weddingoftheyear2009.com

27th September: Seattle -> New York

September 29, 2009

We both nearly had a heart attack when the alarms started going off at 5am.

I jumped up and headed into the shower (which i cant actually remember being in. i must have kept my eyes closed). I dont really like getting up that early in the morning, especially when i’ve only had a couple of hours of rubbish sleep. I’ve been battling with a chesty cough so i’ve kept myself awake a fair bit. Lauren, however, has managed to sleep through my coughing fits, but this is probably due to the obscene amount of alcohol she has been drinking every day whilst driving. (Only joking)

We checked out of the hotel, and headed off to the airport…..

Checkin etc didnt go very well, as Laurens bag was 3 kg over the 50kg limit, and mine was 2kg under (which is weird considering i’ve got more stuff now than what i did coming over), so the wifey made us open up Laurens bag and got us to transfer some stuff from hers to mine. This is a crazy rule in my mind. I can understand that the weight the plane carries will affect how it flies, so i understand the weight limits. But if 2 people are checking in with a combined bag weight that meets these rules, then whats the point in making 2 really tired folk stand an unpack their stuff in the middle of check-in in full view of hundred of other folk. I was already hacked off that we had to pay an additional $20 per checked in bag (which i cant remember being told when i booked the flights). I was still half asleep though, so didnt have the energy to complain. I’ll write an email of complain when i get home again. I’ll add it to my growing list.

It was a 5 hour flight to New York and a time zone change of 3 hours. Luckily, we both pretty much managed to sleep the entire way there, and i only remember drooling the once. We landed in JFK and it felt like we must have walked about 5 miles to pick up our bags. We didnt have too long a wait before the bags arrived, and we headed outside and grabbed a taxi into town.

Our taxi driver was a bit weird. He didnt speak at all for the first 15 minutes, and then all of a sudden started to give us info about where the sports stadiums was, followed by a few minutes silence, and then more small talk. He was trying to be nice, but it was obviousl he was trying to force a conversation to probably get a better tip. The good thing about the taxis here is that you can pay be credit card if you like.

We arrived at our hotel, and the driver got out to open the doors and boot. I selected the “pay by credit card” option from our own little touch-sensitive monitor, and successfully paid. I thought i’d give him a $10 tip (20% of the fare), but when i got out he said angrily that i should have told him i was paying by card as he needed to add a percentage onto the bill to cover it, as well as a toll fee(which we didnt know about). This wasn’t something that was mentioned anywhere within the cab,nor on the information sheet i got when i entered the cab, so i gave him his $10 tip and walked off. So, it probably worked out that he only got a couple of dollars for a tip, but i’m a bit fed up with people being angry at us.

After we checked into our hotel (The Warwick Hotel), i was amazed to see just how central we were in Manhattan. We even had our own balcony with full views of 6th Avenue, and a big massive room. I had to laugh at the minibar prices though, as they are definitely not going to get touched. $6 for a small bottle of water. $8 for a small box of Pringles. $22 for 2 eggs delivered by room service. So, we wont be getting any room service either. We even have to pay for the wifi connection. The room and the view is very nice, but everything else is really pricey in the hotel. The Beatles, Elvis and other celebs have alll stayed here though.

Once we got settled, we decided to head out for a quick walk about town, and to get some food. New York is amazing – you spend most of the time looking up at the buildings and famous places, and we were soon happy to see 5th Avenue, Park Avenue, Broadway etc were all within easy walking distance from our hotel. We couldnt however find any restaurants we fancied, so ended up starving, and diving in to a TGI Fridays. They charged me $9 dollars for a beer.

After that, we just had a walk home, and had a look at started to plan activities for when we are here.

It does seem mad how long we’ve been away, and we do fly home on Friday, so its a bit sad that our trip is coming to an end, but at the same time, its been a good idea to make New York our last stop, as we’ll be leaving America on a high. And a full-up credit card.