After deciding upon travelling to London the night before and staying in a hotel near to the airport due to an early 7:30 am flight, my father and I decided to have a america themed meal and cocktails to celebrate me leaving for my Big Adventure. Salted caramel ice cream sundae demolished, belly full of good food and hands full of American money, I was ready for the next morning.
11th June
After practically waltzing through the airport check in, I said my good bye to my father, who reminded me not to talk to strange men and not to get too drunk (Father Payne words of wisdom..) and went straight to departures, excited to finally be off.
Arrived in JFK airport in New York after a long flight with a 2 hour stopover in Dublin, where I am pretty sure i was the only non irish or american person on the flight. Having had no trouble on the flight, I picked up my suitcase within a minute of arriving at the baggage claim. My luggage had arrived safely! So far so good.
Clutching my reservation numbers for hostel and shuttle from the airport, i arranged the travel and waited with my suitcase to be picked up, after sampling my first Dunkin' Donuts doughnut and drink... Delightful.
My shuttle arrived and took me and three other groups of people to Hostelling International NYC at the corner of 103rd and Amsterdam Avenue, Lower Manhattan. The building was a beautiful red brick, and recognisable from the abnormally large numbers of young people with backpacks larger than themselves nestled around the entrance and courtyard. Checking in, i made my way up to the room to find 5 bunk beds in a plain but spacious room, and was overjoyed to find I had been assigned the top bunk. The little girl in me did somersaults.
Hostelling international NYC is brilliant for single travellers, because it organises 'things to do' throughout the day and night, and even before I had caught my flight I had decided i would go on the Harlem Gospel walking tour at 5:45, so spent a quick 45 minutes walking around near the hostel, finding my bearings, eating a massive slice of pizza from Mama Pizza at 106th street, with peach snapple and then walked through a pretty part of Central park to return to the hostel.
The weather was ideal for the walking tour, sunny but not sweltering hot. After meeting our guide at the hostel, an adorable little old man who had lived in NY his whole life, a small group of about 12 set off to Harlem. We took the underground train, and our guide told us all about how Harlem is known for being a rough area, but led us through the residential areas, and telling us about where he used to 'boogie' and how every area has its problems, and that Harlem doesn't deserve its 'rough' stereotype.
Ending up at the Gospel church was fantastic. The choir members passion and enthusiasm was infectious and our whole tour group couldn't help but smile, laugh and clap along, wanting to join in but not ruin the performance with our own singing skills (or lack of skills...). During the tour, I made friends with Lauren, Tanya and Diego, and we arranged to meet again for the 'Drinks and Games' hostel event later in the evening.
Half an hour later we re-assembled and marched with others from the hostel to Fat Cats bar, which had pool, ping pong tables and skittle, and after a few expensive drinks and attempts at 'shooting pool' we made our way to another bar called 'Down the Hatch' and sat around chatting.
Lovely way to spend my first day and night in America, and wish I had had more than just one to enjoy and explore.