We have a box.

#6

 Here's a brief plan of the backpacking trip Dice and I have mapped out;

The post is entitled ‘we have a box’. Well, I have a box. A box of crap. Well, really a box of extra clothes, souvenirs, gifts and STUFF that I’ve accumulated during my time here, and I have to get rid of. Of course *Dice rolls her eyes* in classic Caty style, I didn’t take it to a post office, nor even pack it actually, until 3 hours before we left Boston. So. Along with my 15 kilo pack, 7 kilo front pack, a purse, a camera around my neck, about the other 8 layers I am wearing that I couldn’t fit into the bag, 3 shopping bags between us, and all of Dice’s luggage, we also had a 10 kilo decent-couch-cushion-sized box that had been wrapped with sports tape Torben fished out of his trash can. If you can imagine – it was a disaster. A monstrosity. 

The Box kept falling, sliding and was a pain in the rear end to carry along with everything else, as well as being terribly awkward. I kept bumping into people with my impaired vision, and dropping it on my toes. Riding the subway wasn’t fun. There was nothing fun about the snow storm, and the box. And the subway and the snowstorm and the pack and the box. And so it continues, until Dice and I finally got onto the bus to head to NYC. And repeat the entire process in NYC. Dice says that if I don’t get rid of The Box before we leave for Texas…well she didn’t finish the sentence, but I can imagine where she was going with it. 

Being back in the city is great! It’s the start of a new adventure – backpacking the States with Dice. Leaving Boston and exchange behind blah blah. In winter this time, snow lines the streets and the temperature drops below zero nearly every day. NYC is so pretty during winter, and it’s certainly very Christmassy. Bridge, Tambo, Andreas, Liz, Javi, Tim, Marieke, Maddy and an assortment of other Australians that are Tim’s friends are here too, all dotted all over Manhattan and Brooklyn, so the time here has been awesome so far. We meet up haphazardly, each trio or pair doing what they wish and crossing paths every now and again. After an exhausting trip and night in a 12 person dorm room, we still managed to hit the ground running at full speed on Monday. Dice is an early bird and a morning person – so she keeps me on my toes. We started our day with breakfast at the hostel, and set out to explore what NYC had to offer.

We headed out to the harbour on the edge of Manhattan, Bridge and Tambo took a boat to see the Statue of Liberty, whilst we headed to see the famous LOVE sign (which was a major ball ache to find) and a wander through the streets. Enjoy the hipster photos, and shoutout to Torben if he’s reading this~

We went to the North end of Central Park – which was beyond freezing. People in NYC – in Times Sqaure, at the park, anywhere where there’s bound to be tourists –will try to sell you something. It’s quite the challenge to manoeuvre your way through the crowd without being stopped at least 250 times. The trick is to politely but firmly decline ANY offers of ANY sort, and not be sucked in to any compliments, marketing strategies or physical coercion they may try to implement.

Example. We were walking through Times Square, and this guy asks Dice if she’s French because of her style, gracefulness and probably general beauty. She stops and says no Australian and NEK MINNIT she’s been roped into a battling conversation with him to try to sell her a beauty voucher for a salon on 5^th Ave. He asks if she’s with a friend and then we were both stuck, even though I was attempting to swoop in and pull her away urgently – it was too late. He basically wanted to sell us salon vouchers – and, get this; the salon does Miley Cyrus’ hair when she’s in NY, among other celebs. We said no, and he haggled with us, threw in that we were basically wasting his time and he just wanted to get home, he then slips in that he’s just come back from Church, blah blah…the cycle repeats, and you always think you’re getting a good deal – when they’ve simply just put the original price at $350 to make you think that. It’s terrible. I know you’re probably like; just tell them you’re not interested yo, but it’s harder than that – they are tricksters. So, long story short, we gave him $30 bucks and walked away thinking we’d just given money to a stranger on a street – but hey, we were going to Miley’s salon. Through Central Park, and all the other attractions- we’ve gotten better at getting people to leave us alone. This one guy actually walked with us a good couple of minutes to try and sell us a horse and carriage ride through the park…whilst we were walking through it. 

F.R.I.E.N.D.S apartment!

Oven mitts for gloves

Statue of Liberty for Dice; the bad thing; I forgot my Statue of Liberty headband, the good thing; we were able to re-enact Titanic. I was Jack.

Every night in my dreams
I see you, I feel you,
That is how I know you go on

Far across the distance
And spaces between us
You have come to show you go on

 

Near, far, wherever you are
I believe that the heart does go on
Once more you open the door
And you're here in my heart
And my heart will go on and on

 

Monday night brought fun times ahead in Brooklyn; we went to visit Tim and a group of his mates that had an apartment there. The neighbourhood was very dicey – it took around about an hour to reach from Manhattan, and we only saw one other white person on the whole journey through the town. Service stations were all barred and to buy anything from a kiosk, you went to a small window, and had to pass the money throughs small slot, with heavy duty bars and (probably) bullet-proof glass. We had an awesome night in Brooklyn, the borough is much more hip, and Tim’s friends were a laugh. We passed around about 5 police cars whizzing down the street in the meantime, and in hindsight heading back through the town at 3am probably wasn’t the best option, considering Tim and his friends were held at (alleged) gunpoint whilst this kid tried to mug them. But he had the ‘gun’ in his pocket and before being punched Tim managed to see some cops over the side of the road and let the guy who was trying to rob them know that ‘it’s 5 years in the slammer if you mug a tourist’. 

E.M.P.I.R.E  S.T.A.T.E  B.U.I.L.D.I.N.G 

...to reenact Chuck and Blair Gossip Girl scene