Travelling from Dubai to New York : Monday, 1st May 2006
We were due to fly from Dubai International Airport on the 0830 flight to New York. However, we had discovered that there was a 0130 flight. (We had landed at 1200.) If we could get on this it would save us spending 7 hours at Dubai International. "Amazing Race" style, we hurried to the connecting flight terminal. The terminal attendant checked furiously through the schedules....and we were in luck...YAY...he booked us on the flight, and told us to hurry through to the check-in gate. The quick run through the Dubai terminal was interesting - with many Arabs in their long white dresses and the fake palm trees.
Dubai International Airport with its fake palm trees
Security was tight at Dubai Airport and we got searched a number of times. There was also much confusion over why Karen had two passports (the one in her maiden name had her Visa in it). Eventually we got through all the security and were on board flight EK203 bound for the City of New York.....much earlier flight but we had terrible seats - the inner seats on the inner row of 4 seats....and this is a 14 hour flight...we were preparing to go into "sardine mode".
I was sandwiched in between Karen and a large Arabic man. To the right of the Arabic man was the aisle and to the right of the Arab was a Kiwi with two seats to himself. The air hostess approached the Kiwi and asked him whether he would mind swapping seats with a lady. "Yes I would mind. If she wanted a different seat she should have ordered a business class ticket". I asked the Arab whether he'd mind sitting in the seat next to the Kiwi, he agreed. YAY, we had an aisle seat and a free middle seat. The plane we were flying to New York in was an airbus, while the plane we flew to Dubai in was a Boeing 777. The Boeing had more leg-room. In both the planes we had a small screen in front of us, from which you can choose from a list of movies to watch, listen to music, play games, see the view of a camera pointing downwards from the plane, see the view from a camera pointing forwards from the plane. There is also a facility to make phone calls and send emails (you gotta pay). You can ask the air hostesses to charge your laptop for you - BUT....they don't have international adaptors and the plugs don't fit South African sockets.
The fligh path goes from Dubai over Stockholm in Sweden and Bergen in Norway, which brought back happy memories of my trips there with Adolf, Wilhelm and Greg. I know the shortest distance through the air isn't a straight line on a flat map, because of the curvature of the earth; but it's nevertheless quite surprising that the plane goes so far north. We drifted further north going over Reykavic in Iceland then over the southern portion of Greenland, before heading south over Canada, skirting the coast past Halifax, Boston and then finally getting to New York. The sun rose as we drifted over Canada, the view of land and sea and ice was beautiful.
I could hardly sleep. The little sleep I got was broken up in the middle of the night by a disagreement between 2 passengers over whether a light should be left on or turned off. 14 hours is a looong time, and by the end of the flight the plane was a mess, the toilets were filthy, little sleep had been had and I was feeling a bit grumpy...but very excited to be flying into New York.
JFK airport luggage unloading speed compared to Airport Company South Africa (ACSA)
Took a couple of minutes for our baggage to arrive. Much much faster than ACSA.
New York
New York is divided into a number of what they call boroughs (different areas) - Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Staten Island. These boroughs are separated by various waterways - rivers and straights, the main one being the Hudson river. We came in to land from the south at JFK airport. At the airport we went into 2 long queues. First, we joined the immigrations queue, got fingerprinted, had our passports stamped and then we were through. It felt exciting to be in New York and to see the police officers with NYPD written on their shoulders, to hear the American accents and to see the ubiquitous American flags. Karen said it felt surreal. To me it felt like I was experiencing something for the first time that I half knew (which I guess isn't surprising given the amount of American and New York movies we watch). The second queue was customs. It didn't fill me with joy when two large Africans pushed in front of me, but it cheered me up when they were pulled aside by the customs officials!
Getting from JFK to Manhattan
We got straight through customs and we were in! We were in New York. Somebody tried to convince us to get a taxi-lift to the hotel with him, but we'd read our "Let's Go America" and Wikitravel and knew that it costs $45 to go by taxi to Manhattan and much less to go by train. So, we caught the Air-Train to Jamaica Station, and then bought a seven day Metrocard pass. (We're only in New York for 4 days, but it's cheaper than buying four 1-day passes). Having read about the tricksters, we were both a bit wary of a large African-American who was trying to help us buy the passes....but all turned out ok, and after we had bought the tickets, he reverted to searching the dustbins. At Jamaica Station we got on the "E Train" (New York's subway trains are assigned either numbers or letters) to Manhattan. In retrospect, we would have rather paid a few extra $ and gone on the overground train to see more of the view. Many people on the train listen to music or read books to kill the time. We got off the E train at "42 Street" station, and changed to the "Number 1" train going "Uptown". In New York "Uptown" means the train is heading north and "Downtown" means the train is heading south. We got off the 1-train at the 103 Street station. On emergence from the subway, a helpful American pointed out the Malibu Hotel for us.
Malibu Hotel
We arrived at the Malibu Hotel at about 0930, 7 hours earlier than scheduled. The Malibu Hotel is on what is known as the "Upper West Side" of Manhattan - it's on the corner of Broadway (the street that goes through the middle of Manhattan and 103 Street), to the west of Central Park. Having arrived early, the hotel didn't have our room ready, but let us lock up our bags and shower. The shower works differently to South Africa - twisting the handle changes the temperature and moving the handle up and down changes the pressure, after a few bouts of alternating freezing and scalding I managed to suss it out! We freshened up and then headed for the City (as the southern part of Manhatten is known).
Karen at the Malibu Hotel
Statue of Liberty
We got on the number 1 train which goes to South Ferry station, on the southern-point of Manhatten. The subway stations smell of urine and detergent. There's a ferry which does a round-trip to Staten Island each half-hour...best of all - it's free. We got on and saw the stunning view of Manhatten's skyline and then the Statue of Liberty before heading back and seeing it all over again. Click here to see the full set of pictures of our ferry trip to and from Staten Island.
Robert & Karen with Manhatten's skyline in the background. 
Walkabout the Financial Centre
After getting back to Manhatten, we set about walking to Brooklyn Bridge.
Wall Street
We passed through Wall Street, saw the Trump Building and the New York Stock Exchange (with heavy security); we saw Deutsche Bank, the JP Morgan Chase offices, businessmen in pin-striped suits talking about $$$.
The Trump Building
I had a falafel for lunch and Karen had a hot dog.
The New York Stock Exchange 
We walked on to Brooklyn Bridge, but by the time we got there were too tired to walk over it (it's about a 30 minute walk over). We found the nearest subway and headed for the Empire State Building.
This building's fire exits reminded me of the ones you see in the movies. 
There are tulips (my favourite flower) growing all over New York
South Street Seaport in New York
We walked through the South Street Seaport. It has restaurants where you can sit on the sidewalk and watch people walk by.
Empire State Building
We were quite tired, but determined to see the Empire State Building before the day was over, as it was the only day where the weather forecast was sunny (and the Empire State Building is all about views). There's a sadness that hangs over New York because of the loss of the Twin Towers. The Empire State Building is now the highest building in New York - and it's high enough (381m) to make one feel a little sick. It's amazing that such a high building was completed in 1931. While up on the 86th floor observatory I thought of those who'd jumped from the World Trade Centre tower after it had been hit. To jump from such a height things have to be pretty bad. Click here to see the views from the top of the Empire State Building.
On the way to the subway from the Empire State Building, we spotted Madison Square Garden (no energy left to go there!).
Madison Square Garden from a distance 
At about 6pm we got back to the Malibu Hotel, and it was lights out for me.... ...exhausted...kaput...finished...klaar...