As I mentionned earlier, I visited "The Big Apple" aka New York City two weeks ago accompanied by the fabulous K and Nizza and also by Michael, an Asian friend of mine who I study at University with.
The whole trip was completely unexpected and planned at the last minute; not even 48 hours in advance! Indeed, Nizza called me two days before (sunday, december 18th) her arrival date to announce to me that she had finally found a reasonably-priced roundtrip flight ticket from Stavanger-Sola to New York City. For those of you who have never flown before or are not used to book flight tickets online, the key to saving a few pesos is to compare prices among different airlines and on different retail websites.
 |
| Abercrombie and Fit model and us ;-) |
And that's how Michael, K, K's mom and I drove all afternoon that sunday heading south toward the Empire State of Mind. We reached the overly-populated island of Manhattan shortly after dinner. Travelling with Chinese folks also implies a lot of shopping for brands and sales!!! All three of them forced Rodzilla to stop at the Duty Free before crossing the American border. The prices indicated were just slightly cheaper than in Canada or in the States which means that you should shop by category in these shops since certain items might be worth the hassle to stop there while some others might be about the same price.
Another very important stop we had to make was Woodbury Common Premium Outlets which is in fact a H.U.G.E. retail outlet outdoor mall located in Red Apple Central Valley, NY two hours shy of the Big Apple. I believe these outlets were very interesting and appealing for savvy shoppers but as for the tired driver that I was, I didn't feel like buying anything and the fact that we needed to walk outside between shops anoyed me very much as the temperature was friggin' cold!!!
The moment we reached Chinatown, we had to hurry the (&*? up to bring all of our luggages into K²'s hotel room in order to leave some space for Nizza. We then sashayed away into the ghettos of Queens and Brooklyn in a New York minute to get at JFK where Nizza was scheduled to land. We waited an hour in awe at Terminal 4 (probably the ugliest terminal at JFK) and that's when the lovely Norwegian made her way out through the arrival hall and greeted us with her cute Scandinavian smile. I presented every single one of them to each other and proposed we leave the airport before the parking fees exceeded what we wanted to spend on food and booze.
That night, we were all so dead tired that we did nothing but eat and get off to bed. The following morning, I went shopping with the Chinese posse at Bloomingdale's while Nizza was recuperating from her lack of sleep and jet lag. We then hopped in a cab toward the Empire State Building and went to the top to take pictures and admire the New York skyline. I thought I'd be scared shitless as the first time I had been there (I was 14 at the time), I could barely breathe nor open my eyes and my family had made fun of my virtigo!
We walked a bit north towards Times Square, visited or should I say, shop again at Toys'r'us and agreed to eat a generous meal at Bubba Gump. I have to tell you that their Cajun shrimps were probably the best dish I had in ages and that their menu is definitely high on price/quality ratio! I also took a Fisherman's plate and a Louisiana Lemonade which allowed me to get a free glass buck at the end! A few minutes before we left the restaurant, we asked our waiter if he knew any good night clubs in NY as we were looking forward to go out and get loose. He said he didn't go out very often so he couldn't really help and came back with his colleague; a tall and lean African-American twink.
It didn't take more than 30 seconds for him to get to know that I was gay and was seeking gay nightlife (thanks to Nizza :-P). He seemed relieved and said that he was gay too and only went out in gay clubs so he could easily provide us with a detailed list of the best gay clubs in town. He wrote about 6 ones on my brown napkin. K told him she had read about a club called "The Cock" and wanted to know if it was good. He gazed at us with a weird expression and said he wouldn't recommend that club as it was ill-fated and was better-suited for horny gay men in their 30s!
That evening, we walked to Rockefeller center to admire the 25 meters tall Christmas tree and took a cab home to our hotels. I need to mention that Nizza, Michael and I stayed at the SoHotel while K and her mom were at another hotel one block south from us. We were once again too tired to go out which obliged us to lay in bed, getting some sleep.
Our last day in New York was filled with a lot of passion and excitement as we strolled across town like young hyperactive kids! We all rode taxis down south heading toward Wall Street and Financial district. From there, we could admired the Statue of Liberty standing tall on her little isle in the New York harbour, we walked across Battery Park and up to World Financial Center where we paused in the Winter Garden and cracked the back of our necks to see the top of the Mojave desert-imported palm trees. After that we moved around Ground Zero and could see that construction had been undertaken to erase the damage done on 9/11.
After a whole hour of nonsense and lack of understanding regarding how to find a decent cab in this area of the city, we were lucky enough to find one and requested he brought us to Central Park south; near Columbus Circle. That neighbourhood was completely unknown by each one of us which resulted in our effervescence to watch it and walk through it. After hunger had hit us, we walked south toward 5th avenue to both find the Abercrombie and Fitch and a decent restaurant as well. I must express the feelings of inner whorriness that inspired that store to me! OMFG there was a goddamn sexy and edible hunk standing shirtless at the entrance of the store! He stood tall, was gifted with a chiseled, caramel body and face and his sported gorgeous emerald green eyes! I was so shy and intimidated that I demanded Michael to accompany me to take a picture next to him!
I'll finish this New York memorabilia by telling you to NEVER eat at TGIF Friday's!!! We ate there and had the worst service, worst food and WORST drinks ever! I'm not a difficult or demanding customer but this restaurant is crap! I asked for a Margharita and had the nastiest one ever! It tasted even badded than if my brother had wanted to make me a strong one with the cheapest tequila and artificial lime juice! I will also disappoint you by affirming that we never went out in town during the whole length of our stay :-(! I mean Michael, K and I all had had exams and worked during the previous days and Nizza had to take two flights from her native Norway before reaching the US!
 | ||||
| You know you're in Little Italy when... |
The moment we reached Chinatown, we had to hurry the (&*? up to bring all of our luggages into K²'s hotel room in order to leave some space for Nizza. We then sashayed away into the ghettos of Queens and Brooklyn in a New York minute to get at JFK where Nizza was scheduled to land. We waited an hour in awe at Terminal 4 (probably the ugliest terminal at JFK) and that's when the lovely Norwegian made her way out through the arrival hall and greeted us with her cute Scandinavian smile. I presented every single one of them to each other and proposed we leave the airport before the parking fees exceeded what we wanted to spend on food and booze.
That night, we were all so dead tired that we did nothing but eat and get off to bed. The following morning, I went shopping with the Chinese posse at Bloomingdale's while Nizza was recuperating from her lack of sleep and jet lag. We then hopped in a cab toward the Empire State Building and went to the top to take pictures and admire the New York skyline. I thought I'd be scared shitless as the first time I had been there (I was 14 at the time), I could barely breathe nor open my eyes and my family had made fun of my virtigo!
 |
| New York skyline |
It didn't take more than 30 seconds for him to get to know that I was gay and was seeking gay nightlife (thanks to Nizza :-P). He seemed relieved and said that he was gay too and only went out in gay clubs so he could easily provide us with a detailed list of the best gay clubs in town. He wrote about 6 ones on my brown napkin. K told him she had read about a club called "The Cock" and wanted to know if it was good. He gazed at us with a weird expression and said he wouldn't recommend that club as it was ill-fated and was better-suited for horny gay men in their 30s!
That evening, we walked to Rockefeller center to admire the 25 meters tall Christmas tree and took a cab home to our hotels. I need to mention that Nizza, Michael and I stayed at the SoHotel while K and her mom were at another hotel one block south from us. We were once again too tired to go out which obliged us to lay in bed, getting some sleep.
 |
| Manhunt ad in Times Square |
After a whole hour of nonsense and lack of understanding regarding how to find a decent cab in this area of the city, we were lucky enough to find one and requested he brought us to Central Park south; near Columbus Circle. That neighbourhood was completely unknown by each one of us which resulted in our effervescence to watch it and walk through it. After hunger had hit us, we walked south toward 5th avenue to both find the Abercrombie and Fitch and a decent restaurant as well. I must express the feelings of inner whorriness that inspired that store to me! OMFG there was a goddamn sexy and edible hunk standing shirtless at the entrance of the store! He stood tall, was gifted with a chiseled, caramel body and face and his sported gorgeous emerald green eyes! I was so shy and intimidated that I demanded Michael to accompany me to take a picture next to him!
I'll finish this New York memorabilia by telling you to NEVER eat at TGIF Friday's!!! We ate there and had the worst service, worst food and WORST drinks ever! I'm not a difficult or demanding customer but this restaurant is crap! I asked for a Margharita and had the nastiest one ever! It tasted even badded than if my brother had wanted to make me a strong one with the cheapest tequila and artificial lime juice! I will also disappoint you by affirming that we never went out in town during the whole length of our stay :-(! I mean Michael, K and I all had had exams and worked during the previous days and Nizza had to take two flights from her native Norway before reaching the US!
