Been back for quite a while now and haven't got round to writing up this rather wonderful little holiday I had. Will make a start now, probably won't finish it but we'll see.
Day 1 - 27 hours of being awake, the airline that makes Ryanair look quality and New York
The trip got off to a rather un-auspicious start when I made my first contact with Alitalia. This was my first mistake. Theirs was the first flight of the day out of Heathrow, what could possibly go wrong there? Mainly their staff. These guys make the treatment you get on Ryanair seem like you're royalty and they are your private staff. It took four people half an hour to check me in. Four. Their reason for that? 'I've been on holiday, how should I know?' followed by a shrug of the shoulders. Sorry luv, but you are working for an international airline at one of the biggest international airports and you don't know how to check someone in to the states? How long was this holiday, 20 years?
Flight set off late, and thanks to a fellow A-Team fan and top bloke at Rome and an epic sprint I managed to make the connection. Sadly it would later turn out that my luggage wasn't quite as lucky. Ah well, here was my first trans-atlantic flight. To be honest it wasn't too bad, there was a good selection of films to watch, the food was just about edible and alcoholic beverages were free (I should have indulged really, things weren't going to go smoothly). My only complaint would be the state of the toilets - could definitely have done with a bit of Cif round them.
Anyway, as we near New York a faint message comes over the tannoy - we aren't landing at JFK. Oh no. We're going to Boston. No explanation for this, and again the shrugging of the shoulders every time a question is asked comes out. Either its an Italian thing, or the standard Alitalia response to something. Turns out that just before we were due to land airspace was closed over NY thanks to an earthquake. I heard several more colourful stories from people who were ringing random relatives whilst we sat on the runway in Boston and waited to be told anything about what the plan was.
About 5 hours after I was meant to land, I finally made it to New York. Another smiling, customer focused member of staff informed me that I could either wait in the luggage reclaim for my bag (after more than 24 hours of being up, not having anything to eat or drink for a fair while and being left thinking where the hell is Boston anyway) or the airline would send it out the next evening. This struck me as being a load of shit, it was the airlines fault they screwed up, so why do I have to wait for them? Anyway, I left the shrivelled up old bitch to argue with some rather more vocal Americans whose bags had taken their time in turning up and dreamt of bed.
After an uneventful sky train and subway ride, I found the hostel. Not a bad location, rooms weren't fantastic but was too knackered to care.
Day 2 - Top of the Rock, wandering Hell's Kitchen, Circle Line tour and Times Square
After bugger all sleep I was up early to get to the top of the Rock for 9 am, seemed like a good idea at the time! Got my first taste of spending weird American coinage at a farmers market (as you do in the middle of a city). Pretty decent view from up there. At some point I will sort out some pictures, but thats another story. Can't say I was blown away - one city looks the same as all the others to me. Central Park was pretty cool and rectangular, they do love blocks in NY.
Far more impressive for me was the boat tour I took. I had started to regret going for the full 3 hour trip, but very glad I did. Pretty much the best way of seeing NY in my opinion. Saw most of the main buildings, lots of bridges and the Yankee stadium. Not bad! Tour guide bloke was pretty good too, I think I learnt and forgot soon after more stuff about America from that one trip than in most of my life. You also wouldn't believe how many trees there are on the route of the loop. Got a sighting of a concord in as well, which was nice if a bit sad.
Spent the rest of the day wandering backwards and forwards through 'Hell's Kitchen', definitely not as dramatic as it sounds. Think I was around Broadway, headed up to Central Park and hit 'Strawberry Fields'. Very strange place. Full of drunken hippies and snap-happy tourists. For the evening I wandered a bit further down to Times Square - crazy place. Got my first sighting of a Bubba Gump shop, they are pretty great. Finished off the day with a trip to Grand Central station. Pretty impressive for a subway!
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