guinness meets double shot espresso

For good reasons or bad, everyone’s heard of it by now. It opened one day and was shut down (temporarily) on the 10th. But the 10 days were enough for people to have the absolute best time of their lives on both sides of the world. Yepp, I'm talking about "The Portal that connects NYC to Dublin." I was fortunate to still be in New York for these initial days because man, oh man was it an experience. Even though I stood and people watched for only 35 minutes, I have stories that will fill up this entire page and still leave you wanting more.

People came mostly not alone. Some came in pairs and some in groups. But the crowd comprised of only two kinds of people. The ones that went “How is it different than a FaceTime? Do you not already video call her/him/them everyday? Why is it so fascinating to you?” And the ones that went “Well, you see, I wouldn’t be standing in flatiron surrounded by so many people full of excitement and enthusiasm who find enjoyment in these silly things AND talk to my sister on the other side of the world AT the same time.” The second kind were definitely a minority. And if you know me at all, I was a part of the minority. Three days before I was leaving the city, I went and tested my theory : If it’s a portal connecting NYC to Dublin, there will be at least ONE person drinking Guinness in front of the portal and that’s how I’ll know for sure that it’s Ireland. To no ones surprise, I was right. Well, almost. Meaning, there wasn’t someone “drinking” Guinness but there sure was a guy wearing a very fancy black pull over that had “GUINNESS” written in big bold beige words. The little laugh that I let out was worth all the walking I did that day lol. 

My favorite moment out of those 35 minutes though was this: It was Mother’s Day that day. There was an old lady and her middle aged daughter trying to make their way to the front of the portal and the people let them (New Yorkers are sweet despite our bad reputation) But everyone did wonder why they looked all tensed. That’s when we noticed the middle aged woman talking on the phone, trying to find someone, not in flatiron, but in Dublin. Turned out, her son, and the old lady’s grandson, is attending university in Dublin. And he and his mother had coordinated to visit the portal in their respective cities at the same time to surprise his grandmother with a live Mother’s Day wish. And let me tell you, there was a collective “Aww” the crowd let out. And that ladies and gentlemen, that moment, is now added to my list of reasons of why I love New York City. 

The only disappointing thing? There was no sighting of Niall or Hozier on the other side which, in my opinion, should be illegal considering they are the reason why me (and many many many people) ever looked up Ireland and Dublin. And if Ireland wouldn’t take care of this, then New York sure will because the very next day, there was a HUGE cutout of Hozier placed front and center on the New York side of the portal. That was just before they "let the portal sleep" for a while to figure out how to keep the shenanigans in control. And the closure made as much noice as the opening did because lets face it, even a rat moving from a dumpster in Lower East side to a fire escape in Upper East side would make the headlines in New York!

A week after the closure, with a lot more added security and barriers around the screen, the portal was up and running again. Did it stop people from some not-so-appropriate shenanigans? It’s New York! What do you think? Of course not! But many did learn their lesson and which is why it’s been open for 3 weeks since. If New York summers weren’t already perfect and filled with joy, this little addition to the city’s long list of famous structures has added a cherry on top of a huge ice cream Sundae.  There’s a new enthusiasm in everyone crossing Flatiron now.

And if I saw nothing big or bold during my visit, I saw something special nevertheless. There were people holding up hand hearts and finger hearts for people they have never and will never meet, and half hearts for the people on the other side to complete. The ones that aren’t aware of the hand heart trends waved with all their heart and blew kisses for, again, people they have never and will probably never see in their lives. Dance offs, proposals, finding long lost family members - almost anything and everything was happeing around the portal. And the one thing that my mind immediately whipped up and I HAD to open up my notes app and well, make a note of it (because it would make reallyyyyy great caption if I were to ever post something about the portal) was :

Across the world, even through a portal, all we seek is love. Half a heart to make one feel complete. At sweet sixteen and at sweet sixty, everyone channeled their fearless energy 🫶🏻

Too cheesy too lame I am perfectly aware but can you blame a girl for being overly dramatic? Isn’t that the “only thing we know how to do right” 🙃  [Swiftly changes the topic because this ain’t a blog that takes a dig at politically incorrect opinions of  weird people]

If I’m being honest, I would like to have a word with the people who set up the portal and ask them to set up another one. This time, between New York and Seattle. Because as much as I want to deny it, and as much as you’ll hear me saying “I love the change! Im loving a break from New York,” I do miss New York dearly. I miss the crowd. I miss the subway. I miss living 10 steps from Central Park and 20 steps from the riverfront. I miss getting coffee from rude baristas. I miss the dollar slice. I miss having tourists around all the time. And I miss roaming around till 1 am without any fear. But mostly, I miss living in a place I had just recently started calling kinda sorta my home. All the newness and freshness is good, no doubt, but it’s not familiar. And I like familiar. So if you know who set up the NY-Dublin portal, please pass on my message to them or pass their number to me. So that everyday, on my way to work, I can wave at New Yorkers and get a glimpse of my home, just to check up on it and see if it's doing good (and most importantly make sure it misses me as much as I miss it) Until then, you’re stuck with blogs centered around the “I miss New York” topic.

Byeeee! 🪐