Die Hard Three

The trip is almost over – right now I’m on the bus home, the GF quietly sleeping next to me. This bus has access to the tubes so I’m happy to get some blogging in. It was a good trip. We got to meet up with my bro, his wife, Tom, Rachel, and Katrina. The closest I got to seeing a celebrity I care about was

this guy.

Some of the highlights from this mini-vacation include

Going to a bar called The Flying Puck and watching four different hockey games where four Canadian teams won their games – Winnipeg won in overtime, while Edmonton and Toronto both won in a shoot out. Note: the five-minute overtime in the Oilers game was some of the best hockey I’ve seen in ages. And Montreal beat Ottawa. Yes.

The hostess sat us down at the only vacant table in the entire bar – which happened to be next to four guys from Finland who were already about five beers into their evening. About an hour later one of the Finnish guys’s chair was banging into our table and when I pointed this out he quickly apologized and moved out of the way. I responded by saying “kittos” (“thanks” in Finnish). The look on his face was priceless – a mixture of confusion, bewilderment, and drunken processing of what he just heard. There may have been a bit of possible embarrassment in there too. Most Finns when traveling don’t expect the randoms at the next table to understand what they are saying.

Visited the USS Intrepid Air and Space Museum aircraft carrier. This has been a lifelong dream of mine since 1997 when I first heard about the USS Intrepid Air and Space Museum aircraft carrier. They had lots of helicopters.

But sadly there was no Blue Thunder or Airwolf.

The best part of the entire trip was this: a 1:40 scale model aircraft carrier made entirely out of Lego. Waaayyy more effective than Viagra.

Results may vary. Consult your physician.

The visit to the aircraft carrier (and the whole weekend) was almost ruined by the Norwegians (again).

They parked their ugly cruise ship right next to the beautiful USS Intrepid.

The Shamrock Shake limited-time-only promotion goes into overtime. Only in New York.

And maybe Boston.

We were unable to find the Derek Zoolander Center For Kids Who Can’t Read Good And Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too.

Probably the greatest disappointment of the trip.

On Saturday I was waiting in a Starbucks for the GF who was out shopping when I noticed that someone had left an iPad just sitting there on the table. It was almost three minutes before the owner showed up. When she did arrive I asked and she simply said she got it for free so she’s not too attached to it.

Strangely the next day when we caught the subway to grab some supper with my bro and his wife, sitting opposite the door to the subway car was the same iPad lady from the Starbucks. Very weird.

The Freedom Tower is still under construction.

It's about half way done.

The Rockefeller Center has a way-better view than the Empire State Building.

It's also less crowded

and less expensive

and you can see the Empire State Building.

The subway station near our apartment had this view every time we came up onto the street.

I love magic hour.

One more time.

And finally we almost went to a jazz club on Saturday night.

Can someone please confirm for me that this sign actually says what I think it says.

Thank you.

When traveling to another nation it’s important to do things you cannot do in your homeland. This has been our guiding mantra during this mini-vacation.

For example, the GF needed to get some money to purchase goods and services so she went to one of the many non-Canadian banks one can find all over the city. American financial institutions have been all over the news as of late and we wanted to see what all the hubbub was about.

A "banking machine" (no, it's not Mitt Romney)

This company prides itself as a true, American Bank. It gives out US dollars.

If you've never seen one before - this is what the locals call "money"

And even the promotional slogans drive the point home that the money of hard-working Americans is staying in America.

Look, the name of the country is right there on the sign!

But what about food Jason? Yes, what about it? Well, there are many different types of food here in New York City. As soon as we arrived we grabbed a meal at one of the local restaurants.

Out of this world good!

They best part is they had flavours of soda we do not have up north.

And one could choose the flavour oneself.

Walking around the city can be an exhausting experience. It is important to remain hydrated to keep in good health.

This "iced-tea" is a local invention. We'll probably see it up in Canada in about two to three years.

For going to see tourist attractions, we at all costs had to see the famous New York Mounted Police. I’d never seen a police officer on a horse before. And now I have

None of these horses were wearing diapers - pretty sure that's in violation of some by-law.

And the last thing we did was go watch a broadcast of a professional hockey game in a sports-themed drinking and eating establishment.

I forget who was playing

The trip has been full of new and exciting things. I can’t wait for our final day (which starts now) – we’re going to watch the new Hunger Games movie in one of the cinemas near our apartment.

One of the best things about visiting New York is that my normally erratic behavior and appearance go almost completely unnoticed. There are so many people in this crazy place and as a result anything and everything is expected. For example –

Can someone please tell me what this is all about?

Bootlegging Aquavit? Illegal importation of snow?

Large cylinders of pressurized gas just sitting on the street corner.

It says "Nitrogen" and it's a good thing labels like this are almost impossible to fake.

I wish they were kegs. Moving on, this next one made even me a little uneasy.

A Law and Order Special Victims Unit twelve-month wall calendar. Really? Do you know anyone who would want to be working next to the guy who has this hanging in his cube?

And then there’s this

Too

Many

White vans

And last and I hope least –

What the hell are these guys responsible for?

It’s only day two – I’m expecting more of the same today.

This trip is a classic example of the power of being able to choose *when* one wants to travel.

Like most tourist destinations New York City gets more expensive during peak travel times. Christmas. Summer holidays. Spring break! In February-March and October-November, things slow down. Because of this you’re more likely to get a good deal on a hotels and flights because of increased vacancy and airplanes running below peak capacity. And once you get to your destination,  your travel experience should be more pleasant because there are less tourists.

Twenty-five degree weather in the middle of March is unheard of for this part of the world and we’re having a fantastic time. We got lucky on this one. We chose this particular weekend for several reasons:

• The GF is super-busy in April
• I had two days of leave to burn before March 31
• My buddy who is working here is leaving this weekend
• My bro and his wife are here

But consider this:  if you lived in a world where you had more free time, you could check the forecast on Wednesday and if a particular close-by travel destination is going to be having some unseasonably nice weather, you can take advantage and book a last-minute weekend mini-vacation for a fraction of the cost of what you might pay if you planned the same trip weeks in advance. But the best part is that you can control the largest unknown factor – the weather.

I, for one, plan on taking full advantage of this new-found information. I will be keeping an eye on the weather as well as the last-minute travel deals.

The view when I wrote this post.

Breakfasted at a Pret a Manger this morning and they had the neatest entrant to the restaurant. Check this out:

USA A-OK.

This little add-on entrance serves two functions

1. It acts as a sort of DMZ where in the winter one does not have to open the door right into the restaurant – saving on heating costs
2. When customers enter or exit they are doing so in the same direction of the pedestrian traffic. With traditional doors you end up crashing into people because you come at them perpendicularly

I love it!

We’ve got a very exciting day a head of us. The GF wisely left all the planning up to me – I’ve been to NYC a few times, I have a great sense of adventure, I know the score. So of course we’re going to be doing a tour (designed by me) of all of the locations of the movie Die Hard With a Vengeance (both where they filmed, and where they took place). I figure this should take up most of our time here.

• Bonwit Teller – Department Store – 6th Avenue and West 21st Street, Manhattan
• 1 Police Plaza
• Central Park South (between 7th Avenue and Columbus Circle)
• Tomkin’s Square Park Greenwich Village
• 112 Wall Street
• The number 3 train (uptown)
• Yankee Stadium (the old one)
• The Federal Reserve 33 Liberty Street, Manhattan
• Harlem (138th St)
• 72nd Street Subway Station

I know what you’re thinking: Jason you’re a genius and the best boyfriend ever!

Yes. Yes I am.

We made it to Syracuse safe and on time. Crossing the border was uneventful save that the GF had to pay twenty USD to enter the country.

I like being a Canadian when crossing into the U.S. It’s like having VIP access to a nightclub. The border guard was asking all the auslaender a million questions. Where are you from? How are you getting back to Canada? Where was William Shatner born? But when he got to me he simply took my passport without even making eye contact.

At the Syracuse terminal there were some Amish dudes waiting for what I could only assume to be the bus to Pennsylvania.

I like movies where Danny Glover plays the villain.

Best of all they had a baby with them. I managed to surreptitiously take a photo.

Baby!

The bus for this leg of our journey has Internet. For those of you keeping score that’s another point for busing. And while we’re on the subject, in Swedish “bus” is spelled like this

büss

At this time it is unclear to me if taking the overnight Greyhound bus to New York City was a good idea. We just left the Ottawa bus station ten minutes ago and things are okay so far. When I bought the ticket four weeks ago, the dude said these buses are never more than half full. When we arrived thirty minutes early at the station there was a rather large number of people waiting at the Syracuse / New York gate.

Turns out that there’s a group of criminology students from Carleton University going down to watch a taping of an episode of Law and Order. Did you know it’s filmed in front of a live studio audience?

The GF and I manage to get seats next to each other so I’m a little more relaxed now. The only thing that’s missing is seatbelts. Seriously – why don’t intercity buses have them? Not how I want to go. Not at all.

We have a connection in Syracuse (go Orangemen) and I expect the whole journey to take about ten hours from my door to the bus terminal in New York.

21:33 departed my place (walking)
22:05 arrived at the bus station
22:30 departed the bus station
07:45 expected arrival downtown NYC

I sometimes (all the time) wonder what the advantages are to flying versus taking the bus. Here is how I see this journey:

• Figure ten hours travel time for the bus where flying would take about five hours from my door to downtown (forty minutes to the airport, ninety minutes to clear U.S. customs, eighty minutes flying time, and maybe another ninety minutes to land, get a metro card, and take the bus downtown). Advantage flying.
• Cost for two people to fly around nine hundred dollars CAD. The bus was a cool three sixty. Advantage busing.
• Dealing with airport-based U.S. customs and security. No contest – advantage busing.
• Seatbelts – advantage flying.
• Odds of actually surviving a crash – advantage busing.
• Odds of a crash actually happening – advantage flying.
• Ability to parallelize activities – I can blog or sleep on the bus where the flight is too short to get any meaningful amounts of either – advantage bussing.

This list is all fine and dandy but I’ll probably be in a better position on Monday to report on the whole experience.