Diary, October 2005
Blog: Edited, June – October 2025
PART ONE
‘A TRIP OF A LIFETIME’
We all have our ‘bucket lists’, and going to New York was right up there on mine. The architecture, music, and the movies of the city, have been a continued big inspiration on my own creativity. So, experiencing the place first hand, was a long-desired dream.
I was very fortunate that in the summer of 2005, I came into a large sum of money (for me). I will forever be grateful to my Gran, for this amazing gift. Sadly, she is no longer with us. However, she will live in our hearts, always. I put a fair proportion of this newly acquired wealth into a savings account, for a ‘rainy day’. I kept some back to finance immediate ‘large ticket’ expenses, such as a flight to the Big Apple.
I have a very good platonic female friend, Nikki. Both of us were single at the time. We used to go to the pub, have meals out on a regular basis, and take part in other activities, such as the theatre going. So, it seemed natural to go away together on holiday. The only issue was we had to pay hefty hotel single supplement fees, as ‘friends without benefits’. We booked the old-fashioned way, through a local travel agent. Looking back on it, we paid well over the odds for this trip.
We were soon on our way. I recorded our trip through sketch book, which I also used to make notes, and took several photographs with my newly bought DSLR (Digital Single Lense Reflex) camera. Over the next four blogs, I will share my memories of this trip with you, together with twenty years of reflection of this fantastic holiday. So please sit back and enjoy!
DIARY
DAY ONE
| Thursday | 11/10/2005 | Getting There |
| We had an early start, due to our plane leaving from Manchester Airport at 07:00 hours. This meant I was picked up at 04:00 hours by Nikki’s parents. We arrived the statutory two hours before our flight, allowing for all the security checks. We checked in and had time for a breakfast, before boarding the plane to Paris CDG (Charles de Gaulle Airport). We had around three hours at Paris CDG. We needed to get a bus to the terminal for the NY plane. From memory, this was fairly straight-forward. Unlike another visit to this airport, a few years later, with Thelma, my better half. Let’s just say it was a not-so-merry French runaround, best to be forgotten, experience! After what seemed like an eternity, we finally boarded the plane to fly across the Atlantic. I can’t really remember too much of the flight, except coming in to land at JFK (John F Kennedy) Airport. It was rather a rocky affair, due to a heavy storm in the area. All the passengers applauded the pilot for getting us down safely. Then it was just a small matter of getting through the US customs… Four years previously were the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, so naturally the US security forces were on very high alert. When asked the reason for visit, without thinking I said “pleasure”. I’m not entirely sure what the guy on the check-in desk thought, but a twenty-question interrogation ensued. I was starting to stress, until I was asked who I worked for. I told him “Social Services”, and that got me two hundred pounds for passing Go, so to speak. I was allowed into the USA, considered as a safe subject! Anyway, after that little shenanigan, we flagged a cab to take us to the hotel which was to be our home for the next week. Not knowing the local geography, I became a little concerned the cabbie had taken us on a magical mystery tour. There were no sights that I was familiar with for a good half an hour, before the famous NY skyline came into view. Our hotel was just off Fifth Avenue and Central Park, quite a small, forgettable, place on first impressions. To be fair, it didn’t really excite on further investigations. However, this was a base to get our heads down and shower for the next week. By the time we unpacked, it was 20:00 hours NY time, 01:00 hours the following day in the UK. As we had been up for almost twenty-four hours, we decided to get a quick bite to eat before some much-needed shut-eye. Walking out on Fifth Avenue, the atmosphere of the place was ‘digging my scene’. I couldn’t wait to explore further; both the famous sights and the ‘off the beaten track’ hidden gems. | ||
In the next part, I will be exploring NY’s art galleries and taking a boat trip.
Jarmin Apple
October 2025
"Drop-in and Chill Out" 