This post is part of our Travel Memories series, where I’m reminiscing about trips we took prior to starting this blog. To read more about the series, please check out Travel Memories: Fiji.
New York City
Although the United States is my home country, I’ve been playing tourist when we’ve visited over the last seven years. I left a big part of my heart in New York City when I left in 2005 and since John loves it as much (well, I think almost as much) as I do, we have always vowed to move back there someday when we can afford it. It’s complicated – John needs a Green Card, which we can get but must apply for, and I would have to sponsor him – a whole other scenario that requires some planning on our parts. So in the meantime we have to make due with trips back when we can, this one being in 2009.
View from the top of the Empire State Building, New York City
I always knew I would move to New York City one day. My mother’s side of the family are from New Jersey and reside both there and in New York, though I didn’t have any opportunities to visit growing up. In college, many of my closest friends were from New York and I first experienced the city by visiting them on different occasions. It was love at first sight. After finishing portfolio school in San Francisco I finally made the move. My time there was relatively short but long enough to make lasting friendships and business connections. These have lasted long since I took off to Australia one day to spend the summer with John and began my international nomadic adventures.
The first time John visited the city was just after Christmas the year we met. It was cold and, being Australian and all, he was averse to the cold and spent most of his time indoors. I was working and didn’t get to take him around to any sights (we did eat at Peter Luger, saw Avenue Q and went to a Giants game so I wasn’t a completely terrible host). Aside from a few Broadway shows and concerts, I hadn’t done too many touristy things myself. So this trip we decided we’d do all the typical things one does when they visit New York for the first time for sightseeing. We went to the top of the Empire State Building, saw the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, went to Ground Zero, had several dinners at top restaurants and visited Central Park. We spent the rest of our time with family and friends, which is always the best part of any visit to NYC for me.
The Statue of Liberty is beautiful but I was more interested in getting to Ellis Island to find my great-grandparents’ names on the immigration wall. I knew they were there but had never ventured out to see them before.
Sea Lions at Central Park Zoo
Penguins at the Central Park Zoo
This trip was also the first time either of us had the opportunity to visit friends in Harlem and it quickly became my new favourite neighbourhood. I highly recommend that anyone who visits the city should check it out. It’s huge so I realize I’m not being a very good guide here by saying, “You must go to Harlem!” but with so many beautiful buildings, affordable quality restaurants and stunning views along the river, just a wander will leave you wanting more.
View from Harlem across to New Jersey
So while my mother’s entire side of the family hail from New Jersey and most of my friends are from or in New York City, my father’s side migrated to another great American city…
Chicago
I’m a big city lover and I believe this came from the many trips I took to Chicago as a child. My father would always take me to the city at least one day during our family visits and we’d spend lots of time exploring the city, shopping or going to museums. While I prefer New York (sorry, Dad), I still love Chicago with all my heart. I only slightly prefer a New York slice to a stuffed deep-dish pie and the parks along Lake Michigan rival Central Park for me. After a brief detour, which I’ll talk about in Part Two, we headed to the Windy City over the 4th of July.
I’m a big fan of The Bean, which creates interesting reflections of the city skyline. I’ve never seen anything like it anywhere else and it’s great for taking cool photos like the one below.
We didn’t have much time because of the holiday but I wanted to take John around the city. Last time we visited it was over Thanksgiving and the one day we planned to go downtown we were thwarted by a blizzard that closed Willis Tower. The number one reason why I’ve never considered Chicago as a place to live is the weather. Yes, it gets cold and icy in New York, but the proximity to the ocean keeps it reasonable. When the Chicago wind blows it’s cutting. I can’t hack it. In this respect I think Chicagoans are tougher than New Yorkers.
One of the main things I wanted to do was to take one of the brilliant architecture boat cruises so that we could learn more about Chicago’s incredible buildings. I took a lot of photos on the tour but I’ll only share this one, because it is the iconic building that I always remember from my childhood visits.
In keeping with the architecture theme, my cousin also took us to Oak Park where it is possible to view many homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen them before as he is one of my favourite architects. When you visit places where you know people I think it is easy to overlook some of the wonderful things there are to do there.
My father and his wife live on a beautiful lake in the suburbs so it was the perfect place to hole up and have a family barbecue for a rainy 4th of July.
I don’t know if they still do so many in this economy, but in 2009 several different suburbs had their own fireworks displays so it wasn’t necessary to go downtown if you wanted to see fireworks on the holiday. After plenty of nice food and drinks we settled in to watch them from the deck.
On our last day we visited the Field Museum, which houses natural history exhibits and artefacts. Chicago has an incredible collection of museums, from the Art Institute to the Museum of Science and Industry to Shedd Aquarium.
‘Sue’ is the largest, most complete and most well-preserved of all T-rex skeletons in the world.
We saw quite a few things at the Field Museum but the exhibit that most struck a chord with me was the one called “Mass Extinction.” It discussed the chronology of extinction events throughout the planet’s history, leaving me with no doubt that another one will occur sometime in the future. Who knows whether it will be in our lifetime or not – a pretty sobering thought that reminds one to follow the old cliche of living life to the fullest now.
What’s your favourite big city in the world?
This is not just a blog for travellers. We hope to inspire our readers, whether they’ve visited dozens of countries or barely make it to the next town once a year. We're John and Andrea, a couple of thirty-something travellers and expats. Our travel style is laid-back luxe and we are constantly seeking out the best experiences each destination has to offer. 
{ 35 comments… read them below or add one }
I love this idea of travel memories! Some of my favorite trips were in the US before I became an expat.. I have never been to New York, but I need to make it there soon, looks like a fun place to be a tourist
It’s incredible – plan to spend a week if you can and be sure to get off the beaten track =)
Great post! For some reason, Segways make me laugh. Every time.
Me too, haha! So glad I captured that Segway cop
I love the look of ‘Sue’ – must take my daughter to Chicago to see her! London is my favourite big city, followed closely by NYC.
I highly recommend the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium and the Science and Industry museums in Chicago for kids – I think these are some of the best museums I’ve ever been to in the world. I like London a lot too after our last trip there, despite the fact that the riots were going on and it was a bit eerie!
I was just telling someone last night that despite Toronto being an hour from Chicago I still haven’t gone. I would love to see that city.
And I’d love to see Toronto =) I think you’d dig it – it’s a great foodie town and so beautiful in the spring and summer.
I bet you will not be surprised that I say Buenos Aires. I also love London and New York City. Chicago is good too, but the winter winds are miserable.
For South America, Buenos Aires would probably be mine too. I need to see some Brazilian cities first though before I make that call. I’m with you – can’t take Chicago in winter! We’ll see how Norway compares =)
We’ve never had the chance to visit Chicago and we’ve only been to New York once… and we only stayed for ONE day! Clearly we need to do more traveling in our own country, lol.
That’s always the way though, isn’t it? My list of places I want to see in the US is quite long…mostly national parks but a few cities/states as well like Boston, Maine, Alaska and Arizona. I always thought I had seen quite a bit until I started reading travel blogs and learned about so many interesting places.
Cool Chicago pics! It looks like you and I overlapped in NYC — I was there from 2000-2005. I used to miss it so much, but the idea of moving back is starting to wane, even though all of my friends stayed there.
I lived in NYC 2003-2004; where did you live there? We also overlapped in Miami, didn’t we – I think we were destined to meet at Andi and Lucas’s wedding =) I guess not wanting to move back is a sign that you are happy in Vegas…it’s a good thing!
Nice reminiscences. My favourite city is London, closely followed by Paris, then Sydney.
That’s a great list! I love Paris too – can’t wait to blog about our time there…
You’ve got great taste in Architecture, Andrea. Not just the FLW stuff, but that round skyscraper in Chicago as well. I love the fact that you can see the multi-story carpark.I look forward to getting to Chicago for the first time one of these days!
Cheers, Nate! I hope you get out there sometime – you’ll love it! =)
I was born outside of Chicago but we moved to NJ when I was just 2. I spent one day there as an adult when I was driving from Minnesota to Atlanta, so I haven’t seen much of the city. And I still have a hard time calling it the Willis Tower. I lived in NJ until I was 15 and had lots of family in NYC, mostly in the Bronx. I wish I had been able to do more of the touristy stuff there, but we were always driving into the city to visit family, so it didn’t leave much time for the touristy stuff. I’ve gotta get back to both cities!
I do too – haha – it will always be Sears Tower to me – I had to look up the new name! I’d love to explore the Bronx but would not know where to start. I’m thinking about Arthur Avenue and great Italian food? I think that’s the right name for the street…(?)
I lived in the U.S for 6 months but haven’t made it to either of these cities – one day. My favorite big cities are Barcelona and Rome, I loved them and I’m not usually a fan of big cities.
I love both of those cities, Laurel…if you ever make it back to the States you must visit NYC – even if you don’t like a big city – plenty of small little villages within to explore =)
I love these young pics of you!
They make me grin. 
My favorite big US city is San Francisco. Hands down. 
I think Amsterdam would have to be my favorite European one. I love it so much. 
Thanks, Krista – your comment in our survey is one of the reasons I started this series =) San Francisco is great – I lived there for two and a half years. Will have to pull out some photos from there as well – even younger pics on a trip with my late mother…more to come! =)
I love both of these cities! Chicago, though, I only like visiting – less certain about wanting to live there.
Same. I could never live there…way too cold!
I didn’t like NYC that much when I was there, but I think that might have had something to do with the company I was keeping. I will probably give it another chance though.
Good company is so important when you’re checking out a destination. We felt that way about a large portion of our time in Peru, unfortunately, which I think we would have loved so much more if we did it on our own. Definitely give NYC another chance!
I love New York from the little time I’ve spent there and really want to go with Rodolfo. It just has such crazy energy!
i completely agree with you on loving chicago. i, on the other hand, prefer it over new york (the east coaster in me just became completely disloyal). while i love NY’s food scene…and the city in general, i just find chicago inspiring for some reason. i love all of the little neighborhoods and the people…especially their toughness as you mentioned
im heading back to take the boyfriend this summer (actually were gonna be in both NY and chicago) and he has never seen the windy city! i hope he falls in love and wants to move there someday
I think with those two cities you always prefer one over the other. There’s a certain laid-back-ness to Chicago that I love…it’s big city while still staying decidedly mid-western.
Isn’t absolutely amazing what you don’t do as a tourist when you live in NY? I have yet to go to the Statue of Liberty. Funny.
I had never been there either until I came back as a tourist – you should go – it’s a fun experience! =)
I really like Chicago because it has kept its mid-western attitudes (friendly and a bit slower paced) even though it’s a large city. I’ve never been to New York (I really want to, though), but from interacting with people there I have to admit it’s more intimidating because the people talk faster and the pace seems a lot faster… Of course, the fact that I’m from Iowa most likely means I’m biased towards Chicago (:
Both great cities and yes, quite different. You have to keep your wits about you in New York (well, anywhere really). Thanks for the comment, Nick! =)
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