This recap is WAY overdue, but we had the best time doing a one month home exchange in New York City.
We checked a LOT off the NYC Bucket List. Went to a taping of Trevor Noah, went to a Yankees game, saw 4 plays, visited 5 different islands, explored new neighborhoods and saw so many cool places. I had a lot of help from friends Special shout out to Emily, Casey, Rich and everyone else to added to our extended stay!
For those who are wondering how we pulled off a full month in another city: we both work from home on a regular basis, so we just worked from their home. I even went on a 2 day work trip to Wisconsin in the middle of the month (same idea – they would have flown me out from Nashville, so instead they flew me out from NYC). “Do you guys not work or something?” was a question I got asked on the regular, but rest assured there’s no independently wealthy people here 🙂 We are very lucky to both have this flexibility, and thought we should use it to our advantage!
We started our days with a walk to somewhere in the neighborhood to get coffee. We tried a ton of new places and repeated a few of our favorites. Then we would work from 9-5 or 6 (we are on central time so it was keeping with our normal 8-5 CST). Matt used the small desk upstairs (he has a lot more paperwork and needs a printer several times a day), and I worked from the kitchen table. We at breakfast and lunch at home and then went out for dinner most nights. Out of the whole month, I think we stayed in 2 nights. One out of sheer exhaustion and one out of terrible terrible rain, and we didn’t feel like venturing out to walk in the rain or fight everyone else for an Uber into Manhattan.
We also maximized our weekends. We saw Coldplay, the Statue of Liberty, went to the beach on Long Island, picnicked on Governor’s Island, saw plays, and walked for MILES. Most weekend days we ended up walking 8-10 miles by the time we got home.
New York is seriously so much fun. I always wanted to spend extended time there, and now I’ve been able to! We would totally go back for another month (or two!) because we had such a good time.
If you have any questions about Home Exchange, feel free to shoot me an email — avecamourblog (AT) gmail (DOT) com.
xo
PS –
Shake Shack! I love that Chicago has two of them now. We grabbed shakes on our recent visit home. Weirdly enough, walking is one of my favorite parts of NYC.