Going up, up, up, up, up, uuup!
As Laureen put it so nicely, I'm feeling very euphorious right now. I'm in the States! More specifically, in Phoenix, awaiting my pickup from ACE to go to our base town: Flagstaff.
I started the trip on the morning of July 12, back in Gent, after two very hectic days. Reason was that I had just come back from guiding a Kazou youth camp for 16-17 year olds in Italy on the 10th. So, that left me about a day and a half to change my suitcase, go on some last-minute shopping for essentials, and take a good rest (very important!). Special thanks to Silke for helping me out so well.
That morning, my plane was scheduled to leave at 10AM, so that meant me getting up at a bit before 6, to catch the train to the airport, and be on time to drop off my bag and pass the security checks. Since I was going away for two months to an outdoor environment, I had a whopping 22kg of luggage, without wheels! I put it all in a duffel bag (of which the middle strap had broken, so it is kind of painful and unwieldy to carry around, but what the hell) because I can then use the duffel bag and my 70-litre backpack I put in there as two separate pieces of luggage for when I return home. Of course, I need all that extra space for souvenirs!
Because of the flight prices, I was flying through Dublin on an Aer Lingus flight to New York. One word of warning though: a six hour layover in Dublin airport is not the most enjoyable experience... I'd go for the direct flight in the future if the price difference is low enough.
Once I landed in New York, I was incredibly tired (we landed around 1AM Belgian time), had developed a major headache during the flight, and still had to clear Immigration. The guy there gave me a pretty hard time because I had written my Flagstaff address on my entrance form, and he didn't really understand what ACE is about. Ah well, next time I'll just put the New York hotel address on there and skip the hassle. Afterwards, I took an hour-long subway ride from JFK to the guesthouse where I was staying, and dozed off on a well-deserved nap on arrival.
I can be short about my single day in the City: it was overwhelming! Seeing that it was my first trip outside of Europe, there were all kinds of stuff that took me some time to get used to, but nothing major though. I started my day by standing in line for a discounted Broadway ticket, which I scored! I got a ticket to see the Phantom of the Opera at -50%, for a seat on row 10. It was amazing!
For the rest of the day I visited the 9/11 memorial, took a walk on Broadway and fifth avenue from the 9/11 memorial up to Central Park (and the Apple Store, which I quickly exited because of the huge amount of people there), and it took me about three and a half hours to do so. The host of the guesthouse said that it was a good way to get a feel for New York, and it actually was! It was very welcome, once I arrived at Central Park, to be able to get out of the mass of people for a while, pick a nice calm spot, and just relax for some time.
Afterwards I walked back on Broadway to Times Square for some more experiencing the crazy New York vibe, and did some really fun people watching. You wouldn't believe what walks around there sometimes.
The Phantom started at 8, and was finished around 11. I made my way straight back to bed, because I had to get up again at 6 to catch a metro, then another metro, then a bus and finally a shuttle bus to LaGuardia airport, and get on my flight to Phoenix through Denver, CO. The plane from New York to Denver actually arrived 1h30 before schedule, something I have never seen in my life. In fact, we were so early that we had to wait for a good 20 minutes before our plane got assigned a gate.
Oh yeah, another illustration of America's food problem: I had a couple of hours to spend at Denver airport, and tried to get my lunch there. I was kinda suprised though to find out that the only substantial portion of vegetables that I could get, was a salad at McDonalds. That doesn't paint a very good picture...
The gate attendant told us, when we were boarding, that it would be a scorching 105°F in Phoenix, but luckily for us, it just started pouring like hell when we arrived. Apparently, they hadn't had any precipitation for the last 70 days, so it was more than welcome to help mitigate the fire hazard. Monsoon season has begun!
I'll keep you guys 'posted!'
Steven