New York City

11/4/08 : New York

I can't re-emphasise how much I hate flying. I don't think there can be anything more uncomfortable than being wedged into a seat that has the comfort factor comparable to an electric chair with a faulty fuse. I was wedged between a large fidgety man on the left and another guy who was listening to loud music on the right. It was possibly the longest, most excruciating flight ever. Consequently I got very minimal sleep on that 5 hour flight. On another note, I have noticed a commonality with the start of each blog entry, constant whinging.

New York City, the Big Apple, I had arrived. My main goal was to get to the Broadway Hotel & Hostel to meet a friend, the instructions I had been given are below:

Take the JFK Airtrain to the Howard Beach station to transfer to a Manhattan-bound train (blue line). Transfer at 59th Street Columbus Circle to the #1 train (red line) going uptown. Get off at 103rd Street stop. Walk south 2 blocks on Broadway to reach 101 Street. We are on the corner of 101 Street & Broadway.

Simple enough right? Well, kind of, I had managed to get myself onto the Manhattan-bound train until the lack of sleep prevailed. Enter sandman. Next thing I knew I had fallen asleep and was being whisked uptown. I eventually awake in a state of confused-panic. Where was I? 200th Street, I had overslept my stop and was now in the middle of nowhere. Well not nowhere per se, New York City.

Seeing an elderly lady on the with all her belongings scattered over the MET seating I asked her for directions. "Excuse me, I'm a little lost, I'm looking for, uh". I had stuttered and was trying to find my next destination, during this brief loss of dialog traction the lady snapped at me. "Well?! Where are you going? I don't have all day, I have to get to work you know!". This borderline-hag who clearly wasn't going anywhere anytime soon had lost her mind. I politely ejected myself from her grumpy presence and headed down to the platform going in the opposite direction (downtown).

I sat there on my now deteriorating luggage and pulled out the MET subway map. Still a little flustered by my first New York City local interaction I wondered if all locals were as unapproachable. This was of course until a sweet elderly lady must have seen my obvious disorientation and asked if I needed for help. Turns out she had been a New York local all her life and she was more than eager to help. "Follow me, I'm going to heading in that direction, I'll show you the way". She did everything but hold my hand, I felt like I was in primary school with my 1st Grade teacher. Long-story cut short I eventually found my way to the hostel and met up with my friend.

We checked into the hostel which obviously prides itself on simplicity. Room description: small 3 metre x 4 metre room. One ceiling fan, a light bulb, a bathroom sink, a window and a creaky bunk bed. It's not really a place you want to hang around too long. Thankfully my roommate hacked a local "secure" network and at least we have Internet access up here. Later that night we grabbed some dinner and had a light wander around Times Square. Going to check some mail then sleep.