Current mood:	sleepy
Current music:	Frank Sinatra- New York, New York

"These little town blues..."
Yay! We made it to New York! After a bit of a crazy bus ride, we got here. It wasn't the worst thing or anything, but it was probably the worst Greyhound experience I've had. Maria and I were the third in a HUGE line of people waiting for the bus. We got there early so we could sit together. So they were filling up another bus first and had room left over. They grabbed the first ten people or so in the line and stuck them on the almost full other bus; two of whom were us of course. So we didn't sit next to each other. I had some guy next to me who was taking up his seat and most of mine and he kept rolling around and snoring and waking up and calling people on his phone. And the woman across the aisle from me kept taking her shoes off and putting them on again. At one point she dropped something and was looking for it in the dark and kept grabbing my foot. So I didn't sleep for most of the ride. But after we got to Philly, most people got off the bus and we got to sit together. I got some sleep then. The funniest thing was that our bus driver looked exactly like Jeffrey Jones!!! It was super creepy. And he talked really funny too. Very giggle-worthy.

The biggest problem after that was that we each had a carry-on and a checked bag, and carrying two bags around New York kinda sucks. So I ate in the station, we went outside onto 42nd Street, and immediately outside we saw... a Starbucks! Ha. So we went over there. In my elaborate investigations for free and/or cheap and/or interesting things to do on the trip, I printed a list of all the Starbucks in NYC. I believe there's 234 of them. The first one we went to, 42nd and 8th, SUCKED. The register partner had no idea what she was doing and was extremely NOT polite. Maria had to ask twice for her drink and twice for her pastry. Plus the store was set up really weird. You had to go through the line once then weave your way through the line again but skip the register to get to the bar and pick up your drink. So we decided we'd just take our stuff out to the West Side and try to check into the hostel early.

We bought city maps and subway maps, and I used my city smarts to figure out which train to take. There is a subway station about three blocks from our hostel; not too shabby! We got here about five hours before we could check in (oops!), but the very nice lady told us that if we would take a room with bunk beds instead of a double bed we could check in then. So we took that. It's still a private room, which is freaking amazing for a hostel, considering we're only paying about $30 a night to stay in the city. It's really clean and has a TV and a view of... another building. It's super small, but that's a given. There's tons of apartment buildings on this street and we're a block away from the river! There's a 24 hour drug store close by and a Starbucks (big surprise!), Dunkin' Donuts, a little diner and a fresh fruits and flowers stand all between here and the subway. Of course, the subway runs all night here, and we have unlimited subway passes for the week that also work on the bus systems. And our hostel has free wifi!

So now we're chilling in the room for a bit so we can rest from our hellish bus ride. It's only 11AM after all! I thought I'd enter my first trip log here. I plan on updating a lot, just because I can! So I'm gonna go rest my eyes. We're meeting my friend Johnny later tonight to drink. Leave me a message if you have any suggestions for fun things to do. I've been here bunches, but this is Maria's first time to NYC. And if you want me to bring you something, leave me a message too!

Until later, Cruel World!