New York, New York, so nice they named it twice

View of Manhattan from Helicopter
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Day 19 -Wednesday 23 May 2007 ( 462 hours down 426 to go)

PARIS TO NEW YORK

5.00am, early start to pack and check out of hotel where they tried to charge an extra 30 Euros a night for our Eiffel Tower view room, told him to get stuffed as it was not mentioned at check in, nice try froggy.

Arrive at airport three hours prior to departure which is certainly needed if flying to US as you line up to go through an intensive interview prior to checking in at the airline, which makes you feel very pleased that your name is not Mustafa and you are not wearing a tea towel on your head. Eventually make it through all the check points and on to American Airlines lounge. Get on board plane and it is a new 767-300 with the cocoon seats that stretch right out to near flat with a nice duna to keep you warm.

Our Helicopter
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The menu reads like a restaurant with many tempting choices and a great wine list that included a Penfolds Shiraz, New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and French champagne. The lunch was the best so far, entree of Grilled Scallops, hot-smoked Salmon with grilled Prawns, our main course choices of Garlic Rack of Lamb and Seared Scottish Salmon at 38000 feet, and the wines went down very well so it was soon time to put the seat into bed mode, tuck the duna in and get some needed sleep, oh what a life.

Julie getting ready for take off
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Arrived at JFK New York on time expecting long delays getting through immigration, customs etc. but it was an absolute breeze and we were the first through the visitors line, get bags quickly, clear customs easily and start looking for the air-train to get to terminal 3 for our next adventure.

For her mother’s day present Matthew & Andrew gave Julie a helicopter flight from JFK Airport in to the Manhattan heliport. We were on time to catch the flight but during our travels US Helicopters moved their operation to Delta Airline check in and nobody there knew anything about them. Several phone calls later they make contact with the operator who advises that they will come down and pick us up from the terminal, but they could not get our bags on the flight due to limited time. We agree to catch the next flight an hour later with our bags and they eventually find us. We are given our boarding passes but have to go through another very rigorous security check, body search, swabs of all carry on bags for traces of explosives, show our passports another three times and eventually get to the gate. We are driven out to the Helicopter and we are the only passengers in a helicopter that would seat eight passengers. The flight was excellent particularly approaching the Manhattan skyline looking out over the Statue of Liberty and landing on the pier at Manhattan.

Our best friend in New York
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We are soon brought back to earth when we are standing out on the streets of Manhattan with our bags in tow trying to hail a cab and everyone is either busy or just drives past. We decide that our chances would be improved if we were on the other side of the road where we see cabs parked, but there is a cement barrier in the middle so we walk about 500 metres to get there to find that there are no drivers. At this stage we start to feel like Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn in the movie, The Out of Towners, where NY City just eats them alive. At last we get a cab to take us to the World Trade Centre sight where we are required to take the underground train to New Jersey on the other side of the Hudson River. Looking totally lost we are befriended by a big black construction worker wearing a cap “New York Mafia”. He wants to know where we want to go and it happens to be the same way that he is going and he will show us the way. By now we are thinking what scam is he pulling, but he is the best option available so we accept his help and he turns out to be the nicest guy in New York, he even paid for our tickets on the train. He introduces himself as George McDonald, he is 60 has 6 children and works on the Ground Zero site. We get out at the first stop, take the escalator up and right next door is our Hotel, hallelujah.

View from our room in Jersey City
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What a great sight the Hotel is, we are saved, we haven’t been mugged, scammed or killed and there is the Hyatt Jersey City sitting out on a Pier in the Hudson River with the skyline of Manhattan as a backdrop. We get our room, open the curtains and just marvel at the view of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. Welcome to New York, what a day, how could this get any better.

It does, at about 9.15pm we have wilted and almost fallen asleep when we hear a series of loud bangs, look out the window and there is a huge fireworks display happening on the harbour with the lights of Manhattan City as a backdrop, I could not have planned it better.

What a day, what a night, what a trip.

Pedometer reading 4811.