Back in 1999, I paid my first visit to New York City, and I’m delighted to say I have returned on several occasions since. Having grown up in London, I thought there was nothing about the big city experience that would surprise me, but the truth is the Big Apple was a very pleasant shock to the system throughout that first fateful visit.

All over the world, we have become used to seeing New York’s major landmarks on our TV and movie screens, but nothing, repeat NOTHING, prepares you for seeing them for the first time up close and personal. The NYC of Woody Allen, Monica and Chandler, Seinfeld, The Godfather and When Harry Met Sally was right there in front of me, and it was truly awesome.

That first morning when I stepped out onto the sidewalk outside the New Yorker Hotel, I knew straight away that I would fall in love with this amazing city. From that first step, I felt at home in Manhattan, and was comfortable with the pace of life and the general buzz that was all around me. One of the most pleasing things about New York, for a first-time visitor, is that the city makes you feel part of it, no matter where you flew in from.

There were, and obviously still are, a vast number of landmarks to take in, but that first morning I knew exactly where I wanted to go. I had been brought up on a diet of movies that convinced me that the whole world revolved around the Empire State Building, even when a giant gorilla was clinging onto it, so I took the short walk from the hotel to this wonderful location to enjoy what are still, for me, the finest views I’ve ever seen anywhere.

The following days saw my family and I making our way to Central Park, Times Square, Ellis Island and many more of the usual tourist haunts – more than a decade later I still smile to myself every time I think about seeing all those amazing places for the first time. We even went to the old Yankee Stadium to take in a ball game. The Yankees lost but we were able to sample a slice of genuine Americana on that day.

In many ways, though, it’s not the famous landmarks that make New York so special. After all, most major cities have well-known bridges, monuments and skyscrapers these days, even if they aren’t as iconic as those in the Big Apple. In my opinion, it’s the simple things that make NYC better than anywhere else – eating a hot dog in Battery Park, riding the subway to The Bronx to see the Yankees play, shopping for nothing in particular in Bloomingdale’s, the constant honking of horns in the streets and the way all of us tourists walk along gazing up at the sky because we can’t believe how tall the buildings are.

It’s a true indication of a city’s character if you return from time to time and find yourself just as impressed as that first time, and that’s exactly what’s happened with me and New York. I last visited a year or so ago and I already know that I will be back in another year – in fact I know I will keep returning in the coming decades, such is the power of the magnet.

David Showell lives in southern England and works for www.comparecarhire.co.uk.