Tuesday 12.07.2011
12:17pm
Skyline Hotel, 10th Avenue & 49th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, NYC
With a true hearts fervour, I am now able to say that IheartNY!
For the first few days of my stay here, I was not quite sure how I felt about this city. It was only yesterday when I left to go to Washington DC and got back to Manhattan in the evening, that I realised this city has surely left an indelible mark on me.
‘Not toilet, but restroom. Not lift, but elevator.’
And so it went on... The adjustment was a lengthy one. Rasheda & I had travelled almost 22 hours on a plane to reach our destination – J.F Kennedy Airport, New York City. By the time we had touched down at JFK, it had felt like a decade ago since we bade farewell to family and friends prior to our departure, failing to remember that we were in a completely different time zone. This took a while for our minds to encapsulate and fully seize. We were also extremely exhausted, we both worked really hard before this vacation and our bodies and minds were worn out.
We approached border control at JFK Airport and I was extremely nervous. As Rasheda and I planned the trip in the months preceding July 2011, we would often joke about being denied access into the United States because we were both in our late twenties, single, and female and above all Muslim! This moment, however, was not funny. As much as I hated the way we were made to feel and all due to media and sensationalism, so much so, was I giving in to the stigma attached to my religion. I stood before the immigration officer filled with the trepidation of being searched and body scanned or worst of all, for being turned away from that country completely. Even though I had done nothing wrong to receive such treatment, I feared being treated like a criminal. After allowing the immigration officer to exert all the authority he possessed, and finally granting me the affirmation I had been waiting for, I walked to baggage claim with a huge sigh of relief. We collected our baggage and walked outside.
We were hit with the hot, humid air instantly. Having come from a rather cold winter back home, this was another big adjustment. Our ride from airport to hotel was our first one in a famous New York yellow cab. The only emotion I can really recall feeling was that of disbelief. I could not believe that I had put a halt to my stress filled life to get onto a plane in the middle of the year and go on vacation to New York City! I could not believe I was in that BIG Apple! It felt like a dream in a movie, it felt like I was the star of the show. The Empire State of Mind was beyond me!
Our cab driver was female, fairly elderly and from Puerto Rico. She was kind enough to point out some of the exciting bits of the city she calls home, all as we drove to our hotel. She laughed along as Rasheda and I grooved to the sounds of JayZ and Alicia’s empire state of mind song that played from my Nokia mobile. We caught glimpses of Times Square, 5th Avenue and Grand Central Station. At each point there were bursts of excited clamours that emitted from the two of us and again, for me, I had to literally pinch myself to make sure I was not dreaming. At this point I had no idea what New York had planned for me.
(To be continued)
