The Big Apple

October 25 – November 7, 2019

Make sure you’re sitting down, cause this one is a novel…

Early Friday morning (around 4 am) I embarked on a 7-hour drive from Ottawa to Edison New Jersey for the Exxxotica Convention. Since left immediately after cam, I only got a 2-hour nap in the car. I arrived at my hotel at about 11 am, but they had a strict “no early check-in” policy, so I had to wait until 3 pm. I decided to go explore Edison a little so I drove to the shopping mall and ate at the food court. I had a Philly cheesesteak with fries at Charley’s and walked in the mall. I knew the convention didn’t start until 5 pm but I was curious if I could get my pass for Exxxotica early. So, I drove to the convention center and saw the vendors still setting up their booths for the weekend. I “checked in” and told them I was a model with MyFreeCams and they literally gave me a hand full of passes and lanyards. I didn’t realize it at the time, but someone messed up and they shouldn’t have given me that many. Back at the hotel, I got checked in and I started to notice a lot wrong with the place. There was broken glass in their sketchy parking lot, there were stains on the carpet, bedding, and chair, the windows didn’t open, the air conditioner/fan didn’t work, etc. I tried to look past it and not let it bother me. I had a quick 30 min nap, got ready and headed to the convention. I set up my cam at the booth and introduced myself to the other MFC models. Everyone was shy at first and mostly kept to themselves. It was so different to have people come up to me, and I really liked the first day. I packed up around 10 pm and went back to my hotel to get ready for the hotel after party. The whole time I was getting ready, they had music blasting downstairs in their “bar” room, and I noticed the door handle to the room was falling apart. I went down to complain and the guy at the reception said: “There is going to be music playing all night. You booked a shitty hotel, what did you expect?”. I was shocked at his response and wanted to check-out*. I quickly booked a room at a better hotel not too far away. I still went to the hotel after party for about an hour, had a couple of drinks and listened to the live 90s band.

*Update on the shitty hotel: The website that I booked the hotel through ended up removing that hotel from their site for scamming people, and giving credits to me to book through them another time.

Saturday morning I stopped at an IHOP! I’ve been to one once years ago when I went to Florida. They had a promotion on with the new Addams Family movie coming out, so I HAD to try the fancy pancakes. I got to the convention around 2 pm and changed into my Kirby costume. I got so many compliments and it made me so happy! I took a break from camming around 5:30 pm to go look around and shop with a loyal member. He got me a new glass dildo and a pretty pink and purple pastel corset! I got back online after and I got give and receive spanks from Natalie, kiss and spank Holly and made friends with Celina! I stayed until around 9 pm and when I got back to the hotel, I realized I forgot my charger at the booth! I started panicking and jumped on MFC to message a model who was still at the convention. This was the first time I talked to Isabelle, who I then got to meet at the model meet-up later that night. I picked up my charger, went back to the hotel to get ready and left for the pub where are the MFC girls were. It was a fun night! I played pool with Jas and chatted with Robin (whom I also kissed), Isabelle and Mimi while stuffing my face with spinach dip and left at 1 am.

Sunday was the last day for Exxxotica and I made sure to get to the convention early so that I could stock up on MFC merch! I literally had 4 bags of everything from hats to lingerie to notebooks! I was online from 1:30 pm until 5:30 pm. I was sad to leave because I was having so much fun! I definitely want to do another fan expo sometime. Back at the hotel, I changed and got ready to eat at Seasons 52. I ordered a flight of their 3 seasonal wines, tomato, and cheddar soup, pork sirloin with mushrooms and brussel sprouts in cream sauce, and a macchiato cake with caramel for dessert. I was exhausted from the weekend and wanted to try the hot tub and pool in the hotel. I packed after so that it wasn’t such a rush to get out in the morning while watching Bob’s Burgers on the TV.

Monday morning I finished packing and checked out of the hotel. It was only a 30-minute drive to the Airbnb in Jersey City where I would be staying until Saturday. When I arrived, the cleaners weren’t quite finished yet. I walked around the area and found numerous shops and food spots. I stopped at Popeyes and ate chicken strips for lunch and unpacked at the Airbnb. I get ready for cam early so that I could drive into Jersey City and eat at a highly rated pizza place called Razza. Getting there it took about 15 minutes to find parking, and when I did there was already a 30-minute wait to get a table ON A MONDAY NIGHT! While I waited, I walked towards the water and got to see a gorgeous view of the NYC skyline at sunset. Back at the restaurant, I ordered prosciutto and burrata for an appetizer and a classic margarita pizza and it was very delicious (better than what I’ve had so far in Ottawa)! 

Tuesday I walked around Manhattan for the first time and was determined to see all that I could see without my legs giving out. It was misting light rain the whole day, but it didn’t bother me much. I saw the World Trade Center, 9/11 Memorial, Wall Street, Brooklyn Bridge, New York City Hall, all before stopping for lunch at Russ & Daughters sandwich shop. I had my first real New York bagel and it was better than I imagined! It’s very different from a Montreal style bagel, but both have their unique qualities. I needed a coffee after all this walking, so I walked a little further to a cafe called Three Seat Espresso across from Tomkins Square Park. Walking back to the center of the island, I came across a place that was recommended by locals on cam. Momofuku is very popular for their ramen, and even though I was pretty full from having the bagel and coffee, I couldn’t pass it up. I’m really glad I ordered their buns because I would’ve missed out on an AMAZING sandwich. It had dry-aged beef katsu, cheddar and white bbq sauce. I also dug into the smoked pork belly ramen with egg yolk and bamboo.

Continuing the walk, I saw Union Square Park, Madison Square Park, Empire State Building (although it was covered a little by clouds), Grand Central Terminal, Chrysler Building, United Nations Headquarters, Times Square, Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Centre, Trump Tower, and Central Park (Balto Statue, Bethesda Fountain, Bow Bridge, Belvedere Castle). The sun started setting and I didn’t want to get stuck in the park at night, so I headed out to the street to the American Museum of Natural History (just saw the outside). Walking down Central Park West, I came to Columbus Circle and went inside the mall for warmth and to dry off. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much seating available so I went out and kept walking south. I had a reservation at Cosme at 9 pm and had lots of time to get there and even sit and grab a coffee at McDonald’s before. On the walk, I got to see Times Square again, but at night. It looked really cool with all the vibrant lights!

At Cosme, I ordered a couple of drinks: Gin & Shrub and Think Pink for dinner. The first dishes were Tataki al pastor with pineapple puree and cilantro and the Blowfish with yellow mole and shiso. I’ve never had blowfish before, and I survived! The next plates were Duck carnitas with onions, radishes and cilantro, and Mole de casa, burrata and quelites. The duck came first and they forgot about the mole, so to make it up, they made the mole and burrata free! For dessert, I had a Husk Meringue with corn mousse. I took the subway back to the Airbnb and arrived around midnight. My feet, legs and everything else were exhausted! My pedometer said I walked for 17 miles in 6 hours! It didn’t take me long to fall asleep. 

Right away on Wednesday morning, I was back on the subway into Manhattan! It was another overcast day with a slight drizzle of rain. I stopped to eat at Shake Shack for the first time not too far from the subway. I got a ShackBurger with bacon, cheese fries and a vanilla shake. I thought it hit the spot! I then walked over to the Staten Island Ferry to take the ferry past the Statue of Liberty. Over on Staten Island, I walked beside the water’s edge and saw the Postcards memorial for 9/11 and the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing. I took the ferry back to Manhatten, the subway back to my place, and got ready for cam.

Happy Halloween! Thursday called for rain all day and I decided to have an indoor day at the American Museum of Natural History. But first, I stopped for lunch at a place called Zabar’s that sold a different type of New York bagel and yummy coffee, and freshly squeezed orange juice. I spent 4 hours walking inside the museum! I took some pictures of my highlights of the museum, including some squirrel sightings. On the way back to the subway, I grabbed a classic new york slice of pizza to go. It was cool to see kids dressed up in costumes, some even matching with their parents (mostly superheroes). Back on the New Jersey side, I picked up some cider, put on my Kirby costume and went online for the last time on my trip. 

The next morning it was a beautiful, sunny Friday. My legs were feeling a little more rejuvenated from not walking as much the previous days. Once downtown Manhattan, I walked up to Central Park and went for lunch at Potbelly. I thought for a chain they made damn good sandwiches! I ordered a Wreck which had salami, roast beef, turkey, smoked ham, swiss cheese, mayo, lettuce, and tomato. After lunch, I went to see the Central Park Zoo. My favourites were seeing the red pandas, snow leopards, and the grizzly bears. Directly from the zoo, I took the subway over to Brooklyn. I’ve heard so many raving reviews about a pizzeria called Lucali’s and the owner is a little bit of a celebrity from YouTube. Right away on their website, it recommends you to show up before 5 pm even though it opens at 5:45 pm. This is because they don’t take reservations so that they can cater to locals as well as tourists. I arrived at 4:08 pm and there were already 10 people lined up! I waited outside for an hour and 40 minutes to put my name down for the first seating. But boy was it worth the wait. It was the best pizza I have ever had! The crust, the sauce, the cheese; everything was done to perfection. I basically had an orgasm in my mouth! I also had to try their calzone, and wouldn’t you know it, it was BY FAR the best I’ve ever had. To be honest, I didn’t think calzones were that good until I ate that one. Back at the Airbnb, I started packing since I needed to be out by 11 am the next morning.

Saturday was the last day in NYC, and it was perfect weather. I finished packing, loaded the car and drove straight to Madison Square Garden. I had reserved a spot in a parking garage a few days before to make sure everything went smoothly, and it did. I walked up to the Upper East Side to try Serendipity 3. As soon and I came through the door I noticed they had quite a few Guinness world records including the most expensive ice cream sundae ($1000)  and the most expensive hamburger ($295). The atmosphere in there was something else too. I needed some fuel, so I had a mochaccino with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. So yummy! For the meal, I had the Catcher in the Rye sandwich (BLT with chicken, muenster and Russian dressing on rye).

After stuffing my face, I walked over to Central Park and made it up to the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir. I then headed west and walked south towards the High Line. It was a long but peaceful walk getting to see the upper west side neighbourhood. The High Line was also very pretty! I walked the whole way until Greenwich Village. On the way to Madison Square Garden for the UFC 244, I stopped at a seafood restaurant called Seamore’s. I wasn’t overly hungry since I had such a big lunch, but I knew I wasn’t going to eat until after the UFC was done. I had a cup of coffee and blackened steelhead tacos with avocado puree, grilled pineapple, and pickled cabbage. It was so good!

I arrived at Madison Square Garden just before 7 pm and got to my seat just in time to see the end of the very first fight! I’m so glad I got to watch all the fights because overall, I thought the prelims as a whole was more entertaining than most of the main card fights. I had a great view of everything and I really enjoyed myself! It was so cool to be in Madison Square Garden watching my first live UFC event (and my first major sporting event as well). It was a big UFC event because it was their 500th live event, and there were some big names that made appearances. For example, the US president, Dwayne Johnson, and other MMA fighters in the crowd. At the end of the main event, there was an upset from a doctor stoppage and I practically ran out so I didn’t actually see the belt being put on Jorge Masvidal. I didn’t want to be caught up in an angry crowd and I wasn’t alone. Overall I’m really happy I went and I had a great time watching and feeling the roar of the crowd around me.

I went to the car as soon as I left the building and started driving towards home around 1 am. Switching drivers along the way, I arrived back in Ottawa around 8 am (would’ve been 9 am without the daylight savings). As soon as I got home I cashed in bed and napped with the cats until noon. I got the rest of the bags and started unpacking. I ordered sushi for supper since there was no food and got on cam.

Monday was a chill day catching up on laundry and unpacking some more. I worked a little and tried to get back into my routine. I had Maki Maki fish for supper and I started to feel like things were getting back to normal.

Tuesday I started editing my hundreds of pictures I took while away for the blog. It turns out I walked 100,000 steps which were 46 miles in 16.5 hours between Tuesday and Saturday in New York!

Wednesday I entered the ManyVids Guilty Pleasure Contest for one day and we placed at #23!

Thursday I finished editing the blog pictures and also started writing the blog. Ottawa had its first snowfall of the season, so I went out for a quick walk. For supper, I ordered the LOCAL Burger with fries and perogies from Local Public Eatery. 

I hope you enjoyed reading about my trip to New Jersey and New York City and seeing my abundance of pictures! Thanks!

xoxo Lacey

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