The morning started for my doing extremely early, I mean, waking up around 0400 is not exactly my cup of tea nor is it for me a normal time.I prefer to sleep late and go to bed late and now I needed to go to bed early and wake up early, so not me but unfortunately sometimes sacrifices have to be made ;-).
As I am writing this right now we are flying over the Noordzee, we only just had take off and the fasten seatbelt sign has been released and even though it is a bit bumpy I have to admit that I feel already a bit relaxed.
At the checkin this morning the day started already on a bad foot, the clerk at the counter was making some troubles because we had Economy Plus seats but she could not find in the system that it was paid for so she was making a bit of a problem but eventually let us through, otherwise she would have gotten probably in some trouble with her boss since we did have those seats.
In the tax-free area we went to the Starbucks though I was not really in the mood for some of their blends so I went for a cola but the rest of the family did go for an overpriced cup of Joe’s but hey, we are on vacation.
After about an hour in the tax free area it was time to go to the gate, to go to the security check. Since I haven’t flown to the usa since 1995 I have to admit that a lot of procedures had changed, we went through the body scan followed by a frisk. Yup, United States of Paranoia but nothing to do against it I guess. Followed by that’s have to say that everything went quite smooth. We departed quite on time and so right now, I am about to get the first drink of the flight and I have started to watch The Hunger Games, an awesome movie.though the inflight screen quality was not super I still think that it is totally worth my time and well. It is better than just watching out the window since the flight was at the end quite long.
At the end of the flight it was time for the security check, the security check is something that always take a lot of time. However in the United States of Paranoia they do an extra check. When you arrive at the desk you they will make a picture of you and take your fingerprints and if you are unlucky you will get another chat with a security officer. I was however quite glad that we did not have to take off our shoes (which will probably happen when we will leave to Florida though but that will be a later concern).
After the security check we just needed to call a cab and then go to the Hotel. Luckilly the taxi was a fixed price because he took us all over Manhattan which would otherwise would have cost us a fortune but this time not.When we arrived at the Hotel (the Roosevelt Hotel on Madison Avenue and 45th east/46th east street) we heard that we needed to wait until 15:00 to check in. So we gave our bags to the picolo (who happened to have been living in the Netherlands for a couple of years) and took off to one of the first sigths we absolutely wanted to see on Day One… Times Square.
Walking in the heat (it was 30+ degrees) it was quite an interesting walk and very funny actually. After the first block it was already so hot that we all took off our summer jackets. Followed by that we walked past a lot of little shops next to the road where they sold souvenirs and food, making me quite hungry. But once we arrived at Times Square we forgot the heat and were like “awesome”. It was a dream come true for me at least. We arrived exactly at the beginning of the square which gave us an awesome point of view and was so amazing, it was actually a bit overwhelming. It was also quite laughable the amount of people willing to stand in the huge lines for the discount lines of the Broadway shows to be honest. I can understand why people do that of course but with this heat I would almost say that people are quite crazy to stand in such huge lines.
We decided to continue down the road and had a drink at the Times Square Bar were I drank a local beer brewed in Brooklyn. Quite tasty to be honest and refreshing. Filled with new bursts of energy we continued down the road and ended up at the M&M’s store. Wow, who knew that there were so many different kinds of M&M’s and I did not even go to the 2nd and 3rd floors, I just stayed downstairs.
After the M&M’s store we went to the Toko across the street because we thought it was a supermarket but that was a huge mistake naturally, way too expensive. Oh well, a lesson learned you could say ;-).
We decided to follow 48th street and walked past the Rockefeller Center which was good to know since in the morning we will go to the Top of The Rock. It is quite funny right now, it is 22:32 Netherlands Time and I have to say that I am not yet quiet, the city oozes energy and feels so very much alive, never a silent moment and not a care in the world for most people it seems… Not that you will see me out very late alone but still.
The free WiFi however in the hotel was a bit of a bust, we were not sure if we would be getting it for sure for free so in the morning we will just go to one of the coffee shops and check there the mail and I will post the blogs, so my apologies for the late posts but unfortunately I am not that crazy that I will pay 25 dollars per day for the Internet. Pictures coming up soon.