Moving to New York - Adventure 4
This is the last installment of my initial adventures in New York during my first weekend here. The date was Sunday, August 26th and we were accompanying my nephew to his dorm in Brooklyn Heights (right across the water from Manhattan). I don't think I mentioned that it takes a while to walk anywhere from my apartment. The previous day we walked for 45 minutes to the nearest grocery store. At the pace we were walking, it would probably have taken us an hour to the train station. The bus? The nearest bus stop is probably about a 30 minute walk - I might look into it; the only problem is that it stops running after 8 or something ridiculously early like that. Doesn't help when I have classes after 8. . . .
Anyway, we called a cab since we are taking 3 bags - one each - and none of us were in the mood to be dragging them down the road for an hour to the train station. . . . We got to the train station and found that the train had been delayed due to some technical difficulties. I really hoped at that time that if it got fixed it was not something that was going to break on our way into the city. We finally got on the train at about noon and were just about to relax when I heard an announcement. Not good.
Apparently there was some construction work going on in the middle of our train route and it was affecting all the trains into and out of New York city. Great..... So, we were all supposed to get off the train at a certain station and then take buses to go around the construction site, and then get back on the train into the city. Now this would not have been a big deal if we were not heavy-laden with luggage; but as you now know, we had 3 suitcases...... OH boy.
When we finally made it near enough to Brooklyn Heights on the train, I decided that we were NOT going to test our strength on the subway. I declared that we should go outside and find a cab. It wasn't an easy task because there were no yellow cabs like Manhattan has. After a bit of walking and asking someone who wasn't really sure, we realized that a long line of cars (with really only a sticker in the window to identify their taxi permits) were cabs waiting for customers outside a Target. The ride to my nephew's dorm was not that long, thank goodness, and we finally arrived at our destination about 3 hours later - no I am NOT kidding or exaggerating! After he had checked in and unpacked all his stuff in his dorm room, it was 3:40 p.m. I wanted to pass out, and I know my mother did too.
But to add to our self-inflicted torture it would seem, no trip that close to Manhattan would be complete without actually venturing INTO the city. It was probably crazy, but we went anyway. I took my mom to the famous gigantic Macy's. Of course, we only spent about 30 minutes there because it was too much and she was not impressed with their selection. She prefers the Glendale Galleria or some other shopping places in Los Angeles, and she made sure I knew that. At this point, all I could do was shake my head and find the exit. At this point, we were close to the street block that was kind of like Manhattan's Koreatown, so my mother suggests we go to the Korean market to get some rice. We're carrying this back? I ask. Of course, my mother says, since we're not going to get a large bag. OK, mother.
All the traipsing around cost us precious time to catch the train home, which did I mention in other postings doesn't come regularly? We got to the station literally 2 minutes late for the 8:02 p.m. train. This meant we had to sit there and wait for the 9:02 train. So we did, as I became mosquito food and my mother caught up on her phone calls since cell phone reception is really bad in my apartment. And we went through the same thing we did on our way into the city - transfer from train to bus, then get back on the train headed for our destination.
When we got to Port Jefferson Station (our stop and the last stop on the line), I looked around utterly dismayed to find NO cab in sight. I called the cab company whose number I had programmed into my cell phone and asked for a cab. The operator said that there were no cabs available. You're kidding! I say. His response? "Why would I kid about something like that?" What was I supposed to say to THAT? If I weren't so exhausted I might have had energy to make some sort of complaint, comment, retort, but I mumbled something and hung up. Thankfully, my eyes caught sight of another cab company's phone # (I wasn't aware that this little town had TWO cab companies, obviously). They sent a cab in about 15 minutes, which we ended up sharing with 2 other people because of the apparent scarcity of cabs at that hour; I think if it was 5 minutes longer, I would have been found jumping up and down or doing some crazy running because I was soooooo cold. (The temperature at night gets a bit chilly, and is downright cold if you've come off of a train that has been blasting its air-conditioning.) And no, I had not brought a sweater or anything because we had rushed out of the apartment earlier that day.
Nonetheless we finally made it home 10 minutes to midnight. And all my mom could tell me besides the time was that I should call the truck driver to see when my car is going to be delivered. . . . I fell asleep thinking that since August 23rd I have taken almost every form of transportation with the exception of boats and bicycles.
Anyway, we called a cab since we are taking 3 bags - one each - and none of us were in the mood to be dragging them down the road for an hour to the train station. . . . We got to the train station and found that the train had been delayed due to some technical difficulties. I really hoped at that time that if it got fixed it was not something that was going to break on our way into the city. We finally got on the train at about noon and were just about to relax when I heard an announcement. Not good.
Apparently there was some construction work going on in the middle of our train route and it was affecting all the trains into and out of New York city. Great..... So, we were all supposed to get off the train at a certain station and then take buses to go around the construction site, and then get back on the train into the city. Now this would not have been a big deal if we were not heavy-laden with luggage; but as you now know, we had 3 suitcases...... OH boy.
When we finally made it near enough to Brooklyn Heights on the train, I decided that we were NOT going to test our strength on the subway. I declared that we should go outside and find a cab. It wasn't an easy task because there were no yellow cabs like Manhattan has. After a bit of walking and asking someone who wasn't really sure, we realized that a long line of cars (with really only a sticker in the window to identify their taxi permits) were cabs waiting for customers outside a Target. The ride to my nephew's dorm was not that long, thank goodness, and we finally arrived at our destination about 3 hours later - no I am NOT kidding or exaggerating! After he had checked in and unpacked all his stuff in his dorm room, it was 3:40 p.m. I wanted to pass out, and I know my mother did too.
But to add to our self-inflicted torture it would seem, no trip that close to Manhattan would be complete without actually venturing INTO the city. It was probably crazy, but we went anyway. I took my mom to the famous gigantic Macy's. Of course, we only spent about 30 minutes there because it was too much and she was not impressed with their selection. She prefers the Glendale Galleria or some other shopping places in Los Angeles, and she made sure I knew that. At this point, all I could do was shake my head and find the exit. At this point, we were close to the street block that was kind of like Manhattan's Koreatown, so my mother suggests we go to the Korean market to get some rice. We're carrying this back? I ask. Of course, my mother says, since we're not going to get a large bag. OK, mother.
All the traipsing around cost us precious time to catch the train home, which did I mention in other postings doesn't come regularly? We got to the station literally 2 minutes late for the 8:02 p.m. train. This meant we had to sit there and wait for the 9:02 train. So we did, as I became mosquito food and my mother caught up on her phone calls since cell phone reception is really bad in my apartment. And we went through the same thing we did on our way into the city - transfer from train to bus, then get back on the train headed for our destination.
When we got to Port Jefferson Station (our stop and the last stop on the line), I looked around utterly dismayed to find NO cab in sight. I called the cab company whose number I had programmed into my cell phone and asked for a cab. The operator said that there were no cabs available. You're kidding! I say. His response? "Why would I kid about something like that?" What was I supposed to say to THAT? If I weren't so exhausted I might have had energy to make some sort of complaint, comment, retort, but I mumbled something and hung up. Thankfully, my eyes caught sight of another cab company's phone # (I wasn't aware that this little town had TWO cab companies, obviously). They sent a cab in about 15 minutes, which we ended up sharing with 2 other people because of the apparent scarcity of cabs at that hour; I think if it was 5 minutes longer, I would have been found jumping up and down or doing some crazy running because I was soooooo cold. (The temperature at night gets a bit chilly, and is downright cold if you've come off of a train that has been blasting its air-conditioning.) And no, I had not brought a sweater or anything because we had rushed out of the apartment earlier that day.
Nonetheless we finally made it home 10 minutes to midnight. And all my mom could tell me besides the time was that I should call the truck driver to see when my car is going to be delivered. . . . I fell asleep thinking that since August 23rd I have taken almost every form of transportation with the exception of boats and bicycles.
Comments