I HEART: The Jane in New York and Cafe Gitane.

I had the following conversation a lot with people while in New York for Fashion Week:

friend: Where are you staying?

me: The Jane.

friend: Oh, nice, how is it?

me: Nice, it has Cafe Gitane and it's quirky, straight out of a Wes Anderson film and, of course, you know about the shared bathrooms, right?

friend: *in shock* *cue open mouth and look of terror in their eyes* You. Share. A bathroom?

Yeah, people! My name is Kiki and I shared The Jane's shared bathrooms and I came out ALIVE! Here's two additional pieces of information you need to know:

1) I paid something like $99 a night. In New York!

2) The location is amazing, right in the West Village. And here's one more:

I had avocado on toast at Cafe Gitane EVERY DAY! So, who cares if I had to share a very clean white bathroom with DOORS IN THE SHOWERS with other guests on my floor? Well, the old person in me did wonder once or twice if I was indeed too old for this craziness (my life is THAT wild, I know) and the lazy me looked a bit grumpier than usual in the mornings once I realized I had to carry all toiletries from my room, down the corridor, to the bathroom and back. But then, I was in, out and wandering the streets of Nueva York on my way to the shows. I never actually encountered another soul at any point - until the very last day when a dude walked in while I was brushing my teeth but I probably scared him more than he scared me. So, no big deal. But hilarious to see how much it shocked fashion folk! We can do grungy straight-off-the-street dirty-rock-n-roll but we will absolutely NOT share our bathroom.

How was the room itself, you ask? Good question. Tiny teeny walk-three-steps-from-the-door-and-you-hit-the-wall kinda small. One bunk bed and that's it. But with clever storage space for all your luggage underneath the bed and done up as if Wes Anderson and Bill Murray hired a boat for the summer and set off for ad adventure. And that, for me, is all I need for my 99 bucks. Oh, and some mashed avocado with chillies and lime on grain toast!

By the way, you have no idea how much inner strength it took NOT to buy the Hello Kitty camera.