My Favorite Travel Photos

Photography has come to be the backbone of my blog. Of course the writing is important, but it seems like the bulk of each of my posts is made up of pictures! When I first started blogging, I never would have imagined that photos would become so vital to my blog; I thought my main focus would be writing. But alas, I’ve come to love photography and can’t imagine the direction my blog would have gone without it!

Since I have no travel planned for the near future, I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite pictures that I’ve taken on past trips. I’ve written posts on many of these places, and many of these pictures have appeared on my blog. However, there are a few

Top of the Rock: Day v. Night

One of my favorite things we did in New York was visiting the top of Rockefeller Center, known as the Top of the Rock. At 70 stories up, it offers an amazing view of the city, both at night and during the day. After our first full day in the city, we bought tickets to see the view. We were corralled through elevators, security guards and checkpoints as thorough as TSA security, large panels displaying images and history of Rockefeller Center, and a “photo station” where your picture was taken in front of a backdrop of the city, before finally making it up to the top of the tower.

As the final elevator doors opened and I saw my first glimpse of the view through a window, my jaw dropped. The buildings were all light up against the night sky, spanning on and on and on, and we were above it all. It felt like a dream.

Greenwich Village, Soho, and Chinatown

For our second full day in New York, we had scheduled a visit to NYU. NYU’s buildings don’t form much of a campus. Basically, they’re all clustered around Washington Square Park. However, Waverly Place runs parallel to Washington Square Park, just on the other side of some of NYU’s buildings. Growing up, I was a Wizards of Waverly Place addict (for those of you who don’t know, it’s only the best Disney Channel TV show ever), and so of course I had to stop and take a few snapshots of the street sign. Washington Square Park was a beautiful park, adorned with trees and walkways and a central square with an arch through which you can see the Empire State Building. Under the arch was a shrine to the Paris attack that had happened two weeks prior. Since the rest of the campus was so scattered and urban, I loved that it all centered around a unified and nature-filled park.

Central Park and The Met

Central Park. What a quintessential New York experience. Our first full day in New York, after a college visit in the morning, we took the subway straight to Central Park to wander through its trails and trees and eventually made our way to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, more commonly know as the Met, (conveniently located right on the edge of Central Park). I don’t know how anyone would survive living in New York without Central Park; it’s such a breath of fresh air. You’d think it would be an oasis away from the city, and it is, for the most part. But the city noises and skyscrapers peeking out over the trees are always there to remind you that you are, in fact, still in one of the biggest cities in the world.

The Allure of Big City Life

To me, the words “big city” conjure images of sweeping skyscrapers, roads blurred with yellow taxis, and bustling, busy people rushing off to exciting lives. I picture a place where anything is possible and everything is happening. I’ve always dreamt of someday visiting New York City, as if the city holds the key to unlocking untapped potential, as if in the city I’ll know exactly who I am and I’ll be exactly who I want to be. The city is not just a place where dreams come true, but also a place where they’re born. Even city skylines, not only