Well, we’ve made it as far as New York. Just. It was a little touch and go for a while. Our flight out of Guatemala City to Fort Lauderdale was delayed by about two hours, which meant we were left with approximately 30 minutes to get off the plane, through immigration, pick up our luggage, drop off our luggage, get through security, run across the airport and get onto our connecting flight to La Guardia. Very stressed and very sweaty (well, Will Was sweaty, I’m a laydeeee so I was “glowing”), we bundled off the plane, through the crowds and got as far to the front of the immigration queue as possible. After quite a while of waiting, Will spoke to a woman whose job it seemed to be to manage the line. He explained the situation and the fact we were just about to miss our flight. She helpfully replied that she basically couldn’t care less, it was not her problem and not her job to manage the line (which begged the question, what exactly was her job?!), it was the airline’s problem, and that we just had to wait in line. 20 minutes later we are still standing in line with about 50 people ahead of us and only 3 booths open. So, with the moody lady now absent on her break I took the opportunity to go up and flirt with the replacement guy who was actually a proper security chap. I used the whole cute English accent thing, pretended at the beginning like it was just me and explained how I was just about to miss my flight and how worried I was. The lovely man said no probs, he would help us through. At this point I explained about Will and beckoned him over to join us at the front of the line. The man said we would be lucky to make it to the flight in time and he didn’t fancy our chances! Nor did the security man in the booth.
But we were determined to get through. We had to get to New York! So, we grabbed our bags off the belt (thank goodness it only took us 2 minutes to find them), rushed through the baggage checking area, ran up the escalator, ran to the bag drop off desk, handed over our rucksacks, ran up the escalator, past the screens. And then we saw… our flight to La Guardia was delayed by two hours!!!
Typical!! But it gave us time to go and enjoy a delicious tuna steak burger and a beer and catch our breath.
Finally made it to NYC and got to our little apartment in the East Village at 2am. We have organised a private flat through Airbnb which is much cheaper than staying in a Manhattan hotel. We’ve started Christmas shopping and yesterday had a lovely time mooching about the city. Last night we met up with Ian’s friends, Stephen and Ron, who he met in Hawaii. They were both so lovely and we had such a wonderful night, and probably shared far too many stories about Ian and his escapades (luckily Stephen already knew about the Lake District incident). Drinks by the ice rink in Bryant Park and then to Little Italy for lots of fat pasta and mock Italian accents. Ian, you would have been so proud of us!
Today our plan is breakfast in Greenwich Village, more Christmas shopping and a sushi dinner tonight. It will be the final meal of our trip away, so we’re going to make the most of it. Extra edamame for us!!
I can’t believe our adventures are almost over!
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