US Virgin Islands

New York really IS the city that never sleeps. We’ve been on the go go go go go since we arrived. Here’s a rundown of events that have happened over the last few days:

• Saw Xanadu and Avenue Q which are both off broadway musicals. Xanadu = meh, Avenue Q was fantastic.

• Clubbing both on Friday and Saturday nights. Didn’t get in till 5am Saturday morning, then 6am Sunday morning.

• Had meals in lots of cool restaurants. Dan has a knack of finding a restaurant in a guide that he really wants to go to, dragging us there, and then finding it doesn’t exist. Three times it’s happened! He did manage to redeem himself though, by finding the quaintest little Italian restaurant in Brooklyn. Followed by the seediest bar in the world. Ew.

• Had a very “interesting” hostel-mate named Minh. He had the ability to interject conversations with the most random comments ever. Example: Minh: “Are you students? Because you look very young. Like, freshmen.”
Lee: “Ummm, nope. We’ve all been working now for at least two years.”
Minh: “What do you do?”
Steph: “I used to work at a bank doing back office stuff.”
Minh: “I miss my childhood.”
END CONVERSATION.

• As we were walking between clubs on Friday night, we passed a guy on the footpath. He yelled out “OH MY GOD LOOK! It’s Ricki Lake!” and pointed at me. That has now been the joke of the trip.

• By far the funniest thing that has happened so far though was on Sunday morning. Steph and I left Ben at a club at about five am. We (I) found out how to get to the subway and make our way home, while Steph provided the entertainment. I dragged her up to our room, and went to have a shower. When I came back, there was a pile of sheets on the floor. I fumbled around and found my torch.
What was on the linen? VOMIT. Indian food, vodka, and cranberry juice vomit. ALL over the pillow and sheets.
That night was Minh’s last night. He left bright and early the next morning. After he left, we decided to swap bedding. The vomit bedding went on his bed, and the clean bedding was put on Stephanies. I was here when the cleaners came. The woman walked in the door and her eyes bugged out of her head.
Lee: “Lots of vomit hey.”
Cleaner: “Yes yes! Lots of sick! Oh no!”
Lee: points to Minh’s bed
Cleaner: shakes head in disgust

Ben goes home in the morning. Steph is off to Toronto on Thursday at 7:15am, and I am catching the train to Montreal to meet up with Nick and Dan at 8:20am on Thursday. We’ll catch the train back from Toronto together on the 7th, and leave New York on the 8th bound for the Olympics. Simon had better get his broken finger better in time!

Hope everyone is well! Send us emails!

Arrived and met Ben at the airport at seven thirty am after FINALLY getting on the flight from LA to New York. To make things worse we’d been seated in the exit rows, meaning the arms didn’t lift up so we couldn’t sprawl out and sleep, and it was FREEZING cold being right by the doors. Not flying Delta again in a hurry!

Went to Central Park and Times Square. Times Square = WOW. I was in HEAVEN. That place is overwhelming. So many people, so many lights and so much going on.

Steph and I bought new ipods at the Apple Store. That shop is so cool! Sam you’d be overwhelmed. All these really cool displays and tutorials. You don’t even have to line up at the counter to pay. They have portable credit card machines which they bring up to you. AND ipods are WAY cheaper here than in New Zealand.

Nick and Dan are here now too. We went to see the Bodies Exhibition which was incredible, but also kind of disturbing. Seeing preserved bodies cut open was a bit freaky.

Legally Blonde was on last night on Broadway that we went to see. We got over 75% off tickets, meaning we payed only $25 each. But our seats were way up in the balcony. Such a cool show! We’re definitely seeing more shows before we leave.

Today was the Empire State building. We queued to get in. Queued for escalator. Queued for security checks. Queued to buy tickets. Queued for photos. Queued for elevators to the 80th floor. Queued for stairs to climb to the 86th floor. Queued up to look at the view. Queued up to exit. Yeah, you get the picture.

We returned shoes today way down by Ground Zero that Steph bought the other day. I’m sure she’s a natural blonde. She found “The Coolest Shoes”. But, she bought the left one a different colour from the right one. Good work.

Cold Stone was really cool. It’s an icecream place, where you choose a type of icecream and then a whole lot of inclusions. YUM. Times Square at night is even busier and more exciting than during the day. It’s sensory overload at its best – lights, noise, people pushing and a whole lot of smells from hotdog vendors/drains…

Went to Abercrombie and Fitch for Ben to buy some cologne. Usually there’s a line outside to get in, but we were lucky today and could walk straight through. Who would have thought you’d have to LINE UP to go into a clothes store??

Out tonight – wonder what clubbing in New York will be like…

New York is AMAZING. SUCH a cool city. There is so much to see and do.

We've been flat tack since we arrived at seven thirty the other morning. Internet access isn't that easy (we have to venture down to the hostel basement to get reception, and we're hardly ever here) but hopefully I'll get a chance to do a proper update tomorrow.

We're having a blast. Just got back from Legally Blonde on Broadway. SO COOL!

Hope everyone is well - heard there is a big storm about to hit Auckland. Time to batten down the hatches! We don't have that issue here - it's sunny and HOT. Although last night we were sitting outside at dinner when lightening started flashing frequently and then all of a sudden it got REALLY windy. Reminded us of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. We picked up our stuff, and ran home. Didn't make it in time before the torrential rain drenched us. This morning - beautiful sunshine.

I don't like this tipping business though - feels like you're throwing away your money. I'm sure we'll get used to it.

Anyway, must dash. It's almost 1am and we're getting up early to go to the Empire State Building before the queues (hopefully).

Lee

Oh, and taking LOTS of photos too, much to the others embarrassment. I'm a typical tourist (without the short beige shorts, bum bag, cap, pasty legs, and shoes & socks).

We’re currently sitting in LA Airport – what a hole. We’ve noticed that the people here aren’t exceptionally friendly. They all seem full of their own importance and while they do help out, they don’t seem very happy to do so.

Our flight to Tahiti was okay. I managed to put my foot in my mouth (not literally), within the first few minutes of boarding. Steph and I were in row 44 of 45 rows. We sat down, and I announced, quite loudly – “Jeez there’s HEAPS of room in these seatbelts. How embarrassing would it be to have to have an extender!”
Not five seconds later, the couple directly behind us nabbed the air hostess. “Excuse me, can we both have seatbelt extenders please?”
I spoke quietly the rest of the flight.

They had 8 movies showing on the 5 hour flight which just kept circulating. I started to watch Definitely, Maybe and fell asleep for the last half hour. No worries, I’ll catch the end next time it comes on. They stopped the movie half an hour before the end. So I still don’t know what girl he ends up with! Typical.

The 2 hour stopover in Tahiti was okay. The seats were comfy in the transit lounge, but there was NOTHING to do. It rivals Vanuatu for the most boring airport on the planet. We did manage to play half a game of scrabble.

The next flight was okay, but LONG. I slept for a few hours intermittently, but poor Steph couldn’t sleep. I woke up once due to the air hostess tripping and pouring a glass of water all over me. Super! We’re both pretty knackered, as its 7am NZ time and we’ve had very minimal sleep and lots and lots of doing nothing.

It’s quite warm here. We went for a walk to try to stop Deep Vein Thrombosis from setting in. Oh, and we paid $9US for chicken and lettuce wrapped up in a tortilla. Rip off. Won’t do that again. Steph was amazed at the nachos that people were hoeing into. The cheese is ORANGE. And, they were eating it at 1030 in the morning. Yummmmmm – fat and salt for brekky.

Oh, and Dad, we checked in for our New York flight all on our own. Plugged the number into the screen and chose our seats (yay for exit rows!). Steph did ask the lady if we had to include our carry on luggage in the number of pieces per person, and instead of answering nicely, she just yelled “ZERO! Zero. Zero.”

Our connecting flight to New York has been delayed, meaning we have had a 5 hour stopover instead of 4. Neither of us can wait to get there and have a lie down.

It seems that everyone here talks on their cellphones. Like, excessively. Even though people look the same here and speak the same language, the culture is already so obviously different. We’re thinking this travelling business might make us appreciate New Zealand and New Zealanders a bit more!

Right, back to people watching and listening in to loud American conversations. It’s a very interesting pastime!

UPDATE: We are still in LA at the airport, still without sleep, and the plane has been delayed from 1:20pm until 6:30pm. Should it not leave at six thirty, we have to make other arrangements. Possibly via Salt Lake City. Might be quite fun – ticking Utah off the list. Haha. This is crazy now – way too long without sleep. I was just telling Steph that Grandad “flyed” airplanes. The words coming out of our mouths at the moment are from some made up language. Poor Ben – we’ve been trying to get in contact but so far no luck. Oh well, all part of the adventure I suppose!