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Published: October 25th 2007
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At Heathrow
Not sure who the tramp in the green coat is. First Day of Travels (Monday 22nd October)
On plane on time (10:25am) but hour long delay due to faulty door. Had my own row (2 seats to myself) beacuse the monitor on the adjacent seat wasn't working. Watched the movie Die Hard 4, which was really forgettable. Airline meal was surprising okay. Cottage Pie with Strawberry Cheesecake for dessert. Read a book for a while then had a nap for the rest of the way.
Arrived at JFK at about 1.45pm local time, but didn't leave the airport till gone 3 beacuse customs was such a nightmare. The queue seemed to go on forever. Got outside and was ushered onto a mini bus by an Asian guy, who said he'd take me directly to my hotel as he already had someone going there. We were stuffed in like sardines with me hanging off the edge of the seat due to being sat next to a huge, fat Dansih man. At one point I wondered if I would ever regain the feeling in my right butt cheek. The driver was an absolute nutter aswell. He nearly crashed twice, and almost took out a couple of pedestrians at one point. Got to
At Heathrow
What a misreable bunch. hotel and dumped my stuff in the dorm then went out to look for travel clinic. Found one place but was told it would cost $200 just to see the doctor, so I made a swift exit and decided just to explore instead. Walked round Central Park for an hour or two then went back to hotel.
Got my dinner from a health food shop called Gourmet Garage. Had fried chicken and mashed potatoes and a huge fruit salad for afters. Was about 9-9:30 by now and I was knackered from the early wake up, so I had a shower and hit the sack.
Tuesday 23rd October
Up early at about 7am. Quick wash and straight out the door. Beautiful morning and turned out to be a nice day. Sunny and reached mid to high 20's.
Purchased a metrocard at subway station which gave me unlimited travel on buses and trains for the rest of my stay. Caught the train to Times Square to pick up my New York pass which allowed me to see all the top attractions. First stop was the Rocafeller center for a tour. Some really nice art on interior and exterior of the
buildings because Rocafeller jr. had commisioned many famous artists. Next stop was Madison Square Gardens for a tour of what is proclaimed to be "The Worlds Most Famous Arena". The tour guide was a really funny guy and he took us all over including the arena, suites and changing rooms. He showed us the trainer of the tallest basketball player on the team (a massive size 21 shoe!!!). Walked up to the Empire State Building next. First off, went on a crappy ride which showed New York by air. Voiceover provided by actor Kevin Bacon and included some awful jokes. Then went up to the observation deck at the top of the building. Don't know why but it didn't seem as high up as I expected. Came down and went to Macys department store. It was cheaper than the UK equivalents but still to pricey for me.
Walked around a bit and managed to find an Irish bar that was showing the Arsenal match. Sat next to a guy from Dehli who had an American accent because he had gone to university here. He was a fellow Arsenal fan and was even wearing the shirt. Had a chat and I
Madison Square Garden
Home of the New York Knicks basketball team. was surprised to find out that they get most of the top football matches for free on Indian TV.
Caught the wrong train back. Got on the express train which flew past my stop and I ended up having to catch another train back.
Wednesday 24th October
Had breakfast at the diner round the corner from the hostel. Ordered Lumberjack pancakes (there were 3 of em, all huge) with scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausage.
Went to Penn Station and sorted out my Amtrak National Rail Pass. Allows me to travel round the Eastern half of the US for 30 days unlimited journeys (about $350).
Caught the ferry to Liberty Island and Ellis Island. The Statue of Liberty was a lot smaller than I imagined it would be. From there I walked up the road to the Centuary 21 store and got a couple of pairs of boxers and some long johns (really cheap, about 20 pounds less than UK).
Had lunch in Chiantown, in a restaurant down one of the side roads. I was the only one in there because it was after the lunchtime rush. Ordered two dishes and the waiter gave me a funny look for
Statue of Liberty
I was delighted to be on Liberty Island, on such a beautiful day. some reason. Soon found out why when he brought me two huge plates of food which could have fed a family. I had sweet sesame seed chicken and fried noodles with shredded beef, both came with a ridiculous amount of brocoli. The staff kept looking over and laughing as I struggled through the mountains of food.
It was a very rainy and windy day, but I wasn't discouraged from wearing my shorts and sandals. Got a lot of strange looks from people, and one guy asked me if I was cold. I told him I was from the UK and that this was good weather for us.
Thursday 25th October
Last day in NY city. Spent morning just exploring and even saw a famous person, skateboarder Tony Hawk (well relatively famous).
Caught the train at 4pm and didn't arrive in Sandusky(Ohio) until 6.30am the next day. Got no sleep on the train because a girl got on at Syracuse and got me drunk. She offered me some wine, but I refused as I don't like wine. Then she offered me some whiskey and I couldn't refuse a little tipple. We ended up getting kicked out of the seated
coach because we kept waking people up who were sleeping.
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