Looking at things with fresh eyes.


This weekend I had the opportunity to act as tour guide for a duo of visitors. I’ve lived in and around New York City for my entire life so, I am quite familiar with it. Problem with something like that is, like anything spectacular or wonderful, if you are around it every day or for a long period of time, you get a bit jaded and begin to take it for granted.

Tourists are a normal part of life in New York City, everyday New Yorkers do their level best to put up with them. We dodge them as they gawk at the sites, we give them directions when they’re lost and if they need some kind of help New Yorkers are actually a lot more big hearted than the clichéd image of New Yorkers and will rise to the occasion of a traveler in need.

We co-exist with tourists somewhat grudgingly though, as they are to us just another obstacle as we go about the running and dodging which is a part of the frenetic pace of life in and around the Big Apple. I love the city but, over the years, my view of it has changed. The city affords us all a wealth of excitement, opportunity and entertainment but, you have to seek it out and it can get very expensive very quickly. Broadway shows can cost as much as $100 per ticket and even though there are ways around that, when you are trying to pay your rent and all the other bills associated with living in the area, something like a Broadway ticket can be viewed as an onerous expense. So, the proximity a person has to one of the world’s most notable theater districts doesn’t necessarily infer one will be able to take advantage of it.

This weekend I was forced to look in and around the city for things to take guests to do, all the things I usually don’t do myself but, if I were a visitor these would be the things I would want to tell people I visited New York and did. I put together a bit of an itinerary and let the chips fall where they would. Surprisingly, I wound up enjoying the weekend as much if not more than my guests. It’s just a reminder of how my view of things can affect my enjoyment of them and how important the lesson is to keep in the forefront of my mind.