Saturday 23rd February 2013
So I finally
finished packing. At 2am. After an eventful and hectic few weeks, I
finally collapsed into my bed knowing that there was nothing left to
do but sleep.
Until 5am, when I
was rudely awakened by my alarm clock. I don't know why I do it, but
whenever I travel I think it's a great idea to get the first flight
of the day. For some reason, I always forget that a 9am flight means
leaving our flat at 6am, to get to the airport, to check in and then
spend an hour or so wandering around the shops just to keep myself
awake long enough to board the plane.
We arrived at
Edinburgh Airport at 7am, which (we thought) would give us just
enough time to check in, drop our rucksacks at the
oddly-shaped-luggage desk, get through security and go to Boots to
buy the last few things I'd forgotten to pack, before boarding our
flight at 8.15.
It all went
smoothly (we'll ignore the fact that my rucksack was 1kg over the
weight allowance – told you I'm bad at packing!), until we arrived
at our gate. We sat down, exhausted by the rush of the previous
couple of hours but knowing that in just a few minutes we'd be able
to settle into our seats on the plane. Half an hour later, we were
still sitting there. Just after 9am, when we should have been
taxi-ing down the runway, we were still waiting. A short while
later, an announcement came over the tannoy that our flight was
delayed due to a “small technical fault”. Now, the last time I
was given that reason for a delayed flight, five fire engines
followed the plane down the runway as we came in to land. Excuse me
for not being particularly filled with confidence at this point.
Two hours later,
we finally boarded the plane. The technical fault – a leaking
toilet.
Our flight was
relatively uneventful – I think the highlight was probably the
hilarity (caused by a mixture of over-exhaustion and being 35,000ft
above sea level) that ensued whilst trying to work out the difference
between the grapes that came with my meal (labelled vegan) and those
which came with my boyfriend's meal (labelled Hindu. Ironic
considering his meal was beef).
We landed at
Newark Liberty International Airport at about 1.30pm and an hour
later, after queueing in the hottest arrivals hall I have ever
experienced, we passed through immigration to find our rucksacks
sitting in the middle of the baggage reclaim hall being watched by
two very lovely American security guards. I'm not sure how,
considering we were among the first people off the plane, but we were
the last people from our flight to come through immigration and the
security guys were bored of watching our bags travelling on their own
around the carousels. Phew!
From the airport,
we took a train to New York's Penn Station. The train (which we had
to wait an hour for – more waiting!) was a double decker train, and
of course we decided the top deck was a good place to sit with our
70litre rucksacks. Note to self- the stairs on those trains are not
wide enough for me, my rucksack and my hand luggage!
 |
| On the train from the airport looking exhausted. The label is a luggage label which got stuck in my hair somewhere between Edinburgh and Newark. It stayed there until bedtime! |
Most of the
journey is through the industrial flatlands of New Jersey, until you
enter a tunnel and all of a sudden you are at Madison Square Gardens
– this took both of us by surprise! I'm not sure we were quite
ready to arrive in New York, so when we walked out of the train
station after 16 hours of travelling, we both just stood and stared
like small children in an old fashioned sweet shop!
New York is SO
TALL!
We giggled like
school children all the way to our hotel, Hotel Wolcott, where we
finally managed to collapse – we have arrived!
We wanted to try
and stay awake for as long as we could to stave of the inevitable
jetlag, so went out to try and find somewhere to eat. Just one block
from our hotel there is a deli. Those of you in Edinburgh –
imagine a cross between Peckhams and the Mosque kitchen. It's an
amazing mixture of all sorts of fancy snacks, biscuits, crisps, wine
and beer around the outside, with international food service counters
in the middle!
Long story short -
I was asleep by 7.30pm!
