was added on and converted to AUD were just as expensive as back home. BOO! So we spent the day at the Woodbury Commons outlets. Kate Spade had 50% off store wide, plus 20% off your total purchase. So that’s where all my money went! By the end of the day I was pretty exhausted, and still coughing heaps, so I slept the whole bus ride home.
This was also our last full day in NYC Which was really sad, I was still sick, by this stage my fever was mostly gone, but my cough was still pretty intense. I didn’t do a lot of things I wanted to. I did zero filming. I had three videos I wanted to film. I only walked through central park for 15 minutes and wanted to spend an entire afternoon there. So by this stage I was actually feeling really discouraged. But we had one more city to go before heading home. So we had one last family dinner with Lara (her husband Michael had gone out of town on business, hence his disappearance from several dinners), and soaked up as much New York vibe as we could.
Thursday 5th November: It was really sad saying goodbye to Lara, I’ve never been close to my own cousins, Aunties or Uncles, so it was so special for me to get to know her better on a more personal level – it was a real massive blessing, especially being sick! So thanks Lara and Michael, you guys are the best!
We headed out for one last NYC breakfast – I got blueberry pancakes – which were to die for! We packed up and got into our car. The driver was awesome, he took all the back roads to get us to the airport on time.
Everything went smoothly at the airport, the flight was good, but then everything turned upside down.
We landed in the Windy City of Chicago, I went to the bathroom when we landed, Adam was waiting for me and switched his phone off flight mode into normal mode, and the worst text message came through. His cousin Tina had lost her fight with cancer. We both broke down in the airport. While in NYC we had lots of conversations about Tina with Lara, Michael, Kat and Steve. We all loved and adored Tina. She was the most loving caring, positive person any of us knew. We knew her body was giving out, we knew unless there was a miracle, she would be going home to her Heavenly Father. But none of us thought it would come so soon. And that fact that we were in a different country, and had just left family, made it even worse.
Chicago ended up being a bit of a fog, as our mind and hearts were back home. But we did what we knew Tina would want us to do. Enjoy all the food! So once we got settled in our hotel, which was a beautiful hotel (Dana Hotel & Spa) – highly recommend it! We headed out to try Chicago’s famous deep dish pizza. The bigger the size you order, the longed you have to wait for it to be cooked. Ours took 45 minutes…for a small! But it was pretty delicious, and we know Tina would have loved it!
The next few days consisted on a little shopping, hop on hop off bus tours, an architectural boat tour (which was really awesome, and very freezing!), site seeing all the major land marks, like The Bean, and eating … always eating! We went for lunch at RPM Italian which was top of my to do list because I LOVE Giuliana and Bill Rancic. And everything about their restaurant was perfection! We couldn’t fault anything. So much so, that when I accidentally hit my watch on the door in the bathroom and chipped a tiny bit of paint (and this watch was brand new) off it, I wasn’t even mad. Every time I look at it, I think of RPM 
We found good coffee in Chicago. IT WAS A FLAT WHITE
Can you spot us?
Bean Selfies
Chicago Streets.
RPM Italian Selfies.
That same day we caught the ugliest, most disgusting (sorry Chicago), weird looking train I’ve ever seen, to see some old friends who now live in the suburbs on the outskirts of Chicago near Plainfield, IL. They picked us up, drove us around the really nice neighbourhoods, and cooked us a super yummy meal! This was also our last full day in Chicago and in the states. So thank you Katie and Archy for a fun night, we can’t wait to come back!
Chicago suburbs in the fall.
Katie, the kids and Archy behind the camera.
Just a casual Sunday night dinner. Katie & Archy known how to do dinner parties!
So after an entire day of travel and flying (thank goodness we got an exit row and actually got some sleep), we got home with 2 hours to get ready for Tina’s funeral. Which we were so thankful we didn’t miss. But it wasn’t the holiday we were hoping for. I was really devastated coming home, really discouraged and didn’t even know how to respond to people who asked with excitement, “How was your holiday!?” And many of you may think, you should be more grateful, but I wasn’t in the best mindset before we left on this holiday, and I was counting on it to excite my passion again for YouTube, to feel creative again. And it just didn’t. But after months of reflection, and thinking and spending time with my Heavenly Father, I feel ready again. Nothing will look the same as it used to, because I feel like I am different. But I feel ready to be creative again.
So if you’re ready to come along on the journey that is my life, follow my blog, subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me on Instagram. I can’t go on my adventure alone, I need my friends along side me.
So until next time…
#BYOB