For better or for worse, we’re home from our trip, and for the very life of me I can’t conceive of how that could be better. So, for worse, we’re home from our trip. However, blog years are something akin to dog years, and in blog years we’re still leaving San Francisco on a plane headed for New York city.
But before I proceed, I forgot one last highlight from San Francisco. Actually, I’ve very likely forgotten plenty of tasty nuggets, but one that recently re-emerged in my mind is walking up Lombard St.
For those who don’t know, Lombard St is famous for one block with a 27% incline and eight hairpin turns. For those who do know, the same applies, you just don’t need me banging on about it. Although, to be honest, I was pretty succinct in my description, so I don’t know where you get off accusing me of banging on.
Anyway, you now know something of Lombard St, which leaved only for me to reassure you that we walked up it. And we did. Be assured of that. We stood at the bottom and looked up. We walked up. We stood at the top and looked down. There’s really not much else to do.
But back to the task at hand, which is to continue onto New York. The Big Apple. The City That Never Sleeps. Gotham City. The Melting Pot. The Jolly Splendid Metropolis.
Our journey was a lengthy one for three reasons. Firstly, we stopped over in Denver for almost three hours. Secondly, New York is three hours ahead of the west coast. And finally, let’s not forget that it’s a bloody big country to be flying across. 4,152 kilometres with a landing and take-off in the middle equals over 6 hours of flying time. Add all these together, and we left San Francisco at 9:00am, and didn’t land at La Guardia until 9:00pm.
In the interests of saving money and confusing our pursuers, we booked our first night at an airport hotel. It seemed like a good idea at the time, being the time I booked it, but not so much at the other time – when we arrived. Our first taste of New York was slightly disappointing. We waited forever in the restaurant at the hotel to be served the worst pizza I had ever eaten (a title later lost to Hollywood, but that’s not for now). I was also surprised to find that the drapes didn’t close fully. The tracks stopped with about an 18 inch gap in the middle. (I was even more surprised to find that the drapes in our other New York hotel were the same. Is this to ensure that the city never sleeps?)
Still, I don’t imagine it would be fair to judge any city on the basis of a cheap airport motel.
There’s a lot to love about New York, and one of the things that particularly appealed to me was the public transport. Sure, there are more comfortable and convenient ways to get about, but there’s nothing like public transport to really get yourself embedded in a new city. After our first night, we shuttled back to the airport, where we bought 7 day metro cards and began our journey. We caught the M60 bus from LaGuardia to Astoria Blvd in Queens, and rode an N train across to Manhattan, leaving a 15 minute walk to our hotel. The only downside was lugging our cases up the stairs to the platform in Queens, and then up the stairs again from the Prince St subway station. We later discovered that the Canal St station was closer to our hotel.
And so we arrived at the Hampton Inn in SoHo (that’s South of Houston if you’re wondering). Whilst the room was not so luxurious as the Grand Hyatt in San Francisco, this was our favourite accommodation of the trip. The tone was set when we arrived, well before check-in time, and were greeted with “Hello. Yes your room is ready. Would you like some coffee or juice?” The staff at this hotel were delightful, and the buffet breakfast was a welcome relief from cereal in paper bowls. Our only complaint – those blinds that don’t close.
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