From New York to New Orleans

Date: 22. 2. 2014

Today it was time to leave New York behind and head to New Orleans.
Our flight took of 13:40, so we had time to sleep relatively long before heading out. Our flight took off from JFK, so we had to drive through Manhattan - fortunately it was Saturday and the traffic wasn't too bad.

Getting our rental car returned was a easy thing, but finding a gas station and using it was another thing. Usually the gas stations are in front of (or before) the rental car places, but in this case we had to drive away from the place to get the car filled. Of course they were all automate-versions, and of course our foreign Visa-cards didn't work without a cashier and of course the cashier went for a break :D. Well, all good and we got the car checked, and straight to the AirTrain.

Waiting for the AirTrain

Inside a train

 During this trip I've noticed that while in Finland I don't look much different from the rest, but in the train some kid reminded me that here I'm an oddball with my piercings and my white & black hair. Of course, using clothes which isn't black, seem to be out of the norm too.

Before security, TSA officer was kind enough to tell us that we were kicking USA's ass in hockey. The game was 4-0 at that point. 

In-Country flights seemed to be much easier to get to, the airport security check was pretty quick and efficient, except that the officers didn't make a move to gather empty trays. 

It was time to get food and finally there was lots to choose from. I almost went to the same chicken-mozzarella bread the guys took, but decided to eat a fruit salad instead. And some mozzarella sticks. Of course they didn't sell them for 2, the smallest amount was 6, so I also had to feed the guys.

The flight to JFK to Charlotte North Carolina was pretty quick, but I managed to catch up going through the images while on board. We had time to go to the airport and stretch our legs, so off we went.

There were rocking chairs, and they were pretty popular :)

In Charlotte, I managed to get the first set of post cards to the mail, and eat (4 spoons) my first frozen yogurt. It was pretty great, cold, but great :)

Next flight to New Orleans was also short, but I noticed a change in the personalities of people who were on board - they make more easily contact to the passengers next to them, started to talk, ask things and kid around. We were clearly heading to South :).

Baggage claim in New Orleans

Oh so futuristic

The sun was going down and the sky was promising rain

More of the fun looking sky

 Stnz ordered a convertible Mustang, but for some reason they didn't have one for us, and it took time before we knew what we'd get. We ended up getting a convertible Camaro, which is pretty ok too.

Waiting for the car

When we arrived to our apartment, something was lost in translation while stnz spoke on the phone with the owner - we ended up going to a wrong apartment with the keys we got, where somebody lived. The place was really unclean and there was no electricity. For a while we were scared that the Airbnb had failed us, and thought of alternate solutions. Fortunately it turned out that we were in the wrong apartment. Phew.

After unpacking, it was time for our first parade. It was really fun and I would've stayed there a lot longer if I had the deciding vote :).

Day 2 in New York: Time Square and running Museum visit

Date: Friday 21.2.2014

I need to start to put dates on this posts because I'm getting behind the dates because our days seem to be pretty long. And according to my FitBit, they contain a lot of moving.

Today we started slow after getting some decent sleep after yesterday, which was practically 24+7 hour long day.

Guys well asleep in their beds. 

After quick breakfast we acquired yesterday from a 7/11, we headed back to Manhattan. One thing I've noticed is that it's not easy to eat healthy if you need some quick food to home - nearby places are full of "shitty foods" - those kind which will survive nuclear blasts and apocalypses. Fresh fruit, bread and even yogurt is hard to find. Where we stayed you need to go pretty far to get something living for your plate, so I pretty much understand why health and eating right is a issue here. Sure, you can find fast food anywhere - also from those little corner shops which sell the nuclear blast -food :).

No ball playing  - rrreeallly??

Phone is gone, now it dispatches underground :)

Stnz taking pictures, surprising!

Reading park, almost everything forbidden - and it was closed :)

Back in a chicken bus, on our way to Manhattan

Pretty much the first thing we did in the city was finding a place to eat. We found a good looking shop where they served all kinds of salads, and also the unhealthy food, and there was also a bakery filled with all kinds of stuff which looked great but you knew that after few bites you're going to be full because they are so sweet :).

View from the shop

I ordered a chicken-bacon sandwich, which came with some semi-warm chips, and the guys had bacon burgers - again :). The food was good and I was pretty satisfied of the amount of green stuff inside my sandwich :D.

My lunch, chicken & bacon sandwich

Boys' lunch, bacon burgers

While we were inside the coffee shop, we saw a police officer going by with a horse, I was bummed that I didn't have my little camera standing by, but with some luck, we found them just behind the corner, waiting for someone or something from the theater.

Er.... #yougogirl ?

Best. Mailbox. Ever.

We found our way to Times Square, which was under a lot of construction work, which is seemed to be needing.. There was a lot of Disney owned characters for the kids to take pictures with, and to scare the hell out of me. First thing I needed visit was the Disney store, to start my project Rane. Which is taking pictures of Randall from the Monsters INC. in different locations.

First image of Rane, plotting in Time Square

I made a FB-album for him, and you can find it here.

Woody is even scarier from this direction :o

Timo was complaining about the weather on the next day when the sun was shining that we should have had the same weather then, but stnz and I disagreed - the sunny pictures of Time Square / Manhattan are so SEEN, so it was pretty awesome to photograph in a thick mist :).

My first travel selfie for years

Halen takes an image of me taking image of him

Stnz checking his future Dicky Mouse for loose underwear (don't ask).

Nemo is very derpy.

Some guys looking awesome. Had to play a paparazzi.

One thing I've noticed with the little camera that I can take pictures of people without them noticing (and posing), using my DSLR it's so obvious that people tend to look pretty stiff. With the Lumix I seem to be looking more innocent and people are assuming I'm taking images of the surroundings instead of them.

It's a big world for the Captain America.

After sightseeing and little bit of shopping on Time Square, it was time to head to a dive shop where stnz wanted to go and get his diving computer. After that I asked if we could go to the Museum of Natural History, halen wanted to go to Chinatown first.

Let's go underground

The metro lines go there in the darkness

Waiting for the ride at 42nd street

18th street, the wooden bench is made in a way that nobody sleeps on it - or sits on it.

I'm pretty sure he was onto me and my project to take pictures of him and his friend...

Surprise! Adorama closes it's doors 2 pm and the dive shop 1pm on a Friday

After failing with the dive shop (ALWAYS check the opening hours, dammit) we understood that it was time to get back to Time Square and go to the museum.

I also failed - I checked that my small camera had a full battery and didn't charge it or take the extra battery with me, so my battery failed me middle of the day. Still I managed to get some shots with some kind of magic dust power sprinkled on it so it worked for a minute there and there.

Artwork at the 81st metro station

Tile work at the metro station

I'm pretty bummed that I didn't have the luxury of time (seems to be a reoccurring problem while travelling with guys who have a philosophy that places are seen on 2 days and 3 is too much..) to see the museum properly. We got there just 1,5 hours before closing time - managed to run through the american animals section and dinosaur floor. I'm pretty sure I need to get to back to NYC for 3-4 days with someone who is ready to spend some time going places, take our time and see more of a good thing - in this case spend 2 days in the museum for starters :).

Beautiful ornaments

After this it was time to head back to Union City with the trusty local bus, and after that we headed out to take some night time images.  More on those in the next post.