{photo credit}

I landed in New York around 11:30 pm. My plan was to take a taxi from the airport to Midtown area {about 8 miles}. When I got outside I was overwhelmed. So many people. I looked for taxis, but didn’t see any. Then I realized there was a taxi line. That made since, as there were several lines for transportation. Or so I thought. About half way down the line it dawned on me: all these people are waiting for taxis. I overheard some people saying that the front of the line {who were just about to get taxis} had waited for nearly 3 hours. Wow. Welcome to New York.

What’s a girl to? I figured if I could just get to Manhattan I could figure things out from there. So I stood in the taxi line. After 20 minutes, I saw a bus coming that read: 125th Manhattan. Do I get on? Do I wait? In the millisecond I had to ponder, I saw one person step out of line. I figured it was now or never. I ran over to the bus stop as dozens of people followed. I pushed, yes pushed, my way onto the bus. I am good to go.

Or not.

A visitor was a asking a lady {who lived in the area} how far down the bus goes into Manhattan. 125th St. Wait. I’ve know the area well enough to know 125th is Harlem. And while I have been there before, I am not sure being in Harlem, alone, at 12:30 is an experience I really want. I told the lady where I needed to go and asked what I should do. “Get off at Astoria Blvd., take the NRQ to 47th and walk from there.” The what? To where? Will I even see the train station? Is Astoria safe? Should I just take a taxi? She said she would show me where to go, but would be heading in the opposite direction, so I was on my own.

Thankfully, New York is friendly, and there were a lot of people waiting for the train, making me feel even safer. I got off at 47th at Times Square, which was an amazing first sight of the city. I walked about 2 blocks and arrived at my friend’s apartment. And so I started my New York adventure.

The best part: I had budgeted about $25-30 for a taxi, but only spent $4.50 on the bus and train together. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to take public transportation back to the airport rather than hail a taxi. A am one cool mama.

Visit Alicia at Alicia’s Homemaking for more Try New Adventures Thursday.

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