Start Spreading The News
Our plane out of Cape Cod wasn’t leaving until 1:30 this afternoon so we had a pretty leisurely morning. We got to take our time packing up and Tony was nice enough to help us down the stairs with all our bags and load them into the car, waving us off as we drove down the street like long, lost friends. It was actually so handy having the car to get to the airport, which wasn’t really that far (we had walked it yesterday) but it would have been a different story with all our luggage!
The tiny airport at Hyannis has only recently started flying straight to New York so we were lucky we didn’t have to travel all the way back to Boston. We ate our first meal of the day (at 12pm!) at the little airport diner, run by Ralph, the retired marine, who had badges all over his cap and a medal to show for his service. He had a thick Boston accent and was an absolute character. Everyone around the airport knew him and as they came in to get their food, they’d greet each other by name and chat for a bit. One guy was just leaving when we got there and their conversation went like this:
“Ralph, that sandwich was just outstanding. Outstanding.”
“Thank ya kid”
“Where do I put this bottle? Ya got anywhere special to putta bottle?
“Yeah just outside the door s’abucket. Goes in dere”
“That’s fanastic. I never saw that before. No doubt about ya. See ya tomorra Ralphy!”
Ralph had loud Dean Martin music playing in his diner, to which he was loudly and enthusiastically singing along, totally entertaining and enthralling his customers. He proudly revealed to me that he made all his own bread rolls and picked out warm ones, fresh out of the oven, especially for us. He had told me he had all kinds of different breads….and his home made special ones too. When I told him I could not resist one of his home made ones, he said “why thank ya ma’am!” I was so impressed by the sandwich he made me and had to agree with his friend – it was outstanding. I thanked him before we left and said it was “yummy”. He said he was very pleased he was able to make my day yummy!
There are advantages and disadvantages associated with being at the front of the plane. Obviously it’s great to be first off when you reach your destination but it also means you have the longest wait to be able to board and it’s a gamble as to whether or not there’s any precious space left in the overhead lockers. We were in the third row from the front so we had a long wait to board and had to squish our bags into the locker with only inches to spare! No sooner had we settled in, buckled up and been briefed on which straps to pull to tighten our life jackets, than the Captain dealt us a blow by announcing that the JFK Airport in New York was actually closed due to severe thunder storms. Oh bugger. What was going to be an extremely brief flight (only 35 minutes!) was turning out to be a very long flight! We had to remain on the plane just in case the airport was reopened unexpectedly and were given drinks and chips to appease us. Every time the Captain gave us an update – fairly frequently – the elderly lady in front of us would put in a call back home to fill them in on the exact situation and status of our flight. Either she was hard of hearing herself, or the person she was relaying the information to was stone deaf because she was speaking SO loudly. It was actually hilarious and she was totally oblivious to the fact that the entire plane was in on her conversation, having their own private chuckle at her. The funny thing was (apart from the sheer volume) was that she just kept repeating the same information. Blow by blow. There was nothing new!
After 3 hours on the tarmac (yes, three whole hours and a whole Women’s Weekly crossword later), we finally took off. Sam had downloaded a movie and doubted he’d have time to watch it. Turns out he had ample time! It pays to be prepared. Even when we did arrive at JFK, we had to wait for the backlog of planes to be processed before we could taxi to our gate. We toyed with the idea of catching a train and connecting to the subway to get to our hotel (for about 5 minutes) before booking ourselves on the Super Shuttle that takes us, and our luggage, directly to our hotel. After battling trains and buses with those bags in Toronto, we swore we’d never do that again. The shuttle was packed to the rafters and though we were all sitting in such close proximity (almost on one another’s laps; we were inadvertently playing Corners!) no-one said a word for the entire journey, not even the woman sitting right next to the driver. Speaking of the driver, he not so much drove, but bustled – his van darting in and out of traffic at a heart-stopping rate. I was watching through my fingers as we swerved to miss buses, trucks and pedestrians! We came to an intersection teeming with pedestrians with no end in sight so he just started tapping on his horn in a constant beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep as he hustled towards them at about 30kms an hour, his foot pressed firmly to the metal (as opposed to the brake!) The 10 passengers onboard all gave a nervous laugh (thanking God that we were still in one piece) and he announced, “Welcome to New York City!” Far out! The peak hour traffic was so hectic! Some sort of emergency going on also meant that ambulances, fire trucks and police cars were all trying to clear themselves a path through the traffic mayhem, their sirens blasting. Our driver even tried muscling out the ambulance! We saw another car try to pull off a sneaky manoeuvre and drive along the shoulder, overtaking kilometres of cars. The trouble for him was that it did get pretty damn skinny in parts and he almost pulled of a re-entry along the traffic fence, sparks flying! I saw a side mirror, severed from its car, lying on the ground there too so I doubt he was the first New York maniac to have tried that stunt! It was just CRAZY! I wouldn’t drive in New York City if you paid me!
Thankfully we were the first cab off the rank (excuse the pun) with our hotel the first stop. I almost had a tear of joy, planting my feet back on the terra firma! What a relief. As we waved off the remaining passengers, anxiety written all over their faces, I silently prayed they’d make it too. Our hotel, which even has the name “Times Square” in its title, funnily enough isn’t really at Times Square (as the name would lead you to believe). Admittedly we’re probably only around 4 blocks away from the iconic crossroads but I had visions of being able to see the giant ball and billboards from the window, the flashing neon lights blinking all through the night. Even so, our hotel is really nice and quite a step up in the quality of accommodation we’ve been used to over the past few days. Just slightly!
Sam has started to come down with a cold and is feeling a bit under the weather with a sore throat, running nose and stuffed up head. In what is very unfortunate timing, for the first time this trip, we actually have to share a bed – it is a king sized bed but still. I don’t want to catch Sam’s cold and he could probably do with a nice comfy bed of his own. Oh well, hopefully he’ll be on the mend soon (and will keep his germs to himself!)
After an extensive Face Time session with the rest of the family, it was time to hit the city that never sleeps and get ourselves something to eat. It has been 4 years since we’ve been here but we both agreed it seemed a LOT busier tonight than we’d remembered it being before. There are just so many people physically on the footpath and there were long queues outside most restaurants and bars with music and people spilling out onto the street. We saw the exciting lights of Times Square and felt the buzz of this mega-metropolis as the bight yellow signature NYC cabs sped past us on every side. Wow! New York is so unique! As we made our way to the Shake Shack for some scrumptious dinner we had to make a concerted effort to stick together or we’d just get caught up in the throng!
We are really excited to be here and are pumped for tomorrow! We’re meeting up with my friend Daina, from school, and spending the day together exploring the Big Apple! Can’t wait…
