I AM WELL KNOWN FOR MY LAST MINUTE STUNTS, doing everything well off front is not my style. Just two days before I bid farewell to New York, I did the one thing all tourists have to do – see the Statue of Liberty. Can you imagine after nearly 7 weeks in New York and I have not seen the big, green statue that symbolizes freedom, the trademark of the city of New York? Well, at least I managed to go once before I leave.

There are ferries that bring you to Liberty Island, where the statue stands on, but the best way to see the statue is on the Staten Island ferry (it is free). Departing from the Whitehall Dock, the ferry can be as frequent as once every 15 minutes during peak hours. I went there during off peak, but the crowd proved to me how EVERYONE is going to see the statue. The ferry is all passengers, no cars are allowed to board. Inside, the seats are all empty because EVERYONE is outside the deck waiting for the ferry to come close to the Statue of Liberty so they can take a photo of it.

It is said that because most of the passengers are on one side of the ferry, the one facing the statue, the ferry is tilted so much, it is a challenging task for the captain to steer the boat. I did get a decent picture of the statue and also of the downtown skyline before the ferry entered the dock.

Being a last minute tourist, I went to the well-known sights of New York once again to refresh my memories of this great city before saying goodbye. I sat in a plaza near the Empire State Building, staring at its enormous height and also did a little people watching. Times Square is also another attraction that I would probably miss a lot, because of its crazy crowd and euphoric neon lights. GE currently has a big advertisement and they hung jeans at the intersection of Times Square.

I then did last-minute shopping for souvenirs. I bought a bottle of Spongebob Squarepants fragrance at the Garment District for my die-hard fan brother. I found a souvenir shop that sells the cheapest souvenirs with the most variety at midtown. I bought quite a few postcards before this, but the ones at this store are beautiful and go for 30 for $1! I bought ‘I love NY’ T-shirts for my god-daddy and family, a cute shirt for my sister, baseball hat for my brother, and keychains for some friends. I also bought a caricacture portrait of me and my homestays for $25. I don’t look like the cartoon at all, but my homestays loved it.

Who says last-minute tours cannot be interesting, I enjoyed my fully packed day, and would definitely come back for another last-minute tour of New York.