I've decided to start posting the pictures from my trip to New York last year. Although I try to post in chronological order as a general rule, I think it's time to post these so that I can write the stories that accompany the pictures while they're still relatively fresh in my mind!
While on the trip, I kept a journal in my phone, which I later copy-pasted into Word and printed. Some of the upcoming stories will come from that document.
It all started in August 2013. I had been talking about going to New York City for five years, ever since I'd come back from Europe in 2008. In August (after having known each other for just over a year), Ally decided to take action for me by booking the plane tickets. Uh oh! Now I had to put my money where my mouth was. But it was great. I spent literally hours in the front room of the Shithaus taking suggestions on Facebook; narrowing down the things we wanted to see; figuring out how much they would cost; and figuring out the subway system. The spaghetti-like New York subway map was intimidating compared to the TTC subway map, but eventually I figured out their system…which is actually pretty decent. Anyway, before we left the house, I had a rock-solid plan for how we’d get around the city.
We chose September 11th as our departure date because Ally thought we’d be able to go to the 9/11 memorial, and I thought it’d be cool to be in New York on September 11th…but the memorial was closed to the public on that day, so we chose the 13th in advance to go see it.
I also want to point out that at that point during the summer, we started having a more-direct conflict with one of our roommates. It’s explained in my Summary of 2013 picture/story, but suffice to say, the timing was great. We needed to get away. This was also my first big trip with Ally, so that was exciting, too.
On the morning of the 11th, we got up in darkness at 4:40am, from our little bedroom in the back of the Shithaus, ate, and walked up the street to catch the streetcar. It was a warm morning, and I was wearing a bright green wifebeater and black shorts. This was my first time going to the Island Airport, and it was great to be able to whip across downtown and not have to haul ass across the whole city. Of course, in the houses I used to live in, going to Pearson would have made more sense, but I was living downtown when I went to New York. Anyway, after about four wrong streetcars, we got on the 501 and took it to Bathurst Street. We then took the bus down to Fleet Street and walked through the warm morning darkness to the ferry terminal. At least half the people on the ferry looked like airport staff. We got there 40 minutes early. So far, it was a great experience. The terminal was small and not crowded, and it must have taken only 30 seconds to get from the entrance to the security area. It was the complete opposite of Pearson. We went through security and were of course “randomly” selected for the body scanner. I knew to expect that, a) as a man, and b) travelling on September 11th. I took this picture right after picking up our stuff off the conveyor belt, at the top of the escalator that would take us down into the lounge.
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Once in the lounge, I drank two bottles of water and read the Star as Ally pointed out the red sun rising through the smog. The lounge was big, and quiet – not many people in the airport at 7:00am. One woman tried to convince the staff that her Chihuahua was a guide dog.
We got on the Bombardier Q400 and took off very quickly, and soon banked left over Lake Ontario. It was hazy and hot, so I couldn’t see very much detail below us. After a while, we flew over what I assume was the Appalachian Mountains. It looked like a series of large hills alternating with valleys full of mist. In what was probably the shortest flight I’ve ever taken, we soon started descending into New Jersey. I could see the Empire State Building stand out through the thick yellow haze, and shortly afterward I saw the World Trade Center. We flew over a mix of swamps and industrial lands, and landed hard.
When we got into the terminal, it was almost empty. We walked to the huge customs room and were the only passengers there. We then found our way to the train ticket machines, bought tickets, then went up an escalator to the monorail. An employee was up there telling us (I think) that we were going to have to transfer trains at the next stop.
Being a transit nerd, I thought the AirTrain was awesome. It was basically a series of small pods that could hold maybe 8 people, with carpeted floors, and windows all around. It’s the kind of thing I’d like to see in Toronto. They sometimes have these things on university campuses. It’d sure make a difference at a school like York! Anyway, I took this pic looking west (I think) as we rode from the airport to the Newark Liberty International Airport Station, where we would catch the commuter train to Manhattan.
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Ally's smiling face as we ride the monorail! She just told me now that at the time, she was really relieved to be away from our roommate, but also uncertain about our accommodations. I didn't remember that, so it's great to have her perspective as I type these little stories.
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After we got off the monorail, we walked across a little sky bridge of sorts, and I stopped to take this picture with my real camera on the way down the stairs/escalator/can’t remember, to the train platform, which was just to the left of the dirt road.
Also, I was late for placement today partially because I spent breakfast editing this picture…but mostly because the connecting streetcar was broken down or otherwise not running a few minutes north of where I had to catch it…so I had to take a taxi. Note to self: Don’t edit pictures while half-asleep before placement in the morning.
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When we walked down to the train platform, we realized how hot it was outside. It must have been 30 degrees! Which is nice for September. Anyway, we waited around for about 15 minutes and then the single-story (!) New Jersey Transit train showed up. It had a wood theme and brown leather seats, like if you combined a woody diner with a school bus. The view of Manhattan was mostly obscured by trees and buildings as we went under the Hudson River into the train tunnel, and when we came out the other side, we were several stories below ground, looking up at a big construction site at Manhattan's Penn Station. We then walked around the station and bought our weekly transit passes, then got on the subway to our next destination: The apartment we booked in Queens.
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