Pictures: Group Shot

Joan's Adventure in the Big Apple

Here's a little to give you organized people a little chuckle. I was down in New York/New Jersey for the beginning of 1998. Vicky, Eddie, Anna and I decided we were gonna train it down to celebrate the big new year's countdown in the Big Apple. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my passport or my citizenship card to Toronto with me when I came down to visit my folks over the holidays. Apparently, you can bring your birth certificate as appropriate ID as well when you cross the border. Unfortunately, since my birth certificate was issued in Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines, I probably would have been stuck at the border with neither the U.S. or Canada willing to claim me as their own immigration problem.

So, instead of having a good, restful sleep at about 6:00 am, on the train, on the eve of new year's, I had to head back to my parents house to sulk about the fact that the FTA agreement doesn't include people as "Goods". However, in the spirit of the season and my determination to fulfill my commitment to see Jana and Urvashi in New York, I decided that there was a way. I used up my return train fare back to Ottawa to catch the evening train into Ottawa on New Year's Eve and arrived just in time to see the big countdown on TV. I then woke up at 4:00 am on New Year's Day to book a flight down to Newark airport. I finally arrived on US soil at 11:30 am with my passport. Let that be a lesson to all would-be travelers to the states!!!

The rest of the vacation was nowhere near as nerve-racking, except maybe that I was tired for the first day of the new year. We spent the first day acting like tourists at Time Square. We tried to get tickets to a Broadway show, but were daunted by the colossal line-up that seemed to have an never-ending inward spiral. Since it was so cold, we had a "coffee break" at the cafe in Virgin Records (like HMV, but probably bigger with that 90's open space concept). I think this is the only store that I've ever seen where there was not only a line-up to the men's washroom, but it was actually longer than that line-up to the women's washroom!!! We then did some shopping and Vicky and Eddie went trigger-happy with their cameras. I contained the impulse until after midnight.

We spent the 2nd of January touristing in South Sea Port. If you've ever been to Halifax harbour, Vicky swears, it's just like that. Being tourists, we of course had to take photos of us beside the Brooklyn bridge. We spent that evening in a nice, Italian uptown restaurant where I had the best ravioli in my life. I never would have guessed that you could put cod fish and potato into those things to make them taste sooooooooooo good. We walked to a dance club, but didn't go in. Apparently, the crowd was too "young" looking, so we cabbed it to Grenwich Village and hung out at a jazz bar for after-dinner treats. It's here, that Vicky intimidated the waiter so much that she had him running into the kitchen to answer her every question. Go Vick! To cap off the night we went to a hidden bar called the "Fez bar" where much to my embarrassment, I got carded!

"Do you mean you want see my ID? You want to make sure that I'm of legal drinking age? Don't I look old enough? Look at my DOB!!!" Maybe we should have stuck with the dance club; I would have been with my peers. :(

Vick, Ed and Anna left bright and early the next morning...as a matter of fact, they "pulled an all-nighter". Wow, how many times do you get to do that once you're not a student anymore?

I stayed on to do more touristy things. Like see Central Park at night and get denied by the horse carriage guys for a picture on one of their carriages. I even got to "see" the inside of Citibank. Pretty cool, huh? I never did see the nightlife of Hoboken, which apparently is the Yonge & Eglinton of Jersey City, but I did have a great time in the city and returned home the next night thoroughly exhausted.

How's that for starting off 1998 in full swing? Mind you I came just in time for "The Great Ice Storm of '98" but I survived that too.

Next trip: Russia! Or West Coast! Whichever will take me.

Standard Disclaimer:
This travel story has no approval from Eddie and Vick.