New York Off To A Shaky Start

The flight was a bumpy one; I was in the thirteenth row and the back row of the plane, so it wasn’t a big one. Once in New York, baggage was easy and I got myself to the AirTrain, a train that goes around the airport, terminating at a NYC subway station. I got there easy enough and myself onto the subway. There weren’t many people on the carriage when I got on, but that all changed soon enough and with two large pieces of luggage as well as my backpack it was a bit crammed. The subway took forever; I think it was because it stopped every single station, which it only does on weekends. It must have been at least an hour and then I had to push my way through the crowd with my bags like a battering ram. There were a few characters of interest on the train, a few homeless asking for change, but more interesting were the people trying to sell bootleg DVDs and batteries.

Once I got out of the ground and onto the streets my first glimpse of the Empire State Building just three blocks away. The streets weren’t as busy as I thought they would be, probably because it is a weekend. It was a fair walk to the hotel, so by the time I arrived I was drenched in sweat and disheveled. I was completely drained and just looking forward to getting into my room for some R&R. The front desk had trouble finding my reservation, eventually they discovered that they had it stored under my middle name and not my surname. Then, they informed me that they didn’t have room for me tonight and they would have to put me up at a hotel elsewhere, despite my having booked months and months ago. They said they would reimburse me for my cab ride to the other hotel (I’m going to ask them to pay for my internet as well, considering my room was supposed to have it free). They gave me the name “Plaza Fifty”, when I told the cab driver he had no idea, but I knew what streets it was between so I got him to drop me there. I walked up and down looking for it, but no luck. Eventually someone knew that it had changed its name and I got in. The room is nice enough, but it reeks of smoke and I have a grand view of a rusty old rooftop air conditioning system. Now my day tomorrow is going to be completely disrupted by having to move hotels and not being able to check in to my actual room until after 3pm.

I’m beginning to feel like the wheels are starting to fall off my trip a little; hopefully New York City can turn things around in the next few days. Time venture out on the streets and see what it has in store for me today.