New York Tat Adventure ...Part 2

Got off plane. What to do? Go to JFK to drop off bag or go to the city. Undecided. Wasted about an hour trying to decide. How do I log this bag all the way to the Lower East Side? Finally decided. Going into the city, with bag, don't care, I'll deal with it when I get there. 

Took a bus to Grand Central Terminal. Found a good breakfast place. Starved. Can you believe I haven't had breakfast? Had breakfast at Pershing Square.  They serve coffee in this cute little delicate teacups. Made me want to go home and dig up mine. So cute. Makes the coffee taste better. True story. After 4 cups, felt so much better. Wheeled bag around, ready to start adventure. Oh, look, there's Grand Central Terminal. Must take a picture. Took so many but pictures not very good, but they will do.

Walked around a little more but no much traction, bag is heavy. Very heavy. Security guard smiles at me in office building on Fifth Avenue. I smile back. Why not ask him to take care of my bag? It's crazy I know, but it's worth a shot. What are you going to do, lug this all the way to LES? So I do, and he obliges as long as I keep on smiling, and get back on time before his shift ends.

I take risks I know. But if he's trustworthy enough to secure a whole building, then my bag shouldn't be that much of an enticement. "Hey, there can you watch my bag. Thanks. Here's my number. I will be back this evening to pick it up. Thank you." And there it was... that simple. People can actually be nice. Color me amazed.

The walk begins.

Lower East Side

Ludlow Street, LES

Pinups and Pimps

Listened to this intersection - corner of Ludlow and Orchard

 Breathtaking Times Square scene of stragglers. No matter how many times I see it, never gets old.

Dream Destination

There it is!
Amanda Wachob piece just underneath my camera
Five flowers and some branches

My New York trip in pictures.

Union Square. Lower East Side. Pimps and Pinups. Corner of Ludlow and Orchard. The Bisous Ciao shop. An entire store dedicated to, of all things, Macaroons. Me sitting on a stoop waiting on my appointment. Shoes hurt. Rested. Wait, why is there a bench in front of a store, on the street?! Is it weird that I'm sitting here? People pass. No one seems to think so. Ohh, listened to the street. Cat calls, inconsistent car horns, trucks beep as they back up, steam coming from the sewer (?), folks yelling at each other from their bedroom windows, very earthy neighborhood. This is what America feels like.

Then, the Setai. I remember walking past this place and thinking, one day I am going to afford to stay in a nice place like this here. So I took a picture to remind myself of when I sent that wish up into the atmosphere.

Finally, the reason for the trip - An Amanda Wachob addition to my back piece. Six months wait list, several hundred miles and an early morning plane flight later, I got the piece done in about 3 hours. It was well worth the trip to New York to get some new ink.

Traveling especially solo puts you in touch with yourself, with how you feel, with what you want to feel, what it feels like to be alive and alert enough to listen to the sights and sounds around you, it helps you connect with your other self, your inner self, with the self that wants to open up themselves to adventure.

It's an amazing indescribable feeling which I hope I've described with pictures.