The Big Apple part 1 - Commuting

The next few blogs you read are all related to my experience in the one and only greatest City in the world, the place where dreams come true, New York City. I have decided to break the trip up into different areas of my experience, as I have so much to say and one long blog might be a tad laborious. So here I go. . .

In the last 5 days I have used almost every possible means of transport available to man. My journey to New York City has truly given me enough experience on commuting to last me my lifetime. I have to say that one of the most convenient parts of NYC is definitely the sub way. It took quite a lot of getting used to and a lot of questioning the people around me before I was actually comfortable using the dark and stinky place. I have to say that although it isn't a very pleasantly fragrant way of commuting or comfortable when you are layered in your 5 biggest coats and jackets from the cold air above the ground compared to the stuffy and crowded train, but it gets you from point A to B quickly and away from the traffic and madness of the city streets. Perfect for small town "plaas meisie" me.

I love travelling, I am starting to realise. By travelling I mean getting there and starting the fun, I hate air ports, I hate being stuck on a plane for hours and not being able to sleep and trying to get comfortable and I don't enjoy trying to navigate my way around places that I have never been before. Although I have to brag a little and confess that I think I am pretty freaking awesome at it. I think I managed to get to wherever I needed to be perfectly even when I was holding the map upside down from time to time.

On the way to New York I had my mind racing about how we were going to find the right bus, how were we going to know where to get off? what if we ended up in a dodge area? What happens if you get on the wrong train? I have to say that this experience has taught me that it really isn't the end of the world. Just ask someone and you're bound to find your way to where you need to be.

Taxi's are just maddeningly expensive. I cannot understand why the sweet eff you have to tip the dudes if you're bloody paying them to drive you around! I think it's bull, but that's just me. Needless to say I didn't use a cab once while I was there, only to get from my house to and from the airport, but only because I had no one to fetch me and my travel buddy.

I think the main hiccup of thr trip has to have been when our bus driver told us to get off at the Delta airlines terminal, only to realise that he dropped us off at the wrong one, not the one that flies to Chicago, so after about fourty minutes of waiting for a shuttle to take us to the correct terminal we could finally relax! Luckily for overly prepared me, we left for the airport about hours before our flght.

The stress I went through trying to figure this all out was overwhelming beyond words, even though I had loads of help from sisters and Internet research, taking something you have printed on a piece of paper and putting into practise with bags and coats and full hands can be rather challenging. After it all, I can definitely say that I am officially an experienced traveller commuter person and I am overly proud of myself, and yes I shall toot my own horn and let my head swell at the amount of independence I gained over 5 days. Now if I can just figure out where I put my subway map. . .

Excitement like never before

Da da da dada Da da da dada Da da da dada DA Start spreading the Neeeeews, I'm leaving in two sleeps. . . yeah you got it. I'm gonna be a part of it for 5 days and I plan to soak up every last bit New York.

I have been counting down the days since I booked my trip two months ago and I am rather shocked by the details that I didn't really think about. I am the kind of person that plans things down to the last grain of salt I might have to take with me (not that that is necessary for this trip).

After the count down suddenly changed from 2 months to a couple of days I figured maybe it was time to start organising exactly what both my travel companion and I are going to do. Plans like seeing Ground Zero, Central Park all the other wonderful sights that people dream of seeing had to be pushed aside for a moment while we figured out how the hell we are going to get to Times Square (which is one of the closest locations to our hotel). LaGuardia Airport is not connected to the sub way to start with. After using twitter, google and many other sources I was left confused and overwhelmed by the different buses, subway lines and names of streets that mean nothing to me.

I am happy to say that I think I know vaguely how the hell I am going to get this right. I cannot wait for this experience and the adventures that come with it. Look out New York, Concrete Jungle, make my dreams come true.

Healthy, wealthy and wise?

You know that you're in an area that isn't home anymore when you realise that you want to take a photo of nearly everything you see, even though you see it nearly everyday. More so, you know that you are in a place that you don't fit in very well when you get that sudden embarrassed urge to take a photo of your neighbours' car, the car that drives passed you every day when you walk your dog, the Ferrari that some dude just casually parks outside Starbucks for most of the day and even more scary, when you imagine yourself driving around and asking for a photo opp whenever you see your host mom's car.

I think the part about this that fascinates me the most, is that the Ferrari dudes car attracted no attention at all. Back home there would be hordes of people grabbing their camera phones and just taking photos of the mags and gasping at it's interior and trying not to leave greasy hand and breath marks all over the car. People simply walked passed it and if they did happen to look in the car's direction they would hardly take a glance at it, as if it were just another Toyota Carola!

Generally I think this place shocks me just because of it's wealthy towns folk, not so much the culture shock. It's only when you look through the car's darkened window and see the person sitting behind the steering wheel, when you realise that that person is exactly the same as you, except that person has a lot more money and that's where the culture shock comes from. M_O_N_E_Y. You wouldn't believe how much of an effect it has on a person.

But how does all this money really make a neighbourhood and its people so very different from every other neighbourhood in the world. I mean this aside from the materialistic things like the cars and houses. How can money make a society so different that it can send someone else into "Culture Shock". I think I have the answer.

People who can afford all sorts of wonderful luxuries like self service cashier points at shops, people that load the car for you, (I mean do all your shopping go fetch the car and they load it up for you and nothing gets stolen!) drive through Starbucks, Drive through ATMs, everything that's makes things "faster" and "more efficient". These are all things that result in a less productive more lazy society. You may think they're efficient simply because you may be halving your time or avoiding lines and lines of people, but really all your doing is giving yourself less reason to just get your butt out of the car and doing something for yourself.

These few things, as small and "not that big of a deal" as they seem actually make this whole set up that much more difficult to adjust to. The culture shock comes from people that think their own asses don't stink and therefore they seem to think that someone whose ass does, has to automatically do everything for them!

I think that's why they love South African Au pairs, they know we come from a back ground where we have to WORK to get what we want so we aren't afraid to work hard and try new things!