My NYC trip

Eat

2005-09-17T07:26:00.000Z

Well it did turn out to be a light supper, trouble was there was tons off it.
Met relatives that i hadn't seen in years, some the last time i saw them, they were little kids, and now are 6ft adults - where did the intervening years go!

The UN "party" were still in town and causing chaos to the city of New York. I guess with the risk of suicide car bombers being a real one, the Police were shutting whole sections of road down, while some big wig got transported out of town.

One of the many things that has struck me about NYC this visit, is that you don't hear an American accent much, but they do say that NYC is like 50 countries in one place. the place feels very safe, and is remarkably clean

Still getting over the jetlag, got to bed at what my body still thinks is 05h00 but was 24h00 here, mind you i did get to sleep in till midday........ UK time :(

later on

2005-09-16T16:53:00.000Z

The thing that has struck me the most about New York, is the lack of sirens, last time i was here, it was a constant background noise - now nuffin.
Mind you, up on 42nd Street, the UN is having their 60 yr celebration, so ever so often there is this fleet of secret service zooming past, with the guys inside the big cars looking very nervous as the traffic brings them to a complete halt

New yorkers are still as rude as ever, figure this one out - having a drink in Starbucks, I sit down and this female, she was no lady :) immediately, said, "you can't put your drink on the table i'm working"........

hello - this is a red rag to a bull to, I'm now feeling the effects of jetlag.
I immediately put my drink on the table, (i forgot to mention that she had her drink on the table already), she goes off into a hissy fit, and i just look at her and say " i only have 2 hands" as i battle with a bag, camera, paper and my drink..silly cow

needless to say i then proceeded to take great delight in winding her up further, by disturbing her work/phone calls

nearly everyone here in the street, is on either an iPod or a mobile.

off out this evening to meet up with everyone

can i help you sir!

2005-09-16T16:40:00.000Z

the flight out got delayed, some ejit booked themselves and their
luggage in, but then didn't show for the flight.so we had to wait
while their baggage got off loaded - go figure

the flight was great - lots of food/drink and best of all, nobody
sitting next to me :) so lots of space too.

all the luxury of business meant that i didn't have to queue for the
toilet, had my glass full of water all the time......oh yes, Business
is the only way to travel.

the flight over was uneventfull till we reached the NYC area, then we
had loads of turbulence, and i mean, like a roller coaters dropping
type turbulence, even the flight attendents had to go and sit down.

Entry into the US went so smoothly, in and out of Immigration is 5
mins. Nowadays you get your fingers scanned, and your photo taken, all
in the name of security - don't think it will stop suicide bombers, it
just means that i guess they will know who they were.... hey ho.

2 Fat Sl*gs

2005-09-15T11:15:00.000Z

have now arrived at Heathrow, and am enjoying the luxury of the Business lounge...... no mixing with the riff raff for me.....no sirrrrrrrrreeeeee bob :) even got fast tracked through security.

caught the bus up, and had the 2 ladies from hell..... you name it their family had problems with it, 2 restraining orders against prior partners, grand daughter pregnant blah blah. I stopped using my iPod, because they were more entertaining.
The National Express Bus up was very luxurious, with the nicest, most pleasant helpful driver i have ever met who worked for NE - have they all been to customer service school?

When i get to NY, i'll up load some pictures to flickr.

Have already got plans sorted out to meet up with "out of town" relatives, meeting for "light supper", knowing Americans, this means i don't have to eat anything from breakfast onwards that day, so that i will have room for the food........he he

2005-09-15T05:39:00.000Z

I'm off :)

cost cutting excercise

2005-09-14T17:49:00.000Z

finally ready.... just need to get to the Airport now :)
transferred my money into my Nationwide Building Society account.... anybody going overseas and planning on using a credit card or taking money out via an ATM, would be well advised to get a Nationwide Flexaccount and a Nationwide Credit Card - Nationwide don't charge for overseas transactions, and you have the advantage that the exchange rate is a damn sight better than what you would get in TC/Amex etc etc

Birmingham one day, NYC the next

2005-09-13T12:04:00.000Z

Up in Birmingham yesterday... what a fab city it has become
the jewellery quarter has been very nicely refurbished.

and so much open space, with a nice mixture or old and new buildings, all next to each other.

trip back was free of traffic, though leaving Birmingham there where quite a lot of traffic jams caused by people all trying to stock up with petrol.

back home today, just getting ready to go..... have the bus tickets now.

the blogmap i had linked to, appears not to have paid their bill, so currently its down.

buying presents

2005-09-11T10:04:00.000Z

I'm going out to NYC for a wedding :)

Trying this morning to buy a wedding present for the couple proved problematic. The webstore didn't think that anybody outside of the US would like to buy someone a present.... doh.
You had to have a US address, which i don't, and of course my credit card company wouldn't authorise the transaction because it didn't recognise my address..... I have a post code, not a ZIP code.
Trying to phone them was even more frustrating....... their computers were off for maintenance :(

6 days and counting

2005-09-10T12:13:00.000Z

Well only 6 Days to go till my trip to NYC :)
Got my dollar$ yesterday, brand spanking new notes.
i always used to think that the holiday "started" as soon as you got your grubby hands on the flight tickets, but with the invention of e-tickets, this is no more....... an e-mail is just not the same, you can't get your finger red from the carbon for starters :)
So now for me, that holiday starting feel has moved to getting the local currency.
If anybody wants brand new US$, pop down to the Main Ship St Post Office in Brighton, they had loads of them. The US treasury department have changed the $20 note since last time i had any - I did begin to wonder if they were for real, they don't look like the "greenbacks" i know, for starters there isn't much green in them.

i have now added a Map, which should show where i'm currently staying. Also at the top of the sidebar, i have added a flickr button - which should show the last 10 pictures that i have uploaded to my flickr account.

Enjoy, and all comment welcome.........