Day 2 – Planes, trains, and automobiles.

Hello there, faithful reader. It’s day two and I’m 38,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean right now. What a weird feeling. So here’s what happened today:

I intended to get up really early, but you know me. I checked out of my hotel at precisely noon (the latest you could check out). And so began my day of transportation. Remember how I said my hotel was a long ways away from Manhattan? Well, check this out. It took me 4 and a half hours to get to JFK airport!!!!! And it only cost me about 9 bucks because I’m the king of New York public transportation (at times). My transit consisted of this: Hotel shuttle to Newark airport, city bus to Penn station (took forever to get a seat on one because they kept filling up), PATH train to world trade center, E train to Canal St., A train to Spring Street (whoops!), A train back to Chambers Street (whoops again!), E train up to W 4^th ave, A train to Howard Beach (?), Airtrain to JFK….phew! I totally added an extra two hours to my transit because I was stupid and didn’t ask for directions. Oh well, I still got to where I needed to get and it was an adventure.

It was really cool taking the train through Brooklyn. I’ve never been outside of Manhattan on the NY side before. It’s a very different place but I got a chance to see some really good graffiti art (something I am fond of). Even in the train tunnels there were lights spaced out every 20 or so feet with graffiti under each one. Really good stuff.

So I get to the airport at like 4:30 and get off the airtrain at my terminal. JFK is really really huge. Especially the international terminal. I checked in very easily and began my search for food (I hadn’t eaten a thing all day). I had to settle for a KFC. I had something called the triple crisp sandwich. It tasted more like rubber. No crunch at all. Big disappointment!

My flight was delayed quite a bit with all the air traffic, but we got off the ground about an hour after scheduled time. This flight should take 6 and a half hours. Not too bad if you consider how far I’m going. After that I have a half hour flight to Dresden (from Düsseldorf), then I get to find a way to my hotel (!!!). I’m already getting a sense of what it’s going to be like in Germany. Most of the people on my plane speak German and I can’t understand a word. This will be very interesting, but adventuresome! They’re going to show “Walk the Line” on the plane followed by “Ice Age.” Not too bad for plane entertainment.

I’m watching the sun set over the ocean right now and it’s absolutely magnificent. I wish I could take a picture but my camera is checked with my bag. I sure hope my bag is on this plane. That would make for a long trip!

Anyways, I’m all caffeinated up from the coffee they gave me on the flight. Pretty decent stuff. They also fed us which was unexpected. Pasta with alfredo sauce and broccoli, cole slaw, this really bland bread with brie, and carrot cake. Not a bad meal by any standard. I even drank sparkling water with it. I tried to order “still water” but I don’t think the flight attendant understood me.

I’m rambling now from the caffeine. Time to sign out for now. You all probably won’t read this until tomorrow afternoon (Germany time) sometime. Sorry about the lack of pictures today. I didn’t feel like lugging a camera around.

<3

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