Round The World and other travels

A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries

This is: A Taste of the Deep South (2013)

Crossing the line

This was the day that we were due to leave behind genteel Southern charms and head north across the Mason-Dixon line for an in-your-face blast of the high definition, surround sound, action-packed blockbuster that is New York City! We knew that the weather forecast for the next couple of days was far from promising, but this did little to suppress a mounting sense of excitement and anticipation. We ate a light breakfast at the hotel as usual, checked out and drove to the airport, which took a little longer than anticipated due to a surprising lack of gas stations along the way.

Check-in for the flight was easy, as was our passage through Security. Somewhat ominously, an announcement was made at the gate asking for volunteers to be off-loaded from the flight as a weight restriction was being imposed on the aircraft due to adverse weather conditions in the New York area. It seemed that they must have resolved the problem, however, as we both managed to board without difficulty.

(Link to flight log in side panel)

In case you didn't read the flight log - and this is one that you definitely should read! - I arrived at New York's Kennedy airport as a solo traveller.   Due to lack of sufficient people willing to accept Delta's bribes, Bruce had been involuntarily removed from the flight. Sorry, what was that? Yes, I am indeed able to confirm that this was prior to departure!

As a consequence, I was not exactly bubbling over with joy as I set foot on the tarmac in the third state of the trip, in this instance a familiar one.

NEW YORK
NEW YORK, the Empire State, was the 11th to join the Union on 26 July 1788, and was named in honour of the Duke of York. While most people associate it with the city of the same name, the state is in fact mostly rural in nature, with dairy farming being the most important agricultural pursuit. New York State stretches from the Niagara Falls and the shores of Lake Erie in the west through Syracuse, across the Catskill Mountains, down to New York City and all the way to the eastern tip of Long Island. Or from Staten Island in the south, you can follow the Hudson upriver to state capital Albany, then cross the Adirondacks to find yourself within an hour's drive of Montreal. Talking of which, New York was the first state in the USA to require 'license plates' on cars.
New York, New York, so good they named it twice! The Big Apple was a phrase originally coined by musicians to refer to hitting the big time. The New York Post, established by Alexander Hamilton in 1803, is the longest running newspaper in the United States. New York City was the first capital of the USA, and George Washington took his oath of office on the balcony at Federal Hall in 1789. Joseph Gayetty invented toilet paper in New York City in 1857. The first American brewery was established in lower Manhattan, and the country's first pizzeria was opened by Gennaro Lombardi in 1895. Manhattan’s Chinatown contains the largest Chinese enclave in the United States. The Federal Reserve Bank vaults under Wall Street contain 25% of the world’s gold bullion. The Brooklyn Bridge was the first in the world to be lit by electricity, and Brooklyn was also an independent city until 1898 when it became a borough of New York City. 36% of the population of New York City was born outside the United States, and 47% of households speak a language other than English at home. The New York City Subway is the largest in the world, with over 800 miles of track and 468 stations. It carries an average of 5 million people every weekday, and operates 24/7. The musicians who perform in the Subway have to go through a competitive audition process, and some have even played Carnegie Hall.

As I bought a few bites to eat and made my way to baggage reclaim, at least I had the reassurance of a couple of texts from my friend, letting me know that he had cancelled the pre-booked car service to the hotel as it did not make economic sense for a single passenger, and telling me that he had been on the phone to Marriott so that there wouldn't be any problem when I turned up at the hotel trying to occupy a room booked in someone else's name.

I flinched again at how cold it felt as I stepped outside to catch one of the iconic yellow cabs to Downtown Manhattan. The driver had to fight his way through some horrendous traffic at the start of the Memorial Day holiday weekend, but eventually we pulled up outside the Marriott Downtown, just steps away from Ground Zero. This is where things took a further turn for the worse. Despite Bruce's efforts to ensure that I would not be left in the lurch, the check-in staff had no record of any message being received. It didn't matter that I knew the booking reference number and it didn't matter that I was a member of their loyalty programme. "Sir, unless we have a message from the person who booked the room saying that you're to be allowed to check in, there's just no way that we're checking you in. I'm really sorry, but that's the rule." As Bruce was not contactable at this point, presumably in transit, I resigned myself to having to wait around for the next few hours. The joys!

Before long, the sight of people arriving in the lobby drenched and shivering alerted me to the fact that the weather had become much worse. Sure enough, a glance at the front door showed sheets of rain coming down diagonally - atrocious conditions! Rather than just sit there, I considered booking into another hotel for one night only and, to my great surprise, even found a reasonably priced room at the DoubleTree using my iPhone. But it was half a mile away - too far to walk with heavy luggage and with people caught out in the current weather conditions, I didn't imagine there would be many taxis cruising around empty.

Eventually I got so bored that I decided to go for a walk. It was a terrible idea: the weather was still ghastly and I only succeeded in becoming cold and wet. Back at the Marriott, I was even given a hard time when nature eventually called and I found that the men's room in the lobby area was closed: "I'm sorry, Sir, there are no public restrooms in this building". I nearly exploded with rage at that point. Around 5pm, I felt so hungry that I ventured out again in search of sustenance and ended up sampling the delights of TGI Friday. Thinking of the previous evening at McCrady's in faraway Charleston, it seemed like a case of 'how are the mighty fallen'.

Bruce eventually made it to the hotel sometime between 6 and 7pm, having endured all sorts of problems of his own in an attempt to get Delta to rebook him the same day. He was livid about what had happened to me and made this clear at check-in. The member of staff checked the system, confirmed that there was no sign of any message and said that, given this fact, the staff dealing with me had acted correctly. However she accepted that we were both due an apology for the failure of someone to update the system with Bruce's instructions and offered to send a bottle of wine to the room.

With access to the room eventually granted, I didn't waste too much time in turning in for the night. This dreadful day had gone on long enough and it was time to put it out of its misery. I had a bone to pick with both Delta and Marriott; Mason-Dixon wasn't the only line that had been crossed.