Adjust To The Conditions

~ Maybe it was the timing of my trip to New York City, or maybe it’s always like that, but it did seem to rain a lot. In terms of timing, I arrived on March 17, 2008 so while winter may have officially been over, and spring underway, I should have been prepared for the rain and the cold.

I wasn’t. Just the same, I didn’t let it dampen my enthusiasm for exploring the city – I simply adjusted to the conditions and made the most of it.

On one of my explorations of the neighbourhood around Greenpoint, I had noticed a charity shop, and I headed back to it during my first week in the city to see if I could find a warm jacket. For around $20, not only did I find a good jacket, but I also bought a couple of t-shirts, and a polo shirt. I figured I could either take them with me when I left America, or just give them back to the charity shop. In the end, I gave a pile of excess clothing to one of the Hispanic cleaners at the YMCA, and told her she could keep the items, or pass them on to some of the permanent residents who lived at the 'Y'.

I might add that I am one of those people who generally don’t mind the cold – but the wind howling across New York during March was more than even I could bare. So over the next couple of days, I also added a beanie and a warm scarf to my collection of winter warmers.

My third day in New York saw me wandering around in the drizzle until I eventually ended up at the Rockefeller Centre. I could have gone to the top of the building to experience the Top of The Rock, as it’s called, but since the top of the building was in clouds, I figured I wouldn’t see a lot and decided to leave it for another day.

That’s the great thing about staying in one place for an extended period of time. If the weather, or something else conspires to stop you from doing something, you can always leave it for another day. Therefore, my decision to spend at least four weeks in New York City was something I came to appreciate very much. More than once I found myself changing plans at the last minute, simply because my initial attempt to see a well known landmark turned out to be badly timed.

For example, it was five weeks into my New York stay – and on my third attempt – before I went to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The first attempt was disrupted by rain, and the second by long queues of visitors waiting to board the ferries that service these locations. If I had planned to visit New York for the average stay of 5-7 days, I would almost certainly not have had the luxury of waiting for better weather or shorter queues. I would have had to brave the elements or miss out completely.

Some Initial Observations:

Internet Café’s are as rare as hen’s teeth. Not only that, but the one or two that I saw were very expensive compared to London where they seem to be on every street corner, and where you could surf for up to two hours for one pound (around $2.50). In New York it cost US$1.00 for five minutes, although that reduced to about US$10.00/hour if you were on for that length of time.

Public toilets seem to be as rare as hen’s teeth in New York as well. If it wasn’t for the many McDonald’s and Starbucks outlets around the city, I don’t know what I would have done. And not just me. The locals seemed to be just as desperate to use these facilities as I and my fellow travellers were.

Image: Rockefeller Centre, March, 2008

Photographer: Jim Lesses

Carrying On About Carry-Ons

~ Eight years after the events of September 11, 2001 and the attendant security measures that have been established around the world to guard against possible terrorist attacks (especially those attempting to use airliners), you might think that air travellers in particular would be more careful about the items they pack into their carry-on luggage.

But no, Stephanie Chen, a writer for CNN reported recently (From carry-on to eBay: The journey of airport security booty) that air travellers continue packing a vast array of prohibited goods that defy belief. Items ranging from a 20-inch machete and a set of kitchen knives to electric saws, baseball bats and two gallons of gasoline. One passenger even had a kitchen sink stowed in his carry-on bag!

At the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport - the busiest airport in the world – they collect around 1,000 pounds of items from passengers each month!

Everything from knives, corkscrews, meat cleavers, wrenches and shampoo are among common items surrendered by travellers. Then there was that kitchen sink, machetes and chain saws, brass knuckles and nunchuks; baseball bats, golf clubs, a samurai sword, and a set of 10-pound exercise weights. Seriously!

Between 2005 and 2006, the Transport Security Administration (TSA) confiscated 13 million prohibited items, which shouldn’t be surprising given that more than 2 million passengers are screened by TSA on any given day.

Needless to say, children’s toys are just as likely to end up in the rubbish bins if parents are not careful about what their kids are planning to pack for the flight from, for example, Disneyland. Fake pirate swords, and replica guns or other plastic toys that look like weapons are confiscated before flights, so parents should ensure that these are placed in luggage that is destined for the cargo hold – and not placed in carry-on bags – to avoid having to deal with upset children on the long flight home.

Transport Security Administration

Since we are talking about security, why not pay a visit to the Transport Security Administration website. Yes, I know it is US-centric, but America has some of the toughest laws governing what can and can't pass through customs, so it is a good place to start your research about this topic. Of course, you should also find out what your own national government's regulations are in relation to airport and border security.

Thanks to Rick Seaney for the heads-up on this story

Three Cheers For Google Maps

~ One of the best online resources for planning any trip is the powerhouse that is Google, and the innovations that have come out of that company’s buildings.

One of those great innovations is Google Maps.

Like thousands (millions?) of users around the world, I often use Google Maps to plot imaginary journeys, search for exact locations in far flung cities, and print maps of unfamiliar neighbourhoods.

I was thinking about this today, and remembering my first visit to New York City where I landed on a freezing Spring day late in the afternoon of Monday, March 17, 2008.

The flight from London was uneventful, long (but nowhere near as long as the 24 hours it took me to reach London from Adelaide), and bearable thanks to some classic movies (All The Presidents Men) on the in-flight movie channel.

Getting through US Customs and Border Protection was no problem, except that it took so long – close to an hour. This was due to the new heightened security measures then – and still – in place for foreigners like myself, where each index finger was scanned and a photograph of my face taken and added to what is no doubt a huge Customs and Border Patrol database.

By the time I got through Customs and to the baggage carousel to pick my luggage up, it was sitting on the floor with a bunch of others that had simply been off-loaded by (presumably) baggage handlers, and left there for anyone to pick up and walk away with. At least it hadn’t been destroyed in a controlled explosion by paranoid, over zealous security staff!

If getting through Customs seemed like a big pain, it was just a taster for the waiting that had to be endured as I lined up for a taxi outside in the late afternoon cold. That took another half hour before I could finally get a cab to the Greenpoint YMCA. I had to wait, not because there were no taxis, but because the queue was so long. As I patiently waited in line, I couldn’t help wondering if long queues where going to be a defining factor of my New York visit. Happily, it wasn’t.

Having scored myself a Yellow Cab, I told the driver where I wanted to go, and he seemed to be making good progress getting there by the quickest, most direct route – until he got lost in a warren of narrow, traffic laden streets close to my destination.

The driver knew the general location of Greenpoint, the Brooklyn suburb the YMCA is located in, but that seemed to be all. He kept stopping to ask the locals where the actual YMCA was, but most of them had no idea themselves. Even the information that the 94th Police Precinct Building was directly opposite the ‘Y’ didn’t seem to help.

However, all was not lost. Thanks to Google, I had printed out a map of the area surrounding the YMCA. This map had just enough information on it for me to help the driver find the building. Once we were on Manhattan Avenue and heading in the right direction, I was able to guide him to Meserole Avenue, the street the ‘Y’ was on.

I thought it quite ironic that having just arrived in New York for the first time, it was I who actually found the way for the taxi driver. If I hadn’t printed that page out via Google Maps, who knows how long we might have been driving around for!

The lesson here is to make use of these simple, cheap and incredibly useful online resources, whether provided by Google or other online mapping sites, and there are other mapping sites. They can save you a lot of time, stress, and money, and that can’t be a bad thing now, can it?