Ep. 5 – New York City, USA
New York City, the cultural melting pot of the United States and the gateway to the land of opportunity. Hear the story of the trip that helped spark a lifelong love of history and adventure.
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Transcription:
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Hello again! We’ve made it now to episode five of The Friday Take Five. To those of you out there that have joined the community, I’d like to send out a heartfelt thank you. Travel and history are two things I’m very passionate about, and it’s an incredible feeling knowing that there are people out there that might care enough about what I have to say to listen along. For the newbies out there - Welcome! The Friday Take Five is a podcast where we take just about five minutes every Friday to step back from crazy lives to delve into history and adventure. I’m your host, Mark Moran, and I do my best each week to scratch an itch for travel bugs and history lovers alike. Every episode, we take a look at a new place with a new story. It’s my hope that you’ll walk away with a renewed appreciation for history and a new travel destination to add to your bucket list. With that, let’s get discovering.
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I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have had some great travel experiences at such a young age. I’ve been to 12 countries and 46 states as of this recording, but it’s my hope that my best travel experiences are still ahead. As a youngin, some of my fondest memories were of road trips with my family. A family of six didn’t always allow for plane rides, but we had tons of great adventures. The focus of today’s episode however, was my first plane destination - New York City.
It was the first big trip that we had taken with only part of the family. Looking back on the photos from years and years ago, I remember the time fondly, but I know that at the time I was definitely an annoying tween and I was not at all excited to be going on vacation with my family. It was during the blistering heat of summer and I came up with a litany of reasons to complain before we had even gotten there, but as the plane descended into the city, my excitement grew. I could see the sky scrapers and I knew amongst them was the Empire State building.
Before long, we were on our way to our hotel. Funny side note, take a Yellow Cab when leaving the airport. This was before the age of Uber, but I’m pretty sure the advice still stands. We were told to take a Yellow Cab, and my parents were adamant that we would take a Yellow Cab, but instead our midwestern selves still somehow got convinced that the unmarked black SUV was cheaper and better. We were wrong. The SUV had video screens ripped out of the back of the headrests, took three times longer to get us to our hotel, and charged twice as much, but at least we still got out mostly unscathed. Well anyway, we learned, and before long we were on our way to a great vacation.
On our first full day of the trip, we got on the elevator to head down to the first floor to start off the adventure. The elevator was chuck full of people and I remember hearing what sounded like four or five different languages being spoken at once. I remember thinking what a uniquely New York experience. For much of my early life in the midwest, I hadn’t had as much exposure to the cultural and ethnic diversity that seemed like commonplace in New York. I was amazed and excited. Nearly 15 years later that memory still sticks with me as one of the highlights of the trip. That one little exposure got me excited about different cultures, backgrounds, and histories. It’s one of the reasons I continue to enjoy traveling to new locales and engaging with the local cultures.
Of course, it’s a must to do the touristy stuff when in New York, and we did. I thoroughly enjoyed going to the top of the Empire State Building and Times Square. We had a good time checking out Central Park and museums as well, but what I enjoyed most about New York were the stories behind it and what New York means as a city to so many.
New York is a symbol to so many of the cultural melting pot that embodies the United States. It’s a beacon of Freedom and the American Dream to so many people. As part of our trip out to the Statue of Liberty, we of course had to stop at Ellis Island.
Ellis Island was one of the major immigration processing stations for America in the 18 and 1900s. It was known oddly enough as both the island of Tears as well as the Island of Hope as it symbolized a wide range of immigrants and their journey to a new life in the United States. Through its time operating, more than 12 million immigrants passed through the doors of Ellis Island and started new lives. Fleeing from conflict and difficulty back home, New York and the United States were seen as an opportunity to start over and build something better.
That dream continues for many today and New York continues to be a symbol for that dream. Throughout New York you’ll find Little Guyana, Little India, Koreatown, and more places where immigrants have made a New Life in the incredible city. It’s one of the biggest cultural melting pots in the world and it’s bound to get anyone making a visit excited about partaking in the culture. I hope if you haven’t already been there, you’ll add New York to the bucket list soon!
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Hey there! Thanks for listening to another episode of The Friday Take Five. If you’re looking to join the community and keep in the loop, don’t forget to turn on notifications on your favorite podcast platform and remember to follow us on socials @FridayTakeFive. Have your own stories about New York, feedback or recommendations on places / stories for us to cover? We’d love to hear it so give us a dm or email at thefridaytakefive@gmail.com. Stay curious, stay adventuring, and have a great weekend!
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