We were scheduled to spent two hours in transit in Lima, Panama. The flight was delayed, and we watched with uneasy feeling the mounting impatience and aggravation of passengers as they lined up waiting to board the plane. It was unpleasant to watch disgruntled passengers criticize unpracticed staff and I empathically shared the indignant stares of passengers having their bags checked before boarding toward the ground crew. Copa Airways is not a well-established airline by any means and pondered the arrogance of people who chose to take out their frustrations on airport staff who hardly had anything to do with the flight being delayed and were merely doing their jobs. Amber and I stayed seated while the plane was filled up and were the last ones to board. As we were having our bags checked, the boy next to us screamed! The handler that was checking his bag broke the zipper, and he flew into a rage! The mother started yelling at the hapless employee, accusing her of being mean and incompetent. The drama escalated when she tried to explain that it was a mistake (it was one of those kiddy bags with flimsy zippers). I was horrified to see the woman continue to scold the employee, then her colleagues and then the head of ground crew who tried to instill peace. Not only was she emphatic about the "injustice" of the destruction of her son's bag, her retorts were unfounded and malicious. Spurred on by her behavior, the boy yanked the half opened bag from the table it sat on and stomped toward the bridge, then vomited on the carpet by the entrance way - the mother vindictively repeating, "Do you want to clean that up? Look what you've done! You want to clean that up!?" I just stood there stupefied and open-mouthed at her And the child's behavior, heart racing with a lump in my throat. She and the kid disappeared around the corner and Amber joined others consoling the luckless employee, by this time clearly distraught and sobbing from the abuse. In my seat waiting for take-off, I was left completely flabbergasted.
We arrived in JFK International Airport at approximately 4am on Sunday - received apathetically by an immigration officer and waited zombielike by the luggage carousel. We had landed, but our journey was not finished. We located the air-train, took it to the subway, and rode it to Throop-Kingston station - then walked 7 blocks in the rain to our friend Paul's house. It's almost 7am.
Paul, Gina and Steve (Paul's brother) laugh when I realize that I read my watch Costa Rican time. It was actually 3:30pm in New York! These are wonderful people, and we spend a leisurely sunday afternoon lounging and chatting in their very stylish apartment.
We pick up our rental car at 8pm. I had booked it for 7 days from our Macbook in Costa Rica, and since we had only just woken up from our slumber a few hours ago, we decide to venture into Manhattan Island - with the intention of gazing at the statue of Liberty in the night time. We get lost (Our GPS doesn't work, it's a long story) but stumble onto Times Square. Buildings and skyscrapers and draped with posters and electronic screens that light up the night so intensely that it feels like daytime! You don't know what New York feels like until you've been there. The following photos are taken past mid-night on monday morning. As Amber and I walk hand in hand on these famous streets we marvel over the fact that we are very fortunate to be having this experience, at this time of our lives. A dream (amongst many others) come true!
By the time we're done sight-seeing and having dinner at a tasty Irish restaurant, we head back into Brooklyn. We are scheduled to leave for auntie Glenna's in North Carolina, 600-ish miles away (1000km) by 9am, via Philadelphia and 1-night in Washington DC.
The Big Chair, Philadelphia
Washington Monument
White House
Our mate Lincoln
In Remembrance
Korean Memorial
Our primary intention is to pay auntie Glenna and Juergen a visit in North Carolina. We have spent 3 nights and 2 days here in their very impressive home, but it's late and we have a long drive to Hampton tomorrow where we have 2 days/2 nights with my ex-girlfriend Melissa - more quality time with family/friends and exciting experiences! My next blog will be about our stay here with my lovely auntie. She's AWESOME.
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