die Reise

Statue of Liberty, view from Battery Park

I went briefly to New York yesterday, to do one last college visit before I left. It didn't turn out well, don't ask. Less work for me, though! But I did have a wonderful time wandering around the city waiting for my flight. Turns out I have an impeccable sense of direction. Or it could be that all NYC subway stations are conveniently located and numerous. But I navigated the city almost entirely on my on, which gave me hope for Germany. Especially since Minden, with 83,000 inhabitants, is only slightly smaller than the 8 million or so who live in New York.

So while the experience gave me a little bit more confidence in myself, my confidence in airlines and large transportation networks plummeted. Excluding the wonderful, if bi-polar Subway system, I would rather like not to do it again.

Everything started off smoothly. Got to the airport in time, only sat around for a few minutes and security was swift and efficient. Mind you, it was 5:30 in the morning. But it was fine. I got to Morningside Heights with about 20 minutes to spare and all was good. Until, as I'm stepping into the subway to get to JFK, I learn my flight is cancelled. Flat out gone. Next flight is tomorrow evening. Thanks Delta.

At the advice of my parents, I still headed for JFK to talk with the airline reps, which means an hour underground and out of cell service. I pop out in Brooklyn (and cell reception) to a buzzing phone on the verge of combustion. There are no flights, get to Penn station as fast as possible. Wouldn't you know?

Train leaves at 7:00. It's 5:45, plus the hour-ish ride to the station. It's going to be tight. But the lack of control was kind of nice, on the train ride back. Not a thing I could do to make the subway car go even a tiny bit faster. So I read and slept; rather relaxing. Then I sprinted up and down about five staircases into Penn station, bought the ticket at 6:51 and got in line to board the train.

I got a ton of travel experience on my own and everything worked out in the end, but Delta, don't EVER do that again.

One World Trade Center, under construction

In the mean time, I got to see a side of New York I had never seen before, plus some new sights. The New WTC is absolutely gorgeous. I also decided that I'm not really a big city living kind of guy, I can do sleepy downtown Richmond, but NYC was a bit busy for me. Overall a very successful and pleasant trip.