Trip so far

Saturday 28th August
Picked up early by Mum and John and head to airport to start our 'Trip of a Lifetime'.

Smooth flight to Sydney and I met up with Pete and domestic airport.

Over to International airport and we see the A380 for the first time - one word for it - HUGE!!

Premimum economy looked great - only 32 of us in the cabin on the 2nd floor.

Smooth flight, but oh so long and even though it looked great, the seats weren't overly comfortable. Very hard to sleep, fingers crossed that we get upgraded to business on the way home.

So after approx 14 hours we arrive in LA and head to American Airlines to go to NYC. Another great flight - just the 2 of us in our row so nice and comfortable. Another smooth flight, so effectively we are over our fear of flying (???)

Arrived in NYC at 8.30pm but not picked up until 9.40 by our shuttle bus. Had to pick others up so didn't end up at our hotel, Crowne Plaza on Broadway until 11.50pm. In affect, I travelled for 31 hours (including stopovers), so absolutely knackered!! 

Beautiful hotel and beautiful room, very impressed, thanks Gundy, good booking!

Stayed up to about 4.30am and crashed.

Sunday 29th August

Woke up Sunday at 2pm NYC time and felt like I had wasted my day but nup, NY never sleeps. Walked out of our hotel and these massive markets were on , great!!! Very hot and humid but we walked the 13 block markets about 3 times.

Pete scored 2 pairs of Levi Jeans for $72 - bargain!! I then found this handbag shop (57th St, near 5th avenue) - OMG beautiful stuff and massive discounts. Scored 3 bags (2 handbags and one suitcase) for $350. Saved about $600 - now I just have to get Pete to take me somewhere special so I can use the new bags. Oh scored a bag from the markets too - that will be my everyday bag! So that's me done in the buying department, except for the Tiffany earrings. Stopped to watch a little baseball with a coldie (Long Island Iced team - yum) then headed back to hotel.

Decided to have a few cocktails in our hotel bar and then head out for dinner. Had some Espresso Martinis (yum yum yum) then headed out for dinner. But as per usual with me and Pete we never made dinner! Instead we found the Playwright! Band playing, dark, dodgy looking NYC bar and we were in! Had great night! Met Angela, Jill, Scott, Doug, Kirk and a whole heap of others. Drank Mai Tai's this night (boy am I experimenting or what?!) and ended up home some time early morning. Starving as we didn't eat so I was walking Times Square about 3.30am Monday morning looking for something to eat and you would never guess what was open - of course it is - McDonalds!! Munged on that and crashed again at 4.30am.

Monday 30th August

Opening day of tennis and jet lag again affected us. We didn't wake up unil 3pm - ridiculous but it might have also had something to do with staying out late. Anyway missed most of the day session which sucked, but did get to see Azarenka play - up close. Front seats - fantastic. Met up with Scott, who we had met the night before and had a couple of drinks. I then did a little tourist shopping and bought a RF hat, Pete a shirt, Smacka a shirt and a jacket that I will definitely not need here!! Then the big night on Arthur Ashe. Unfortunately we were in the nose bleed section, which was BS as I bought tickets supposedly early as an Amex member, so how the hell did I end up so friggin high? Once again the players looked like ants, but hey at least I was there. Venus up first and she looked very glam in her night outfit. She won rather easily but then the real reason - ROGER!!!! Looked so smart in his outfit. And he played smart, very good and I was there for THAT shot - bloody unreal!! Roger won in straight sets so back on the subway to our hotel. Got to stand behind some poor kids with cuffs on the escalators. He looked about 16 and have no idea what he did, but he went very quietly. Crashed as soon as I got home, just too tired after the travelling and night out.

Tuesday 31st August

Up early (well earlier) and decided Central Park for the day. Friggin hell, Summer is going out with a bang here in New York. About 200% humidity and temp was about 32. Doesn't sound that bad for a Brisbanite, but seriously, the buildings are everywhere and they just help you suffocate!! Walked about 4 hours then I had to do some washing (pity a holiday doesn't mean the end to menial chores), and watched some tennis in the Air Con. Having quiet night in so we get up and go again tomorrow. We have decided to stick to midtown and uptown whilst staying in Times Square and do Statten Island, Brooklyn etc when we a rrive back in NY at end of month. It is going to be another hot day tomorrow so think perhaps we might do the tourist bus thing. Not sure, not planning too far ahead, just enjoying being on holidays:) Pete has just gone to get a bottle of red to have with our in house dining - hope he doesn't
get lost, he doesn't have the best sense of direction and there is no other way to describe this place - it is just massive and a little overwhelming if you aren't comfortable with direction! Had nice steak in-house and a few drinkies but stayed away from the hot outside. Scott from KC called and Pete decided to go out and see him (idiot!!). I crashed and Pete turned up about 30 minutes later - decided he was crazy for going out at 1.30pm and not actually knowing where!

Wednesday 1st September

Another insane sleep in, went out into the heat again but decided to do some shopping. Went to the Gap and Pete picked out some shirts for me. Walked around town, down to 6th Avenue (Avenue of Americas) and checked out Bryant Park (beautiful), then back to Broadway and Ruby Foo's for dinner (average). Stayed in to watch tennis and Roddick lose!

Thursday 2nd September

I headed out early morning (well relatively early 10am) to get some stamps to post the postcards already written, had some coffee (frappacino) at Starbucks and came back to get Pete. We walked for ages, then hired some bikes thinking that riding Central Park would be a good idea in 100 degree heat. We did a lap and a half but who would have thought that CP was so friggin hilly! Not really but enough to make you have to drop a gear or two and I reckon we both sweated 2 kilos at least off our frames! At 3.30pm came back to watch the end of Roger's 2nd round match and bloody TV showed all other games but Roger's!! Had a couple of in house drinks, which is difficult considering we have no bar fridge, and went to dinner in 46th street. Apparently it is restaurant street, and we went to recommended Becco (Italian restaurant) and man their servings are big. We pigged out (but struggled) on Calamari and Osso Buco (Pete) and Lamb Rack (me). Walked around a bit to settle dinner down and went to Charlie
O's on Broadway for a couple of drinks. Pete wanted to head back to Playwright (Irish bar), I went in for one, but left Pete behind to come back and watch end of tennis and have early night. But not so early as I now have to wait for Pete to arrive to let him in. Having a great time. Hurricane Earl is meant to arrive tomorrow so thinking we might do theatre and dinner when we can't walk around - time will tell. Only 2 more days here before we head to Washington DC. Have the book out to suss out what is the go in the Nation's Capital.

Friday 3rd September

Pete didn't arrive so early and then kept me awake for ages as he tried to go to sleep. Woke up and he was still sleeping so headed out to Times Square to download some mail and upload some photos. Went back to room but Pete had headed out so waited for him for a while. When he didn't show went walking again and eventually bumped into him. I headed off to Brooklyn Diner for dinner and Pete had a beer with some guy from England. Bought the typical American burger with a creaming soda. The drink was good........ Went home and watched some more tennis and had relatively early night.

Saturday 4th September

Last day in NY this time around. Woke up mid morning (terrible sleeping habits forming here!!) and went for big big walk down West side to the see the boats. Bought 2 New York Passes which will give us access to the museums for when we return and also a night trip around the island (2 hour trip). Also got excellent seats for Wicked - will see that on our last night in America. Walked and walked and walked today. Down to 36th St, up to Central Park trying to find somewhere to eat for dinner. Couldn't find anythnning so unfortunately we ate yucky McDonalds, and it was! Another relatively early night as we have to get up early to catch the train to Washington. Tried to watch tennis but the 6 sporting channels we found were all showing college football - WTF?? US Open tennis here is no big deal -
they would rather show their own sports first. Pretty disappointed, but what can you do??

Sunday 5th September

Up for the first time before 7am and now I wish I had done it more. NYC is beautiful at that time of morning, clean, fresh air, no madness of people and no cars!! Can't believe the place changes so much, well I can, but mornings are definitely the go.

Got yellow cab down to Penn Station to catch our Acela Express 2707 to Washington DC. Can't wait to see this nation's capital!!