We’ve come to the end of our visit in the Big Apple, and are now on our way out of the US and heading south to Costa Rica on the second leg of our journey. We managed to get ourselves booked onto a first class flight, so instead of the usual cramped conditions we’re cruising down to Central America in relative style…

Although I’ve enjoyed my time here in New York, I think we planned our departure just right. Four days is long enough for anyone to spend in major city before the hustle and bustle gets to you, and the rule here applies equally as well. That being said, there’s just so much to do here; between the shopping, architecture, museums, theatre and nite-life, you would practically have to live here to do even a portion of it .

On the whole, the people we’ve encountered here have generally been friendly. You get the usual lackadaisical “service industry” welcome at big restaurant chains, but at more homespun establishments you at least get a courteous exchange, and more often than not you get the impression that someone is genuinely happy to help.

Having visited New York state twice before and never really covering the city in any depth, it feels good to have finally done it. We probably won’t be coming back here anytime soon, but like London, Paris and Hong Kong, it’s one of those cities you really should visit before you die.