Jet-Setting with Jordan: Jordan Lee ft New York City

After being behind the scenes for quite some time, for this month’s Jet-setting article I am featuring my trip to New York City!

Aside from being an ES Connected committee member, I am also an Associate Enrolment Services Advisor with Student Support and Advising, an avid sushi eater, and a Friends (TV show) trivia champion.

My reasons for starting the “Jet-setting with Jordan” series are two-fold: (1) I love to travel and (2) to get to know my fellow ES colleagues through their adventures away from the office!

Where did my travels take me to?

In June 2017 I jet-setted off to New York City!  While New York is not my most recent trip, New York is one of my favourite places that I have been to.

I had never been to New York before and had wanted to visit for quite some time.  After seeing a cheap flight deal that was too good to pass up, I booked my flight and was there for a whirlwind 7 days.

What were some of my most memorable moments?

 For anyone who knows me, you know that I am a huge fan of Friends.  So getting to see the iconic Friends apartment building on Bedford Street was truly unforgettable.

If you’re not a fan of Friends, another memorable moment included my first Broadway show.  It was actually the first musical I’d ever seen!  We were able to snag some cheap tickets to Groundhog Day: The Musical, and it was thoroughly entertaining from start to finish.  I highly recommend going to a show if it is your first time in New York.

Money saving tip: if you are wanting to see a Broadway show but do not want to break the bank, one of the cheapest options is to get ‘rush tickets’.  If a show does not sell out, the theatre will sell the remaining tickets the morning of.  We lined up 15 min before the theatre opened and got tickets for half off.  Not all theatres will sell rush tickets so you will need to do a bit of research beforehand.

Other highlights include the Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park & the Museum of Modern Art.

Now, what about NYC food?

For me, one of the must-haves in NYC has got to be Halal Guys.  We had lunch at the Halal Guys food truck on West 53^rd St. and 6^th Ave.  There are a few the Halal Guys food trucks in NYC, and I would recommend finding one and getting their combo plate with extra white sauce + hot sauce.

My advice to future NYC jetsetters?

If your schedule allows, try to find a cheap flight deal to NYC.  They come up often enough and the main website I use is YVR Deals.  If your schedule is less flexible and are not able to book a flight deal as it comes up, I suggest downloading a flight tracking app – the one I use is Hopper.  Hopper allows you to track the flight you want and will send you push notifications as deals come up for the dates you are looking for.

While NYC can be expensive, a lot of your activities do not have to be.  The Metropolitan Museum and the Natural History Museum are both by-donation.  Central Park is huge and you can spend an entire day wandering around.  If you plan to go up a tall building, only do one – choose either the Top of the Rock or the Empire State Building.  Also, I did the Statue of Liberty tour, but if you wanted to forego the tour and see Lady Liberty from afar, you can hop on the ferry for free and still pass by it to take your photos.

While my trip to New York consisted mainly of Manhattan and the tourist attractions, this does not have to be your experience if that is not what you are looking for.  In general, make the most of your trips by catering it to your own interests.  Happy travels everyone and I can’t wait to hear about your adventures!

Lastly, if you or any of your colleagues have gone somewhere recently (within the last 1-2 years) and would be interested in being featured please send me an email at jordan.lee@ubc.ca.