The new World Trade Center!
So beautiful!

i was pretty excited to get off the airplane safely in new york. never had the desire to come here, but if i had the chance, i’d take it. this was my chance so i took it.

so i ask the welcome center, “how do i get to Carnegie Hall?” the lady gives me a puzzled look and says “where?” i laughed because i thought she was joking but she wasn’t. i couldn’t believe it. anyway, i ask someone else and get the route there. a 20 minute $60 taxi ride? or a 1 hour $2.50 bus and subway ride? guess which one i took?

yup, the cheap one. i get on the bus and try to put my metro card into the card reader. i had no idea which way it went in. the bus driver was getting impatient. she said “NOT THAT WAY!!! NOT THAT WAY!! NOT THAT WAY!!” she started yelling at me as if i was stupid. no, i’m not stupid, i just haven’t’ done this before. gosh, slow down lady!

i take my seat and see this sign. “Please No Spitting?” in the bus? omg, welcome to New York!

and it’s freaking snowing? 0 degrees celsius? are you kidding?

i get off the bus at the subway station. everything is in english but i’m still lost.

the subway was much more dirty than i expected. compared to japan, i’d say “wash your trains guys!”

i get off, snow everywhere. i walk up and down the street looking for my apartment i rented. freaking lost!

New York is too busy for me. after coming from El Salvador, i was in total culture shock. i just got here but wanted to leave already.

went to do the normal tourist stuff. times square, the 9/11 memorial.
miss the blue sky and white sandy beaches! now i’m really getting homesick.

i already knew i was going to get stuck somewhere on the way to new york, so i left a day early to be safe. and yes, i got to my gate in atlanta and the flights were sold out. i get on my phone and make some arrangements. been talking to a guy Quinton on airbnb and was planning to crash at his place. happened to be full so he told me he would book me a super discount hotel room near the airport. and 10 minutes later, he comes to pick me up.

i never met this guy before but he tells me “just go outside and look for the black cadillac escalade.” so when this cool car pulled up, i knew it was him.

he drives me to my hotel, i drop off my bags, then he drops me off at the most popular restaurant around. right before i got out of his car, i told him “hey dude, i’m so happy to know there there are still nice people like you in this world.” he said “no problem, anytime.” then drove off into the dark.

i was starving and craving for seafood for some reason. Spondivits is the super highly rated for it’s seafood. the line was crazy! 2 hour wait but because i was alone, i got to squeeze on a stool in the bar. lucky!

it was packed in there. every night it gets like this they say.

i wanted to drink something different so i ordered the jumbo blue moon. so good!

and since i just finished an awesome surf trip, i treated myself to anything on the menu. so of course, i order the best.

can you believe i ate and drank all of this? omg, i was so happily full!

then i took a walk back to my hotel in the dark streets of atlanta, georgia.

i got this room for half price! score! luckily i calculated the “daylight savings” before i slept. or else, i would have gotten up 1 hour too late and missed my flight. who the heck decided to just turn back the clock an hour???

one cool thing was i didn’t have to figure out the exchange rate. el salvador runs on the USD. what was different was the dollar coins. brought a couple back.

the US dollar coin. brings back the good old days when we use to use this.
got up at 4am, made my flight, and went into culture shock in the fast life of new york. snow, trains, buses, and everything so dam expensive. ahh, want to get out of here already. haha.