Sydney/Bangkok/London/Dublin/Ireland/Dublin/New York/San Francisco/Sydney
21 August 2006 to 15 September 2006 – Mileage 25,418
Dublin to Frankfurt to New York
7/9/06 to 11/9/06
Gulp! Whilst I knew that we were flying out of New York to San Francisco on 9/11 months before, cuz suddenly decides to mention it on departing from Ireland. I decided at the time when we were making decisions about continuing with our trip in spite of all the problems around the world regarding terrorism and airports, that I might as well keep to the date as we were kind of flying in the face of danger all the time we were away.
We set out from Cassidy’s Hotel in Dublin on the morning of 7 September and after a delay getting out of the hotel car park, we set off for the airport. The receptionist at the hotel gave us a map that didn’t extend far beyond the immediate roads around the hotel, and marked it up. Trouble was the part that was missing was the problem part. As with most advice we received in Ireland regarding how to drive anywhere, it was just a ‘turn right here, then turn right again, then right, then just go ahead and you will end up on the M1.’ Something went wrong somewhere, and we were totally lost, heading for the docks! I wasn’t sure the airport was near the docks; but then I wasn’t sure where anything was once we left the hotel.
Ending up in a terrible traffic jam, already running short of time because of the delay at the hotel, we began to become a bit concerned. I finally stuck my head out the window at a set of lights and called out to a taxi driver next to us, “can you tell us how to get to the airport please?” He gave us a few directions then said that if we could keep behind him he would take us there. We both could have kissed him when finally we arrived at the airport and he led us to the signs that then led us to the car park for Hertz cars. Shame I didn’t get his rego number, it would have been nice to thank him if I could have managed to get word to him.
We parked the car and unloaded our gear, locked the car and headed across the park to find the Hertz office. All was well and we found our way eventually to the departure lounge with plenty of time to spare. Fortunately our stopover in Frankfurt was only 2 hours, and we were given boarding passes for both flights at Dublin. It wouldn’t be necessary for us to have to find our bags again until we reached JFK airport. The flight to Frankfurt was just under 2 hours, and this time we were flying with Lufthansa.
On arrival at Frankfurt we went through a number of checkpoints once again after catching a light rail from the arrivals to departure lounges. What a great idea, and something they should think about in Sydney between the domestic airport and the international airport. Shoes off again, and because we were flying during the night, I had to take my eye drops with me, and my doctor’s letter. No one picked it up in my bag in Dublin, but they did in Frankfurt. After searching my handbag thoroughly, I was allowed through. Cuz had wrapped a couple of key rings she bought in a T-shirt and she was held up while they searched through her bag. We also had to submit to another body frisk too. I forget how many times I had to show my boarding passes and passport in the days we were away.
We found a bar where we could smoke, and stopped there for a short while before heading off once again to find our lounge. We were amazed to see that within the airport, along the walkways to the lounges, there was several smoking areas set up against the windows. So in Frankfurt you didn’t have to go and sit in a sealed room filled with smokers, you sat out in the open space where everyone walked to their lounges. In London we found a smoking area beside a coffee shop. It was just closed off a bit with dividers that were only low and the view was out the windows across the tarmac.
We boarded our next flight to JFK and flew out at 5.30 pm local time in Frankfurt, with our arrival time expected to be approximately 7.10 pm NY time, a flight of approximately 8 hours and 10 minutes. Departure was ½ hour late. I was lucky enough to score an aisle seat and cuz missed out on a window seat. However, once the door was closed, we realised that the plane was only half full, and it was a big jumbo with 10 seats across all the way through the plane, except up front of course. Cuz got a window seat and I stretched out across the middle seat with my legs when I needed some room.
I noticed, flying in and out of Frankfurt, that there appeared to be a forest quite close to the city and there was also a lot of smog as the sky was brown looking. There wasn’t much else I could see, as I wasn’t next to a window. I guess, like in Sydney, the inhabitants can’t see the brown in the sky unless they are up high in a building looking out. I remember when I worked in the city of Sydney, on the 22nd floor of a building, that I was appalled when looking out my way towards the mountains. The sky was a dirty colour too, and yet at home we couldn’t see that.
Note: I paid 30 Euro for the bottle of Opium I purchased at Dublin and that was a good price for a large bottle as it’s quite expensive. The lipstick was 14.95 Euro so no bargain there.
First meal was lunch, although it was really dinnertime as it arrived around 7.00 pm. Lunch consisted of a few small dishes with different bits and pieces in them. I had some kind of ravioli (don’t know what it was stuffed with) in white sauce, a very small salad with dressing and a square of rhubarb crumble pie, water and coffee. Just after we took off from Frankfurt, we were served drinks with a small packet of pretzels. I lashed out this time and had vodka and coke as they didn’t have any Bacardi. Oh the drinks were free of course but not being a drinker, one was it for me.
However, after dinner the drink wagon came by again and this time I decided to have a Baileys and ice (after all it was free). The only way I ever drink Baileys is with ice and I never buy it when I am out. I buy it by the bottle and usually have a bottle for 12 months or more. Ah tis a beautiful drop!
Dinner was a big disappointment. A slice of pizza that reminded me of the frozen ones you can buy at home and heat up in a microwave – it was a small slice too. Oh, and a small chocolate. Wow! While in the air we had to fill in two forms for entry to the US, and this was when I found out we had to be fingerprinted and photographed at customs. I wasn’t too happy about that at all. I made a mistake on the form as it was the opposite to the way we fill in forms here, and I decided to leave it as no one came back past us to get a new form from, in spite of us being told they would. We had been warned that the forms had to be filled in correctly. Ah well, bad luck! The light was so bad in the plane I had difficulty seeing what I was reading. Glaucoma affects my ability to see well in poor light. I found out later that cuz had made the same mistake so I was pleased that this time I wasn’t the only dopey one in the group J
New York, New York – here we come!
We lined up in front of customs with our cabin gear at JFK, and the officials there who told you which line to get into, were like the Gestapo. I think it’s about time the owners of airports all around the world took a long look at customer service training for all of their staff. The Customs Officer I saw was the nicest one out of all of them on the trip. He actually smiled and conversed, expressing sympathy to me for the death of Steve Irwin. Steve would have smiled I’m sure, to know that even a Customs Officer at JFK airport knew about him and felt sad at his passing. I inwardly groaned facing the bag carousel again and was pleased I only had to do this a couple more times before I would be home.
More delays, waiting for our transfer from the airport to the hotel. We finally piled into a 4WD that was fitted with seats for 9 people and all our bags were stashed in the rear on top of each other. It was dark and we seemed to travel into some strange areas that to me looked spooky. The driver pulled into a service station driveway and questioned us all about where we were going. He wasn’t friendly at all and I felt that he too, must be part of the Yankee Gestapo. Not a good entry into a new country, and I wondered again why I hadn’t taken the hard way out and flown home from Dublin.
We arrived at the hotel at 9.00 pm only to find that the smoking room we were supposed to have didn’t exist anymore because on 1 September the hotel brought in a no smoking rule for all rooms. Great! Here we had paid $400 a night (no breakfast included) for 4 nights in New York, and we had to go and stand in the street to have a smoke! We were not impressed at all, and the view from the room was to die for, across the roofs of other buildings and into their untidy back areas. At least the room had air-conditioning as it was quite warm, the shower had plenty of hot water, and the loo appeared to flush normally, well as normal as loos overseas do flush. We are very lucky living down under, very lucky. I noticed water towers on top of buildings and found out later they are up there because of gravity. Can’t pump the water up to the floors, so gravity sends it down. How strange having those huts sitting on top of skyscrapers and less tall buildings.
After settling in the room, having a couple of smokes on the street and having a bit of a look around the street we were in, we went up to bed. Our hotel was The Lucerne on West 79th Street. Little did we realise that night, we were a long way from the action where we were staying, but we were close to Central Park. I never did go in there for a walk although I skirted around it a couple of times. It was quite noisy in the room that first night with sirens blasting out and the traffic that seemed to be always on the go. I didn’t have a coffee as the only coffee in the room was drip and there was no kettle, just a drip coffee maker.
We had a double bed each and for the next three nights, my cousin’s niece slept with her. She works in a University somewhere near Niagara Falls, and was due to arrive in New York the morning after we arrived, to spend the days we were there with cuz. I wasn’t inspired at all about being in the US and was quite happy for them to do whatever while I spent my time having a bit of a rest and going for walks at my pace, when I felt like it. I had found out after we arrived that there were any number of Laundromats in the area of the hotel and saw one on the opposite side of the street. My plan was to go there the next morning and do all my washing, as I needed some clean clothes badly. Before going to bed I received an sms message from Bryan telling me that Peter Brock, the King of the Mountain, had been killed. I couldn’t believe that I had only been away from home 3 weeks and two icons of our society had died, both in accidents. Peter Brock was an institution in Australia with his driving prowess, mainly in the big Bathurst races, where he had driven for many years.
Next morning, after breakfast at a restaurant near the hotel (reasonably priced too), I decided to take my garbage bag of clothes over to the Laundromat. I had visited the establishment earlier and found out that I could use the machines. I have never used a Laundromat before, not that I recall anyhow. This was a lesson for me. I had to use a coin converter because the machines only take coins not cash. The US dollar notes I had were old and the machine didn’t like them, so the owner gave me quarters in exchange for notes. The US money is very thin; like it is in all the countries I visited. Once again, we are very lucky in Australia as our notes have substance and a much longer life I’m sure. The coins are so well worn that it’s very difficult to read just what they are; another thing I found in other countries as well, although in Ireland the coins appear to be quite new looking. I had changed from baht to sterling to euro and now to dollars and cents US style and money was becoming a headache. In my bag there were envelopes with coins in them from all the countries I had visited, as you can’t exchange coin, only notes or cheques.
Each wash load cost $4.50; 9 quarters, and I used 2 machines, one for light clothes and one for dark. The wash loads took ½ hour each. The shop was busy with all the laundering they obviously do for people who live around the area, and probably for hotels and restaurants as well. New York appeared to be a city of apartment dwellers and I don’t imagine there were any backyards with clotheslines. Once I was finished with the washing I moved to the dryers. It cost a quarter for 7 minutes and after 28 minutes as most of the washing was either dry or close to dry, I packed the dry clothes into my garbage bag and asked for another smaller bag for the still too damp ones. I had been in the sweat Laundromat for long enough, time to escape.
By the time I departed and went back to the hotel, our visitor had arrived, and they had plans on what they were going to do. I suggested they take off without me, but they insisted I go. I decided to do as they wished, and once I had taken my clothes back upstairs and put the damp things around the bed to get dry, I grabbed my bag and headed down to the lobby.
The day was hot and muggy, so different to London and Ireland, and I was feeling the difference. We purchased 2 day bus/harbour cruise tickets and set off to the railway station that was only a block away to buy metro tickets that we could use on the buses in New York for $10 each for 6 trips. Finding our way to the hop on hop off bus stop down town, we stayed on the bus until it stopped near Battery Park where the ferries depart for Liberty Island and Ellis Island. I was disappointed with New York Harbour, as it appeared to be quite dirty compared to Sydney Harbour, although I have to admit I haven’t been a tourist in Sydney and living near a city blinds one to its faults no doubt.
We left the ferry to wander around Liberty Island, taking photos. Cuz and our visitor wandered around together and I was alone but not in the least bit worried, as there was no stress associated with being alone. We met up a couple of times and then all met again at the wharf to wait for the next ferry out. It was interesting to find out that the Lady Liberty is green due to the fact that she is made out of copper and that it took 30 years to go green. She is quite outstanding, but alone out there in the middle of the Harbour. Isolated in fact, except for the visitors that were there in their droves that day. I imagine a lot of people may have been in New York when we were there due to it being the weekend heading to 9/11. The girls were going to go up into the statue but found out you have to book days ahead to be able to do that.
The ferry stopped at Ellis Island, and as the day was disappearing fast and it was only an hour to the last ferry off the Island, we didn’t disembark and headed back to shore. At Battery Park, where the wharf was, we saw a number of stalls selling all the usual tourist items. As in most places around the world, there is very little variation between the stalls, so competition is the go. This is not the case in Australia. We have market days, every day of the week somewhere, and if you purchase space to have a stall, there are strict rules. The rules govern the type of stand you have as regards our strict safety rules under the banner of OH&S, and all stall holders have to have public liability insurance at quite a high cost, or pay extra for their stall space to have the cover provided by the group who run the market. Tables have to be a certain size to fit the space you pay for, and must be covered in whatever the market group decides is appropriate dressing. You have to unpack and pack at a time specified, not before, not after.
Then there are rules about what you can sell. Some markets are for craft items that are made in Australia only, and that’s not a bad thing when overseas goods are inundating us. The rules also cover just what you can sell. So if a market already has, as an example, a wooden toy maker, another wooden toy maker would find it hard to get permission to have a stall, or in the case of a large market, would be a long way from the other toy maker, and would have to be displaying toys of a different type.
If you wish to sell food, then this opens up a whole new range of rules and regulations under the Health Act. Actually all of the rules and regulations have taken the fun and competition out of a lot of the markets, and I think they are suffering because of this. Food stalls are not allowed at some market places because they may be near food shops and the competition isn’t allowed. So much for democracy J Seeing the difference overseas really held my interest, having dabbled a bit in market stalls in Sydney. Of course over here, we have a problem with flies, so food has to be covered and if it’s hot food, it must be at a temperature that has been set by the Health Department. Anyone found selling food that is not at the right temperature faces heavy fines. So setting up to sell food at markets is a costly exercise. I found it amazing around the world to see people cooking food on the footpath and selling it. Just amazing!
From Battery Park we walked to the site of the Twin Towers that is now just a huge hole in the ground, surrounded by a fence. People walked up to the fence, gazed in, took photos, and silently walked away. It’s like any construction site, and yet there is a revered air about it. No one speaks, no one laughs, and silence is all you hear.
I followed behind the girls not knowing where we were going. We seemed to walk in circles and ended up back at Battery Park. From there we walked uptown and I hoped we were going to get a bus back to the hotel. It was getting late, people were going home from work and as I didn’t particularly like New York, I wasn’t fussed about being somewhere out there, in the dark. There were so many people everywhere we went and I had to concentrate on keeping up with the two in front of me all the time. We did get on a bus eventually, but it went on a tour through Time Square, which was amazing at night, and then I was told by cuz that we were getting off at the Empire State Building.
I had told cuz before we ever went to New York that I wouldn’t be going up in the Empire State Building as I have a problem with heights, and I wouldn’t enjoy the experience one bit. I was dismayed that we ended up outside the building, as I really just wanted to go back to the hotel. But we were so far away from West 79th Street, so I stood outside while they went and lined up. I wandered into a store that was open almost next door, and bought a couple of T-shirts and a sloppy-joe for San Francisco, and then crossed the road to another store and bought a heap of postcards. I think they were about 10 cents each, so very cheap. I hadn’t had any dinner and didn’t want to disappear in case they came out fairly soon. I needn’t have worried, they were gone about 2 hours, and I had to stand there waiting. There was only one park bench on the footpath outside the Empire State Building on the side where I was, and it was taken. Just before the girls came out of the building I actually got a seat.
We left the area and started walking again. I was so tired and hungry and all I wanted was to get on a bus and head to the hotel. However, we were lost again and walked around in circles until finally we found a bus stop where we could get a bus back uptown. We arrived back at the hotel at 10.30 pm and cuz asked me was I going to go with them and have something to eat. I swallowed my tongue. 9.30 had been too late in Ireland! I said no that it was too late for me to have dinner as I would have to stay up half the night if I ate, and that I would just go up to the room and do some writing. They arrived back after I had done my cards, gone to the local convenience store for water, and had a shower. It wasn’t long and we were all in bed.
The next morning, after spending a lot of the night with aching legs, I rubbed myself with dencorub and said that I was having a rest day. The girls went off on their own after we had breakfast, and I went off to find the post office to post my cards. Funny thing about breakfast. When we were there the first morning alone, cuz and I had breakfast sitting on the pavement under cover at the restaurant. I went about 15 minutes later the second morning, and the girls weren’t anywhere to be seen. I decided to go inside the restaurant and found them in a room that you couldn’t see existed if you didn’t go looking for it. I wondered if cuz did that on purpose hoping I wouldn’t find them. Woops, think I was getting neurotic!
It was Saturday morning and the post office was actually open. Not many are open in Sydney or out where I live anyhow, of a Saturday. I lined up with a lot of other people and it took ½ hour to get to a window, as only 2 were open. A lady behind me started to chat and amazingly she was there to post away books to people she had sold them to on eBay! She buys books at sales and then resells them. How uncanny that I would meet a lady who dealt in books. She was very interesting and we had a great chat for the time we were in the line. The stamps cost me 75c each for the post cards back to Australia.
I found a locksmith shop near the hotel and managed to buy the locks that are approved by the US Customs for my bags. They cost $12.95 I think from memory plus tax. I was getting used to paying tax and then service charges and being expected to tip all over the place as well by then. The restaurants put the charges on your bill and often have a dish or a container on the counter for more tips. Far out! We were advised by the travel agent in Australia to expect to pay a gratuity of $1 for each bag that we had with us when we were driven to and from the airport. That was on top of the charge we paid for the transfers. And the porters at the hotels expect a tip when they take your bags to your room for you. I half expected the hotel workers who opened the doors to the lobby for you, or pressed the buttons on the lift for you, to also hold their hands out. Totally alien way of life to what I live.
Heard from Bryan that there has been a lot of rain at home so that was welcome news as we need water desperately in our dams. Not so good when you are there in all the wet stuff, but fine for me J I met a lady out walking 2 dogs one day, near the hotel. She walks them for people who live in an apartment. I patted the dogs and thought about my beautiful Shaye a long, long way from where I was standing. There were many people out every day walking dogs; families with their dogs in toe as well. It appears that New York must have a large dog population, and I felt sorry for them not having a backyard like our dogs do in Australia.
I spent the rest of my time in New York just wandering around on my own when I felt like it. The girls went off on their own, staying out till late at night after leaving after breakfast, and I was happy having some quiet rest and a bit of exercise. I bought a few items to take home for family, and just wished the days away so I could go home. But there was another leg of the trip to go yet; 9/11 flight to San Francisco and on United Airlines too!
I made sure that our transfer arrangements were in place to get to the airport in time for our flight and also checked our flight. Cuz never asked about the arrangements, guess she just took it for granted that I would handle that. I looked after our vouchers and our airline tickets all the time that we were away, carrying them around with me everywhere we went. Be a martyr and others will let you happily J
Things I noticed in New York and impressions of New York, keeping in mind that I am not a city person.
There are no buttons on traffic lights; you wait for the red hand to turn to a white human type cartoon drawing taking a step and then you can walk;
New York seems to be predominately made up of taxis, police cars and buses as far as traffic in the city goes;
The taxis are all yellow and are big fords;
It costs $2.50 to get into a taxi and 40 cents for each 1/5 of a mile plus 40 cents for each 2 minutes delay in traffic hold-ups plus charges for weekdays between 4.00 pm and 8.00 pm;
The police cars are all black and white and big fords;
Taxi drivers are predominately black as are the drivers of the transfer vehicles. I noticed that most of the hotel males doing the menial tasks were black as well. I found the transfer drivers to be what I consider ‘rude’ or ‘ill mannered’ – like they are doing you a favour. I had to force myself to give them a tip on arrival;
Drivers in New York constantly blow their horns at each other and this, to me, was a continual annoyance, as it was in Bangkok. Even in a traffic jam where no one could move, they blew their horns like idiots;
I was told that most New Yorkers don’t own cars and walk everywhere. That was quite obvious when I was there, unless the city was full of tourists;
Although there are thousands of taxis, or appear to be, it also is apparent that it’s hard to get a taxi to pull over and pick a passenger up. One of the guys from the hotel used to stand out on the road, in his hotel uniform, trying to hail taxis for people leaving the hotel. They often ended up walking;
Finding somewhere to buy a cool drink or cigarettes etc is a chore. I am so used to where I live and the convenience of shops all over the place, that I found it totally frustrating at times when we were out and I needed a bottle of water. Fortunately, on the opposite corner to the hotel, there was a 24-hour convenience store and it was a chemist as well. They sold all kinds of things, including food, so it was very handy;
I found the people serving in shops unfriendly too and once again, the Gestapo mentality of ‘stand over here, not there’, ‘come to this checkout, not that one’ and on it went. Is it just a personal thing with me, or are a lot of people unfriendly in New York, from the airport to the city and back?
Monday morning arrived and I was up at 6.00 and packing. When cuz finally got out of bed, she dressed and walked to the bus stop with her niece after I said goodbye to her. I gave her my bus ticket because she had used all her 6 rides up and needed to get to the city to catch her bus back. I was given her used ticket for memorabilia. We were down in the lobby at 8.00 am ready for our transfer pick-up. No breakfast as I wasn’t feeling hungry and cuz didn’t want to eat.
At the airport we finally worked out where we were supposed to check in, but were sent to the wrong counter (Gestapo again) and stood in front of a computer screen that wanted us to put in information. A guy finally walked over and asked if we needed help and told us, in an annoyed voice, that we were on the wrong line. We retaliated, sick of them by now, and said we had been told (ordered) to go to that desk. He backed down and did our check-in for us. He charged me $50 extra for my bag, saying it was overweight. I told him I had travelled around the world and nothing was in that bag that wasn’t in it when I left Sydney and no one else had said it was overweight. He shrugged and I paid up.
The flight took just over 5 hours and I was so sick of flying by this time. The flight was the roughest we had been on as we crossed from one side of the US to the other. I had to use the loo and could barely stand up in there to get my jeans down, let alone sit on the loo, and then get the jeans up again. I was feeling pretty concerned, it being 9/11 and a United Airlines flight. I cursed the fact that we were flying United home from San Francisco. The plane was small, crowded, and uncomfortable. We had to buy food if we wanted to eat and so I did buy food, as I needed to eat. Cuz wouldn’t buy anything, she was in a mood again and angry about having to pay. We left New York at 11.30 am New York time and arrived in San Francisco at 2.00 pm their time. I was so glad when the plane hit the tarmac and we alighted.
New York is 14 hours behind Sydney, and San Francisco is 17 hours behind Sydney. I was getting good at working out when to sms home by now and my phone was working well except that I couldn’t get the charger to work in the hotel in New York. I had a converter plug but it wasn’t going to work. Luckily the hotel had a cord that fitted the phone and they loaned it to me while we were there.
My final story is yet to be written, about San Francisco.
Vena McGrath
14 October 2006
