NYC

Our 1 star luxury.










The train ride from philly to new york was luxury. I wish it could of lasted a bit longer because I think I needed a bit more chill time before I entered the rat race. As you probly know, we had a big one, the night before in philly so I wasn’t exactly on my toes for this one. As we made our way up the escalator from penn station to the street (the Madison square garden entrance for anyone who knows what that is), there would have been a crowd of maybe 500 people with varying sized luggage milling around waiting for buses. Thank christ we didn’t need a bus. Im not riding another bus in my life anyway but that’s another rant for another day. We had our backpacks on and we missioned it northward up 8th street towards what would be our place of residence for the next nights. The thing about new york is that no matter what you look like or what you are doing, or carrying, or dragging, no one blinks an eyelid because either a) they’ve seen it all before, or b) theres a possibility you might stab them.
So we hiked the 9 or so blocks to the hotel, weaving through the torrent of bodies. Not expecting much from the 1 star joint that we booked. We didn’t get much either. Although as it turned out, it did the job. Hotel carter. One thing its definitely got is personality. I liked it and eventually it ended up being like ‘home’. although I didn’t mention the mouse I saw on the second night to lauren until we were in the shuttle bus to the airport….
Anyway, I hate doing laundry at the best of times, and personally I could of got away with anther month or two without seeing a washing machine, but it seems we needed to do some laundry. If I thought laundry was hard when we actually own a machine in our own place, its gonna be a nightmare in new york. But a nice way to acquaint ourselves with the city I spose. We managed to find a Laundromat and get the gear clean. It was interesting to see the residents of hells kitchen go about their daily business. Definitely not threatening. Just interesting. And surreal.
Speaking of surreal, after we finished up at the laundry we had the rest of the arvo/night up our sleeves so we thought wed check out times square. It was literally a minute from our hotel so before we knew it we were right in amongst it. We both agreed that it was absolutely mind blowing. It was complete sensory overload. The lights, the people, the sounds and smells, the hawkers trying to flog either tickets to comedy shows or for the big red buses, the challenge in negotiating the pedestrian crossings. It was crazy. It was a natural high. It was exhausting just standing there. We walked around for god knows how long but it seemed like somewhere where you lose time, hence the name I spose. It was thee most challenging when trying to cross the roads because you need to not only make sure you don’t get bowled over bythe tsunami of people coming towards you, you’ve gotta make sure you don’t get cleaned up by one of the million taxis or limos that frequent the area. amazing place, and something that needs to be experienced to understand.
We bought tickets to this hop on- hop off bus tour in times square the next day, that lasted 3 days and took you on 3 different loops of the island of manhatten. it’s about 50 big red double decker buses with open tops that have guides giving you the lowdown on all the different sights and sites you pass on the way. You pretty much pass them all too I must say. It does the job if you can put up with the other tourists and the knob head guides practically begging you for a tip. Its pretty funny because they remind us ignorant touro’s at every stop, most people from other countries choose to ignore this custom and breeze right by while theyre holding their respective hats out. The only one that deserved a tip was the first dude that we had. He had charisma and a sexy new york twang. Unlike the new york squawk we got used to. Although we tipped every time. Because lauren is so nice. I would of told a few of them to stick their tip hats in their gobs and do everyone on the bus a favour.
Went to central park the next day, using the bus again, because even if the guides are a pain in the arse, it’s a good way to get around. Wed be stuffed otherwise. And by the way, this isn’t to say that we didn’t enjoy the buses. they were great. The guidess just tried a bit hard sometimes. Anyway, so central park was nice. Saw strawberry fields which is the memorial to john lennon and just cruised around, watching the funny crowds playing softball and generally enjoying the last days of summer. Twas a beautiful day. Although we had to get on the bus and do the uptown/harlem bus loop to get home. We cooked up there on the top deck of the bus so that zapped us big time.
The third day was dedicated to the statue of liberty. And it was meant to be a simple excursion. But as ive learnt now after 5 weeks on the road, nothings ever easy. I sound jaded but im not. its just a fact. We got on the bus again and took the same tour we did on the first day to get down to the ferry. We got herded through security that was tighter than any airport and onto the ferry and got a sweet view of manhatten, the statue and the other boroughs. It was pretty hard to get a good photo though, with every other person on board doing their best to block every one of our shots with their heads. Ended up with some good ones though. Being on the island was another surreal experience. It was as if she was watching everything you did. Shes even more impressive than we both imagined, even in the bad weather. The wind was picking up and the rain was coming so we decided to battle the ferry back again. That was a hoot! Sitting with an old couple from Hoboken, Long Island? Who were about an hour or two away but hadn’t seen the statue before. The old bloke was a classic and practically took over the boat, letting everyone know that we were Australian and that mel gibson is an aussie and hes in a bit of trouble. He couldn’t figure out Mel’s name for about 10 mins and we kept trying to tell him he was talking about paul Hogan.we got there painfully in the end. His wife was practically deaf so she never really bothered trying to listen to him anyway. Although youd pretty much have to be deaf not to hear him. It would-be pretty funny home they have because he never shuts up yet she never listens. Quite the contradiction to the norm, some might say…..It was pretty funny because hed ask us a question, then wed try and answer but he wouldn’t listen to a word of our answer and just either ask us another question or try and tell us a completely irrelevant fact that was so obviously not true. His wife forced us to take some of her snacks that she’d prepared. After refusing to take them for 5 mins she got quite adamant and was letting half the boat know. She practically unzipped our bags and stuffed them in. nice people. Made the ferry trip go pretty quickly.
it started raining as soon as we got off the ferry and we were a long way from home with no umbrellas or whatever. So the big red bus it was! But lo and behold, the only seat left were on the top deck of the open top doubledecker. We gave it a crack, but with the rain getting heavier and the bus sometimes hitting 60km/hr we got hammered. They gave us ponchos which helped a lot but it was bloody miserable. I could even see the dogs that were chained up in Chinatown laughing at us and shaking their heads. But we made it back to the relative comfort of the hotel carter and all was well again.
Did I mention that I had had a raging cold for the last 3 days? If not, I have now.
The next day was just a shopping day were we picked up afew things that may or may not have been cheaper because theyre bought in new york. But at least we can say we bought them in times square if anyone asks! After this we went down to the lobby of the hotel to check emails etc and realised that this day was our only chance to try and get tickets to be in the crowd for the live recording of the show ‘the Colbert Report’. its on abc2 every weeknight at 7.30. Hes a hilarious political satirist weve been watching for ages. Im sure hes right up a lot of you guys’ alleys. Anyway we jumped online and found that amazingly, there was 11 tickets available for that night! We got them and had to be there 2hrs later. We were so stoked! We had a few celebratory beers while getting ready then ventured off to find the studio. Which was only 10 blocks away. Should ofbeen easy but we made it hard and got there only to be told that we needed a print off of the confirmation. Already being late, we hailed a cab, who took us straight into the slowness of times square so we jumped out in the street. We ran back, got the thing printed and cabbed it back in time to be 60th and 61st in line. Perfect seats in the end. It was a funny episode as always and we even managed to get our mugs on tv, so weve been told. I caught a goose too. This was the perfect way to finish up a big 5 days. Or more to the point, a big 25 days.
New york though, was definitely amazing. it really is alive. so much soul and character. we'll beback.
Its been a whirlwind but the usa is behind us now and im writing this in Europe. Theres already plenty to tell you guys and that wont be far way at all.
Its been such an eye opener. Stay tuned for one of our next entries which will be tips for future travellers to the states. Ive got some important things that you will need to jot down if you plan a trip to the boss country of the world!
Cheers!







this is honestly a grandstand set up for people watching and generally taking in the craziness that is times square.































the famous 'flat iron' building.















the police pipeband doing their thing for 9/11 memorial.













this thing was in the lobby of world trade centre before the attacks. its now set up in battery park, still with the dents and holes from the day.
















we couldnt go through central park without going to strawberry fields. we also went past the steps where john lennon was gunned down.














this is a hobo's can collection. i put it in because if you look carefully, theres a manequins head, complete with long brown wig and light blue beanie on a stick. freaky...













times square at night.

















on the boat tothe statue oflibert. you can almost see her over the top of red-shirt's head. and dogger, this boat was one boat thatyou werent gonna get into the wheel house of. unless you were interested in a few bullet implants.



















i was sad coz i couldnt get any good hotos that didnt have other tourists heads in them.















the grand old girl.














nice shotof us and manhatten.

this was what our trip from the statue of liberty back to the hotel was like. 45mins of it!

can you see us two thirdsofthe way up, right between the numbers? this was an electronic billboard in times square.

even the subway signs were blingin' in times square.

oh yeah and i met the real elmo. well thats what he told me. his voice is so different when your hearing it straight from the mans mouth....

our prized tickets..... awesome!