New York - here I am! After a grueling day of no less then 21 hours of traveling, I was welcomed with open arms in our New York Manhattan apartment. An apartment with a view on the Statue of Liberty, a lovely group of people, and a bed waiting. You have no idea how welcome a bed is after a day like that! My parents and big brother had come to the airport with me to say goodbye. After a tearful (on my end) goodbye, I was on my way. Funny thing, after all those months 'saying goodbye' and 'actually leaving' is as easy as going through security at an airport - after that my mind automatically thinks of nothing else but reaching the destination, looking ahead of what's coming. First I flew out to Dublin, where I had to transfer to a flight to NY. My flight to Dublin was leaving from a gate so close to the 'panorama terrace' from Schiphol, my parents and brother could wave me off and see me sitting in the plane :) This flight was short and easy. It did however got seriously delayed, so I sprinted straight to Dublin airport (helped out by the lovely stewardesses who allowed me off the plane as the very first person), and made my fight to NY no problem. This flight was close to 8 hours, and not the best flight ever to be honest. The plane wasn't as big and fabulous as I had hoped, although all the passengers did all have a little TV of their own. Sitting next to me was a big American man, who was obviously not in the mood for a conversation or any contact at all for that matter. The flight attendents where very nice, food was good and once again delivered on the most strange hours - but I was exhausted, and couldn't sleep. When we finally got close to NY, I was peacefully drifting away and dreaming of taking a cap. Thankfully the captain of the plane woke me up as we were flying over New York. It was a clear night and the view was beautiful, New York was literally a blanket of a million blinking lights. It woke me up straight away. The trip to my apartment was both great and grueling; I met the nicest people from Los Angelos on the subway. They were in town for a visit as well, and invited me to come over for a beer once I'm in LA :) When I had to change subways I got lost though, and easily wandered around for half an hour. This however, gave me the change to talk to a bunch of Americans, asking them for directions. I told the cops "I think I might be lost", to which one of them immediately responded "You can't be lost, you are here in Manhattan with us!". Gotta love that. Eventually and after a lot more (good) advice from New Yorkers, I found the apartment. The building is tall, impressing, with an amazing view, and... it has a doorman!!! Loooved that :D He ushered me in when I was staring doubtfully at the richly looking interior thinking "This can't be it", and asked me straight away "Are you the girl from the Canadian guys?! They are here and waiting for you!" So here I am! Slept 8 hours, had a good shower and some juice, and now ready to explore the city!