The Trip

Ahhhh the flight. Not something I was looking forward to to be honest. I thought it was going to start pretty badly when I queued up for half an hour to check in and then was told I needed a print out of my ticket and not just the reference number. It's been awhile since I have flown international and I had no idea you needed the actual ticket. The problem was the line had doubled and I had no idea where I was going to get a ticket from (Tracy make sure you print yours). As it ends up it was ok seeing I had a visa in my passport for the US. Go figure. That sorted the next one was the luggage. I had prebooked two extra bags and the system was only showing one. Then to top it all off when I asked for an exit row they said it was going to cost an extra 160 dollars. That was a new one. Ah well I ended up doing it but an exit row is always well worth it.

What can I say about the flight? Food crap, movies were average and I got a pounding headache for some reason. The one good thing was it was without a doubt the smoothest flight I have ever had. Immigration in LA was no problems. It was then back onto the same plane and onto New York.

First impressions of New York? Cold. It was lovely and sunny as we jetted across the US. There were some great view as there were no clouds. About 1/2 an hour out we hit some clouds and this was the end of that. As we descended into New York my first glimpses of New York were of low clouds and snow. It was everywhere from a massive snow storm earlier in the week. It is the first snow I had seen in years. Leaving the terminal to get a cab I was hit with the cold for the first time. It was about minus 2 and it took about 1 second to bust out my gloves and beanie which I had stored for quick access. 

At this point I got a cab to the East Village where I was staying. For some reason I thought I was on the 5th floor but it ended up only being the 1st. This was a life saver because with the amount of luggage I had it would have been a nightmare. I'd found this pad via a website called airbnb.com. It's a pretty cool site where people rent out their spare rooms by the night. This place ended up being in a sensaitonal location. It was way cheaper than a hotel. It was also cool as there was another guy called Nicola staying here who was from Sicily. He was over here to try and find an importer for his wine and olive oil which he made back in Italy. The best part was he was very keen for me to try his wines. It did not take much arm twisting and they were really good. 

But my first priority was pizza. I'd developed a major craving for it since I was last in the states 12 years ago. The first time I came to the states was on a student exchange. Every Friday night during this period I would go with my host family up to a local pizza place called Cousins Pizza. This place made the best pizza ever and I truely became addicted. So as you can imagine I was pretty keen to get some pizza, even if it would not be Cousins this time. So I made a beeline down to first street and hit the first pizza place I could find. That did not take long and neither did the time to demolish the beasts. Verdict? Ok but no Cousins. Looking forward to three weekends time when I will be heading North to visit my host family and get my Cousins fix.