Travel: MY FIRST NEW YORK

For those who have ever visited New York City, can you remember the first moment that you set foot in the iconic city? How you felt? I was 16, travelling with three friends. We took a limousine into the city from the airport because it was cheaper than a cab. But that was as luxurious as it got, as we stayed in a 10-bunk room in a dingy backpacker hostel on the upper West Side – it was filthy, but we were just so excited to be there, we would have almost been happy to sleep in a cardboard box. It was just before Halloween and autumn had made the city its playground. Central Park was a patchwork of crunchy autumn leaves and pumpkin carvings, and the breeze pinched our cheeks into a rosy hue. We stumbled across Strawberry Fields a few moments after Yoko Ono had left her daily shrine to John Lennon – flowers and a joint. We were there for only four days, but they’ll forever linger in my memory. My First New York – Early Adventures in the Big City, is a new book from the editors of New York Magazine, and features the stories of some of New York’s most remarkable residents as they recount their first experience in the city. From Dan Rather, Liza Minelli, and Nora Ephron to Albert Hammond Jnr, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Agyness Deyn, more than 50 New Yorkers share the wonder of their first few moments in the Big Apple. What was your first New York?