We see it all the time, giveaways on Instagram that seem so over the top and extraordinary that you think who actually wins these things? Well, I’m here to tell you that I did.
Back in September of 2016, Lucky Brand was running an Instagram contest during New York Fashion Week. This giveaway, unlike many others, required some actual work beyond just following a couple of people and leaving a comment. For the contest, participants had to comment on multiple photos, across multiple days, follow the brand and at least one influencer who was apart of the contest, and include the #LuckyInTheCity in every single comment you left. Being the social media, caption writing obsessed girl that I am I instantly was attracted to this contest and decided to enter. For a week I wrote captions on the different Lucky Brand and Influencer posts, tracking the different times of the day that I would leave them, and in total wrote sixteen witty and oh so catchy captions.
Fast forward to a week after the winners were supposed to be announced, I obviously had given up hope…because hello it had been a week already! It was a Monday morning, I was sitting in my small office on Sunset Boulevard when I started getting Instagram notifications from one of the Influencers apart of the contest, Nichole Ciotti (LOVE HER!). Low and behold she had tagged me in the comments of one of the posts announcing that I was one of the lucky winners!!
The Prize
Round-trip flights for you and a friend to NYC, two nights in a luxury Manhattan hotel, $1,000 shopping spree (each), and two $300 gift cards to use while you’re in the city.
Obviously I was over the moon excited and immediately called my good friend John who would be going on the trip with me. After that call followed calls to my parents, brother, grandma, literally anyone who I could tell I did because I had to share my excitement! As you could probably guess, winning an Instagram contest is amazing but it also comes with a lot of logistics. These included emailing the Lucky Brand team to plan our trip, send us our gift cards so we could shop before our trip, and just overall making sure everything was squared away before jetting off to New York City in January.
The City
Everyone had always told me that I would love New York and they were absolutely right. Our trip was the second week of January and it was the perfect winter weekend. We flew in on Thursday afternoon and left late Monday night (Confession: We paid for two extra nights adding onto the two nights that Lucky had paid for us) which made for the best long weekend and gave us ample amount of time to explore. Lucky Brand had us staying at The Refinery Hotel which I have now recommended a few times because it was the most convenient and chic hotel. Plus, it has an amazing rooftop bar that can be accessed year-round and has breathtaking views of the Empire State Building. I’ve decided to share the highlights of our trip, and will hopefully compile a more detailed New York City guide in the near future. So without further ado, here’s what made our trip unforgettable.
Brooklyn Bridge – I knew for a fact that I had to have a picture on the Brooklyn Bridge and it needed to have the least amount of people in the picture. For this sole reason, we made walking the Brooklyn Bridge our top priority for our first full day in the city. We obviously had a full-blown photoshoot while also taking in the beautiful skyline.
Tiffany & Co – There was no way that I was going to go to New York and not purchase something from Tiffany’s. And although this wasn’t my first item from Tiffany’s it still holds a special place in my heart, and it’s the piece that’s gotten the most compliments. I’ve mentioned it in my travel posts but when I visit a new place I like to purchase a special item that I can’t get anywhere else or that’s iconic to the city I’m in. My Tiffany’s purchase was my special item for this trip.
Ice Skating In Central Park – When we found out we would be taking this trip in the winter one of the first things we thought of doing was ice skating in Central Park. This experience honestly felt like I was in my favorite holiday movie because we were skating in Central Park, with The Plaza Hotel in the background, and to top it all off it started snowing! You can’t beat this moment of true New York City magic.
Levian Bakery & Shake Shack – I’m basically a real-life chocolate chip cookie monster and when I heard that the best cookies in the city were at Levain’s Bakery there was no doubt that we had to go. I definitely had no clue how popular this bakery was because we waited in line for 90 minutes…!! Was it worth it? Yes. Would I want to stand out there again? No.
Also, thanks to one of my favorite rom-coms, Something Borrowed, I had to have Shake Shack and see if this California girl could hop on the bandwagon. I did and to this day prefer it over In-N-Out.
Exploring Lower Manhattan – On our last day, we walked and walked and walked through numerous neighborhoods and to be honest it made me fall in love with the city even more. Walking around made me feel like we were true New Yorkers and it was the perfect ending to an unbelievable trip.
Obviously, we did way more than what I highlighted including your typical tourist things like the going to Empire State Building and taking a ferry to see the Statue of Liberty but when I think back on our trip from time to time what I highlighted is what always sticks out in my mind.
I will say that I do owe John some credit for making my pop-culture dreams come true on this trip. I got to stand where Chuck and Blair said “I Do” at the Bethesda Terrace in Central Park, and for walking a very long way to Kleinfeld’s only to find out that you can’t go in without an appointment and there’s truly nothing to see from the outside.
New York, I Love You
By the end of the trip, we had completely fallen for New York and were sad to have to leave the luxurious concrete jungle. So the next time you see an Instagram giveaway and think about how cool it would be if you won, enter it. You never know what one caption or comment could bring you.
