Tourist Adventures: Getting Stuck on the Train

New York City, baby!

I technically went to NYC earlier this year but only visited the Statue of Liberty (I wrote a blog post, too) and not the city. So, this is my first time going to the city! 

I had a great time! I was there for about five days with a group of friends, and we did a lot of walking, eating, and then more walking. 

One of the highlights of my trip was the transit system. I honestly love it. I love sitting down or standing and waiting to reach my next stop. At home, commuting sometimes felt dreadful. Being able to just wait on the train felt easy. On top of that, the rides didn’t feel long, either. 

However, I got the true New York experience: getting stuck on the train. 

I split up with my friends because I wanted to see the MET Museum. It was the one place I wanted to visit in New York City. After brunch in Chinatown, I would have to travel about 40 minutes north to the museum. 

But…I went on the wrong train.

It was the right number train…but I took the train that was going south instead of north. The network in the train sucks, so the map wasn’t updated. I didn’t know it was going in the wrong direction. After the last stop, I was confused and realized I was on the other side of town where I didn’t want to be. No wonder the location on the Apple map wasn’t moving. 

So, I found the train that would finally take me to uptown. It’s okay; there’s no problem with that. Right? 

Wrong. I got stuck again. 

“There will be a delay on Train 2, 3, and 4 because of an injury.” 

Oh my God. 

I wanted to believe that person was okay, but apparently, the NYPD was investigating it. And they were not sure when the trains would resume. I was a bit shocked. Did they die? As soon as they announced, everyone groaned and left to find other trains. I wasn’t sure what to do. But I wanted to be at the MET Museum as soon as possible because it closes at 5:00 pm and I’m wasting time. So, I followed the crowd. 

They advised people to take the shuttle bus to go uptown to get on another train. So I did, and the bus was super cramped inside. I’m a small person, so I felt almost squished, too. 

After half an hour, we got out, and I felt free but also a bit stressed. I had to look at the maps app again and see which train I needed to take next. Then, I found the train that would take me straight to the museum by Central Park and jumped right in it before it closed. 

But I got into another cramped train again. The whole trip wasn’t too bad, though. I got to listen to people talking, and their conversations were interesting. There was a group of high-school girls talking about what their lives would look like after they finished college, and it was the kind of conversation I missed having with my friends when we were younger. There was another group of people who were excited to see their friend run the NYC marathon, which was happening that day. But I was holding onto the pole tightly because I was afraid that I would fall on someone. 

After getting off the train, I had to find Central Park and walk across to the MET Museum. My feet and legs hurt from standing. But I had to walk more to my finish line. 

Then, I heard screams and cheers. What is going on? 

Remember what I just said about the finish line? There was a large crowd by the streets cheering, and there were hundreds of people running—the NYC Marathon. 

Oh righttttt. 

I saw the fences that were there for crowd control….But I have to get across. 

My legs hurt, and I was not going to find a detour. So, I found an area with no fences and stood there. 

What do I do? I looked around and saw a few people on my side of the street jumping and running across the street as the runners ran towards them. I also saw a cop telling the crowd to back up so they wouldn’t take up the space on the street. 

Should I do that, too?

…F*ck this, I will. 

I paused and looked for a moment where there was an opening between groups of runners. As soon as I saw my opportunity, I booked it. I ran diagonally across so that I wasn’t stopping anyone. 

I made it!... But not yet. 

I had to walk for another 15 minutes across Central Park to get to the museum. It was a nice park, though. It’s a bit of a shame that I didn’t have more time during my trip to walk around it, but that could be for next time. 

After 2 hours, I made it to the MET Museum. I bought a water bottle from the food cart outside the museum, chugged it, and took a break before heading in. 

It was about 3:30 PM when I entered the museum, and getting there was an adventure I did not expect to have. Haha, my luck, right? 

Train stories aside - the MET Museum was cool! I didn’t get to explore everything in the museum, but visiting there was a dream come true. Yay!

New York City was overall a fun experience. I think I’ll never get tired of visiting this city. I’m unsure if I could live there, but I feel like I can if it were for work. I like how everywhere was walkable. 

I went to the Summit with my friends, and the New York City view was amazing. 

I also went to see a Broadway show - The Book of Mormon. It was a funny musical. (However, they had offensive jokes as the creators also wrote South Park, so keep that in mind). My favorite song from the show was “Turn it Off.” It reminded me of how I deal with my trauma, too (I’m joking). 

However, I want to mention someone I was so bitter about when I left NYC: Jungkook from BTS. My friend and I were walking and saw a group of girls lining up and camping outside. They were waiting to see Jungkook perform in NYC. 

Excuse me? We have a flight the next day, and he’s performing when we leave? 

MISSED OPPORTUNITY. I returned home to Houston and saw videos of him performing at Times Square. People got the opportunity to watch him perform for free…in the middle of Times Square!!! 

I was there yesterday!! It was so rude of him for not coming sooner. Oh well, whatever. 

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my blog post because I enjoyed sharing this story. Until then, thanks for reading!