In September of 2024, I joined 18 other Inspire members from Girlguiding North West England on the Inspire New York trip. Our trip consisted of 6 days, 5 nights (and an overnight flight home) in the Big Apple!
Our first day consisted of travelling from Manchester to JFK and arriving at our hostel in Upper Manhattan ready for takeaway pizza and time spent chatting & getting to know each other. We’d only had two brief meets ups prior to the trip and not everyone could make it so there were still new people to meet!
Our second day started with free time and optional planned activities; I visited the Intrepid Museum to learn about areas of military & maritime history. A lot of the museum is situated on the flight deck of the USS Intrepid, including the Space Shuttle Enterprise, which made us realise how big the ship was! Our entry also gave us access into a submarine, the USS Growler, and sights of a Concorde.
The afternoon saw us head over to Central Park to visit the Zoo for an hour or so before heading over to Times Square to pick up some food at Carlo’s Bakery to eat whilst walking the High Line. The evening saw us meet up at Rockefeller Plaza for a bite to eat and then up to the Top of the Rock for views of the NYC skyline at night.
Our third day began with a group breakfast at Broadway Bagel before making our way to the Girl Scout National Headquarters on 5th Avenue. After a browse and some badge exchanges, we made our way to Battery Park to board our ferry to the Statue of Liberty. Six of us climbed our way up to the Pedestal whilst others made their way up to the Crown. After a few squashed photos, we made our way back down to wander Liberty Island before some fresh lemonade, food and the gift shop. We jumped on the last ferry of the day which would take us from Liberty Island to Ellis Island for a whistle-stop tour before heading back to Manhattan.
Sightseeing wasn’t done for the day as a few of us then took the tramway cable car over to Roosevelt Island for views of Manhattan, the Roosevelt Lighthouse and some calmness away from the city before heading to Applebee’s for tea.
Day four was a free day of exploring but not before a group breakfast at Metro Diner to start the day. We then split off and four of us took the subway to Dumbo, Brooklyn. We rode on Jane’s Carousel (102 years old!) and walked back to Manhattan over the Brooklyn Bridge. We took a detour to stop off at Grand Central on our way to Hudson Yards before walking towards the Empire State Building to visit Macy’s old wooden escalators and have a dance on the big piano. We then went up the Empire State, waving to others at Top of the Rock (although timings didn’t work out and we were back down before they got up). The day finished back at Rockefeller Plaza for Abitino’s Pizza before heading back to the hostel.
Day five started with another group breakfast, but this time at Le Pain Quotidien WTC before paying our respects at the 9/11 memorial and museum. The afternoon saw us visiting the charging bull before heading up to Broadway to watch Aladdin at the New Amsterdam Theatre as a full group. Another trip to Target was had and Hershey World before making our way from Times Square through Central Park to Green Kitchen for our only evening meal as a group of nineteen. Then it was back to Times Square for some final souvenirs before packing our bags for our return.
Our trip wasn’t quite over as our final day left room for some more exploring. Eight of us set off towards iHOP for our final breakfast. Some final sightseeing was done as a couple of us explored a huge chunk of Central Park whilst slowly making our way back to the hostel to pick up our luggage. It was then time to make our way to JFK to catch our flight home landing at 6am.
Overall, a fantastic trip with great friends made! I would recommend any volunteers aged 18-30 to look into the Inspire offer (you’re automatically a member by being a volunteer but there’s lots of activities aimed just at us), and for anyone unsure of whether to go on an International, go for it, it’s tonnes of fun!
See Emma’s photos here:
