Thanksgiving in New York: Through the lens of a disposable camera

Thanksgiving in New York was everything I hoped for and more. The food! The parade! The whole Christmas build-up! 

Even though it’s practically Spring and the next Thanksgiving Day is around nine months away, I’m in the process of putting together a whole load of blog posts about my trip. My whole trip was the culmination of a whole year’s planning and, let’s be honest, it’ll probably take me just as long to write up about everything…

So let’s start at the top, with an overview of my trip through the lens of a disposable camera. I love taking a disposable camera with me on special trips as I love the exciting feeling of waiting to see my photos after they’re developed. Will they come out terribly? Will I be pleasantly surprised? Will there be an A-list celeb hanging around in the background? Anything’s possible with a disposable camera…

I don’t always trust them to get the best quality photos though, which is why I also take my SLR camera and my phone. I’m very glad I did this for my New York trip as the photos from my disposable camera didn’t come out *all* that great – I blame the wet weather, the snow, and the fact I didn’t use the flash at all…

I still think there’s something rather charming about photos from a disposable camera, which is why I’m not all that fussed that they didn’t turn out perfectly. Below are some of my favourite photos that I took!

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

What tourist can go to New York for Thanksgiving and NOT see the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade?! It was probably the most touristy thing I’ve ever done, but it was an absolute dream come true. I felt just like Susan Walker in Miracle on 34th Street (just colder because I was standing outside on the street for approx three hours, rather than in a lush flat overlooking the parade route…).

And look who turned up at the end!!

Central Park

When I woke up on our last morning in New York to find that the snow overnight had settled, I couldn’t stop jumping around with joy. I dragged a sleepy Ian straight to Central Park for an early-morning hike before the snow all started to melt – it was one of the biggest highlights of my entire trip!

Williamsburg

This was my second time in New York, and Ian’s third. For that reason, we decided to try a neighbourhood that was completely new to us: enter Williamsburg. As a special treat we decided to stay at The Hoxton, Williamsburg – and even paid a little extra for a view of the Manhattan skyline from our room (the first picture below was the pretty awesome view we had!)

Hudson Yards

I’ve broadly combined these two pictures into the ‘Hudson Yards’ category as they were both taken over in that area: the first is of The Vessel, a new structure that people can actually climb. It’s completely free, too. We had tickets but because the weather was really wet we decided to give it a swerve. Knowing Ian and I we would end up slipping and breaking a leg or something.

The second picture below was taken from the High Line, an elevated rail-trail that runs down the west of Manhattan. Again, the weather was absolutely terrible, but I couldn’t resist snapping a picture of all the yellow buses going past!

Times Square

Having been to Times Square before (and hating it because CROWDS), we decided to give it a miss on this trip…until the final day where we somehow ended up walking through it around 937724 times as we ran around getting the last of our souvenirs and snacks to take home. It was just as busy, but just as iconic.

Madison Square Garden

Another of our highlights from our Thanksgiving trip to New York was seeing an ice hockey game at Madison Square Garden. We had absolutely no idea what was going on, the drinks and food were bloomin’ expensive, and I spent most of the evening fearing that I was going to get an ice hockey puck in my face, but I loved every second of it. SUCH a good venue too – highly recommend taking in an event here if you’re in town…

Is there anything in particular you want to know about spending Thanksgiving in New York?