Hey everyone, welcome back!
As you might recall from my last blog post, or if you've been following me on twitter, I was in New York last week. And while I'm having to resist the urge to sing Frank Sinatra's 'New York, New York' as I type this, this week I'll be talking about my experiences over there, since for me, it was my very first time going to America. Though I'll say this right away that the five days I was there was nowhere near long enough to get a really good experience of the place. It's so big and there was tons of exploring I wanted to do. But it is a place I really would love to go again, for a longer period of time.
So, thankfully the flight was smooth going there. A good thing, really, since it was the longest flight I had been on. Well, I should say 'flights', since we had to go to Amsterdam first. I never quite got why going to Amsterdam, then from there to America would be considered cheaper, though, especially since you have to go back on yourself to get to the US, but I didn't arrange the flights. Might be something I should ask at some point, but hey, the plane to JFK airport was pretty cool. It had a screen in front of each chair that you could watch movies and play games on, we got a pillow and blanket included (which I did attempt to use, even if I pretty much failed at any sleep past ten minute dozing). Oh, and free headphones - which is good as mine seemed to have died half way to the airport.
I seem to have bad luck with headphones.
I think my main complaint was the food. While its awesome that food and drink was included, I really can't eat much plane food. I'm probably a very picky person, but I could only eat about half of the stuff. I was glad for the drink, though. 6 or so hours on a plane without it would have been killer.
So yes, my rambles of travelling aside, New York itself was a really nice looking place, and while its not 'beautiful' in a 'look at all the greenery' fashion (Discounting Central Park), I have to say it was still a very pretty city in its own right. We were staying at the YMCA near Columbus Circle, and it was pretty interesting to look at the various venders and sculptures and generally just how life is in comparison to home. It's a strange experience for me, who comes from a pretty suburban area, to go to larger cities, with the exception of London and Leichester, which I've been to for conventions. Each of them have their own charm, of course. With New York, it was amazing how tall everything was, and yet it wasn't really a dark place in a 'blocking out the sun' manner either, as the tall buildings also seemed to reflect the light around.
Honestly, if I wasn't acting as the main navigator between Nadia and I, I would have loved to have been able to focus on the architecture if nothing else.
I think my only real complaint, if you can call it a complaint, was signs. Some of them were a bit hard to find at times, though mostly if using the subways. I suppose if you live there, you probably know where you would be going, but as for myself, downloading both a street and subway map was a lifesaver to make sure I wasn't a moron and going on the wrong train, since it was rare to find a train map once you passed the barriers. But other than that, we weren't too bad off, and if we did get a bit lost, people were really helpful. Maybe I'm just more used to reserved people, or people who are far too used to getting jumped by people trying to sell stuff or ask for money for charity or something to do with religion, but the residents mostly seemed quite happy to point us in the right direction. Honestly, people did seem a bit more open to talk. I mean, in the UK, more often than not, on trains or other public transport, people usually only talk if they know you, but a few times we were spoken to on the train by strangers. It really was weird, cause I often had the very British reaction of 'OMG a person is talking to me randomly, who the heck are you?' in my head, but it's not like I want to be rude either, you know? Still, it was a nice change of pace, my weird thoughts aside.
I'll admit that a lot of the time we were there, we were looking mostly at different types of food sold in America that I've never had in the UK, which is where the navigation came into play. Nadia was mainly pointing out where to go, and I was getting us there. Food was a bit mixed - I'll admit, I kind of like not too complicated stuff when it comes to food. I don't handle spice all too well, as apposed to my friend, who loves the stuff, so between us we had varied reactions to some places, where I was happy with the food, but my Foodie Friend was much more critical. Though we did have a few bad experences on that front. Nadia and me chat about the food on the Tanrastudios Blog, so you can check out our thoughts there - a bit of warning, though, its a very informal and opinion based post, and Nadia is prone to swearing, but we cover all the places we went for food there. Still, I can show a few pics of the types of food we had :)
Oh, there was one food thing that I did find funny, though, which I didn't talk about on the other blog, was that I got renamed by Starbucks, which I found funny. I was named 'Tari', which really confused me when they called my order out, since I knew I said Tara. Maybe it was just busy, but I'll admit it was funny. I'll admit I made a few 'Atari' jokes - well, after I managed to say 'I didn't know I was a Tari' to Nadia and my Pun mode kicked in. lol
So, anyway, food aside, I did get to see a few things.
One of these was the New York Comic Con!
I mentioned before that getting the tickets had been a nerve-wracking experience, considering just how fast they sold out, but I was glad that I had it delivered to me. While the convention itself was much like London's, albeit bigger, it was still fun to look around. There were some interesting sights there, and I'll admit, by the end of it, my feet were almost literally dropping off! I didn't particularly buy much, but I do hope that, one day, Nadia and myself will be able to go to New York Comic Con as venders at some point. I think that would be awesome. We do have a long way to go before that, though. But one day!
On Wednesday, on the Tanra blog, we'll be talking about the con in length, hence my somewhat brief mention of the subject here. But we'll definitely be covering it and I'll be retweeting the link, if you guys are interested. I'll also link you all in on my next post too. :)
I got to see the Statue of Liberty, too, though from a distance - we were on a ferry.
But still, its the closest I've ever been to that historical monument, so its still pretty cool. I managed to get a picture of it, though I'll admit, my photography skills on my phone are terrible. I certainly wont be winning any awards for those any time soon! But it was still pretty cool to have the reminders.
We would have gone to see the Empire State Building too, but that trip had been scheduled the evening we arrived and I'll admit I was suffering from Jetlag there. It is a place I'd love to see some day, though, along with other similar places too, so I'd definitely want to come back.
Going back home was about as fun as arriving, though with added colds to the mix - the problem with flying, I guess. With the air circulation, if one person has a cold, or is ill, pretty much everyone ends up with the same thing.
Still, despite that, I had fun on the trip and would definitely go again for a longer period! :)
So, for now, until next time!
Tara
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