A brief day trip to New York City for a WOODZ concert.

My friend and I are the masters of making unhinged plans, and when we found out the Korean singer WOODZ was coming to New York City, and that it was the only close stop to us, we made the plans to go to the city.

But there’s a catch: my friend didn’t want to take off of work, so what we did is we drove all the way to NYC from Baltimore in her car, then we drove all the way back home after the concert.

We bought our tickets not long after they went on sale, and then prepped the morning of to leave town at 10 AM. We would be gone for over twelve hours, and we had to be prepared for this.

So we drove all the way to New York! I wouldn’t really recommend driving if you have a reliable bus system near you. I usually take the Megabus and buy a reserved seat, as I had an unfortunate incident one time taking the bus (the man next to me punched me in the face multiple times and stole my wallet at one point.

Megabus then had the audacity to say I was lying, despite bruises literally being on my face. I still take them though because I can’t afford Amtrak and Megabus is more convenient for my work.).

The tolls to NYC are really expensive, and I think we literally paid around $60 one way just going into the city.

Anyways, here’s what we did over the course of this day.

Eating our way through Midtown Manhattan.

When we arrived at Kings Theatre at around 2 PM, which was the venue, we were lucky enough to grab a parking spot at the lot that’s right behind the theater. We left our car there, took the 2 train to Penn Station, and walked to Hudson Yards so I could drop some luxury items off at my work for our holiday raffle. Because I work in the area, I know all the good food, and we’re massive foodies. There was no way we weren’t going to eat our way through town.

From there, we headed to 2 Bros Pizza first and picked up $1.50 slices of pizza. We ate it inside, then headed off to the DD Soup Dumpling on 42nd Street. I had never been to this xiao long bao / soup dumpling spot, but had been wanting to try it. We ordered the smashed cucumber salad and an order of pork soup dumplings, and on this cold winter day, they lit up our spirits.

I’d go back there, but I didn’t find it as enjoyable as my favorite spot in midtown, which is Joe’s Home of Soup Dumplings. But for those looking for a quick eat before a show or something, they got us our food quick and we were done in thirty minutes.

After DD Soup Dumpling, we went a couple streets south to the express location of Empanada Mama. I love Empanada Mama, and was thrilled when they opened the express location right off of Times Square. My friend ordered the apple pie version of an empanada, the viagra empanada, and I ordered the Romeo and Juliet (guava + cheese) out of curiosity. Mine was just okay, but she loved hers.

Bryant Park Winter Village is a nice spot—if it’s not a weekend.

After we had ate our fill of food, we ventured to the Bryant Park Winter Village. We weren’t planning on buying anything, as we’re two girlies who are balling on a budget, but it’s nice to take in the holiday vibes throughout the village.

The last time I had been was the year before with my mother, and when we had gone on a weekend day, it was so crowded that it wasn’t a great experience. This was a Monday night, so it was a lot less crowded, and that felt like the perfect medium to visit the village.

We didn’t have much time at this point, so we only got a small hot chocolate with marshmallows from Max Brenner before jumping on the B back downtown. I had heard so much about this hot chocolate, but we both agreed that it was a little too rich for our tastes.

There was a huge line to get it, which showed the hype. I can understand why people liked it, but I thought that it was way too much and I was glad I only got a small.

WOODZ is one of my favorite artists I’ve seen live now.

So funny story—when we purchased our tickets for the WOODZ concert at the Kings Theatre, I had bought the cheapest seats in the balcony. But I guess because the show wasn’t even halfway sold out, the venue just decided to close the balcony I guess and upgraded everyone who was in it.

They gave us Row Q orchestra tickets on the left side, and when I looked it up, I realized these were $150 tickets they had given us. The orchestra wasn’t even full though, so I think this concert wasn’t marketed well or something.

When the concert started, we had such a good view. WOODZ is incredible! He really puts all of his energy into his performances, and he even had a live band to accompany his songs. My friend and I were blown away by this concert and agreed it was worth the six hour drive in the end, as the day before WOODZ announced he was enlisting in the military.

I knew going into this WOODZ was an artist, and man he really came across as one. He was also incredibly sweet, taking pictures with people throughout the show, and even came into the audience multiple times (one was literally to take a picture).

My only complaint is I wish the merchandise were cheaper. It had sold out by the end of the show, but I would’ve bought a shirt if it were a nicer fabric and not $45. That was way too steep for merch in my opinion, especially considering WOODZ is not a big name. Like I love him and support his work, but this was too much for me unfortunately. My friend wanted a hoodie too, but didn’t want to pay $75 for it because it looked like less nice fabric.

Overall, I hope he comes back! I doubt it, but this was such a good show. I’m such a big fan now.

Follow me below on Instagram and Goodreads for more.