Times Square really was the Crossroads of the World again on Monday as thousands of tourists arrived back in NYC and headed to Manhattan's beating heart after COVID restrictions were lifted for the first time in 20 months.
Smiling under the neon jumbotrons of NYC's Midtown commercial district, passengers from all over the world told DailyMail.com of their joy at being reunited with loved ones or just soaked up the sights of the Big Apple - which had been off-limits for so long.
Excited French couple Eva and Frederick said they were simply happy to be back in one of their favorite cities and shrugged off worries about vaccinations in the NYC.
'Not everyone in Europe is vaccinated,' Frederick jokingly remarked. Indeed, while American citizens and permanent residents were always allowed to enter the US the travel bans grounded tourists, thwarted business travelers and kept families apart.
French couple Eva and Frederick arrived through Delta Airlines on Monday after COVID travel restrictions were lifted
Algerian national Nasira arrived in New York from Dubai and is celebrating the end of the COVID restrictions in the Big Apple
Tourists gather around the Charging Bull statue following the lift of restrictions on the entry of non-US citizens imposed to help curb the spread of the coronavirus disease
A family is seen on the TKTS stairs in Times Square with a 'Welcome Back World' sign following a long period of COVID travel restrictions
New York City-themed cookies were handed out to passengers arriving on the first British Airways flight to arrive in the US
As NYC tourism continues to grow back following a lengthy hiatus, investments in travel have also begun to increase.
Governor Kathy Hochul announced plans to invest $450 million into the tourism industry for the state of New York.
'I want to make New York fun again,' Hochul said. 'I want people to feel that vitality, that energy, that all of us knew before the pandemic, that we just embraced as part of our DNA.'
Love-sick couples and ecstatic family members were also seen reuniting in airports across the country in Monday.
The first flights were BA Flight 001 carrying 331 passengers and Virgin Atlantic Flight VS3 carrying another 350 arrived at JFK in New York City shortly after 11am at Terminals 4 and 7 from London's Heathrow.
An Air France flight from Paris arrived at JFK at around 10.30am and others from Mumbai and Delhi flew in to Newark, reuniting couples who have not seen each other for nearly two years. As they landed, hundreds more were checking in at KLM and Lufthansa desks at airports in Munich and Amsterdam.
At Newark Airport in New Jersey, Dutch entrepreneur Mark Ogertsehnig, 45, lifted his fiancee, 40-year-old mother-of-two Natalia Abrahao off the ground as they embraced. He proposed during a trip to the US on March 12, 2020 - the day the borders closed - then their romance was thrown into chaos; he couldn't get in from Europe, and Brazilian-born Natalia couldn't leave the country while her green-card application was in process.
After they reunited today, Mark told DailyMail.com: 'I am the happiest man in America!'
Lai Wi, 31, drove from Charlottesville, Virginia, to collect his wife Hui Ling after she arrived on a plane from Shanghai. They had not seen each other for two years until today because her work permit was being processed.
Others flew in from Germany and India, meeting grandchildren for the first time and reuniting with their expat kids.
Dutch entrepreneur Mark Ogertsehnig lifts up his fiancee Natalia Abrahao at Newark Airport on Monday morning after flying in from Amsterdam on the first tourist flight. The couple got engaged last March but have not been able to be together full-time. Natalia is originally Brazilian and her green-card application had been submitted when the ban hit, meaning she couldn't leave the country to visit Mark in Europe or her parents in Brazil, and the ban kept him out.
Paul Campbell (L) who has not seen his fiancee Patricia Bittag (R) of Hamburg, Germany for over 23 months, embraces HER on her arrival outside the US Customs and Border Protection gate at Boston's Logan International Airport, in Boston
Lai Wi, 31, and his wife, Hui Ling, have been married for the last three years. However, they've gone two years without seeing one another due to travel restrictions imposed by the pandemic. Huiling travelled from Shanghai and Wi drove from Charlottesville, Virginia, to collect her. As he waited for her at Terminal 1 at JFK, he told DailyMail.com: 'I'm holding my tears back while waiting for my wife. I drove all the way from Charlottesville to pick her up.
MaKensi Kastl kisses her boyfriend, Thierry Coudassot, after he arrived from France at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, N.J., Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. The couple has not seen one another in person for over a year due to pandemic travel restrictions
Waiting for her man: Kastl held a sign in French that translated to: 'Once upon a time, a handsome, tall and strong knight named Thierry came to the United States on a horse named LH79 to claim his princess. The two hadn't seen each other for 22 months and now, she was waiting impatiently for him'
Jolly Dave, right, makes a phone call after arriving from India and being reunited with her boyfriend, Nirmit Shelat, at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, N.J., Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. The couple has not been able to see one another for nine months due to pandemic travel restrictions
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