It's always NYC for me

Like many people, I grew up with the streets and sights of New York as the backdrop to my favourite tv shows and movies. Ever since I saw Bruno and the gang from Fame dance round that yellow taxi, I made it one of my life's goals to visit New York.

I first visited in 2011 with my then 14 year old daughter and we had such fun touring the city, visiting the attractions, eating all the US food we'd seen on screen. It was amazing, and everything I'd always hoped it would be.

That one visit was in no way enough, so since then I've returned with a friend, with my daughter again, and on my own. And it's still not enough. 

So what's the thing that keeps bringing me back? It's hard to say. Yes, I love the shops. Yes, the attractions are fabulous. Yes, the food is out of this world. But New York is so much more than the sum of its parts, and it's the feeling that NYC gives me, that makes me go back. I've never felt so alive yet also so content and so at home than when I'm there.

I have lots of favourite destinations - Central Park, DUMBO at Brooklyn, West Village, SoHo, the riverfront, the High Line, all the parks, Boerum Hill, any Bath & Bodyworks, Target or Michaels store  - and each time I go, I find another place to add to the list.

Last visit, I went to Prospect Park for the first time (to experience Smorgasburg) and I'm keen to go back and explore that more. That trip I also got to tread the steps of one of my ancestors who emigrated to New York and made their home and life in the streets of Gowanus and Boerum Hill, and that made me so happy. I feel like I'm a Brooklyn Girl. I'd love to be a sophisticated Upper East girl, but I'm so not. Brooklyn is where I'm happiest, where I feel I can be me.

So next time anyone asks me about holiday plans, they shouldn't be surprised to learn I'm always thinking of when I can get back 'home' to New York!