We are Ricky and Leah, two news reporters, passionate about travel, architecture and design, we love sharing our lives through journals, blogs and stories of places we have visited.

New York: the city that never sleeps

and why it's always a good idea to keep going back

It turns out in my lifetime I've travelled to New York more than any other country in the world. And I've travelled. From the deepest, darkest parts of the Sahara Desert to paddling in a canoe in the South China Sea.

rickyandleahnewyork.jpg#asset:479

So what keeps drawing me back to The Big Apple then? Well, it's one of those American states that we all grow up feeling like we know even before we arrive.

rickynewyork.jpg#asset:478

The subway, the noisy yellow taxis, the skyscrapers and so much more. There's also an energy you pick up from the moment you touch down at Newark or JFK. Its electric. But that alone fades quite quickly, and like the city itself, blink and a moment has moved on.

It's a city where some of my biggest life moments have played out. It my first long-haul trip along in 2005. I felt small, overwhelmed and totally valuable but I allowed New York to wash over me and spit me out. It's the time of place you can't resist. I loved the freedom and the unlimited possibility.

Fast forward to 2013 and I was back, this time with my partner in crime and soon to be husband. I didn't know it but it was the setting for my engagement. He propose at the The Boathouse Central Park on a barmy April evening, there was cheers, champagne and a midnight walk around Central Park.

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Then I had the four year New York itch. It was 2017 and I was working on the Donald Trump inauguration over in Washington. It was a now or never kind of situation and we both knew Ricky had to fly out to the States and join me in our city again.

You know there's always a risk with a place so pivotal to the past that it doesn't live up to your expectations a third time round. But it did. It was an important trip for us aside from visiting old places. A month after this picture was taken my Mum passed away, then I fell pregnant - so looking back at this picture now, it's clear that life pulls you on all sorts of paths, throws you earth shattering predicaments and then enlisting joy and it all keeps happening either in New York or after I've visited.

Leahnewyork
Newyorkriccardo

And that's why my love affair with this city will always remain. It's not always an easy relationship but it promises so much. For now it's one of those distant memories that are replayed time after time via Facebook memories, songs, or hash browns. Its my personal pilgrimage place, a place I edge closer with each year that passes and with two years off my two year New York itch, maybe New York isn't that far off after all.

Newyorkleah
Written by Leah

Hi, I’m Leah. Right now I’m about to head back to work after 15 months on maternity leave. For over a decade I've worked as a TV and radio at the BBC. I love travel, self-help, cooking and poetry. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram.

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