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Juliano's World Frenzy/Tech's Trip Reports

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55013

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I think local stuff often gets neglected, if you've got the chance of a day out, why not go somewhere further afield?
It's only in the last twelve months that I've got most of the West Yorkshire stations done, despite having been living there for my entire 35 year cranking career.
 
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Techniquest

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It is indeed tomorrow Andy, I'm not going to lie to you all, I'm scared, nervous and excited in that order. I buried myself in housework earlier to shut the brain off, I reckon I'll be fine when I get there, but until then the trip to the unknown is going to be scary!

#techsinNYC is the hashtag for those of you not aware. I have no idea how frequent tweets will be, but I can tell you tweets will begin by 0730 tomorrow morning, and will end by 2000 next Sunday.

The trip report will be massive, and photo heavy, so those on mobile devices, unless your data plan is good then I will recommend WiFi for it!

Packing will be finished shortly-ish, now I've de-rancified. A catch up on the forum is required first!
 

backontrack

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If you see Donald Trump, shout something like "you need a loan?" or "nice wig" or some kind of dry, witty remark for me :smile:
 

FQ

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Today is the day then! Enjoy it mate!
 

ChiefPlanner

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Eagerly awaiting the reports ...Hereford meets the Big Apple...

He will be fine for coffee..(the bottomless cup applies in old school diners)
 

FQ

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I hope you're not turning into me trip report wise ;)

It sounds like you've had a great time! I'm about to look through the photos now.
 

Techniquest

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No doubt you've all seen the photos by now, and I am pleased to reveal how Day 1 went at last! Trip report writing has been severely delayed this week, caused today by a farce involving losing the $200 I brought back from New York! I have searched like crazy for them but no luck yet. I have also logged it with GWR, but that's one heck of a long shot. I remember counting the notes on the 1209 Gatwick to Reading on Sunday, but after that I honestly don't remember where I put them! Another extreme search is going to be made here later, but it's one helluva dampner on an excellent trip, that money when converted back to British money was going to do so much...

Anyway, here we go with Day 1:

07/03/2016 - Tech's in NYC, Day 1

YEEHAA! It's finally here, the trip of the year! After about 6 months of waiting [yes it really was that long since I booked time off! - Ed] it was finally time to head to New York! With packing done over multiple days, the day before I was getting worried like nobody's business about it all, but eventually I get to James' and we do a few bits and bobs before finally crashing into sleep. At 0558, I'm up and about and getting ready for the long day. We get a lift to the station from James' Mum and there's time to pick up a coffee before joining 170516+153364 on the 0734 to Birmingham New Street, as far as Worcester Foregate Street. It's a tight +7 but easily made onto 180103 on the 0826 to London Paddington. This 'un is just one step from joining The League of Super Duds, and sadly there's too many people sucking up the WiFi for it to work on either my phone or tablet. 9 minute wait at Shrub Hill, and an 11 minute wait at Evesham, no wonder this service takes a while to get to London! £2.30 later, I source a Nescafe Azera coffee from the trolley and it's not too bad [unlike when I had one on Southern once! - Ed] which was welcome. We both have a long journey and get some tuneage on, which means it's time for Tech's Mobile Disco for a bit. It's also time for breakfast, which sure goes down well. 7 minutes delay at Charlbury due to a pair of 166s on the 0821 London Paddington to Hereford being late, down to 4 minutes late off Oxford. A decent break in Reading is now called for!

A supply raid in Sainsburys is carried out, and a Costa break is enjoyed too before we join dud 166208, now turned into a Super Dud, on the 1134 to Gatwick Airport. Due to a train crew issue, the 1104 was delayed, so had some stops ripped out and added to our service. Nevertheless, we arrive at 1256, only 6 down, and we have a wander around. Check in doesn't open until about 1400 I'm informed, and we both sign up for MyGatwick to get ourselves a free coffee from Pret. Apparently you can get one everytime you fly from Gatwick, well worth remembering, although admittedly my flying trips from Gatwick will be few and far between! Eventually we're all checked in with the bags, and as the Norwegian live chat guy said, we wouldn't need our ESTA or travel documents to be printed, although we still did it just in case. A wander around the shops results in me getting a 2 pack of RFID card protectors for £7.50, as a result of me and my Mum watching something on it recently. If it saves my money being wiped out then it'll be worth it! Our free coffees are sourced, and to be fair they were rather decent, I might have to use them elsewhere in the future. Our gate is called as number 17, and we make the trek there in no time. Much less than the walk at Stansted, but let's not go there. A rather decent photo [in my mind! - Ed] of our plane is had through a window here, and Norwegian have put winner EI-LNI, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, on the 1710 to New York JFK. Why an EI-reg for a Norwegian airline, I don't understand, but hey ho I'm not complaining. Around 1645 we get to board, and it's relatively quick and organised compared to Ryanair!

The grey interior is quite a noticeable difference to them too, and the size of the plane is unreal. I've never been on a plane with Premium as well as Economy seats! The seats are a good size, and leg room in row 6 [front row of Economy - Ed] is good. You face a dividing wall, but the windows are huge compared to those on my more regular flights aboard a Boeing 737-800! The guy next to me was rather big and would have made the flight so much more worse, but thankfully he and his partner paid for an upgrade to Premium. $400 each, ouch! So far I'm impressed, apart from the lack of WiFi [on such a modern plane, in this day and age?! - Ed] but that's made up for in power sockets and the In Flight Entertainment (IFE). Once you figure all these bits out, like how to get the oull out table out and how the IFE comes out, it's excellent so far.

Norwegian's Boeing 787-9 EI-LNI at London Gatwick Airport (gate 17), 7th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

Push back is at 1707, so by my rules that counts departure as 3 minutes early. I get some plane regs on the way to the runway, mostly Easyjet but hey ho. Take off is as smooth as you're ever going to get, I really had to look out of the window to see if we were going up! After the other guy upgraded, I spread to his seat to get more space for me and James. My sister had called pre-taxi to ask if I had my flight socks on, which I hadn't, oops! So now was a good time to do so. As we go up there's very minor issue with pressure in the ears, but this is gone after a few minutes. We start playing with the IFE, crikey there's a lot of TV shows and movies on this, I am impressed! Soon after we get our hot meal, included in our Low Fare Plus [Low Fare doesn't include hold luggage, seat reservations or meals - Ed] fare so we figured we might as well at the time! The option was chicken or salmon, so we both go for chicken. This is basically a mini roast chicken dinner, with a a white chocolate and raspberry mousse pot for pudding. The pasta pot wasn't hot or nice to my taste though, but others like it.

Port wing and engine, EI-LNI, 7th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

I end up watching 3 episodes of How I Met Your Mother and countless episodes of The Big Bang Theory, before I have had enough and look out of the window and play about with the moving maps. I doubt I'll ever travel at 40,000 feet again, or at a top speed of around 550mph ground speed. Well, except for the way home of course! We get a cold snack meal about an hour and a half before we arrive, with a coffee too. The snack meal was a cheese and tomato chutney mini sandwich, chocolate cookie and apple juice which came in a little bag. I didn't like the sound of the sandwich, so I gave mine to James who then gave me his cookie instead. I finally get on with hammering out this trip report, having not touched it for 11 hours, so it took a while. I'm not a huge fan of the cabin crew, they are too Ryanair for my liking, but the plane is wonderful and I look forward to more travels on these. Just as well, as I'll be on one on Sunday!

Another view of New York from above on EI-LNI, 7th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

We finally land at 1929 [0029 UK time - Ed], then circle around everywhere at the terminal for 27 minutes before we finally arrive at the terminal itself, the last bit we had to be towed in for some reaso. Still, we were 34 minutes early which was good news. Passport control was done in no time, much to our relief and it was nice and easy. It's not too long much longer before our cases are off too. A handover of the customs card to the officers there and we were outside in far less time than we expected. After a leg stretch break, and soaking up some fresh air, we jump into a famous New York yellow taxi, its number being 8H86 for the record. No way did we have the patience for anything else now, and a $40 trip gets us to our apartment in Brooklyn. $20 each for an 11.4 mile journey seemed more than fair, and after dropping off bags, a quick look around the apartment followed and we went in search of proper food. Kennedy Fried Chicken was around the corner and we get an enormous pizza [21” across! - Ed] and a large bottle of Coke for $12, an absolute bargain! This went down beautifully, and by the time we'd unpacked and so on it was well gone midnight local time! A very long but good day, and we were both more than excited about the trip's main event starting in just a matter of hours!

Winners: 1 (EI-LNI), no rail scores
Shack scores: 0

Rail fares: £0 (James bought our Flyaway tickets from money he owed me for his share of the accommodation)
Air fares: £209.15
Taxi fares: $20 each
General expenditure: £35.43
Total: £244.58 plus $20
 

HMS Ark Royal

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A great read - just happy to see that i was able to identify the aircraft and its age for you!
The reason it has an Irish tailcode is because to avoid certain tax restrictions and some airline regulations, the planes have Irish "plates" - much the same reason as many buses and coaches are registered in Ireland!
 

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Sounds like a great first day there! Vote 787!
 

Techniquest

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A great read - just happy to see that i was able to identify the aircraft and its age for you!
The reason it has an Irish tailcode is because to avoid certain tax restrictions and some airline regulations, the planes have Irish "plates" - much the same reason as many buses and coaches are registered in Ireland!

Ahh, that makes some sort of sense regarding the tailcode. I can't believe the plane is that young, if it was indeed its first ever passenger flight I feel honoured to have been on it!

Something I will probably get to mentioning near the end of the trip report is that Flightdiary gives me a mileage of 3,464 miles for Gatwick to JFK, so I've cleared EI-LNI now for 6,900 miles!
 

ac6000cw

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A great read (the excitement certainly comes across :)) - looking forward to the next instalment !

(...and you're one up on me with the 787 - haven't managed to fly on a Dreamliner yet).
 

Techniquest

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A great read (the excitement certainly comes across :)) - looking forward to the next instalment !

(...and you're one up on me with the 787 - haven't managed to fly on a Dreamliner yet).

Glad you enjoyed the read, and that the excitement came across! My next targets are an A380, an ATR-72 and a B747. Going to be some time before I get the A380 or B747 in I reckon...
 

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Loving this report because hopefully I will be going later in the year! Not fussed about planes but looking forward to this report (and I really need to find time to write my last three days out!)!
 

HMS Ark Royal

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Ahh, that makes some sort of sense regarding the tailcode. I can't believe the plane is that young, if it was indeed its first ever passenger flight I feel honoured to have been on it!

Something I will probably get to mentioning near the end of the trip report is that Flightdiary gives me a mileage of 3,464 miles for Gatwick to JFK, so I've cleared EI-LNI now for 6,900 miles!

Her first flight was listed as taking place on Feb 7th, but this would be in an unfinished condition with the purpose being to check the airworthiness - with an Irish inspector onboard as well as one from the FAA. Her flight logs record she operated an empty flight to Oslo where she orbited the airport there to satisfy legal requirements regarding ownership by the leasing company. Once done, she landed for fuel and then operated direct to Shannon, made a few landings there to claim she was working on irish soil and then off to Gatwick where she started work on the 3rd of March.
 

Techniquest

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Ahhh, so we were on Day 4 of its first passenger workings, not bad still.

Seems crazy that a few landings proves it works off Irish territory, surely a booked passenger route would be needed for that? Bit of a messed up system if you ask me! I noted an Airitalia craft with an Irish registration too the other day, it's just bizarre!
 

HMS Ark Royal

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Ahhh, so we were on Day 4 of its first passenger workings, not bad still.

Seems crazy that a few landings proves it works off Irish territory, surely a booked passenger route would be needed for that? Bit of a messed up system if you ask me! I noted an Airitalia craft with an Irish registration too the other day, it's just bizarre!

Its a legal technicality - basically a loophole. A lot of Africa based planes with the "G" prefix are owned by big leasing companies which mean, to get around certain laws, they'll fly from the Airbus factory direct to Gatwick and / or Stansted and do some bumps and circuits so it can be stated the plane was previously working on British soil.

Complicated, but its worked for 30 years
 

Techniquest

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Fair games, one day that'll be changed I'm sure!

It's slightly too cold to sit on the patio in the sunshine, plus my tablet didn't charge fully yesterday so I'm using my Mum's laptop for this one. Time for some Nightcore while I fire away with Day 2:

08/03/2016 - Tech's in NYC, Day 2

An early morning view of East Brooklyn, taken from the apartment on Lincoln Place, Brooklyn, 8th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

As you'll see from the above photo, a view facing east over Brooklyn from the apartment, I was awake rather early. It was not intended for either of us to be awake too early, after a very long day yesterday, but we both rise by the sun rises. Today's first mission objective was to visit a Walmart, and research prior to the trip suggested the one in Bayonne was the closest and easiest to access for us. This yielded a bonus for our trip, remember neither of us had ever been to the USA and any of its 50 [or is it 51, I keep forgetting! - Ed] states before. Why is this relevant at all? Well, Bayonne is part of New Jersey, a seperate state to New York. 2 down, 48 [or 49! - Ed] to go! First things first upon arrival at the very nearby Subway station at Kingston Avenue, only 2 minutes walk from the apartment, is to buy our Metrocards. A 7 day Unlimited Ride Metrocard is $31 currently, plus $1 for a new card fee. At first we didn't realise we had to enter the zipcode into the TVM too, so we ask at the booth. If anyone else from the forum visits this area, it's 11213. As James owed me money still from his share of the apartment cost [I paid for it at the time on my card, as it was the easiest way - Ed], he got my Metrocard as well as his own. We soon realise we have to go downstairs for the trains towards town, and at this point I have no idea what I need to log and what I can pass on. This I've covered on a seperate thread in the International Rail section [NYC Subway - train recording and mileage - Ed], but even now I'm not sure what I need and don't need to log. For the time being, in my trip reports at least, I'm going to do the same as I would on the Bakerloo line for example, and put down the outer leading vehicle in each set. You'd be surprised how hard it is to find an understandable fleet list, or even a book on it all!

Eastern Parkway intersection with Kingston Avenue, Brooklyn, 8th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

In the above photo, the crossroads with Eastern Parkway and Kingston Avenue, the Subway station is over the road to the right. I never did take that photo...1565+1401 are, naturally double winners for everything on my first ever rail move in the USA! We take this from Kingston Avenue to Park Place on line 3, and may I say right that I really don't like the Kawazaki trains they use on this line. So ancient looking inside and out, these trains make Pacers feel luxurious. Yes I really did say that, feel free to bury that into memory for future reference! It's also quite the trek into town, and of course we were travelling in peak time so it was nice and busy! The next move was a short walk to the PATH station next to One World Trade Center, and can I also point out now the weather was stunning today, reaching highs of 23 degrees Celsius! All those jumpers and so forth we packed were immediately pointless! Annoyingly I didn't stop to take photos of the PATH station [it's worth pointing out the whole area was very busy still, and the area is very much under construction for a new addition to the skyline - Ed] or indeed the trains. One WTC is much more impressive in the flesh than it is in photos, but here's a view of it from just before the PATH station:

One World Trade Center, 8th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

Downstairs we go, and we didn't realise that our Metrocards weren't valid on here. Better research would have done the trick, but we go and buy a 2-trip Metrocard valid only on PATH trains for S5.50. Again, I don't know what I need to have logged, but I'm going to continue adopting the British Tube methodology here, and we take double winners for everything 5703+5606 one stop from World Trade Center (PATH) to Exchange Place (PATH). It's a long wait in the crowd for a lift [sorry, now I'm back in the UK I'm not calling them elevators! - Ed], having to wait for the third one to take us to street level. By chance, we have a wander around and find a nice seating area facing Manhattan, so while we soak up the atmosphere we got views like this one:

Manhatten (New York) skyline, viewed from Exchange Place, New Jersey, morning of 8th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

And this one facing north west towards Upper Manhattan:

Looking to the north side of Manhatten (New York), from Exchange Place, New Jersey, 8th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

Rather glad we came across these views! Next up was a trip on the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, and after paying $4.50 for a return trip to 22nd Street, and time-stamping our tickets, we join double winners for everything 2028+2046 for a surprisingly long trip from Exchange Place (HBLR) to 22nd Street (HBLR). This was followed by a 10 minute walk to Walmart, which was quite big and took forever to go around. Supplies for lunch and later on are sourced, and after devouring a lovely meal, mine combined with a rather decent takeaway coffee from a rubi vending machine for $1.50, we trek back to 22nd Street. By chance, there's a bit of freight action going on, with a pair of locos moving some tank wagons around. CSX 1537 is seen below, as is a black loco numbered 3429:

CSX loco 1537, 22nd Street in Bayonne, New Jersey, 8th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

Loco 3429, 22nd Street in Bayonne, New Jersey, 8th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

Below is a photo of Hudson-Bergen Light Rail 2031 and 2002 arriving on an 8th Street-bound service:

Hudson-Bergen Light Rail tram 2031 arrives at 22nd Street, Bayonne, New Jersey, 8th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

Double winners for everything 2002+2031 take us back to Exchange Place, having time-stamped the return portion of the tickets. Those locos sounded pretty good, it must be said, especially when they had dragged those tankers out. The noise from outside the station was epic! A coffee break is needed from Starbucks [no such thing as Costa over here, before you ask! - Ed] and was very reasonably priced at S2.62 including tax. The sun had cleared the mist from earlier by now, so here's the improved view over Manhattan:

During a coffee break, when the mist had cleared, north Manhatten is seen from Exchange Place, New Jersey, 8th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

And one of my favourite shots of the trip, a clearer view of Manhattan's financial district:

A much clearer view of Manhatten's skyline, dominated by One World Trade Center in the middle, viewed from Exchange Place, New Jersey, 8th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

After a while, we head down via the other entrance to the PATH station avoiding the lifts, and join double winners for everything 5791+5805 [I'm not sure I logged those sets properly now - Ed] back to World Trade Center on the PATH line. It appears a new platform is being opened, judging by the view shortly before arrival, but I'm not sure. We exit via the Occulus, as seen below:

Inside the Occulus (part of the new World Trade Center's PATH station), 8th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

We now visit one of the many sights we wanted to go to, the 9/11 Memorial site. It's a lovely place, but before we get to it we start gift shopping. We didn't find what we wanted in this expensive shop, then we saw a fire engine leaving its station. They look rather different to the British ones:

New York fire engine leaving its station, 8th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

The Occulus from outside, which I still say is fascinating looking:

The Occulus (part of World Trade Center's PATH station), 8th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

After some reflection and seeing both the North and South pools [on the sites of the original two towers - Ed] at the 9/11 Memorial, we briefly consider visiting the museum too. It's not entirely my thing, and since the weather was ridiculously gorgeous too we couldn't stay inside all day! Our bags were both full and heavy now, so we decide to first head back to the apartment, joining winners 1517+1465 from Park Place to Kingston Avenue. Before this though, we check out the Woolworth Building and St Pauls Chapel, which despite being so close to the towers was never damaged.

After a PNB and bag emptying back at the apartment, we join winners 1515+1345 [I only have 1345 logged here, I don't know what the other 4 vehicles in the set were now, but that will do! - Ed] to Atlantic Avenue Barclays Center, where we change for line N to Coney Island Stillwell Avenue. Winners for everything 9042+8913 take us there, and thankfully the train empties out after a while. This line is currently under modernisation, with northbound services not stopping at many of the stations, although Bay Parkway had a temporary platform installed on the northbound through line. One thing I did notice a lot around the Subway on our travels is a major lack of PIS almost everywhere. Kingston Avenue and Park Place certainly had screens, which we found most useful, but other stations where screens were didn't appear to work properly which was very unhelpful. A lot of places did have announcements mind, but compared to London's Underground this lot was in dire need of modernising!

MTA Subway car 8913 at Coney Island Stillwell Avenue, 8th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

Above is a photo of MTA Subway car 8913 at Coney Island Stillwell Avenue. "Tech, where's the rest of the photos of trains?" I hear you ask. Well bear in mind most of it is underground, therefore photos were difficult. I also didn't want to stand out too much as a tourist, so there are not many photos of any of the Subway system. We've come here to visit the Brooklyn Wall of Remembrance, an amazing monument in honour of all those servicemen killed in the 9/11 rescue mission. You read all about it, but it doesn't hit home until you've stood here [as well as the 9/11 Memorial site - Ed] and seen all 4 panels of this monument. One of these is seen below:

Brooklyn Wall of Remembrance, 8th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

It's well worth pointing out I do have plenty more photos of all things on the trip, I'm only showing a selection of the 204 photos that made it to the final cut. We also visit the pier and take in the view along the long beach, this place must be packed in the summer! Luna Park is viewed below, taken from the pier:

Thunderbolt ride at Luna Park, Coney Island, New York, 8th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

And the sun sets over Coney Island:

The sun sets over New York, viewed from the pier at Coney Island, New York, 8th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

We're both rather hungry by now, it having been something like 6 hours since a light lunch, so we go in search of some food to tide us over before we get back to our favourite takeaway [yes the pizza last night was that good! - Ed], and we end up at Checkers just outside the station. Think of a Burger King but an improved version. Why improved? Well I get a Baconzilla burger for $5.32, and Oh. My. LORDZ! It's beyond hellfire, I would recommend this to absolutely everyone. It's not cheap no, but this massive cheeseburger and bacon was just so good, words cannot describe it! Back into the station we go after eating our food, and we join double winners for everything 9178+8807 on line Q for extra line coverage to Prospect Park, where we change for line S [there's at least two line S services, just to make it confusing! - Ed] to Botanic Garden on double winners for everything 2916+2919, the train absolutely stunk of something awful too! We were therefore more than happy to change and do the walk to Franklin Avenue [there's a lot of walks via subway routes in New York, it must be noted - Ed] and to join winners 1320+1441 to Kingston Avenue to veg out after a long day. Well, first of all we were off to Kennedy Fried Chicken again, where I bought the pizza and Coke this time, James having done so last night so it was only fair!

That then was Day 2, another excellent day but with better coming up. If we thought there was a fair bit of walking done today, then we were in for a big surprise at how much we did during the rest of our time here! All will be revealed ;) Some stats then:

Rail fares: $10 (as my Metrocard was paid for by James)
General expenditure: $32.69
Accommodation ching: £147 (meant to add this to Day 1 but forgot!)
Total: £147 plus $42.69

Day 3 will be worked on as soon as I can. Maybe later, we'll see. I need a break from typing, I've spent over 90 minutes working on this day alone!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Right then, I give up searching for that $200, I reckon it's lost forever :cry: Let's get on with Day 3 before I go and cook something up for tea:

09/03/2016 - Tech's in NYC, Day 3

It's another early rise, despite not wanting to be up too early. Catching up with the time zone change, not to mention traffic noise, was playing havoc with both of us. After some coffee, I was ready to get going, and James wasn't far behind with preparation, with us hitting the Subway again at peak time. We did tell ourselves not to do that again, but we are on it again and find ourselves on more rancid R62 Kawasaki stock [I did research it a bit, thanks to ac6000cw's link - Ed] with winners 1466+1411 to a winner shack at Clark Street, as this was deemed to be the most convenient shack to alight at for Brooklyn Bridge Park. We get a little lost, unsurprisingly, but after a breakfast break at an on-street vendor we're both a little more ready for it. We end up doing the sensible thing and asking a NYPD police officer in the end, turns out we'd gone quite some way from the way we should have gone, but we'd have not got that hellfire hot dog or coffee otherwise, $6.50 well spent in my eyes. Eventually, 5 blocks later in a neighbourhood that was far nicer looking than our one was, we arrive in glorious sunshine and heat at Brooklyn Bridge Park. Here's a view we were soon treated to of Manhattan:

Brooklyn Bridge Park's view of the skyline, 9th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

And another one from the BBQ area, looking towards the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges:

Looking east towards Brooklyn Bridge from the park, 9th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

After some more walking, we end up right underneath Brooklyn Bridge, and end up in the bit we wanted to get to, a park area called Dumbo. I have no idea why either, before you ask! Apart from enjoying the view, James wanted to get an up to date view from this spot, as his Mum and Dad had been here and got a watercolour of it from years ago, and I can see why they did, the view is amazing. See for yourselves in the following photo:

Viewed from a park called Dumbo, Brooklyn Bridge and Manhatten skyline, 9th March 2016. One of my favourite views of the trip! by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

Eventually after much looking around, in an area where former factories are being converted to residential and commercial properties [there's still part of the old industrial lines in the roads and pavements here! - Ed], we end up at York Street on the Subway. By now we're both gasping for a decent drink, as the weather was just ridiculously hot and sunny, with no breeze, for early March! Apparently the average daytime temperature for New York at this time of year is around 7 degrees Celsius, during the peak of the day, which we still hadn't hit just yet it got up to 23 degrees Celsius! So when we learnt of flooding and freezing cold conditions at home later on we just couldn't believe it!

York Street (on line F) on MTA Subway, 9th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

Yes I did manage to get a quick snap of a Subway station! Winners for everything 9278+9858 took us to 34th Street Herald Square, as the Empire State Building was on the agenda next. However, as we were exiting right next to Macy's we had to get a photo:

Macy's, 34th Street, New York. Apparently it's the largest store in the entire world! 9th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

After a Burger King break, where I had a breakfast croissant-wich with whatever was in it with some hellfire hash brown pieces and a coffee [just what is Half and Half exactly?! - Ed] for $8.81 and James had food too, which certainly helped fill an enormous gap, we headed in to see what the world's biggest store looked like. Sure enough, it's enormous, spread over 9 floors from memory. We see the Visitor Center and pick up various leaflets [note, they have free NYC visitor guides and maps here, so you don't need to waste money on them before you leave home! - Ed] before we have a look around. James doesn't find anything he wants to get until much later, but I find several gifts here which was most helpful. Also, before I forget, there's a machine in the Visitor Center, which upon a scan of your passport will give you a 10% off voucher to use in the store on almost anything. If nothing else, I would recommend getting one to cover the sales tax! I will never understand why they don't include it in their normal prices, as we do here, but there must be a good reason. After about an hour in here, we leave and head to the infamous Empire State Building. I know, I know, you can get better views from the Top of the Rock, but we still felt it necessary to visit the Empire State, it's a world famous landmark after all! Below it's seen from ground level:

Empire State Building, viewed from the street, 9th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

After working our way through an almost non-existant queue [we were visiting outside the main tourist season thankfully - Ed] the grandeur of Empire State really does rub off on you. We take one lift to the 80th floor, where we then have to change for the 86th floor via another lift. The views are just incredible, here's a few of them for you all to gawp at:

Looking north from Empire State Building, 9th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

Looking west, towards New Jersey, from Empire State Building, 9th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

A south easterly facing view from Empire State Building, 9th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

I would recommend coming here on a first visit to New York, but as this trip report will hopefully demonstrate, with the visual aids at least, there are better viewpoints these days. Come for the monument of early 1900s construction if nothing else, it's a wonder of engineering that needs to be seen. Anyone interested in architecture, engineering or history will find this skyscraper fascinating, same for fans of How I Met Your Mother. After our visit, we do some more gift shopping and end up spending quite a bit but my shopping is now nearly done, including some bits for myself, the Subway t-shirt is being worn currently and will be a fond memory of the trip for a long time to come. On our way to Grand Central Terminal, which is certainly walkable [we did a fair bit today, but with far more to come on this trip! - Ed], we found JHU Comics, and we simply had to have a look. We came across it by pure chance, same as the one in Stockholm's Old Town in November 2014. James points out a Futurama comic, which for $3.99 I wasn't leaving behind as I'm a big fan of Futurama. It wasn't enough content for my taste, only taking just over 10 minutes to read, but it was still brilliant. We could both spend hours upon hours in here [I'm only a part time Marvel fan, but I'm getting there! - Ed] and quite some money, but after a while we decide we must move on to avoid emptying the bank accounts too much!

We eventually make it to Grand Central Terminal, which is seen from the approach road below:

Grand Central Terminal, seen from the approach road, 9th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

It's impossible to get a decent shot it seems from this end, although I admit I didn't look too hard. Annoyingly my shot of the main area of the concourse came out badly, but it is still on my Flickr. It stays there as testament to making sure photos come out properly in future! Here's a couple of the building itself, and I was only just beginning to nerd out:

Grand Central Terminal, 9th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

Grand Central Terminal, 9th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

Metro North Rail Road trains at Grand Central, New York, 9th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

One of the many passages through Grand Central Terminal, New York, 9th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

We also took in the transit museum's shop here, where I truely entered nerdiness, and if I had my own place I would have spent a very large sum of money easily. I wish I had now mind, one thing I would have bought was the Subway map shower curtain [I doubt it would have been appreciated by the rest of the household though! - Ed] and if I had a big enough case I'd have got the poster of the map too. Not to mention more t-shirts, caps, Metrocard holders [for use on UK bashing mainly - Ed] and who knows what else! As my $200 I brought home is 99.9% certain to have got lost, I wish I'd spent that now, although I'd have probably gone through more than that! Eventually we move on, and want to head back to the apartment for a rest and an evening meal. So we join winners for everything 1931+1952+1940 on line S [yep, two different S lines, not at all confusing! - Ed] from Grand Central 42nd Street to Times Square after one heck of a long walk to it. On board, a travelling artist does a portrait of James, impressively done in just 4 minutes! I've got to admit, it was well done. We transfer to winners 6526+6306 on line 2 as far as Park Place, as James wanted to return to the 9/11 Memorial shop to buy his kids some presents.

Onwards, with full bags again, we join winners 1336+1560 to Kingston Avenue for a PNB, general rest and some much needed food from, you guessed it, Kennedy Fried Chicken. I had the Italian Cheeseburger, fries and Dr Pepper, for $6 this was a huge meal and well worth every penny. I also went to Fine Fare in Brooklyn apparently, but I can't remember what for and what I got. I knew having a Bashing Expenditures file would be useful, but I also knew I'd forget a lot of things as a result of doing this trip report several days later [in the case of Day 3, a week later - Ed]. I can only assume it was drinks of some variety, oh well whatever it was it was an expenditure. I bet you're thinking we had an early night now. Well, umm, no not exactly! I'd got on the case of looking a few bits and bobs up using the WiFi in the apartment, included in this search was the Disney Store which is supposed to be enormous and on multiple floors. So I found it at Times Square and apparently it's open until 1am. I tell James this and all of a sudden he's got the same idea as me, let's go and see Times Square at night! We'd seen some of it in the daylight, which wasn't super impressive, but at night it could be.

So after preparations began for a last minute trip, we return to Kingston Avenue and join fresh duds 1336+1560 to Times Square-42nd Street. I didn't notice at the time that we had the same pair earlier that evening, what unfortunate luck! It's a long trip but we eventually arrive. I must note at this time that the announcements are almost always impossible to understand on the R62 stock, and maps are almost non-existant too. These trains also use the old-fashioned roller blinds for origin and destination of the trains, of which both show at the same time. It's ridiculously confusing for visitors, and I very much don't recommend line 3 to tourists or even enthiusiasts! These things are ancient and just horrible, they don't even make a decent noise!

Times Square at night with taxis and buses, 9th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

Times Square at night, looking north, 9th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

Times Square at night, looking south, 9th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

So was that the end of our day? Ha, no chance! Remember, we're in New York, the city that never sleeps, and we were certainly becoming part of that! We now join line R to Whitehall Street South Ferry, and sadly the only numbers I got here were 5785+5784, which were part of the same set. So this move is going down in the books simply as winner for everything 5785. It's nearly 2330 local time [which would have been nearly 0400 UK time! - Ed], so what are we still doing? Well we wanted to see the Statue of Liberty, and the Staten Island Ferry runs every 30 minutes, 24 hours a day, and is free of charge. So we join the sailing at midnight, which is techically into 10th March 2016, also known as Day 4, which you're going to have to wait for, I need another break from a serious typing spree. However, one final photo for now in Day 3 of South Ferry's terminal for the Staten Island Ferry service, taken from the road from line R's Subway station:

Staten Island Terminal, South Ferry, New York, 10th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

Some stats then for Day 3:

General expenditure: $27.12 (not including gift shopping!)
Total: $27.12

Day 4 may well get worked upon later, we'll see. Until then, I'm having a proper break away from the laptop!
 
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ChiefPlanner

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Great stuff - every subway car is a winner. You certainly stayed in an interesting area - unheard of in the wilder 70's and 80's. The New Lots line was known to the workers as "the Beast" (from Marion Swerdlows book on her times as a NYCTA conductor..) -how was the Prospect Park shuttle ? (for ambience - never been brave enough to do it) ..
 

FQ

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I loved day two - the black loco is a Norfolk Southern one and they are all absolutely hellfire! Remind me to read Day 3 later.
 

Techniquest

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We didn't particularly enjoy the Prospect Park shuttle, wouldn't do it again! Glad the trip report is going down a storm so far. All being well I'll get to Day 4 later!
 
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