New York - American Adventures 2014 (Part 8 of 8)

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When it was time to come home after my 3 month epic adventures, I took a flight from Rio to New York for a 13 hour wait before a connecting flight to Manchester. This time I had no issues going through customs. When they saw that I was only in NY for the day they had no issues leaving me be. I put my hand luggage into the paid storage rooms at the airport (a little nervous as it also had my new macbook in there) ... and off I went to explore The Big Apple.

What I hadn't realized was how cold it would be, 8 degrees celsius. Coming from super-scorching Brazil, I was wearing shorts and flipflops and it was ice cold outside, people covered up head-to-toe. It wasn't fun walking the streets not having an idea where I could go and being so cold and half naked.

I decided to take a train into Manhattan and spend my time there. It was such a morbid journey ... completely different to the Rio vibe. Whichever way I turned I saw depressed faces, people looking like they wanted their lives to end ... sad faces, I see this a lot in cities. Just when I thought I couldn't take anymore, a crew came in with musical equipment and started bongoing about making epic rhythms, looking for money to pay for their fare. This cheared me up.

In Manhattan I just walked around mostly. First stop was pizza ... you can't go to NY without having pizza. I went into the place that looked warmest and ordered 3 slices ... and what I got was what in Europe would be classed as 3 pizzas. They were huuuuge, but I finished them for sure, NY pizza is amazing (2nd best after Italy pizza).

Stomach full, off I went to find another warm place to chill out at. It was difficult to walk I was so heavy, but I finally made it to Donald Trump Towers. At the top there's a starbucks with free wifi so I sat there with a coffee and looked for places to go. I wasn't drinking the coffee ... just warming my fingers on the cup (and sometimes dripping it onto my lifeless toes until I could make them wiggle again). In Trump Towers there's a bar that was shut during the day. I managed to find a way in and lay down on comfy sofas to go to sleep until management came in and told me to leave. I ignored them and after a few of them came by, I was finally visited by the big boss who told me to get the f*ck outta there. I wasn't harming anybody, the place was empty ... but I left.

It was time to sort out this short/sandal action ... the perfect opportunity to do some shopping. I found this large department store and bought some jeans and tops. I wanted to change into them before I left the store, so I went back to the changing rooms. Along the way I saw more jeans I wanted to buy so I took them in with me. As I was waiting for the room to be free, I noticed the security device on the jean was coming loose. Because I didn't want the pin to prick my buttcheek I decided to find a way to undo it and take it off. I didn't realize there was a camera watching me and I was there fighting with the security device until I freed it up and threw it on the ground ... ink bursting everywhere. I quickly went into the changing room and changed into the jeans (the ones I bought) and came out to pay for the other ones before anybody came to accuse me of doing something I didn't do.

Now I was set ... warmer than before. I was in full shopping mode going from store to store ... clothes, electronics, this and that. The main store was called JC Pennies and when you walk in somebody is standing there saying "Welcome to JC Pennies" and when you walk out they say "Thank you for shopping at JC Pennies". Thing is, I went into this store many times but from the back and I always came out the front ... so this woman didn't see me enter but saw me exit 5 times, and every time she said "Thank you for shopping at JC Pennies" ... like a robot, not recognizing me at all. I was tempted to walk in front of her, turn around back to the store and turn around and walk by her again to see if she would keep repeating her phrases.

I went to this one shop and saw something that could be useful. It was an arm band that you can use when working out to put your phone into ... this would come in handy to either listen to music or have a workout timer running whilst pumping up. I wanted to make sure my phone would fit into this so I asked the guy if I could open it to check and then close it again. He wouldn't let me and was adamant that if I opened it even slightly I'd have to pay for it regardless of whether it was the right product or not. I started debating with him how it didn't make any sense and in Europe they'd have no issues with this. His stance wasn't shifting so just before I gave up, I had a brainwave. I asked him "Sooo, if I purchase this and I want to return it for a refund, I'm entitled to do that right? How many days do i have?" ... he looked pissed as he responded "yes sir, you have 7 days to return an item" ... "so if I purchase it now and test it out and it's not the right item, I'll be able to return it within 2 minutes?" ... him responding with a very silent "yes". But I was only toying with him, I put it down and left before the hostility towards me escalated.

New York was a cool experience, especially walking along broadway. The thing that I found the funniest was that in all fast food shops I entered (to get walm, not to keep eating), I always saw a Heimlich manoeuvre chart on the wall. It seemed like it was the law that if you sell burgers and hot dogs, you must give people instructions on how to handle choking and not die. How about .... eating slowly?

My time in Manhattan was coming to an end. I got a train back to the airport ahead of time, eager to get my suitcase back from the locked storage. I gave the guy my ticket and he was looking around for it everywhere in all the cupboards and made expressions that resembled "sh!t, where is it". I was very concerned at this point, altogether around £3k worth of gear in there. I told him he'd better find it and then he want to the other side of the airport to another room ... eventually coming back with the suitcase ... all was well.

I hopped onto the plane and flew to Manchester ... another long flight. When I got to the UK I went from Manchester to see my parents, then later came back to Manchester to pick up a hire car and went back, then in the evening went back to Manchester for food. It was fun times with the family and the next day I was gone on a mission around the UK checking up on my properties and seeing friends .... a hectic few days before coming back to Portugal after almost 4 months away.

I was glad to be back home ... just at the start of summer fun times, a full year without living in winter sad times. Let's see where Etchy Boy Adventures will take me next winter <em class="_4-k1 img sp_ZrsPFjUrAQL sx_a7dbf8">😊

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