Tuesday, February 26, 2008

New York, New York...My Bite of the "Big Apple"

The summer of 2003, we found ourselves the grateful recipients of two comp airline tickets to anywhere in the continental USA. Living in the San Francisco Bay Area, what would be one of the furthest destinations we could travel on these tickets, to a place we had always talked about visiting someday.....aha....of course, New York City! After searching far and wide on the internet highway, I found a bed and breakfast on the upper east side of Manhattan for a reasonable $85.00 a night for nine nights and only a half a block from Central Park! With all of our plans in place to step on the plane near the end of September, we found out my husband's job position was being eliminated around the same time. With the emotional support from family and friends we decided to follow our dream, so on a dark, chilly autumn evening we flew into La Guardia and flagged down a taxi. As the taxi driver peered back at us through the window that separates the driver from his customers, my first glimpse of a local resident was a man with a deep scar and a gruff voice asking for our destination. As we sped across the Triborough Bridge at break-neck speed, I wondered why we were trusting our very existence with this driver in serious need of a speeding ticket! We screeched to a halt in front of a long row of brownstones that looked like artwork and photos I had seen in books and movies. We climbed the stairs, and rang the bell several times and my knees were weak as I thought possibly we were the victims of an internet scam and now we would have to sleep on the sidewalk with our luggage. With a sigh of relief, I could see someone coming down the stairs to open the door and now our vacation could officially begin! First day accomplished.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The town of taxis- what a riveting experience! Always beware of those drivers- they need a big fat ticket once in a while I do declare! Sounds like everything worked out swell that first night- what a relief!