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Published: September 22nd 2007
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Newark Ghetto-ness
My depiction of the airport shuttle ride to EWR this morning. Those of you that know me well, or read my travel blog from last summer, know my
extreme distaste for New Jersey (despite my gi-normous love of New Jers-ians and the movie
Garden State...though that's probably just b/c Natalie Portman is in it...). Mainly b/c they don't let you pump your own gas. Newark has become the nexus of all which is distasteful about N Jersey.
I took the hotel shuttle back to EWR this morning to try and get into NYC. As the Spanish music blared, we passed through the ghetto of Newark.
Newark is bringing ghetto back and in rather serious fashion. We passed by a man sitting on the sidewalk, busking. With an empty 2-gallon drum of paint. Please reference my journal depiction below.
It was at this point that my driver switched the radio station from Spanish to some easy-listening Kenny G BS - some guy whining about his feelings, or something. I tried to remember how to tell the girl driving in Spanish that we could switch back to the Spanish station (since I would have rather listened to that), and I think I got it right b/c she smiled and did so. Close
"Left Luggage Black Hole"
By all means, call the number and give your luggage to the strange man if you're looking to lighten your load before you travel. enough, anyways. I wish I had remembered enough Spanish to ask if she had been trained to switch to crappy easy-listening b/c that's what "white people" like.
And now, let's play a game:
In Search of the Mythical Left Luggage No sane backpacker would want to carry his or her belongings through the gridded, congested environs of NYC, so the natural alternative is to find the left luggage station at EWR, which as a major international port of entry must surely exist.
My first query (to an "official" EWR representative, mind you) yields, "Sure, right in Concourse B." I am in Concourse C, so this requires a train ride. I look for signs to direct me. None.
My second query (to an airline ticketing agent) yields, "It's in Concourse C, between baggage carousels 1 and 2." 20 minutes of effort wasted.
I walk to the baggage carousels and take inventory. There appears to be: 1 exit door, 1 maintenance shed, and 3 shifty illegal cab operators who are now following me through the concourse. But no left luggage.
My third query to another "official" EWR rep yields "Continental Airlines Baggage Services". I don't trust
this, b/c the man clearly couldn't be bothered to give an accurate answer and barely knew English as it was.
My fourth query, at the Continental Baggage Services, once again leads to the baggage carousels. Finally, I discover what it was they were directing me to: an unmanned podium with a phone number. Please reference the photo. Wouldn't you call a random phone number in the crime capitol of the US and wait for an unmarked van to pick up your belongings?
Wasn't that a fun game? Wow, I wish I could have that hour of my life back. Anyways, did finally find a proper left luggage in Penn Station and set out exploring NYC. Made my way up to Central Park and surveyed the finish line for the NYC Marathon, which is only 2 short months away.
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