The trip to New York for Louises
30th birthday had been on the cards ever since they had previously visited in
2008. Sarah and Louise had planned a 2 week trip that involved visiting Vegas
and San Francisco after new york. My plan was a one week trip first meeting them
then heading down to meet friends near Charlotte.
I headed out a day early flying
first to Dublin, staying overnight before heading to JFK. At Dublin we went
through a US pre clearance and on arrival just went straight through to collect
our bags. At the minimum I was expecting at least 15 minutes questioning, bag
searches, form filling etc.
The hostel had no bar or common room other
than a few seats round reception area,not the best place for meeting other
travellers. I wouldn’t have gone had I been going completely alone as I normally
do.
I went for my usual walk round that evening and went to the top of the empire state building despite being very tired from the flight.
I was going to spend half of the
first day alone so I went on a walking tour at the bottom end of manhattan,
making the mistake of underestimating the distance to get to the start of it I
walked from 34th street which took well over an hour. Being on TV on a regular
basis meant that New York had a strangely familiar feel to it. After the tour I
took the subway to times square before heading down to meet Sarah and Louise at
their hotel.
We headed back to times square as
it was getting dark before hitting a few Irish bars. Drinking in the city was
very costly compared to eating. Due to the amount of walking and other
activities during the day I was in bed before 10:30 every night, I was kept
awake by being in a hostel and of course the traffic which never stops.
Monday morning we took the subway
down to the new world trade center, stopping at an eating place that seemed to
be full of the workers from that area. We wanted to go to the 9/11 memorial site
but you had to book in advance so we walked across the brooklyn bridge instead
and got some pictures.
After getting very cold we took
the subway to central park where we went on a rickshaw type ride up as far as
strawberry fields. Not the sort of thing I would normally do but it was ok.
After a well needed rest back at
the accommodation we went to a Thai place for food near where I was staying.
Then had a few drinks at their hotel bar before having an early night. During
the 4 nights I never seen much of the others in my dorm room apart some brief
conversation in the evenings while I was resting.
Tuesday was Louise’s 30th birthday
and as expected it was another busy day. This time it was the bus and boat
tours. First we caught the hop on hop off bus up to the top end of central park.
We had to wait ages to catch the second bus but did see a film crew not far from
grants tomb.
The second loop around harlem was
not what I expected, that area had a reputation worldwide for being “rough” but
I could easily find a dozen council estates within 10 miles of where I live that
look far worse and run down. It didn’t seem that bad at all. Unfortunately due
to time constraints we couldn’t see Brooklyn. New york was just too big to see
properly in 4 days……………
I did seriously question going on
a boat trip up to the statue of liberty given the temperature but to be fair it
wasn’t that bad at all. There was only about a dozen people on the top deck
which was far better than it being packed full of people. By this point we were
all a bit burned out, we met up later that evening for a few drinks at their
hotel again but I was asleep before 10. Overall I liked the city even if it was
a bit hectic.
The following day they headed off
to Vegas while I flew to North Carolina which was a completely different
world…………..
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