I may not know much about the U.S of A, as this was only my second visit this year – but I do know I love great food, hunting for unique sneakers, meeting celebrities and breath-taking views, so here goes ; these are the things I love most about New York, New York!
The views
It’s like I stepped into a scene from Sex and the City, with the yellow cabs and gigantic skyscrapers lit up like a Christmas tree. No book, or movie, or song, can truly capture the rush of standing in the heart of Times Square. 11pm at night and it was as buzzing as at 9am in the morning.
Its a 23 – 26 minute cab ride to Brooklyn, we walked the quaint streets, passing boutique vintage stores to find the “Biggie wall”. This was his neighbourhood. He sat here spitting rhymes, a story locals proudly tell to us curious foreigners. – cue the instagram photo!
Mix it up by taking your adventure to the sky at the top of the iconic Empire State Building ,- be prepared to stand in major queues to get to the top though. Once you do get there, it is air conditioned & has free wifi – Winning at life!
If heights aren’t your thing why not take the scenic route by sea? Take a free ride on the Staten Island ferry that departs every 30 mins, or go on a guided cruise to the Statue of Liberty and back (this is great because it has air con – essential in Summer because it is so humid – & a bar with snacks on board.)
The Food
Forget KFC…. this deep fried chicken served with soft, fluffy waffles and sticky sweet syrup is THE TRUTH! It sounds crazy, and really shouldn’t make sense… but something about this crunchy, sticky, sweet & savoury combo totally works!
And if that wasn’t enough incentive for you, the owners of Amarachi restaurant serve a wide variety of traditional African cuisine – in case you’re craving your mama’s home cooking!
The Sneaker Culture
Pretty new to the “sneaker culture” myself, I had only read about places in Sneaker Freaker books. I had seen Stadium Goods on Complex’s sneaker show hosted by Joe La Puma, and Footlocker on instagram.
But to see these places in person was something else! Kicks vacuum sealed to protect the value of the limited edition sneakers.
The Diverse People
Ever been to a place where you stick out like a sore thumb? Where it’s ridiculously obvious that you’re a tourist?
Not in New York, New York, – the city so nice you gotta say it twice.
The tour guide on the bus described this place as “the centre of the universe”, despite being highly exaggerated- it made sense, people from all walks of life, from all over the globe seemed to merge into one here… Diversity is not only embraced here it is encouraged – that is after all how you “make it” here.
The celebrities
In Africa, our celebs roll around with an entourage of bodyguards, photographers and managers, “Squad Deep”, as they say. So you’d never imagine that in one of the greatest cities on earth, with a population of over 8.5 million people – that arguably one of the biggest designers on earth would walk around solo. And yet there he was, Virgil Abloh – the genius behind Louis Vuitton menswear, from the school of Kanye. Ofcourse we got a selfie.
My job as a presenter on MTV Africa & one of the faces of Revlon South Africa, totally has its perks! Like scoring an invitation to the launch of Revlon Volumazing Mascara where I met fellow Revlon ambassadors Ciara and Mette.
The MTV Video Music Awards 2018
The main purpose of my visit ofcourse was the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City hall.
We were extremely blessed and lucky to be on the pink carpet interviewing celebs pre-show! People like Tyga, Dej Loaf and Victorias Secret Supermodel Shanina Shaik.
I can’t wait for you to see the show only on MTV Africa DSTV Channel 130.
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog post, I’d love to hear your thoughts – so please do comment or feel free to reach out to me on any of my social media platforms INSTAGRAM : TWITTER : FACEBOOK
Stay blessed
Xxx
kimjayde 
Interesting post!
You sure had fun!
http://www.tlmurban.com
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