Monday, January 18, 2010

DC to NY Part 3

I slept really well and woke late on Sunday morning, missing breakfast yet again. I planned to spend the day in Manhattan but had nothing particular in mind. Walking to the subway station in the light of day revealed a neglected neighbourhood with abandoned warehouses, building sites and a lot of car repair shops that were hidden in the dark of night.

Manhattan was a lot of fun, I pottered all day and took in as much of the city as I could. As the evening drew in it started to rain and I occasionally dived into a few dodgy Irish bars to dry off. They were quite an experience, all owned by my compatriots but little reminded me of a pub at home apart from maybe bodhrán, tricolour or picture of the "old country" hanging on the wall. All of them had multiple TVs showing sport, any sport... something we're unfortunately adopting at home.

After another good nights sleep I woke late on Monday morning and yet again missed breakfast. Glad to find my car with wheels intact I drove towards the airport through as much of Queens as I could find to see what the rest of it looked like. It's a mixed bag, I probably stayed in the least populated part of the borough as I drove past sprawling housing projects which sat next to tree lined suburban streets next to industrial and retail complexes.

I stopped for a light lunch and spent a couple of hours in Queens Mall before heading for JFK. I was early for my flight and took the scenic route to the airport. When I finally got there I needed to fill the tank before bringing the car back to the hire company.

The petrol station in the airport was manic, cars everywhere and by the look of it most of them were limousines with bored, angry looking drivers hanging around waiting to be called for a fare. I looped the station a couple of times, negotiating narrow gaps left by the sprawl of ever moving limousines to got to a free pump. Finally I positioned the car in front of a pump and got out to fill the car.

The pump wanted my credit card so I obliged. Just as the pump started to complain about a zip code another car drew up its with stereo thumping at full blast. The owner ensured that his driver door was left open for maximum effect and leaving the car pulsating with its engine running he seemed to disappear into the petrol station shop. The pump was not accepting my card and I was getting frustrated, combined with the fact that I was getting very hungry and I could barely think over the noise from that car, the strop factor was increasing exponentially!

I decided to bail to find another, less manic, petrol station, Just to the east of the airport I came across a small, quite town that looked like the kind of place you'd get a bit of attention, unfortunately I wasn't paying much attention as I drove right through a red light. Luckily there were no blue lights around as I cruised through the intersection whee I found exactly what I was looking for, a quite petrol station with a man happy to help.

As I paid for a tank of gas I asked my new friend if there there was a good place to eat in this town, he smiled and said only if you like Chinese. Unsure if I should take that at face value or if there was a hidden message I decided to move on and get this car back to the rental lot and get to the airport.

I had checked in online for my flight and I just had to pickup a boarding card. The check-in lady asked me if I wanted to upgrade to an emergency exit seat and as she did she winked at me... I thought "hello!!"... however that initial wink was quickly followed by a series of winks & blinks culminating with an almighty sneeze... oh well!!

The flight home was bliss. There was one man sitting next to me as we boarded but as soon as the doors closed he took advantage of an empty row behind us leaving me with a row of emergency seats to myself. Happy days!!

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