It all started with a dream - to watch a concert at Madison Square Garden. I was 13 when my sister used to watch Mariah Carey's major concert at this arena that triggered my want to see this cool concert hall by myself. My cousin, who also likes to watch at MSG, made up what we thought was a silly-unattainable dream then.
August 2007
I tried to look for concerts at MSG. And I saw that Maroon 5 will be performing on Oct 10th. So i immediately purchased a ticket not thinking for a second that I'll be alone, I have to book a flight and a hotel. So I was able to purchase it. I immediately told my lead and asked for a leave.
October 2007
The weather was varying everyday in Chicago and it was difficult to define what to wear everyday. It was sunny in Chicago when I left to Midway Airport. The flight was fine until we reach the NY skyline.
It suddenly became bumpy and when I look out, there were towers of clouds around our plane and the turbulence was bad. When the plane reached the airport, it was really cloudy outside. I took a cab to my hotel which is by the way in Brooklyn. The neiborhood was good, people are more of Mexican-American, just like my Chicago neighborhood. The L train was just outside my hotel which will take me 12 -14 stations before i reach Manhattan. I decided to go to downtown at around 7pm and I am still overwhelmed with the feeling - I am in New York City.
It literally do not sleep. The city was full of travellers taking pictures of the famous wide screen billboards at Time Square, the MTV store, the Hershey's and M&M stores, Hard Rock NY, and the Toys R Us store which i actually enjoyed.
I went first to dine but after I finished eating the rain suddenly poured really hard. everyone was running for shed. I thought this is bad. I just decided to look around where i could spend some time and let the rain stop. I saw Ripley's Believe It Or Not and decided to get in. It was fun, especially the Black Hole where got so dizzy. But when I went out Ripley's it's still raining. I felt tired and decided to just went back to my hotel first. I took the F train going to 14th St then transfer to L train to my hotel. I stayed a couple of hours at the hotel and went out again after the rain stopped. I went back to Manhattan to look for bars. It was around 12MN but the city is still full of people walking around, making out on parks which now I doubt if it's just the rain that makes the park wet or them. I tried one of the bars and find it just like our(my friend and I) favorite dance club. It was a lot of fun seeing NYers dance, everyone danced even if they're alone and find it fun. So i decided to hop in and explore the dance floor. I stayed there until at 4AM when the lights were turned on which is a signal that the bar was closing. I felt really tired and decided to go home, I actually want to look for other bars but my feet hurts already, and was suprise to find that NY subways functions 24hrs.
The next day, I decided to go back to Manhattan to see the city during the day and the only difference is time. The crowd is the same, the lights are the same (only noticeable the night before since it's night), energy is the same, the effect on me is the same. My itinerary for the day was packed, Liberty Island, WTC site, Central Park and MSG during the night. 
So i went first to see the famous Liberty statue. They said that you must always come early if you want to ride a ferry going to the Liberty Island and I was there at 3pm so I told myself i'll just look from afar. But there's no line for the ferry ride so I was able to take the 3pm ferry ride and was able to get a closer look of the statue, which by the way gave me goosebumps. The trip was suppose to take us to Ellis Island too but it was closed then so the ride only took an hour instead of 2. Then I went to see the WTC site which is still full of travellers looking at any remnants of what used to be the highlight of Manhattan skyline.
Manhattan Skyline minus WTC
I also saw some testimonials of survivors and loved ones of the heroes/victims of 9/11 and one statement struck me "I'll never forget where I was that day". I will never forget this day.
I went back to my hotel and failed to go to Central Park (too bad) since the concert starts at 730pm. I left my hotel at 630pm and prayed that I would be able to reach MSG before 730. So I went off the train at 14th St. and MSG is at 32St. But I can't waste any moment waiting for the next train or a cab. So i decided to walk and find that NYC blocks are smaller than Chicago blocks and just took me 10-15min for an 18-block walk. And when i reach the arena itself, people are still coming in and the first front act was still playing. The 2nd front Act, The Hives was really good. They really make a good noise (from them and from the crowd). It was 9pm when the turns went up and saw a big letter "M" with the lower middle of the letter is lighted with a different color to emphasize on "V" (which is 5 in Roman numerals by the way). Maroon 5!!!
It was a sold out first Major concert of Maroon 5 at MSG and the band was really overwhelmed with it. One from the audience even throwed a bra at them. It was really worth it to be there. And it's worth the wait.
I went back to my hotel and failed to go to Central Park (too bad) since the concert starts at 730pm. I left my hotel at 630pm and prayed that I would be able to reach MSG before 730. So I went off the train at 14th St. and MSG is at 32St. But I can't waste any moment waiting for the next train or a cab. So i decided to walk and find that NYC blocks are smaller than Chicago blocks and just took me 10-15min for an 18-block walk. And when i reach the arena itself, people are still coming in and the first front act was still playing. The 2nd front Act, The Hives was really good. They really make a good noise (from them and from the crowd). It was 9pm when the turns went up and saw a big letter "M" with the lower middle of the letter is lighted with a different color to emphasize on "V" (which is 5 in Roman numerals by the way). Maroon 5!!!
It was a sold out first Major concert of Maroon 5 at MSG and the band was really overwhelmed with it. One from the audience even throwed a bra at them. It was really worth it to be there. And it's worth the wait.
The next day, my last day in NYC, I woke up early to buy some "pasalubongs" from NY. The only thing I could say is that nothing's cheap. The taxes are higher than Chicago taxes. Thank God I brought enough cigarettes until the duration of my trip. I bought chocolates at hershey's, shirts at Hard Rock NY and MTV store. Visited the M&M stores and Hollywood. But at around 2PM it started to rain really hard. The only day that didn't rain during my stay in NY was during the Concert day. But It mostly rained. I even saw in the news that some flights were delayed.
I hurried back to my hotel since my my flight is at 6PM and I also can't go around anymore with the very cold rain. When I got to my service, which by the way looks like a limo, it started to rain really hard and the traffic on the expressway was really bad. Luckily, I reached the La Guardia Airport. Unluckily, my flight was CANCELLED. Everyone on the airport was getting really pissed off with the way the airline is accomodating everyone. And I was assisted by one of the slowest person I've ever met. The other people working at the airline was able to give a 6Am flights the next day to other people on the same flight with me but she was able to give me, after almost 30 min waiting at her counter, a 12NN flight.
Although I was still lucky coz the one that drove me to the airport gave me his number and brought me back to my hotel and just paid enough amount for the night. I came to realize that I still have another night in NY (although I have to work remotely the next day). So I just went out and made a very wild night and have tasted more than enough of NY, much better of the previous nights I had.
I woke up at 8AM the next day, and realized I'm not in my room.
