Dec 2006

Claire, Ange and I had decided today to do the “villages” of Manhattan: Christopher St, Greenwich Village, SoHo etc. We spent a few hours idly wandering and very nearly buying a whole lot of needless clothes. I’m happy to say we persevered and survived with our bank balances intact! Oh, aside from a few small gifts for people

Around lunchtime we headed back to Times Square (seemingly our base every day) and I attempted to get my $110 credit back from Cingular. The Cingular store in Times Square only sells $100 credit vouchers, whereas all the other stores in NYC and the US sell them in denominations of $20, $30, $50, $75 and $100. Being the person I am, I went to the first store I could find, which happened to be Times Square, and bought what they told me was the only option – the $100 credit. Now I hope I’m not going to use all that in 2 months. I may do, but I don’t want to have to feel as if I do – if that makes sense. So I went back and complained, and after much ‘well we aren’t supposed to do this’, they relented and I got my $110 back. Yay!

Lunch was had at Katz’s Deli – a recommendation from Ange’s doctor in Sydney. She turned out to be correct – this place is cholesterol central, but the Philly Cheesesteak is unrivalled. Even at 2pm, the place was packed out and there was a line 5-deep at each counter for sandwiches.

Given that it becomes dark fairly early here, we decided that now was the best time to head up to the Empire State Building for sunset. We JUST made it. We spent about 90 minutes in the line, but it was worth it. There’s a whole exterior section that you can walk around, and gives you amazing views of the 5 boroughs. The photos speak for themselves!

We then met Jainita (from UBC) and her cousin outside H&M and decided to go and see the musical Rent. Talk about spontaneity. Claire had been raving about it for a few days, so it was always in the back of our minds, but god it was good. It couldn’t have been more different from Avenue Q, and that’s what made it fantastic. It’s a modern version of La Boheme, and revolves (again) around New Yorkers, homosexuality and AIDS. It was frenetic, loud and every song was a show-stopper. I REALLY wish there was theatre like this in Sydney.

We had dinner beforehand at Ben’s Jewish Restaurant on 38th. Not quite as good as last night’s meal, but given the last minute rush, it was great.

Yesterday we attacked midtown Manhattan, so today we went for more downtown areas. We met at the Tkts booth in the South-east and bought Avenue Q tickets. They were $76 ea, but they’re great seats! Yay! I’m so excited about this – it’s going to be AWESOME! It’s Avenue Q after all!

From there, we visited Wall St, Clinton Castle and the Statue of Liberty. We decided to take the boat out to Ellis Island as well, which was fascinating! Something like 70% of all migrants to the US between the 1800s and the early 1900s came through Ellis. That’s an insane number of people, and the museum there is a great demonstration of the rich immigrant history of the USA.

After such a monument-based morning, we spent the afternoon around Union Square and the Filene’s Basement store there. They have erected a large Christmas market in the square, and it’s surprisingly decent. I even bought Ange’s Christmas present there – a cat messenger bag. It’s so cute! (She picked it out herself).

Because we were going to see the musical, we had to eat fairly early on in the evening. The book “New York on under $90 a day” (a gift from Daddy Rendall) mentioned a place in the Lower East Side called “Le Pere Pinard”. Apparently it was at the wrong end of a side street, but served fantastic food, and for $17 for a three-course meal between 5-7pm. Perfect, eh?! It was. Amazingly good food – I had French onion soup, steak and crème brulee. Mmmm…I can still taste it now!

Avenue Q was everything we had hoped it to be, and more. It’s great when you know a musical to go and see it in it’s ‘home’ town. For Ave Q, this has to be New York. It’s set in Brooklyn, and it has NYC stamped all over it. The actors were fantastic, and the songs were even better with the visual cues – the Bad Idea Bears for example. SO worth it! Wicked fun!

After Ave Q we treated ourselves to cheesecake at the newly-opened Juniors Restaurant next door. They reputedly serve the best cheesecake in NYC, and I have to say I think I agree. It was awesome – proper New York cheesecake. Thick, artery clogging goodness!

We’re so spoilt, aren’t we?! Hahaha … so much for backpacker budgeting!

A few of my UBC friends happened to also be in NYC this week, so our main aim this morning was to meet with Claire and orient ourselves with Manhattan. In both those regards we succeeded – and kind of randomly too! I had left Claire Facebook messages (and vice-versa) and it worked – we met at Macy’s Christmas windows. Anyone who has visited NYC realises what an unlikely scenario this is – those places are PACKED! But we did it, and Ange & Claire met over some Starbucks. How New York of us! Unfortunately, Ange wasn’t feeling too great (jet lag setting in), but we plodded along really well!

We walked all the way up 6th Avenue to the Rockefeller Centre (and therefore the ice rink), then turned around and came back down 5th Avenue to Times Square. As part of all this we passed the Saks store on Fifth Avenue (which had the best designed windows of the lot!), Bloomingdales, and the New York Public Library. By then it was sunset, and we took the subway to Brooklyn and crossed the bridge back to Manhattan. It’s an awesome view, and the weather wasn’t nearly as cold as we had expected. It’s still cold, but only about 5 degrees. That’s not cold here!

We had dinner at Chinatown (lo mein), which was super cheap and surprisingly good. However, we fell victim to the ‘quantity over quality’ game, and ordered a separate meal each. BIG mistake – I think we had to leave half of it. The idea of doggy-bagging everything is common, but not so useful when its noodles! We made our way north again to Times Square to see it at night. In the process shopping at the Virgin Megastore and riding on the Ferris Wheel in the Toys’R’Us store (as you do!). It’s now the biggest toy store in the world as the FAO Schwarz has closed.

Phew! And now it’s midnight and I’m SO tired!

My long trip away from Vancouver began with a fantastic home-cooked breakfast and teary farewell from Clayton, Rob, Craig, Sebastian and Isaac. Sebastian left that morning for Provence, so we had our farewell very early on. As usual, I was running late, with my last-minute packing proving difficult. These bags are HUGE! I’m worried they’ll split on the plane. At least I’m flying a full-service airline and I should be able to get through without any problems.

Chris offered to give Nick and I a lift to the airport, and so it was that I left Vancouver. I know I’ll be back in a few months, so it wasn’t all bad news. Leaving then will be even harder. I’m trying not to think about that now!

Usually flights originating in Canada ‘pre-clear’ US Customs in Vancouver. However, because I was joining a Cathay Pacific Hong Kong-NYC flight, they did not do that, and so I was left with quite a bit of spare time in Vancouver. It’s not a particularly interesting airport. All the good food outlets (Tim Hortons, I’m looking at you!) are on the US side. All this meant I was destined to clear US immigration and customs at JFK. I had thought this would be a fairly painless procedure, but clearly I was wrong.

I consider myself to be fairly adept at this travel thing. I have travelled to most continents, both by myself, and with friends or family. I’ve crossed borders in developing and developed countries, with visas and without. But NEVER, ever, have I encountered a system as convoluted, discriminatory and painful as the new US Visa requirements.

Basically, for those of us lucky ones from Visa Waiver countries (think EU, Australia, NZ and very few others), we are meant to be able to arrive to the US, fill out an I-94 form and receive a 3-month visa. This visa is slightly different to most others as you can’t just leave the States and start again. You have to leave the continent – i.e. for most people go home.

So here beginith my ordeal. I arrived with the wrong form (Cathay’s fault, not mine!), and the man working behind the desk was being a knob. Instead of saying, ‘here’s the right one, go fill it out and come back’, he thought he’d be a bit “hilarious” and replied ‘oh no, well we’re going to have to send you back to Canada then!”. Ha ha, fucking hah! Wanker! Then he proceeded to tell me that I wasn’t staying in NYC, I was staying in Jersey City (true) and that it was a really unsafe part of town and I should buy a flack jacket. What a great introduction to the US, eh? I miss Canada!

So after all that rigmarole, I made it to Ange’s terminal and we made our way to the hotel. It took AGES, what with the SuperShuttle, the PATH and then the walk. At least it wasn’t that cold (about 8 degrees). The hotel itself (Candlewood Suites, Jersey City) is really nice with a full kitchen and bathroom, although it’s now 2am and I’m just plain TIRED! Seeing Angela though has made this whole day worthwhile. All the goodbyes, the crap at the airport, all of it. Yay to NYC and Ange!