It's that time again, when I put pen
to paper (pixels to screen) and write about our holiday. Those of you that
recall the previous American holiday blog from 2010 (LINK), will know that this is not an exercise in egoism; it’s purely
here to record the fun times we had.
Normally, all you have left at the end
of a holiday are memories and photographs, so to help preserve those memories,
I write down where we went, what we did, who we saw etc.etc.
I hope you enjoy reading our memories.
Two years ago we took a short tour of
the USA, along the West coast. We loved it so much, that we vowed we would do
it again, but bigger, better and somewhere different. So two years of saving
later, we decided to try and do the same sort of coach tour along the East
coast. We were lucky to find just the right holiday through Virgin Holidays and
why not, we have their broadband! (LINK).
This package seemed to have it all.
A trip to Graceland for Mrs Dave.
A day in Orlando and the theme parks for Little Miss
Dave.
And the Kennedy Space Centre for me.
So, the holiday was booked, the flights booked and the
tickets for Universal Studios bought too!
We were ready for the off!
We departed from Heathrow, travelling on Virgin Atlantic
and why not? We have their telephone package too!
I will point out at this juncture, that I hate going on
holiday. Being on holiday I love, it’s just the “going on” that bugs me. I tend
to worry about every little thing.
Have we packed this?
Have we got enough of that?
Where are the passports?
Do they serve complimentary drinks onboard?
You know, all the important things!
However, this time, was different. We had done the
America thing before; so this wasn’t such a big deal. Mind you, I did start worrying
about the fact that I wasn’t worried!
I needn’t have worried though; they did serve
complimentary drinks onboard.
And what is it with cabin crew? Are
all the Stewardesses beautiful young things with hair up and immaculate makeup
and are all the Stewards raging homosexuals?
We had one male cabin crew member, who
was so overtly camp, he was almost a parody of the stereotypical image, but he
was so funny. He would mince along the aisles outrageously flirting with some
passengers! I thought, he’s no stranger to squeezing up an aisle or two.
At one point, whilst serving drinks
(complimentary ones. Get in!), he put on a rugged deep, masculine voice and
turning to a colleague said; “you got any Grolsch?” He seemed shocked by his
own deep voice, so he said it again; “you got any Grolsch?”
“Oh God!” he said, (back in his camp
voice), with his hand on his heart, “I think I’ve turned into a lesbian!”
I have no doubt that he has boarded via the rear
entrance, many a time.
Anyway, we were off to the America!
We landed at JFK airport in New York and proceeded to go
through the security checks. As we were used to this, I was not fazed, by the
unsmiling, unemotional, jobs worth of an official who checked our details,
fingerprints, retina scans, visa’s, DNA, blood sugar level, hair colour,
political persuasion, favourite colour and which one of One Direction we liked
best. He couldn’t even raise a; “have a nice day”.
Anyway, we were out! Next stop, the baggage carousel and
the chance to watch endless idiots, acting like fairground gyppo’s on the
Waltzer, trying to collect
their suitcases.
With cases in tow, we headed out, looking desperately for
the Virgin rep. who apparently, according to our booking confirmation, was
going to meet us.
Not.
Luckily, we knew that the actual tour was being run by a
company called ATI, and as there was an old chap with an ATI clipboard looking
hopeful, we walked towards him. As we reached him, he said; “You must be the
Clifford family”.
“Um, yes, we are” I replied, “How did you know?”
“It was easy! You’re all wearing ‘The Clifford Family on
Tour’ t-shirts!”
No, I’m joking, he said “I’m only expecting one party of
three, and you look like ‘em”.
This holiday malarkey gets easier and easier! He checked
our details, gave us our vouchers for our shuttle transfer and for our first hotel
and we were on our way.
Hello New York!
We travelled into New York itself, via our shuttle van,
with some of the people that we would be sharing the next fortnight with. Unfortunately,
we had to wait an hour and a half, twiddling our thumbs in the lobby, whilst
our room was prepared. It takes a long time to fold those towels and turn the
corner back on the toilet paper!
This was a bit of a shame, as we only had one the one
night in New York and by now it was 4:30pm and I wanted to get up to Central
Park! So, a quick change and freshen up later, we were off into the heat and
hustle and bustle of New York City.
Our hotel was on West 29th street. Central
Park and more importantly the Dakota apartment buildings (Yes, where John
Lennon lived and was shot, but I wanted to go, so there!), is on West 72nd
street.
You do the math!
I kept saying it’s only an hour’s walk and we’ll see so
much on the way. Which we did; The Empire State Building, Macy’s, Penn Station,
Madison Square Garden’s, Times Square, The Ed Sullivan Theater!
It nearly killed the girls; we had to keep stopping in
air conditioned shops, just to cool down.
Anyway, Central Park was worth it and just to stand where
John Lennon stood and ultimately died was very moving, for me at least.
We also enjoyed Strawberry Fields, a section of Central
Park set aside as a memorial to John Lennon, which, so it seems, attracts fans
from all over the world, plus loads of spaced out nutters! We didn’t stay long.
There was no way we were going to walk back to the hotel,
so we decided to take a cab back to Times Square and look for somewhere to eat.
Mrs Dave did wonder how we would get a cab. I said “like this”. I raised my
hand and a yellow cab pulled over!
Job done!
$7 and an air conditioned taxi ride later and we were
back into the hustle and bustle of Times Square. With thoughts of just two
things; food and bed.
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