Philofaxy New York Meet Up - June 2015

Saturday was finally the day of the first meet up in our tour of North America. This wasn't the first meet up in New York, there have been quite a few others in the past, but it was the first one that I had attended.

We arrived in New York on Thursday another very hot day, and in the short time we had been there we rapidly adjusted to the fast pace that New York moves at.

We had established things in our local area around the Chelsea district of Manhattan (7th Avenue and 22nd Street), found local shops and explored the area. To put it another way... we hit the ground running more or less... although at a sedate pace! Friday saw us tick off several essential things on our list of things to do and see, including a visit to our local T Mobile shop for local SIM's for our iPhones. Keeping in touch with the outside world whilst on the move during this 7 week marathon was essential.

On Friday, we had lunch in a local restaurant using the same criteria as we do in France... if the locals are there in large numbers the food will be good and also good value for money as well.  The afternoon saw us go to the top of the Empire State Building and enjoy a cool breeze at the observation deck and a chance to take some photos on a slightly hazy day.

On Saturday, it was a hot summer's day in New York I adopted a rather casual dress style appropriate for the weather, so a light summer short sleeve shirt and shorts!

So with the help of Susan we had arranged to meet up at Ben's Deli and the on-line information about the menu choices was very detailed and accurate! We had a drink at the bar whilst we all gathered and introduced ourselves... 'Are you Steve Morton?' "That would be me!" and I attempted to remember everyone's name... difficult with 15 of us in total! I had met one or two before either face to face or via Skype video calls so that helped.

The food was excellent and lots of different choices. There was lots of discussions about all sorts of organisers and travellers notebooks as well. I got asked lots of questions of course and I was more than happy to answer them. There were lots of discussions going on around the table. I tried to share myself around everyone, so they all got some time.

I had taken with me a full set of leather samples for Gillio and for Van der Spek. These proved to be very popular, lots of notes were being taken about which colours people liked best.

I had with me a few organisers from both Van der Spek and Gillio, so they also got passed around, and there was a lot of interest in them. I've not bought any Filofax models with me, there's only so much that will fit in the case!

We did build an organiser tower, but it was fairly short lived... it collapsed as soon as I put the last organiser on the top!! Thank you to Marlene and Leilani for capturing it before it collapsed!!

Tower under construction!

It briefly stood up..

In the Muji Store

I came across these 7 day sticky notes in Muji. 

By about 5pm we were all starting to think about heading home or back to our holiday apartment in the case of Alison and I.

We walked to get the underground train back again but had a quick walk around in Time Square before catching the underground train.

It had been a great day, Alison and I both enjoyed meeting everyone.  A big thank you to everyone that came along and to Susan and Nan for picking and booking the venue.

Next weekend Washington!