Travel day means a Sarah blog day. Alan's point of view will today be in green
We woke nice and early this morning as we needed to get to the airport in plenty of time for our customary manhandling by airport security. They didn't disappoint us. Today it was a little different as we were ushered off into a private area for our 'going over'. Better than in San Diego where it was done in front of the patrons of Starbucks. Buffalo is by far the smallest airport we've flown out of so far, but they had the longest wait to get through security.
We started to get concerned after sitting at the gate for a while as we were supposed to be at 2A and there was only a 2 and it was deserted. We felt a bit silly when we asked an airport employee who indicated the handwritten 2A over a door, that was until we saw everyone else subsequently asking where to find the 2A door.
Our one flight attendant, all you get on these small planes that only sit 50 people, was gay and picked that we were Australian after only a few words. It would seem that all the gay men can pick an Australian. I don't know what that says about us. Doesn't say anything about me. Everyone knows I'm as straight as straight can be.
After collecting our luggage we arranged the Supershuttle to our accommodation in Manhattan. Only a short 90 harrowing minutes later, we arrived at our hotel. We seem to be in a fairly good area of the city here on east 32nd street. I don't know what it is about Supershuttle drivers. I think they must get them all together and teach them how to drive without looking at the road and how to accelerate up to traffic and abruptly put their foot on the brake. The stereotypes are certinly true in that New Yorkers are ridiculously impatient. The drivers turn corners without even considering people crossing the road and queue across intersections like it's their god given right. Pedestrians stand on the streets barely inches from passing traffic waiting to dash across the to the other side instead of waiting the extra 30 seconds to get a walk signal. People in Sydney complain about traffic. They should try coming here for a day or two and then they'd realise that Sydney is like heaven compared to New York or Los Angeles. I would never even consider being a courier over here.
The hotel is nice, which is good considering we are paying a fortune for it. Our room is on the small side but, funnily enough, our bathroom is the largest we've had on this trip. I would have much preferred they reduced the bathroom and increased the living area. We are supposed to have a queen size bed. It is more like a small double. I guess it is perfect for newlyweds. If it gets too cramped, Alan can always sleep in the tub. Nah I'll just shove Sarah off the side of the bed.
We tried to cash a travellers cheque at the hotel but they wouldn't cash $100. So, we thought the next best thing would be the Chase Bank. Wrong. They don't cash travellers cheques without a passport, which we had left in our room. We are in the most populated city in the US and the bank won't cash it although she did suggest we try Macy's across the road. I can't understand the logic.
We went to a little restaurant/bar at the base of the Empire State Building which is around the corner and one block up from our hotel, for a late lunch. On the way back we saw that the waiting time for the Observation Tower was only 30 minutes and decided to wait an hour and return, that way we could see it in the light and watch the sunset. However, when we returned the waiting time was up to 60 minutes. Obviously others had the same idea as us. We decided to try it again another day as we would have missed the sunset by the time we made it to the top.
It's getting very tiresome trying to talk to people who either can't or won't understand what we're saying. When we went out for dinner tonight the guy taking our order could barely comprehend a word I was saying to him. I could have sworn I was speaking English. I guess I should be speaking American instead. Sarah suggested that we find an Australian bar tomorrow just so we could have a conversation with someone to whom we won't need to repeat ourselves half a dozen times.
No photos today.
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