Travelling from New York to Austin to San Antonio (Texas)
Thursday, 4th May 2006
It's 0600 and I'm wide awake...Karen was up at 0530 (which is later than her 0400 yestereday).
Karen in the Malibu Hotel in Manhattan
I went for a walk to get breakfast (our hotel doesn't serve breakfast). On the way back, before buying the Wall Street Journal I bumped into a beggar (yes, there are beggars in the USA). While chatting to him, I realised that...
...White South Africans are more African than African-Americans
On hearing that I'm from South Africa, his first question was "Are you black?"....ummm (did you really ask that?!), followed by "Since when have there been white people in Africa", he was quite surprised to hear that there have been whites living in South Africa since 1652. He was curious about the languages we spoke (he guessed French) and he didn't know what I was speaking about when I mentioned "isiXhosa" (with the click), I explained that that is the name of a language spoken in Africa. I started realising how "detribalised" and "de-africanised" African-Americans are. They have completely lost their African roots. They don't know the languages, and they have never seen the African sunsets, the people, they have never smelled a highveld thunderstorm, they aren't familiar with the struggles of life there and the joys of life in Africa. I realised at a deeper level today, that to be African isn't about colour, it doesn't matter whether you are black white or coloured; it's about where you live your life and the cultures and languages with which you are familiar.
No life cover if you visit these countries
I was surprised to learn that some US Life Insurers restrict life cover if you travel to dangerous countries (I haven't heard of this type of underwriting in South Africa). The US State department recommends avoiding the following countries (and some Life Insurers use the same list):
Afghanistan |
Kenya |
Algeria |
Lebanon |
Bosnia-Herzzegovina |
Liberia |
Burundi |
Nepal |
Central African Republic |
Nigeria |
Chad |
Pakistan |
Colombia |
Phillipines |
Côte d'Ivoire |
Saudi Arabia |
Haiti |
Somalia |
Indonesia |
Sudan |
Iran |
Uzbekistan |
Iraq |
Yemen |
Israel, the West Bank and Gaza |
Zimbabwe |
Falun Gong
This is the group the Chinese are so scared of. Here's two Falun Gongers doing their thing in New York.
Falun Gong doing their thing in Manhattan
We spent so much time in subways I thought it appropriate to post a picture of one
Travelling from Manhattan to JFK
As our trip to Manhattan from JFK had been underground, we decided to try out the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) to see what the overground trip was. Judging from what we saw we hadn't missed out on much! Manhattan certainly is the best looking part of New York (on the other hand, perhaps all the worst areas are next to the railroad line!). Another thing about the LIRR is that it goes under the Hudson River, so you don't get that view. My revised opinion is that the best route from Manhattan to JFK is via the N or Q lines which go over the Hudson, so giving you the view of Manhattan whilst travelling over the river. Click here to see the subway map of New York.
Once you get to the end of the LIRR or subway line, you take the airtrain to JFK...but you first gotta figure out which terminal you want to get to...
Jet Blue
We flew from JFK airport in New York bound for Austin (Texas) on Jet Blue flight 1065. There was a hectic security clearance to pass to get to the plane. We were asked for identification, to take our shoes off (! a first), and to take the laptop out of the bag (a first!). Jet Blue is the US's best low-cost airline. It is better than anything I've flown before (SAA, BA, Kulula.com, 1Time, Emirates, KLM). You have a TV screen in front of you, from which you can watch stax of different TV channels for free, or you can pay $5 to watch a movie of your choice (there's a credit card machine attached to the seat in front of you!). There's also free snacks and a drink. To fly from JFK (New York) to Austin (Texas) cost us $235.60 for the two tickets (a four hour flight). Also convenient is the ability to check in on-line. What made the trip even nicer was that we had the seats at the emergency exit! The seats seem wider than seats on SA planes.
Free tip for South African Airways and other airliners
One of the ways which Jet Blue keeps their planes ground-time down is by cleaning up the plane whilst still in the air. The cabin attendants come round to take away all the rubbish you want to discard. This also keeps cleaning costs down (don't have to hire additional cleaning staff on the ground).
Austin airport luggage unloading speed compared to Airport Company South Africa (ACSA)
Took about 3 minutes for the luggage to start unloading, after which it took about 2 more minutes for our baggage to arrive, with the baggage being loaded in quick succession. Much much faster than ACSA.
Met Elaina
At Austin we met up with Elaina (who was Karen's bridesmaid at the wedding), and drove from Austin to San Antonio via Marble Falls in her 4x4. Texas was much warmer than New York - about 31 degrees [Karen has worked out how to convert fahrenheit to celcius - Celsius = (Fahrenheit + 40) * 5/9 - 40]. We were driving through the hill country of Texas; the earth is rocky with quartz, there are lots of trees, but very little grass. In San Antonio we met up with Elaina's husband, Mark and their two dogs, and we were given the guest bedroom which has been designed Texas style with Texan flags. After a delicious Mexican dinner I was pooped (we'd crossed yet another timeline) and went to bed at about 9pm local time (10pm New York time, 4am South African time). Karen stayed up to chat more.
We are staying with Elaine and Mark Shankle, 210-977-4645, in San Antonio.