LONG Trip!

We're in the hotel room now after a day of walking around New York, but i'll tell you about the trip here first.

the flight from Sydney to LA was long but OK. Not much legroom. the people either side of me weren't really talkers so that was a plus. When we checked in though there were no seats together for us. So i was on one side of the plane and kieren was on the complete opposite side. So we couldn't even talk.

The flight ended up taking about 13 hours point to point. We had to go through customs and everything at LA because that was our first entry point. that took forever. There were hundreds of people lined up and 6 customs officers doing it. When we got out at LA (it was about 6AM Friday for us, but midday thursday in LA) we realised that our next flight was leaving at 1:15pm so we had to get there pretty quick. Kieren was desperate to eat Maccas chips over here.. they're exactly the same as at home.
So we got on the plane from LA to NY without knowing how long it was or what time it would be in New York when we arrived. It was a 5 hour flight, but it felt like 8 or 9. it was SO boring! We were sitting next to each other which was good, and we met some random girl from Canada who lives in LA and was flying to NY for some reason. Didn't ask. She told us some good places to shop in LA when we go back there.

We got off the plane in New York thinking it was like midnight, and it was 9.30pm, the right time for the flight. threw us right off.

So we got all of our baggage off the carousel (took a while for the bags to get there) then went out to look for our pre-booked shuttle. It was going to be 1.5 hrs because we were running late (don't know how we were running late). so our other option was to get another shuttle service and get a refund when we get back to Aus. So we did that, and waited about 20 mins for the other shuttle. Then we realised he was trying to cram 12 people into a 9 person SUV thing. Sardines.

When he was driving to the city, he didn't indicate to change lanes, he just sort of slid across to the next lane. the drivers here are nuts. not that they go crazy, but it's like there are no laws. They just change lanes and turn corners and cut each other off with no hesitation.

We were the first to be dropped off at our hotel (www.thirtythirty-nyc.com) at about 11:30pm. We checked in without a problem and came up to the room. Just about tripped over the beds when we walked in the room is so small. And we're right next to the lifts. But we can't hear them so that's ok.

Home to Hotel: Done.