We leave Boston via train travelling first class . True , you read that right . It wasn’t our first experience in first class as we also flew from DC to Boston in the first class section . It was nice but let’s not get carried away , it wasn’t quite as glamorous as I’d expected . The seating was spacious and the free alcohol (1 drink ) was nice but at least we can say we’ve flown 1st class, even if it was only a 1 hour flight . Still , we did get seated next to a well known TV presenter on morning TV . The train to Boston was cruisy . Alcohol was free as you’d expect but I unusually abstained . I had a hunch that being a little loose on arrival may not serve me well . I would be vindicated .
The 3 hour journey by train from Boston was interesting . We left on a bleak grey day as a cold Westerly front approached the East Coast . The landscape was just as I pictured it . It’s probably unfair to judge at this time of year with winter just behind us , but gee it was grey . All the trees are deciduous, so there was not a leaf to be seen . I could see this area would look beautiful in the summer and probably even more so in the autumn . Every house is timber , with back and front yards often unfenced . There were old Steele and timber mills , waterways and rivers with Steele cross work bridges , occasionally broken up by a town with an old brick post office . The closer we got to New York the the more built up things became . Concrete multi storey car parks and hospitals , industrial smoke stacks and suburbia closing up the ground . I was a little apprehensive. We were to exit our train and then transfer into the subway system to catch a train to Downtown Manhattan and then walk to our hotel .
Like lambs to the slaughter we descended into the subway ,with suitcases and backpacks we stood out like the proverbial dogs balls . It’s gritty down there , old beige tiles barely hanging onto walls , dark grey , made purely for foot traffic . There’s no pretending it’s nice down here . You could smell that( human excrement and urine ) before you even got to your exit location , and good luck finding that . Multiple signs directing you to uptown , downtown , with various numbers attached to each subway tunnel greeted us . It’s New York , we are ready for this ….aren’t we ? Emma thinks she knows the way but is hardly confident . We ask for advice from the information clerk that sits in her little office . She looks none too pleased to have to stop scrawling through her Instagram feed . It becomes a common trend in traversing the subways on our trip . The information and transit personnel don’t like to be asked questions or worse , interrupted from their phones . Emma walks to the ticket machine to purchase our fares and is all but accosted by a homeless man asking for $20 . He leans over the top of her , clearly in her personal space as she tries to work out the automated ticket machine . I’m well aware I need to intervene but there is another guy directly by my side also asking for cash . I stall for a second as I know I’m going to have to let go of the suitcases , and I’m just a bit paranoid that an outreached hand may decide to grab one . All the while this mini drama unfolds Tex is looking at me with scorn and decides to step in and warn the old guy off . I eventually step in and give him $2 . He looked at me in disbelief and swore profusely at how tight I was . If you just showed some manners I’d have considered flipping him the $10 bill I had . I walk away with guilt as the guy next to me had asked several times “Please sir can you spare me a dollar ? “ He got nothing . After a couple of deep breaths and a bit of a laugh ( welcome to New York ) we find our turnstiles to only be met by a wave of hardened New Yorkers pouring through head on at us . To our dismay the exit and entry is through the same turnstiles, creating a head on rush , as punters leave the carriage whilst others fight their way through to try and board before the train exits the platform . . After literally tripping over the turnstile with suitcases caught up in the bars we finally get to wait in the gloom for our train . Geeezus H Christ , please let’s get off at the right station .
We make it . It’s a cold wet night in New York . I didn’t see it any other way . Once again Emma’s ability to find great lodgings is a skill set she could seriously make money from as a side hustle ( now I’m sounding like a Yank ) . The Mint Hotel on Wall Street is a beautiful hotel with dark ,stylish rooms that are surprisingly spacious. It’s a brooding Uber cool digs . We venture just around the block to find a super cool food mart with a mini pizzeria , burger and sandwich joint , a dumpling stall , delicatessen ,alcohol and quality ready made meals . I love these type of joints . It’s exactly how I wanted it to be in New York . Tomorrow the forecast is 8 degrees Celsius and rain coming down sideways . It doesn’t matter , we’re ready for this
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