The fall semester had just ended, on a common Saturday, Father, Mother, Sabir and I were at Millennium park interacting with nature; a traditional way of spending the weekend in my family. My dad and I were playing soccer against Mom and Sabir. My father made us a surprise; he whispered into my ear, “We are going on a vacation this holiday. ” We were in ultimate excitement and surprise, very happy and excited. That was an opportunity we had long waited for, and here it was. Vacations were in high demand and expensive that time of the year.
The fever of vacation was rising, reality TV shows showing how vacation was, especially a group vacation. Although these vacations are strictly for the upper class, we were able to afford one. Sabir had earlier contacted a variety of companies that organize vacations of different budgets and duration, unfortunately all of them we filled and most of them had a waiting list that we did not want to join. Our quest for vacation began to fade day by day, until I came up with an idea, “a self-organized vacation. ” I planned all the places and days we were going to spend in each city, including the cost.
My father was very impressed with the outcome of my work. I planned spending ten days on the vacation, visiting New York, Washington D. C. , Indianapolis and Los Angeles, costing some thousands of dollars. The funds were allocated to transport, accommodation, feeding and shopping. On the 24th of January 2014 we went to downtown Houston to buy our tickets. Fortunately for us we met and old family friend that lives in New York. We were very happy, we told him about our trip and he even offered us accommodation when we arrive New York.
We exchanged contacts and left home with the tickets for a first flight the next morning. On the 24th of December 2014, Aunty Ejim arrived home early. We all were busy putting our luggage together, very excited and happy, and everyone was wearing his best clothes. We were off to George Bush Intercontinental Airport, an hour drive from my home. The airport was crowded and busy because of the holidays. Almost everyone was going home for Christmas and New Year, others for vacation. We checked in our luggage and printed our boarding passes earlier and waited in the lobby.
After fourty five minutes,our plane arrived,we all boarded the plane and headed to John Felix Kennedy Airport, New York City. The flight was magical, that was my first time capturing the aerial view of Houston. There were lots of TV shows, movies and the most interesting one, an inflight wireless Internet! I couldn’t believe it, and it was blazing fast while cruising in 35,000ft, I loved it! The food was very good, there was a variety of dishes, local and continental to choose from. My favorite was Mac and Cheese with some Mocha. The time flew swiftly.
Although I was watching my all time favorite movie, “Machete,” I could not believe the flight was three hours. “That was so fast! ” I said to my father. He replied, “That is the product of American Airline way, sonny. ” Upon arriving at JFK, I had already started experiencing the kind of life in New York. I have never seen a such busy place indoors as that. The place was crowded, noisy and busy simultaneously, children crying, people rushing to go get their luggage, workers cleaning the floors and so on. We spent hours waiting for our luggage due to the rowdiness of the place.
It was beyond control. Sabir called the family friend we spoke to earlier, but unfortunately he seemed confused and denied having promised us any accommodation and transport. Mother was very sad, we were stranded but, thanks to modern day technology we found accommodation with the touch of a button. We reserved a hotel room, got a cab to the hotel and checked in. The hotel was close to the airport in Jamaica, NY. We spend a night there, after breakfast, my father was still not satisfied with the hotel because it was not in Manhattan.
He wanted the best for us at all possible cost, and he wanted us to experience the real New York life (a fast paced one). He booked us a hotel in downtown Manhattan, close to all the major attractions, including Times Square, the Empire State building and Madison Square Garden, despite the cost. We took a yellow cab at 11am from Jamaica to the Island of Manhattan. I was very exxeburent, taking pictures, shooting videos and asking the driver about places. “New York is the most diverse, most popular and the most financially advanced city on earth” I said cheerfully said, and the driver added, “And the most dangerous too,” jokingly.
Surprisingly we arrived at the legendary Waldorf Astoria hotel, a place I have long known for its prestige and beauty. Immediately we stopped, there stood a gentleman in his suit and polished shoes with a big smile on his face, he took our luggage and we proceeded to the reception. I was blown away by the beauty of the lobby, from the granite floors, to the silk smooth wall, to the amazing scent in the air. It was something I have never experienced in my life, it was magical! The staff were very friendly and professional. We checked in to a suite, including two bedrooms, two bath tubs and a general living room.
We had no worries about kitchen, and there were free meals for that suite. We stored our luggage, ate some food and were out to see the city. It was very chilly and windy (below zero), something that I was used to see on TV. We headed straight to a store, to get winter jackets, gloves and so forth. We were good to go in our zero exposure apparel. Our first stop was the Liberty Island where the Statue of Liberty is, a 20 minute ferry trip, my first time on water ferry and probably the last, Sabir added, due to my fear of water.
I was all tensed during the trip. The structure was gigantic, very big, contrary to what I used to see on T. V. The next day we visited the 9/11 Memorial, Century 21 stores and Times Square to round up our trip. The next day, we took a bus from New York to Washington D. C. , a four hour drive from New York. We departed Manhattan at 6 am to Washington D. C. The bus was fast and very luxurious. We arrived D. C. at 11am. We were dropped at Chinatown, Downtown D. C, and luckily our hotel was three blocks away,s o we didn’t need a taxi. D. C. as way better, cleaner and also more expensive. We paid $170 for a night because of the location of the hotel.
It was two blocks from the White House, four blocks away from the capitol, and other attraction centers were within walking distance. Their transport was the best I have ever seen, and the most expensive too. We spent a lot of money in New York so we had a little to spend in D. C. We were forced to cancel our trop to L. A and Indianapolis due to the surprise expenses we accrued in New York. That was the best lesson life taught me, never depend on anybody!
