Advertisement
So we did something ridiculous and drove to JFK airport lol. Driving in Vegas, Denver, across the country, no problem. Driving in New York? Never again thank you! We were soooo not prepared lol. Ridiculous tolls exceeding $30 a pop and you must pay in cash which we didn't have on us at the time, so having to fill out paperwork declaring that we will pay online within 10 days meanwhile getting flipped off by the aggressive woman behind us. Lollllz. Then the lanes on the bridges were crazy narrow and the trucks practically didn't fit, and nobody seems to use the lanes here anyway. Or indicators. But they do love the horn. We did somehow manage to get to the airport to drop off the hire car, thank youuuu so much take it away!
On handing the car over, we made a rookie error. The guy asked if we needed a cab and I was so tired that I said yes. I should have said no and then gone and hailed a yellow cab, but he got me while I was in horrorville. So the cab that rocked up was not a yellow cab and we ended up paying
double the amount to get into Manhatten than if we'd taken a yellow cab. And we were also not informed that our cab didn't take card, and we didn't have enough cash to pay the guy. Seriouslyyyyy. So he had to drive us to an ATM and then back to our accommodation. Boy were we glad to finally arrive!
I am a huge fan of Airbnb. We snagged a groovy apartment in Manhatten staying with a local host. We have our own private room with a super comfy bed, TV with Netflix, bathroom and access to the kitchen so we can cook. And paying the same price as two beds in a hostel dorm. Stoked! Cus this city is ridiculously expensive! We are also fortunate that we are only one block away from the subway which takes us straight into downtown Manhatten with no transfers. So our first night here we passed out early, and the next day we pretty much stayed in bed all day watching movies lol. We were still a bit sick and the long drive had really wiped us out.
The next day we ventured out and found the subway station. We caught the
1 train to 34th and meandered from there to the Empire State Building. Going up to the top and seeing the views was incredible! Waiting in line and dealing with pushing shoving people, not so much. And that's kinda how New York has gone the last few days. We shoved our way through a packed Times Square and got stalked by a minion. We went on a 2.5 hour circle line cruise around Manhatten and the Statue of Liberty which was really cool, and we visited Ground Zero memorial and viewed the museum. Incredibly moving. Today we strolled through Central Park which was probably my favourite thing about New York. I was determined to find the statue of Balto, the sled dog who saved a town of sick children in Alaska in 1925. The cartoon Balto was one of my favourite movies as a child!
We planned to go up to the Top of the Rock Observatory as well, but by this stage we were so sick of people and lines, and so exhausted, we decided to skip it and relax on our last night here. I'm not sure what to make of this city. We've found the locals
generally rude, the traffic insane, and everything is way overpriced. However Central Park is a beautiful bit of nature amongst a jungle of concrete, and getting around is surprisingly easy with the underground subway. Tomorrow we are outta here and we head to Iceland! New York has been fun, exhausting and infuriating. I'm happy to have visited the big apple, but I'll be happy for some peace and quiet soon!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.147s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 7; qc: 47; dbt: 0.0522s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb