Alone in Times Square

by Maddison Byford (United Kingdom (Great Britain))

I didn't expect to find USA

I didn’t expect to find myself alone in Times Square. In 2012 Hurricane Sandy ripped through America and the Caribbean, causing more than 70 billion dollars worth of damage, and taking the lives of at least 147 people. Whilst it is not my intent to trivialise the suffering caused by this disaster, the hurricane did lead to one of the most unique travel experiences of my life. I knew the trip was going to be one to remember when a week before I was due to leave, the travel agency I had booked through called to double check that I did not want to reschedule my trip. Not a good sign. Despite this, I forged ahead with my plans, and hopped on my flight, only to find out that it was the last flight allowed out of London due to the storm. Luck seemed to be on my side, as it was also the last flight allowed into JFK, so rather than being rerouted, I managed to get to my destination. When I arrived at the airport, everything was beginning to close. The sandbags were in place and everyone was shutting down, preparing for the worst. As the weather warnings played on a loop, I managed to get to my hotel, follow the local’s example, and shut myself in for the night. Day two seemed safe to go out, so I wrapped up warm and headed to explore. I was feeling unusually brave for being in a brand new place. New York City has an ability to feel like home even for a first time visitor. TV and movies had made me familiar with the streets and sights around me, and the grid system made it a traveller’s dream to navigate. This all changed as the clouds rolled in. Suddenly, the city that I thought I loved was deserted and dark. It had the look of every apocalypse movie, where there were no other people about, except me and my tiny group. What cemented this was the site of an umbrella tumbling down the road. New York had been deserted. The streets were lit by glowing advertisements and the traffic lights changed for cars that weren’t there. I made the most of this the only way a tourist knows how: taking photos in the middle of an empty Fifth Avenue. Walking through Times Square brought the feeling of solitude to a whole new level. Here I was, in this iconic location, with only a handful of people in eyesight. This is a spot that is estimated to hold around 51,000 people. There was an overwhelming feeling of a moment that would not come around again in this lifetime or the next. I tried to take in what it felt to have the run of the place, posing in front of the video billboards that capture your image, but I couldn’t quite process the magnitude of what was happening. What balanced out the quiet of the past few hours was where I went for my meal to round out the night. If the city was from an apocalypse movie, Stardust diner was the safe haven for survivors. Stardust is known for it’s all singing and all dancing waiters, the whole place was crammed with patrons, and everyone seemed happy to be together. We were treated to the ‘Hurricane Special’, with songs featured such at ‘It’s Raining Men’ by The Weather Girls, and ‘Look At Me, I’m Sandra Dee’, sung as ‘San-dy’, from Grease. Being in such a high spirited place washed away any sadness I had felt about the fact that New York City had seemingly been brought to a halt. The show I witnessed that night proved something: New York would always bounce back. This was not only reflected in the city the next morning, where it visibly started to return to business as usual, but in the relief efforts across America and the Caribbean post Sandy. Communities were shown to band together in order to help those who needed it most. Disasters, whilst devastating, truly can bring out the best in people, and they make for incredibly unique experiences along the way.