Before we came away, we were told you either love or hate New York. So now it’s time for us to tell the truth…….but first, the story of the drive from the hotel to JFK.
Before we went away, John and Matt looked into hiring an American muscle car. Thank goodness we didn’t, drivers are all bonkers in NYC and the only competence test appears to based on how frequently you use the horn! Our driver was one of the best – tooting for no apparent reason, driving over kerbs and along walkways, cutting up other drivers and refusing to let an ambulance past. We arrived at JFK, both shaken and stirred!
Now let’s talk about JFK – disorganised and no free wifi, hence no blog, but a great burger bar called Shake Shack.
Arriving at Heathrow was heavenly- no queues and smiley people, it’s good to be home. Matt wondered what all the green stuff was, a lengthy explanation of grass and trees followed. We haven’t seen much of either recently and it made us realise how lucky we are (not the usual response to Heathrow and the M25, we know). The car even started despite John’s prediction of a flat battery. It came as a shock that he’s not psychic after all.
‘Love’ is too strong a term to describe our relationship with New York. We would go back, and have a list of things we’d still like to do. We’re just in no hurry to do them!
We’ve met some lovely, helpful people but they were in a minority. Most New Yorkers came across as rude and unhelpful. Courtesy is not their strong point – there are even signs on the subway attempting to encourage it! Bill Murray is quoted as saying the thing he likes most about New York are the people. He believes New Yorkers are misunderstood because no-one realises how kind they are and he’s probably right.
John’s favourite thing about New York, other than peanut butter, was the abundant sound of V8 engines.
Kim’s was the way you could stand at major intersections and the grid system gives you clear views in all four directions. Of course, to do this you are risking death (probably involving a V8) so it’s not a recommended activity! The Frick frog probably would have come first but she’s still sulking about that!
Matt just advises that you don’t do baseball, the rest is OK! This seems a bit of an understatement from someone who had to be prised out of every Nike store we passed.
That’s all from us until the next big adventure, we hope you’ve enjoyed our story x
braysabroad 