AYCJ Day 11, Friday in NYC - Oh the subways

Friday, Sept 17 - Day 11 in my 30 days of travel with JetBlue's AYCJ pass.

photos: NYC rooftop gardens and Sunset over Hudson River

It appears I'm a few days behind in my blogging, so I'll be sure there's a date at the beginning of each post to show which day I'm reporting on. Now let's see if I can catch up... Friday, Sept. 17, in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and the Bronx.

Friday was a perfect example of how wonderful the NYC subways are .... when they are working. But when the subway that you are counting on is shut down for any reason, life in New York can be positively hellish.

My plan to move my 30 pound suitcase into Manhattan from Brooklyn began innocently enough. I had been staying in Brooklyn with my friend Todd, and he offered to help me move said luggage. This may be the last time he ever offers such a thing. The plan was take the G train to the E train, and a walk on the street to our target destination. There were stairs to maneuver along the way, but when we left the G train for the E train, it all went horribly wrong. The E train was sitting there, with subway employees saying that there was a sick passenger onboard the train, they were waiting for EMT to arrive, and there was no way to know how long it would take.

When this happens, there is always an alternative, but it's not always easy. We had to go up stairs to a street in Queens, walk down a block, across a street, and further up more stairs to an elevated track for the 7 train. A detour like this is bad enough, but with luggage... it's really not fun at all. Many people made this trek, others with luggage too, trying to get into Manhattan. I heard two women talking about the sick passenger, who said, "I don't know, he didn't look THAT sick to me."

In this situation, it would be good to remember that if we were that sick passenger, we would indeed be glad that the subway employees would wait with us until help arrives, but when you're trudging around to an alternative train station, and it's costing you time and aggravation, it's hard to stay in a generous frame of mind.

We finally made it. But it was hot and exhausting.

Later in the day, I joined my friends Maryann and Bonnie, at Judy's apartment near 14th Street to catch up, since we hadn't all been together for years. Judy wanted to have a little something for us to snack on, so she had a great inexpensive NY idea for appetizers. She went to her corner pizza place, bought a couple slices, brought them home, cut them in small bite-size pieces, heated them up, and voila! Snacks!

Her building has a fabulous roof deck, on about the 22nd floor. Living in NYC made me a big believer in roof decks, or roof gardens. Why don't more places utilize their roof space? We enjoyed the view as the sun set over the Hudson River. (well, over New Jersey really.) And though we didn't have a lot of time to spend together, it was great to see everyone.

Then Maryann, Bonnie and I walked to another subway and headed to the Bronx. About halfway there, that subway train stopped, they told us to all exit the train, and wait on the platform for the next train to arrive. I'm still not sure why. Must have just been my subway karma for the day. But we finally got to our destination. Bonnie and Maryann live in the same apartment building there, and we had a slumber party! I like the idea of a grown up slumber party, where you can eat chinese food, drink wine, stay up too late talking and laughing, and no one has to head home till morning. So that's what we did.

It was another full, fun day, in spite of a bit of subway drama. In NYC, you can't let little things like out-of-service subways stop you, you just have to keep going. That's why some days in NYC are more jam-packed and fun-filled than others.