Tuesday 28th NEW YORK!!! . . . . and CANADA!!! . . . and no luggage!!!
We had alarms set for 4.45 and we
dragged ourselves up to deck 12 just in time to watch as the boat steamed
strongly towards what looked like an impossibly low bridge (Verrazona Narrows).
The mast behind our bridge seemed destined to be snapped off but we slipped
underneath with apparently 4 metres to spare. It looked very very close.
Moments later the funnels at the back reared up but also managed to duck
under. Trucks hooted as our massive ship
drove forwards with 13 decks blazing lights.
Manhattan opened up on our right
and we began to see the Statue of Liberty on the left. We didn’t pass
particularly close to it but it was clearly visible. Very prominent ahead of us
were the two brightly lit towers under construction to replace the World Trade
Center. We stayed and watched the city gradually envelop us and then went in
for our final buffet brekky.
The 2 brightly lit towers under construction on the twin towers site
It's a yucky day, but there she is.
The captains cufflinks, (Spare propellor blades) framing the Statue of Liberty.
J went back up to take some more
photos while I used up the internet allowance in the cabin. Cassandra turned up
on Skyp with the girls and we managed some sort of connection which froze
occasionally but stayed on while I walked them up the stairs to the 7th
deck and took them outside to see Manhattan and the Statue. Then inside to see
the chefs and the food. I suspect that the ice cream machine had the biggest
impact. The Captain made a booming announcement on the way downstairs again and
then J came back and had a chat with Cass and John, the girls having gone to
bed by then.
We relaxed in the cabin until 8.30,
which gave us time to take in the repeats of the final lectures by the
Ambassador and the General, who had been delivering parallel talks from their
respective viewpoints of the situation in the Middle East and Afghanistan.
Fascinating.
We then strolled straight off the
ship. Imogen was there to see us off. We had our luggage with us and we stood
in line for a few minutes, watching the toffs from the Grills get whisked
through priority lines. They must all spend a fortune on their hair – they are
always immaculate. A couple of the dogs
were in the queue with their owners – one (of the dogs) was so delighted that
it wrapped its paws round owner’s leg and gave him a solid humping while he was
preoccupied with handing over his passport. Laugh? I nearly choked.
We sailed straight though the
immigration desk, getting re-fingerprinted. We had taken note of the advice
about the subways and we just hopped into a waiting taxi and drove right up to
the Air Canada departure gate at La Guardia airport. Good value for $45. On the
way we passed the Flushing Meadow tennis complex and saw signs for some of the
familiar Seinfeld precincts and expressways. We also saw Manhattan and the
Empire State Building from several angles.
And you thought we did London ridiculously
quickly?
We registered on one of the Air
Canada terminals and paid for baggage. It also scanned our passports, which
solved our anxieties about not having been able to register J’s passport
number. The attendants were extremely helpful and suggested we ask for an
earlier flight to Toronto because there is bad weather coming and we have a
connecting flight to Vancouver. They need to go and be retrained at EasyJet L
Throughout our travels, there have
been perhaps a dozen potential sticking points where we have had extremely
tight connections or uncertain bookings or possible documentation deficiencies.
Some of these had the potential to seriously derail our holiday and, without
ever experiencing extreme anxiety, they were often lurking in the background as
potential threats. I am somehow cautious of tempting fate by declaring that we
are home or hosed, but off the cuff there is no immediately glaring impediment
to our continuing enjoyment. US immigration and the flight to Canada were good
hurdles to cross.
We duly got called up to board the
earlier flight, which gets us ahead of the bad weather. Well, not quite – the
climb for the first few minutes was the bumpiest yet, with the plane rolling
from side to side as well as bouncing vertically. It was similarly unstable
coming in to Toronto just over an hour later and I was quite happy when we
touched down level and, after a fair amount of slewing, slowed down.
I had been excitivated to notice
from the flight map on the TV that we would be flying between the last 2 Great
Lakes and consequently right over the top of the Niagara Falls! J duly kept an
eye out from her window but it was cloudy until we broke through, by which time
we were already over the lake. As the Maine-iacs had told us some months ago, if
you head South from Niagara the first country you will enter is in fact Canada,
because the river twists and runs eastwards for a while.
Canadian immigration was easy
enough and we were relieved to find that our luggage had caught up with us. We
had about an hour on the ground and then we again got advanced to an earlier
flight, which would have us arriving in Vancouver 3 hours ahead of time. You
just have to love Air Canada. Being late starters, we had to sit separately for
the 5 hour flight, which would set us back 3 further time zones, totalling 6 in
the past 3 days. We are now 9 hours ahead of Perth . . but a day behind. Oooh
back to the story.
Well, that was the plan. In fact we
sat on the runway for an hour, while the maintenance crew checked out a “small
technical hitch” in the port engine. Given the choice, I would happily have
disembarked and hopped onto the next flight to Vancouver, which by then would
have been boarding anyway.
They had free movies, which passed
the time quite quickly. We flew right across the Rocky mountains, which would
have taken some time, but we both had aisle seats and it was cloudy anyway.
Having been up since 5am and gained
3 hours we were feeling pretty ropey by the time we landed at about 6pm. We
quickly realised that our luggage wasn’t on the carousel and were then told
that it was following on the flight we had originally been scheduled to catch.
But they said they would send it on to the hotel later on and they handed us
each a cute little overnight bag with a tshirt and toiletries.
The skytrain goes from upstairs in
the airport right down to the waterfront, which is very close to our ho(s)tel.
Irritatingly, it is a $2.50 journey but if you buy the ticket from the machine
at the airport, it costs $7.50. Not an excessive price but you still have that
feeling of being Ripped Off.
We found the place easily enough –
right opposite a cathedral where campanology seems to be highly favoured. Thank
Heaven it is Tuesday not Sunday! We have a private room with shared bathroom.
In fact there seems to be only one operational WC for the whole floor. We went
out for some pizza and then struggled to stay awake until 10.30, by which time
the hotel door had been locked – still no luggage!
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