Kaonashi Ga Suki

At long last, my New York stories. Sorry to keep you guys waiting for so long :). I’ve decided to break it down into parts, and rather than have it read like a laundry list of what I saw and did, I decided to write them up like a story, with lots of funny and interesting observations within.

It all starts in a little apartment in Pasadena, California. My bf and I get home from work and hurriedly pack. We make sure that every item on our lists is checked off (it’s my first time to make a “packing list” since in the past I have forgotten to pack things like oh, eyeglasses :D) and drive off to LAX Park, where we can leave our car for a much cheaper fee than leaving it at the airport. The staff at LAX Park are nice and friendly; it’s a shame that they don’t do a better job at giving directions on their website. Check out these fucked up directions:

From East (105 Westbound)

* Take 405 Northbound
* Exit Manchester Boulevard (CA-42), which is the first exit after the junction.
* Follow the direction for 405 Northbound

Note that it doesn’t tell you what to do once you exit Manchester. And no, we didn’t see any directions for the 405. Regardless of the confusing directions, after a phone call we got to the place ok, and we took their shuttle to the airport.

The fun truly begins.

We’re dropped off at the Song/Delta Airlines terminal and according to our pre-printed (from home) boarding passes, we’re supposed to go to Gate 12 or something. Gate 12, as it turned out, was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay the buttfuck on the other side of the building. Go figure. So my boyfriend and I, and this middle-aged hippie butch lesbian couple on the same flight as us hotfoot it to the other side of the building.

We get to security, and of course we go through the usual bullshit- take your shoes off, put your stuff in the baskets, including your jacket, etc. So I did. But of course, my forgetful ass leaves my driver’s liscence and boarding pass in my jacket pocket, so when I went through the metal detector we had a wait a couple of minutes for jacket so I can retrieve my boarding pass. At least I wasn’t stopped and searched though, unlike the middle-aged, hippie butch lesbian couple. Too bad for them.

We stopped for dinner at Jody Maroni’s Sausage. We noticed this group of noisy women who seemed to be finishing up their meal and asked if they were done, but they said no. We then realized that they just sat around and yammered on the next half hour, oblivious to the fact that the place was packed and that other people (like us) may have to eat their food standing up. Bitches. Fortunately a nice guy had finished up and offered his table to us. After my bf got our food and we started eating, I noticed the two middle-aged lesbians appear by the doorway. They looked around and seemed to realize that they can’t find a place to sit. Man, those two just couldn’t get a break. One left for a while (I presume she went to the ladies’ room) but then returned. Fortunately, about that point we had finished eating and offered our table to them.

Finally it was time to board the plane. Even though it was a Thursday red-eye, the plane was booked to hell. We prayed that we’d find space in the overhead compartments. Sometimes jackasses will hog the entire bin by putting their bags in horizontally instead of vertically, or stuff small stuff like jackets. It’s so rude and inconsiderate when people do that. And another thing- it’s foolish to put your rolling bag in backwards, wheels facing outward, which prevents the overhead bin to close. It’s a whole other matter if you realize this and not do anything about it.

Which is what this one guy did.

He tried to close the overhead bin, which wouldn’t close because his dumb ass put the bag in backwards, but instead of turning the bag around, he yammered something in Korean and just leaves it that way. Needless to say, when the flight attendant came by later to make sure all overhead bins were closed, she found that the wheels were in the way.

“Whose bag is this?” She asked.
A passenger’s hand points accusedly towards the guilty party, and the flight attendant then asks him to fix his bag. The man argued in broken English that a small tote bag was in the way and asked if he could move it. After some struggling with both bags, the man was able to fit his bag in properly.

Several minutes earlier, passengers from a connecting flight from Honolulu streamed in the airplane. One of them was a harried looking young man, who happened to be sitting in the window seat next to us. Unfortunately, his large rolling bag couldn’t fit in the overhead compartment (since both our bags were already there), and he moaned about not finding a place to put his bag in. He then oh-so-brilliantly decided to try and stuff his bag under his seat. Miraculously it fit, but as a result he had to rest his feet on top of it. His decision was to cost us some much needed sleep later that night.

Sometime during the flight I was awakened by a conversation between our seatmate and the flight attendant. He explained that his bag was under his feet, and the flight attendant was obviously not happy since it was against flight regulations and stuff. He explained that he had come from the Honolulu transfer and had only five minutes to board the plane. However, she kept going on about how they needed to check the bag and store it underneath the plane, and he kept saying, “Oh, but that means I’ll have to wake them up (meaning us)”. This conversation we back and forth like this for about five minutes, and it drove us nuts especially since the attendant’s face and mouth was pretty much in my ear as she talked over us to the guy. Of course we woke up and grudgingly stood up to let the flight attendant take the guy’s bag and check it, but we used that time for a little bathroom break.

After that incident, the rest of the flight was smooth as silk, and before I knew it, we had landed at JFK International Airport. We hailed a cab, and for a flat 45$ rate he took us to our hotel.

I stayed awake as best as I could during the cab ride since it was my first time in NY and didn’t want to miss a thing. At first it was kind of boring, since we were still away from the city. I saw the usual billboards and small buildings. But after about 45 minutes I saw it- a cluster of towering buildings that touched the sky. I saw scenes that until then I had only seen on movies and on TV: The Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and famous New York skyline. As we actually entered the city, I felt a sense of awe and realized- I was actually in New York. It’s funny that I felt that way; after all, I had lived in Japan for a year and a half and vacationed in Italy for 10 days- what’s the big deal about an American city?

The thing is that New York (Manhattan, especially) is THE defining American city. I’d like to think that it was L.A., being that I’m an L.A. girl and all, but think about it- most movie/TV plots take place in New York; New York has the largest museum in America and (I think) the largest library too; the World Trade Center was what got attacked; etc etc.

Anywho, we finally get to our hotel, and not surprisingly, our room isn’t ready yet. After all, it’s only 7am New York time. Instead, we head over to my bf’s parents’ room and lay on their bed for a moment while Mr. S (bf’s dad) was in the shower. When he came out of the shower and we exchanged our hugs and hellos, Mr. and Mrs. S gave us two options.

1.) Nap for about an hour or two while they and bf’s brother have breakfast and do some stuff on their own
2.) Save the nap for the afternoon, have breakfast, and see the city!

Can you guys guess which route we took?

Technorati Tags: New York, Manhattan, airplane, Delta Airlines, trip, flying, airport, LAX, JFK, taxi, hotel