The First Pancake

Okay, so here's what happened with New York. At some point in the last lazy week, Caroline Rachel and I decided to go to New York. That's pretty much as far as our forward planning went.

We threw some clothes in our largest handbags, and set off for the train...

Only, Caroline read the timetable for weekdays instead of Saturday, so the train was an hour later than we were counting on. Gaaah! So we went out for some breakfast instead.

Finally got on the train, and transfered in Boston to the Lucky Star bus which is cheap as chips and full of dodgy looking people.

4 hours on the bus, and New York loomed over the horizon! It's AMAZING people. I felt like such a country bumpkin, staring out the window and getting excited about seeing the Statue of Liberty.

We got off in China-town, and commenced with the wandering around with our mouths open. We hadn't organised anywhere to sleep, so we found a coffee shop with internet access and started calling hostels.

Okay, here's where we really buggered this up. We totally forgot that it was Labor Day Weekend in the States, and EVERYWHERE in New York was booked solid. We must have called 10 different places before we started to get a little concerned.

No worries though, we've got back up plans, right? Hmm. Caroline's friend couldn't accommodate us because her place is tiny and she's currently sleeping on the floor as it is. Rachel's friend was moving out of her place and staying with a friend at that very moment, and couldn't take 3 guests either. My cousin (many times removed etc) Neville was out of town, and so was pretty much everyone he knew, which we know because he VERY kindly called about a million people to see if anyone could put us up.

It was getting dark.

We went to Times Square.

It's not square! What's up with that?

We had some dinner, and I was standing out on the street afterwards waiting for the other two, and I got approached by this tough guy with a thick NY accent, wearing an army uniform, and collecting money to buy blankets for homeless people. "What a coincidence!" sez I. "We've got nowhere to sleep tonight and and we might be needing some blankets!" He glared at me. "Are you tryin' ta be funny?" (no way, never.)

We managed to convince him we were serious, and he immediately frog-marched us around the corner to a fancy hotel and then demanded that the receptionist call around all the hotels she knew to see if anyone had rooms free.

2 did - at $750 and $500 a room! No bloody way.

In the end, we had a couple of beers in the west village, Rachel stayed with her friend, and Caroline and I had to take the last bus back to Boston.

Ah boo!

We got in at 3am, and stayed at Roy's house for 2 days instead.

What a lame NY experience. However, I'm feeling positive. The first pancake is always meh, and should be chucked away. So this is a nice taster of the Big Apple, and when I go back I'll have all my ducks in a row and it'll be much better!