east coast adventure part 3 / 3
10-26-2025
Damn, it's already October and I'm still talking about July. Y'know I've been struggling a bit to figure out how I wanted to write about this. I don't want to just go down a list of "here are all the things I did in NYC" like some kind of travel blog. This is partially because I actually didn't do much extravagant stuff in NYC. The most grand thing I did was go see a Broadway show, Book of Mormon, but besides that it was mostly walking around, meeting up with family and seeing what I could do around the city on as tight a budget as possible.
Y'see I'm not actually big on travelling, in fact I'm a pretty stationary person. I don't like the tasks of packing, unpacking, and planning out large swaths of time. I struggle to relax on vacation too 'cause it just feels weird to be going so long without working. And most of all I don't like being a tourist in a place where people just genuinely live. So ever since I moved to [REDACTED SOUTHERN STATE] years ago, I haven't really gone anywhere in years, not even other cities in the state. But with New York City, that's a place I've got lots of fond memories of as a kid and a place I've kind of romanticized in my head as a place to live in for a long time. With family there as well, I knew I had to put aside my reservations, save up lots of cash, and go see the place for myself again as an adult.
I went in with an idea to both save money and run a financial experiment. I wanted to get a sense of how living there would be under a budget; see for myself the costs of transit and groceries, walking around as much as I could, and most importantly trying to find free and cheap places for socializing. This was to conceptualize what a permanent life in the city could really be like if I really made it for good.
First, on transit, I spoke about this a bit in my first post on New Jersey, but it really is so convenient to be able to walk, bus, and subway everywhere. I curse the car lobbyists everyday that all metro area in the country aren't like this. It was great for my health as well, as all the walking I did led to me visibly losing a bunch of weight just by the end of the week alone. Plus (and keep in mind this is me speaking as a man but), despite the fears stoked about crime ravaging cities in America, I felt way more safe walking at night here and in Jersey City than in [REDACTED SOUTHERN STATE] as there was always at least a few people around me even at 1AM. And there were always opportunities presenting themselves to get away with not paying the transit fare but you didn't hear that from me, NYPD!
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I don't want to downplay at all how expensive the city can be. Groceries are more expensive than where I live especially with tax, and I stayed with family during this trip so this speaks nothing to the insane rent prices that are the first thing you gotta confront when even thinking of moving. With that said though, you do realize how much money you do save from just not having a car. No gas money, no insurance, and with all the walking and nearby parks no need for a gym membership either in my case. It's still an expensive place but understanding the transit system made the financial requirements of the city feel a little less out of reach.
As for cool, cheap places, this really is the place where everything is happening. I'll start with the art and comedy scene since that was one of the things I was most curious about. I was able to find lots of semi-free (they usually had a small minimum drink requirement) open mics happening every day of the week. And the variety of talent I'd see in these open mics were crazy. There would be poetry, original music, and stand-up comedy sets that were actually funny. And being New York freaking City it would not be uncommon to run into known people in these smaller events. I got to see Kam Patterson try out some material at a New York Comedy Club and unexpectedly even saw Adam Friedland just doing crowd work at a free open mic in Manhattan. That was a guy whose podcast I listened to all the time in high school and he just casually strolled up to a bar here because it's New York City, that's where things are happening (yeah, he's more of a internet microcelebrity but still crazy)!
And then the coolest place I found, which I brought up a bit in my last post, was Brooklyn Games & Arcade. I visited this place like 3 times in about a week, it was the exact kind of arcade vibe I was dreaming of. Classic arcade cabinets on the ground floor and every console you can think of in the basement. And that included working Neo Geo machines. Do you know how hard it is to find an arcade here that actually takes care of their machines. We have one where I live and every machine has at least two broken buttons so it was crazy to be able to play some legit King of Fighters on the real hardware.
The last day I went was for a 4th of July celebration they were doing and it was incredibly fun. Every single machine was packed from Street Fighter II to Street Fighter 6. There was an absolute monster on the KoF '97 cabinet just racking up an insane win streak. There were $1 Inca Colas which I haven't had in actual years like it must be exclusive to the region or something. And there was an impromptu SFII tournament that popped up, which I went 1-2 in by the way, not to brag.
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As a lifelong fighting game fan, that was the exact kind of arcade experience I dreamed of ever since I started playing. I've looked for locals around my area to very little luck and occasionally not the friendliest crowds. But there, everyone was nice and energetic, cheering eachother on and doing friendly trash talk. There was tons of intermingling between the oldheads playing KoF and the younger crowd playing on the PS5. It felt like a real community, and typing this out it feels really weird to romanticize this place right? This is just a small arcade some dudes casually go to every week or so, it's no paradise lost. I mean that's kind of how I've felt describing this whole trip. It feels weird to romanticize a city and area where people genuinely just live their lives and have their own problems. I don't think New York or New Jersey or anywhere is some grand place to live a fairytale life but it does have something I've struggled to find here in [REDACTED SOUTHERN STATE] and that is a lot of variety and community. I don't like to travel but to be able to settle down in the center of everything would be perfect.
So, that was back in July and it's now October. After talking with family there and getting a sense of the place, I returned home with a renewed vigor; I had a feeling that I could really do it, that maybe the idea of moving back to the East Coast wasn't just a pipe dream. And ever since then, the reality of the present has set in and that blind optimism wilted away. You don't need me to remind you about what's going on but in the shortest terms, here in the United States we are in a time of extreme economic uncertainty and a job market crisis possibly worse than COVID-19 era at this point. The idea of finding a new well-paying job to relocate out of [REDACTED SOUTHERN STATE] anytime soon feels improbable. Not impossible, but improbable.
It hasn't been all bad. The trip had genuinely rejuvenated me a lot. It inspired me to reboot my site after all. And in the real world, it led me to give another try at finding community where I live. Despite all my complaining, I don't think any place is devoid of community, it's just harder to find in some places than others. Since my trip, I've met and reconnected with some great friends down here and put myself more out of my comfort zone which has been a massive improvement to my life.
But, despite the crappy state of the union right now, the biggest takeaway I got from my trip to New York and New Jersey was hope. My biggest fear going on that trip was "What if I come back to these places I'd missed and it was all misplaced nostalgia? What if I spend all this time, money, and effort to get there and end up feeling exactly the same?" Well, I was proven wrong. Sometimes the grass is genuinely greener on the other side, and it feels good to be able to imagine a future there. I don't think it's going to happen anytime soon, but I can confidently work towards that goal now. Since, I got back I've been saving money, working on certifications, building a foundation towards a tangible goal. I don't think I'll reach that goal anytime soon, could be years before I can get myself in a position to move away. But I do believe I will get there eventually. And then I'll be ecstatic for a bit, and then the euphoria will fade and I will face new problems and it won't be all sunshine and rainbows. But I'll be happier overall in a city again and that's worth pursuing I think.
Alright, that's enough travel blogging. I got way different stuff down the pipeline I wanna use this site for so look forward to that. And stay tuned!