The journey from Auckland to JFK went without a hitch.  The taxi ride from the airport is when the adventure began.   The route started by avoiding the long queues outside gas stations in Queens as petrol supplies started to get low.  The first attempts to cross the East river were blocked by gridlocked traffic, so it was the long way round via the uptown route.

After driving through a well lit city, we hit 39th street and the start of the blackout – My hotel is on 39th 🙂

So after a few anxious moments  not knowing if the hotel was even operation, checked in and by the light of my mobile phone, found my way around the room and into bed.  At least there is hot water (and WiFi), so not all bad.

Friday morning started with a walk up to Times Square, catching the lift to the top of the Empire State Building, followed by an afternoon walk up 5th Avenue to Central Park, back down 6th and searching out places to charge the mobile.  Today’s charging locations included: 15 minutes sitting beside the window display at GAP (the only visible plug), at the front desk of an omelette shop while I had breakfast and behind the bar during a late lunch.  Tonight I discovered a plug in the services cupboard outside my room to charge things up, so we’ll see how long I can keep using that for.

Unusual things I’ve seen to today are: Bank foyers filled with people huddled around plug boards charging their phones, drug stores where the battery shelves have been completely cleaned out, not a battery in sight, a queue for the bus downtown that was about 5 people across and stretched a kilometre and a half.

Here are a few photos:

This Post Has One Comment

  1. Maggie sheare

    Wow great to get your news Andy Jane and I are following your blog avidly Take care love Jo xx

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