For the first travel post of Travel-The Best Education, what better topic to discuss than the greatest city in the world - New York City! I have personally been on many trips, both business and leisure, to this great city. My first trip was New Year's Eve 1999. That was an amazing trip! It is a story that I love to tell and have many fond memories.
On the last day of the last century, I was living in Montgomery, Alabama and had a part-time job working the front desk at the Embassy Suites hotel. Dutifully, I was supposed to work there at the hotel that new year's evening. That was the year that CNN did its New Year's Eve Around the World Tour where they had news anchors in every major city and rang in the new year with each one of them as the world turned. I was watching the show on the bar television in Darryl's Restaurant on East Boulevard with some friends, bemoaning my misfortunate at having to spend the turn of the millenium working in Montgomery. CNN had already been through several midnights. I had watched the revellers in Sydney, Moscow, Egypt and a few others. I think Rome was getting close to midnight when I decided that I could not let this happen. I could not work through the last night of the century.
Darryl's had a couple of payphones in their back hallway. I used one of these to call Delta Airlines. The reservations lady asked what she could do for me (this was before automated call lines). I boldly asked, "Can you get me from Montgomery, Alabama to New York City before midnight?" I remember she paused just a bit and said, "Let me check." In a few more seconds, she came back and said "Yes, I can; but you have to leave now". I was stunned and stunned even more when she told me the ticket was less than $400. I asked her to wait, rushed back into the bar to see who would go with me. My old college roommate, Howard, who was supposed to work his bar job that night said he would go. I rushed back to the phone and said, "Two tickets please." We hurriedly made the two reservations and then immediately rushed from Darryl's restaurant to my place to pack a quick overnight bag and then off to the Montgomery Airport where we caught the very next Delta flight from Montgomery to Atlanta.
The layover in Atlanta was very short. The airport and the next flight to New York City's La Guardia Airport were empty. It was the millenium and everyone thought that midnight would bring on the infamous Y2K computer problem where all of the computers in the world would crash and the world would grind to a halt. That did not happen, of course, but no one knew it would not happen so no body wanted to be in a plane when it might happen. Howard and I flew to New York on a huge Boeing 747 with only thirteen (13) people on it counting us and the crew.
When we landed at La Guardia, we nearly broke our necks getting on the subway which took us into New York. We had to make one train change and got off right in Times Square!
I remember the crowd being humongous. When we came out of the subway station into Times Square, the cold winter wind and the bright city lights and the loud cacophany of voices, car horns, sirens and music flooded my senses. Howard and I were both amazed. This was my first trip to New York, and I had stepped out directly into Times Square with the biggest global party that mankind had ever witnessed!
Times Square was, on at least that night, a magical place. The whole world was watching it at midnight, and Howard and I were right in the middle of it. Snow covered everything and was still lightly drifting down from above the skyscrapers to the streets below. The ball dropped at midnight and the crowd cheered and sang. Howard and I rambled for the rest of the night with the revellers, hoping from bar to bar around the midtown area of Manhattan.
Our spontenaeity did not go unpunished, however. In our haste, we had not booked a hotel room. Of course, being New Year's Eve, there were no hotel rooms to book anyway - especially trying to book on the day of arrival. Howard and I were homeless that evening. After the partiers eventually ended their wild night of galavanting around New York City, Howard and I were left to our own on the streets. All hotels were booked. We even tried to sleep in Union Station but the security guards there made us leave. We did eventually find a small, small room in a very bad hotel; but we were just glad to find a place to sleep for a few hours. We had more luck the next day as all of the hotels were empty once the previous night's guests had checked out. I got us a room at the Marriott Marquis on Times Square - the very suite that the mayor of New York City had used the previous evening in watching over his city during the festivities. I've loved the Marquis ever since and have seen it go from an antiquated elevator bank to its now computerized system which runs much more smoothly and quickly.
Yes, I do love New York City. It is one of my most favorite destinations and I have travelled there many times since 2000 and taken many friends and family members with me. I think I will never tire of visiting there. If you get the chance to go, make sure you catch a few key points:
- Visit the top of the Empire State Building (get your tickets online)
- Have a drink at the Rainbow Room on top of Rockefeller Center (go around sunset)
- Tour the Statue of Liberty
- Have lunch outside on Stone Street (during the spring and fall, not winter or summer)
- Go ice skating in Bryant Park in the winter
- Watch a movie one night in Bryant Park during the summer
- Pay your respects at Ground Zero
Go enjoy New York!
