New York and Philies.

Ep.13

“You don't choose your family.  They are God's gift to you, as you are to them.” -Desmond Tutu.

JFK – New York, United States of America. (plus Philadelphia)

At the Brooklyn Bridge

YES! New York! Big Apple! US of the A! Which is on of the most famous places in the whole world on the 5^th of October 2011. Who doesn’t know NYC the heart of the USA. The busiest city of USA. (enough already!) I am extremely happy to have JFK flight as my first long haul flight. It’s not only because of the port that I would love so much to explore, but also for another reason: to meet my aunt, whom I never been seen for almost 10-11 years. She’s living in Philadelphia, 2 hours by bus from NY, together with her husband and 7-year-old daughter (read: my little cousin that I have never been met since she was born). I emailed her right away, subjected “ella is coming to town”. She was also super excited as she planned to apply for an off day during my visit. She even allowed her daughter to ditch school to go around with me during my stay. We planned this and that, I bought some (read: loads) of the things on the list to be given to her. (AH I love Hong Kong where imitation is legal everywhere).

My best weapon

To be honest, I neglect all my adventurous spirit. The family gathering interests me more than that. This is the reason why I thought that this job would grant me, to travel the world, get paid, and meet everyone out there. (which I realized later to be such a blessing to have this job and friends all scattered around the world). I have no plan this time. The only thing I know that I will be arrived in NY at 2 pm and my Auntie will pick me up at around 7 pm after her work. I’m gonna stay at her house in Philadeplhia for 2 night and early morning of the next day I will be back to NY as I had to operate back to by late noon. That’s what on my pocket at that time and off I go to NYC.

Hot Dog on the street

It was a 15-16 hours flight to JFK from HKG. The first sector, as I always said, has no problem at all as I have something to look forward to (“when you have your aim, you tend to see only to that aim’s direction”- me). I arrived in NYC at 2 pm. Brooklyn. As usual? Checked in, 10 minutes change, ready to rumble the area. Some of the senior crews are nice enough to show the way to the nearest convenience store and show us more or less about the area. They even ask me (the new joiner, most junior member of the set), whether I know my way back here and there. I told my ISM that I will spend my days in Philadelphia instead of NY and give her my aunt phone number, just in case. I ask one of the crew (another junior but still, I am the most junior, who joined few months before me) whether if she wants to walk and see the famous Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge. She agreed (an angel has been sent to me by God). We walked along the street, without map, as we actually could see the bridge even from our hotel, it seems not too far away, so all we got to do is heading towards the direction.

I touched the mark! to the downtown Brooklyn

Following the directory board and walking toward the bridge is not as near as we thought, we even snatch up a very famous NYC hot dog (USD 1.5) and lemonade (USD 1) on the way and finish them, still on the way. After a 20-30 minutes walk, we finally arrived at the Brooklyn Bridge. WOW! The view was amazed me, it even give me goosebumps when I look over the bridge and see the city of Manhattan, where Sex and the City took place, where Spiderman and Transformer were in action (crazy!). Next! Took the camera. Snip snaps! Click click click! Pose pose pose! We spent a few minutes (less than our traveling time to get there), and decided to head back to the hotel. It was 5 pm already. The travel back to hotel is actually faster than the travel time going to the bridge. (-_-) *we actually walk the other way around to the bridge* 

Central of Philadelphia

At around 7 pm, my phone rang, for the first time in long time I heard my aunt’s voice, she called from the lobby. I asked her to go up to my room as I haven’t finish with my preparation to go to Philadelphia. We finally met, give each other big hug and chit chat right away about this and that, coz we had like 10-11 years stories worth to tell. We rode a taxi to the bus stop (thanks to my big luggage) and we ride a greyhound bus to Philadelphia for USD 20 each person. It was a two hours trip and we didn’t stop a minute of chit chatting. By the time of around 9 pm, we arrived at greyhound station in Philadelphia. We hailed a taxi again and went directly to her house. My uncle and my little cousin, Jade, was there in the doorstep ready to see me (what a lovely view, to have someone waiting for you on the doorstep in 19 degree temperature). I put my luggage (which contains all the things and gifts for them) and aunt insist to go out for dinner (what time is Hong Kong time is it? Right! 9 am). We went to Popeye’s to take away some fried chicken for dinner(Jade’s choices, ah! She was afraid that I came from Indonesia that I can’t speak in English to her, so she kept quiet until my aunt said that I am able to speak in English. From that time on, she speaks to me like blab la bla bla using both English and broken Indonesian. Love her!). We had our dinner at home, shared some stories, chit chat until midnight and finally I fell asleep after 36 hours awake.

Brunch at Chili's with Jade and my aunt, Patty (Ko Mike took it).

The next day the whole Tirtakusuma’s (my aunt, her husband *ko mike*, and Jade *she ditch school*) took me for a fancy brunch at Chili’s. We were next going to the double-decked hop on and hop off city tour bus around the Philadelphia. It costs about USD 40 per person. It rather pricey, but I guess it worth it (Jade was so excited to go on a double decked bus). We went around the city, taking some picture, we passed by the Liberty Bell, a house where American flag was first sewn (forgive me I forgot the name of the house), the museum where National Treasure took place, look over the New Jersey over the horizon of sea, and I never know that Philadelphia holds such many important places in America. We even passed by the river where once the worst aircraft incident took place.

Philadelphia Sightseeing tour.

After the city tour, aunt guide me to the mall to do some shopping, it was SALE season (if you were girls, admit it: whenever you see a red sign with “sale” wording and 2 digits followed by “%” punctuation, no matter how terrible is your eyesight you will turn your head!). Anyway we went to Daffy’s, Esprit, Forever 21 (a must!), Victoria’s Secret ( of course), Bath & Bodyworks, and so much and so on. I spent most of the allowance there. Tips: whatever on sale in America, they will really cut the price, but remember to check the item thoroughly (as I almost buy a pair of flat shoes for only 1 USD a pair and I finally found that it was left and left shoes). Forever 21 offered the cheapest retail price of the brand, and for Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Bodyworks, you can always find the sale item, bought a lot and resell back in Indonesia (more money for me. oh how I love money).

The transportation system in Philadelphia is a little bit different than in NY. It doesn’t use any metro card like in NY, it use tokens. As far as I remember USD 5 is worth for 3 tokens (Jade bought for me, I just give the money and she’d love to press all the buttons). It is also a lot waaaayyy simpler than subway system in NY, it only has 2 line, orange and blue, in a plus shape of line. Very simple straightforward.

Time's Square

We headed home and had a dinner at home, guest what? Ko Mike bought me pempek (Indonesian traditional food) and to be honest their house is just like a convenient store, you can find anything you want. Cappuccino or Lemon Tea, Green Tea ice cream to Coffee flavor, Cheese dip to Chocolate dip. HEAVEN! Ha-ha. By the next morning I woken up by Jade’s kiss. She said she will go to school today and can’t go to tour NYC with me and my aunt today. Ko Mike will also go to work as he had to pick Jade after school, so I decided to take Jade to school in the morning. Her school is just a 10 minutes walking distance from house. She is a very cheerful little girl. I was felt very warm inside to had a family time like this (where?) in USA. Realizing that I am such a lucky girl that I could visit my family everywhere while I’m doing my job. God has arranged everything beautifully for me. I wait a little while to bid farewell to Jade as she walk with her classmates to her classroom.

Cafe Metro Breakfast

Ko Mike took me and my aunt to the greyhound station again and another USD 20 for each of us. Bid farewell to him, (my luggage is now loaded with a full gifts from my aunts for those back in Indonesia as I will catch flight back after this flight) and we rode the bus. 2 hours later we arrived in NYC. Put back my luggage back into my hotel room, and head out to the city. We snatched some breakfast at one of the coffee shop near the hotel called Metro. I got my sandwich and vitamin water for approx. USD 6.5. We took another hop on hop off bus city tour for USD 40 (I think it was the standard price here) and went for the city tour. NYC city highlights: Time Square (Madame Tussaud and Ripley’s Believe it or Not, all the theatres and many many Starbucks), Smithsonian Museum (where Night at the Museum took place), Empire State building, Ground Zero (gave me a chill), Battery Park (look over the famous Lady Liberty, unfortunately it was under construction at that time), passed by the Central Park (really huge and wide) and many others.

Battery Park

The tour finished by 6 pm and we headed back to the hotel. My aunt bid me farewell at the nearest subway station from the hotel and headed back to Philadelphia (I guessed I caused so many trouble for her to travel back and forth? Ah! She is the one who taught me English when I was 5 or 6. A very strict teacher she is). I got few hours left to prepare myself for the flight. Once I was ready at the lobby, I coincidentally met Val and Jezzy (remember my classmates from Ind 28/11?), they were just arrived from another flight, we chat a little bit and they go rumble the city right away.

The returning flight is much more tiring. I thought it was due to my exhaustion (never look forward to go back to HK, right?). And night flight. It was full load and all of the passengers seem to be a nightwalker. They don’t need to sleep at all. it was a 15-16 hours flight (for me it was like 15-16 hours walking distance from NY to HK, as I have to walk up and down the aisle the whole time), and all of them keep pressing the call lights asking for this and that. I almost ran out of my energy and couldn’t put a smile on my face anymore. I didn’t even answer by word, just a simple nod or directly give the requested thing. I knew it was unpleasant at all, but I was just too tired to serve all of their demands. It was only 4 of us in economy class versus 300+ of them. By the end we touched down in HK, I was really relieved and promised myself a good sleep. But as expected, my ISM gave me feedback regarding my “no-smile” service, she didn’t scold me, just tell me nicely not to do that again. The flight was finally closed by thanking each other for the flight and for me, with a loooongggggg sleep! (like paying a debt of the unslept time for past days).

I thank God that I have never experience any jet lag (until now). Tips : I keep awake during day time and I will definitely sleep when it is night time. The only problem is, whenever I’m hungry, I will wake up, but no problem, after a bite or two, I can always sleep like a pig. Heeheehee! LOL.

Ferry Station to Ellis Island

(note: sorry that I can’t put all the costs here, as sometimes people pay for my meal and I didn’t notice how much it is. Will try my best to gave the estimated range of price.) 

“You never know what God’s have on store for your life” –Me.