Chapter Two (back to the USA) Don't think just do it!!!!

In the United Kingdom we do not discern the concept of 'Spring Break’ other than to witness its representation in American movies. Yes, at a similar time of year those involved in academia at every level take some sort of vacation of sorts for a week or two and in that time they might take a holiday. But the apparent consensus that is evident in the USA that spring break equals universal fun fuelled abject chaos for those in their late teen/early twenties is something that I have experienced first hand for the first time this year. Because the ship I was performing on was based out of Florida and therefore one of if not the warmest place in the USA at that time of year, hundreds possibly thousands of people from all over the country flock there to vacation in some form or other during this period that spans a month or so depending on your schools schedule. The first week of March 900 of them joined us on the Celebrity Constellation for a five day voyage which consisted in the most part of lots of drinks with lots of alcohol not so many clothes with not so much material. I felt old, ugly and terminally uncool. 

I was scheduled to be virtually resident on the Celebrity Constellation for the best part of 45 days. However, as I am not classed as a crew member and haven’t therefore acquired the relevant medicals or safety training I have to disembark the ship every 10 days or so as if you are onboard in my capacity for longer than 21 days you must therefore be signed on as such. I knew this before I came to join the vessel. Every 10 days I leave the ship for one four day cruise and then return. What I didn’t know is that the cost of accommodation would sky rocket so extortionately in Florida at this time, due obviously to the fact it was Spring Break that even the most basic of accommodations that I would not usually consider as a woman travelling on my own were to cost me the best part of $800 dollars for the duration of my time there. This came as quite the shock. 

I spoke to steve about it

“ I had no idea that this was the situation when I agreed to this deal… I feel pretty stupid. I should have known”                I lamented. The thought of having to pay for the privilege of having my self esteem surreptitiously shredded at the sight of all those pert bosoms and tiny bottoms made me shudder, literally.

“Can’t you fly home?” he asked 

“Its going to cost me almost a thousand pounds to do that and for all of two free days, one of which you will be working and the other I will be jet lagged. Its not worth it.” I replied.

“Is there no where else you can go? Its not that expensive to get about in the States is it?” He suggested.

That set the cogs turning. Why not take a little trip somewhere? If staying in Florida would cost me so much, to do in essence what I have done every other time I have overnighted there, then why not go and see something else? I think I was partly inspired by the impromptu trip to Philadelphia I had made on my layover en route here (see previous blog) and maybe by the values instilled in me by my parents growing up that getting value for money was as important as the price of something. I don’t mind spending money at all if I think its worth it. But all that money for a 2 star hotel on the outskirts of Fort Lauderdale??? It just didn’t sit right with me.

I spent an hour or two on the internet in Key West in the days running up to the break and after weighing up all my options I called Steve.

“Darling? I’m going to New York”

Just like that.

During the days that followed my excitement grew and as I queued to pass though immigration on the day of disembarkation, every passenger in the terminal had been privy to my tale of my impending adventure as I’d bounced and boasted my way around the ship all cruise long. They all wished me well and off to the airport I went.

Flying with a budget airline that even charged for carry-on I had micro packed a capsule wardrobe into a small backpack taking only the bare essentials and anticipating the need to at least buy a coat on my arrival as I was leaving behind 30 degrees of sunshine and heading north into one of the coldest winters on record in the US. It was the longest two hour flight of my life as I waited eagerly for the decent into La Guardia airport. As the world famous skyline came into view I became profoundly aware in my excitement that although I was indeed doing this alone and impromptu and clearly I’d have longed to have shared this experience with Steve or with a pal, this crazy roller-coaster of a career path I have wended my way around this last 12 years enabling the privilege of this last minute madness. I am going to NNEEWWW YYYOORRKK.

I have been to the big apple before but only for 36 hours and this time I had three nights reserved at the Millennium Hotel Times Square and the intention to spend my time doing exactly the things that no one else would want to do if they were with me in New York. I wasn’t going off shopping and lunching like I would with a girlfriend or to the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building like I would with Steve. I was going to indulge my passion for art, I was going to take my time over what ever it was a chose to do. And I was going to walk. A lot.

Quite co incidentally a good friend and fellow guest entertainer hypnotist Christopher Carress was staying overnight in times square too so I immediately checked into my hotel, and headed out for a quick coffee with him. We bump into each other all over the world. Other than being an amazing entertainer and all round good guy the best thing about getting to see Chris is that he too shares the same wonderment that I do… the feeling that we were both brought up in small working class towns in the North of England by loving and supportive parents but were not inordinately wealthy as kids and therefore we still giggle and pinch ourselves when we bump into each other in an exotic location… so incredibly grateful for these incidents of fate that our chosen careers have provided for us. 

That night I met up with yet another of my guest entertainer friends that I have been fortunate enough to meet on Celebrity Cruises… very funny lady Michele Balan. She travels as much as I do so her being home in Manhattan when I was visiting was a real bonus and she took me to this amazing downstairs cabaret bar on restaurant row called ‘Don’t Tell Mama’

Michele and I had so much to catch up on having not seen each other for a good while and the wine and conversation flowed as easily as the music from the in-house piano entertainer and the chicken wings we'd ordered. We sang along and laughed and joked having a whale of a time. I don’t know if it was the unexpectedly large glasses of Chardonnay, the intoxicating hold that being in New York City had recently impressed upon me or my new found penchant for adventure but before I knew it I was up singing with the piano player. Me. Singing. In NEW YORK!! 

‘What the heck’ I thought to myself. I’ll never see any of these people again. (With the exception of Michele and I’m sure I can take her in a fight if I have to)… I giggled to myself. 

Blasting out my best if somewhat inebriated Whitney, I was so excited at the sheer novelty of the occasion that I just went for it hammer and tongs. What fun. What a great gal Michele is. What a great great day.

The next day I rose early, filled with anticipation and revelry. Today I was going to MoMA. The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art. Somewhere I had always wanted to go after buying a book in their store at JFK one day in transit through the states. The best thing about it? I was going to take as long as I liked. I was not going to look at my watch and if I wanted to sit and look at something for a while… I would. 

I wore out three iPod audio guides during the 6 hours I spent in the museum. I kept having to go back for a new one as I marvelled and pondered, took pictures (the iPods have cameras and they send the shots to your email address!!!) and got as close as I could to the works. Looking at brush strokes and patterns, the materials and textures. What a geek. This was heaven for me. Getting to be ‘off the clock’ literally… where I had no ‘all aboard’ or flight time to make for three days was blissful in itself.

The highlight of the day for me was undoubtedly getting to see ‘Waterlilies” by Claude Monet. Ever since being a young teenager and first becoming aware of art I have loved the French impressionists and in particular this piece. Its huge. Really huge. And I took a minute to sit and marvel at its proportions and its beauty. I called my mum discreetly.

“Mum? I’m at MoMA. And I’m looking at ‘Waterlilies’. Yes the Monet. I was just thinking about Nana and how she would buy me his calendar and notelet sets every year at christmas. What would she think if she could see me here?”

I’m not going to lie, I had a little minute to myself but in the best possible way, emotional but thrilled at this experience afforded to me. After a spectacular but far too large portion of Pork and Fennel pasta in the museum cafe I felt I could honestly say I left the museum satisfied. Not before I bought Steve a ravioli maker from the gift shop. Random I know.

The next day was wet and windy and I opted for the hop on hop off bus from Times Square. After about 45 minutes of straining to see out of dirty windows, missing the skyline completely because the upstairs roof was leaking and we were confined to the lower deck, the icing on the cake was the vegan tour guide who spent more time extolling the virtues of a meat and dairy free diet than telling us anything of worth. So I “hopped off” bought an umbrella and found myself unexpectedly on the end of “Bleeker” which is a street featured quite prominently in the series ‘Sex and the City’ of which virtually every 30 something British female like myself is a fan. I began to realise lots happened about this part of town in the series so I began to explore the side streets and take in the bohemian feel of the Lower West Side. After perusing rather pricey vintage stores and walking for blocks and blocks through Soho and Tribeca I hopped on the subway to the site of the 9/11 memorial and took a minute to reflect on how a city seemingly so sprawling and strong was at times as vulnerable in essence as just little ol' me travelling on my own.

I hailed a cab and with the help of my iPhone map I managed to locate a recommended eatery that a friend had told me I was crazy not to try.

‘Vanessas Dumpling House’ is as inconspicuous as it sounds. It could quite easily be just that if it wasn’t for the clatter of the kitchen and the incessant shouting of order numbers as people tussled for a seat. Its aesthetically bland and primitive to say the least but the oodles of pots of bubbling steaming freshly made dumplings, giant sandwiches of home baked sesame bread and the queue out of the door alerted me to the fact I was about to have a once in a lifetime culinary experience. The menu was SO cheap I thought I would order as many things as took my fancy so I could try as much as I liked.

“Next please” the lady bawled as I untangled myself from my umbrella and took my place in line.

“the mixed dim sum ten selection, the pak choi in oyster sauce and a carton of sweetcorn soup please”

“Is that for two?” she barked, rifling through the box for the plastic cutlery

“erm no… just me” I whispered

She looked up but didn’t reply. Her eyebrows spoke a thousand words. 

I managed to perch myself on the end of a bench by the door but utterly undetered by the constant flow of human traffic in and out I waited patiently for my order number to be called.

All I can say is that there wasn’t much waste. And that my favourite scarf and my chin were now plastered in Soy Sauce. 

Google it. Its a must.

I tried unsuccessfully to walk to see the Brooklyn Bridge (not realising it was well over a mile away) and on arriving at the shoreline realised only then that the spectacle was completely obscured by low cloud. So I walked back. And then continued into Little Italy and beyond before finally having to relent and take the subway back to the hotel as my feel were crying out to be released from my boots. 

Sleep when your dead I thought and after a quick soak in the tub at the hotel I headed back out to whence I came and to Little Italy to sample their wares for my dinner.

After a decent meal at “Bread” I decided once again to take to the streets and walk as far as my legs would take me. It was raining heavily but there was certainly something romantic about that, my funky “I’m trying to pretend I am a New York fashionista” hat I had acquired whilst shopping at eleven thirty at night the previous day, and the umbrella that protected both me and the hat from the elements whilst affording me the ability to gaze up whenever I chose at the expanding grandiose and unmistakeable New York skyline. I was truly in love.

After over 25 blocks my legs were joining my feet in protest and I hailed a cab for the remainder of the trip.

Sad to be leaving this city I was infatuated with but glad to going back to work for a rest, I knew I had the mental fuel to carry me through the subsequent impending weeks away from my loved ones until my return to the UK some four weeks away.

I’m so glad I listened to my gut and just went for it. 

Now, wheres next on Jayne’s crazy list of unexpected impulsive random adventures?

Look out times square... I can shop at 11.30pm!!!

Fullfilling a lifelong ambition

The view descending into La Guardia... excited much???

Some of the sculptures in the garden at Moma (I'd given my audio guide back at this point so I was taking pictures "old style" on my camera)

Crazy kitchen at 'Vanessa's dumpling house' in China town. Best $10 I ever spent.