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New York Recap
July 31, 2006
New York City was my first traveling experience while at camp and still may be considered my favorite.
We went the night of the 4th of July and made it to the city in less than three hours. I was the most excited I’ve ever been, to finally be traveling someplace in a different part of the country with friends and without any regard for time or having set plans.
Fireworks exploded along the highway for practically the entire ride there. We drove past several towns, and at one point, from the car, we could see over six fireworks shows in different directions and distances surrounding us.
The hotel itself was one of those skyscrapers you see in photos of Times Square, with the brightest lights and biggest posters advertising cologne and coke and Broadway. This is the view we had from our hotel room, which was about 40 floors up.
I was traveling that weekend with Guy, Hannah (both from England), and John (from South Africa). Since that initial trip, Guy and John have been on every trip with me. I’m staying with them when I travel again to New York after my job ends, and also staying with Guy when I go to England in January. I’ve become so close with them for several reasons, primarily that they’re the definition of chivalrous when we go out, taking twice as much care of me than I would have expected from people I just met this summer. That, and they’re hilarious.
After showering in our glorious bathroom, we boarded the super-elevators which were newly installed and made of glass and faster than Disneyworld’s Tower of Terror. I never got used to them.
We walked the streets surrounding Times Square, which were surprisingly calm and quiet even after the giant 4th of July celebration. The bars were still wide open, and we quickly found a nice little place with very few people.
Of course I was worried when we approached the stoic bouncer. I’m not 21. Hannah was. Guy is 20. John is 19. We let the boys go first. Guy handed him his international ID, followed by John. The bouncer looked them over, tilting their foreign cards and asking simply, “Where you guys from?”
“England.”
“South Africa.”
The bouncer nodded and looked at me and Hannah. He looked back at the boys. “Are these ladies with you?”
Hannah said yes in her thick northern-British accent. I nodded, wondering if maybe this bouncer thought I could be from England. Or maybe South Africa. He nodded again, smiled at the boys, and said, “Welcome to the city. You buy these ladies a drink.”
From then on, as if every club somehow knew we had already been carded and labeled as international, we strolled in and out of several bars without being stopped or questioned. The waiters and bartenders smiled and asked us questions and wished us a happy 4th. We took pictures of everything, as always, and strolled together until we were so exhausted that we decided to grab huge slices of pizza and walk back to the hotel. I walked with John and we laughed as Guy stopped several random cabs just because he could and as Hannah sweetly stopped at groups of police officers and they beamed at her as she asked questions in her adorable accent. It was 5:00am.
We woke up at 10:00am and went shopping. The streets were much more crowded and much louder – the typical image of the city. We were all practically holding hands to keep from getting ripped apart and separated. New York is definitely not someplace that you can cover in a day, or a week for that matter. After saying goodbye to the majestic beds in our hotel room, we vowed to return after camp. It was then, also, that I knew I would be traveling for the remainder of the summer with this group of people. There isn’t a better bonding experience than being thrown into New York City with a group of people you’ve just met.
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