My visit to New York was fantastic but would not have been complete without a trip to the top of the Empire State Building. It’s just an iconic building with so much history behind it, especially in the film industry where it has been the setting for scenes from some of Hollywood’s most famous films e.g. King Kong and Sleepless in Seattle.

Photo by Richard John Hackey

We arrived in New York on an overcast friday morning. I said see you later to Bobbi as she’d been up before and headed straight for the Empire State Building as I wanted to get up there ASAP. I reached the foyer at the bottom and was told by a very friendly doorman that visibility was at 0% at the viewing deck. So I bought my ticket ($21.00) and thought about going up anyway as there was no queue, but I decided that I’d go the day after because the ticket stayed valid for two weeks, if unused.

So Saturday morning came and it was a beautifully clear and sunny New York day. I was so happy to open the curtains and see a cloudless sky, knowing that later in the day I’d be at the top of one of the tallest and most famous buildings in the world.

The foyer of the building had a different view on the Saturday, however. There was a queue out the door and it was getting bigger by the minute, so I joined it and prepared myself for the wait. Little did I know that I’d still be queuing 3 hours later. It was one of the most frustrating queuing experiences of my life, they had you queue in one massive room, zig zagging all the way through and then when you got to the end of one room you’d think you’d reached the lift to go up but you only ended up back in another huge room in what seemed like the same situation.

After the soul destroying queuing process I eventually reached the viewing platform, it was well worth the wait! The views of the city are quite phenomenal and for a small price extra you can rent a headset which gives you a guided tour of where each area is and a little information about it. I could have spent all day up there just wandering around the platform and looking out on the spectacular views.

Photo by Richard John Hackey

To anyone thinking about going up the Empire State Building I would definitely recommend going on a weekday if possible. The staff there said that it is noticeably busier at the weekend and you could save yourself a lot of time and frustration.