NYC Baby!!

The time is 17:43. The room is small, basic and has a bunk bed in it – something that my brother and I have not seen since the late eighties. The city is NEW YORK!

The infamous Yellow Taxi....that must mean we are in New York!

After a night of hardly any sleep and last-minute packing and re-packing, we finally made it to destination 1 of the World Tour. Thanks to the folks for the early-morning drop-off at Manchester, and to BA for 2 flghts and 3 meals, including a complimentary can of Dutch lager and a generous helping of white wine, we arrived at JFK Immigration with plenty of time to spare before needing to check in at the Van Der Bilt YMCA. And it was a good job too! Needing to get from JFK airport to the Metro line took only a few minutes of our time. Then we had to negotiate the labyrinth of ticket options from the guy selling sweets at the end of the line! Never an easy task. Next it was on to the Metro heading for Manhattan, how hard could that be? Well, after missing the stop for Times Square (it wasn’t very clearly labelled in our defence!) we had a myriad of choices to get to Grand Central Station, although the ideal connection was delayed for some reason and waiting for ages on a stiflingly hot platform was not high on our list of things to do! So, doubling back, we headed to Times Square stop again and connected to Grand Central Station no problem. Although it didn’t seem that grand to me. Must’ve come out of the wrong door or something. Anyway, a short, moist hike to the VDB YMCA and here we are!

Now, next few tasks are to check amenities with reception, get some food, have a complimentary beer at O’Neills round the corner and get some much needed shut-eye!