Well hello all people out there, this is my first installment sent to you live from Manhatten, 5th avenue. I managed to find, or rather stumble upon, a very cheap internet cafe while aimlessly wandering down the street so I thought I would make an update. It is pouring with rain and thanks to the aimless wandering I'm soaked right now, but i felt the need to communicate with a more familiar world! This has been a very, very long day and I feel that exhaustion is contributing to the sense of homesickness. It is horrible. Whilst crying at the boarding gate today, with most people looking on or staring I was comforted by a slightly odd pakistani man who seemed to be under the impression that he was the one who had upset me. He proceeded to tell me his tales of woe regarding Virgin Atlantic and ended with "but vy shud ve veep?" Before disappearing onto the plane. This was strange but actually quite nice and has provided my first travel story, so I'm grateful. Once I got on the plane I'm fairly certain everyone around me thought I was crazy or in a coma as I literally didn't move at all for the first 90 minutes of the flight, I just sat there in a catatonic state, then watched x-men. So far I have counted 12 Macdonalds and about 8 Dunkin' Donuts just along 5th avenue from 28th street to 50th street! I feel this is a tad excessive and is the reason I had to get Macdonalds for tea, there was nowhere else. Although I havent actually eaten all of it, I refuse to waste that precious $7.13 which is the reason I will probably be carrying a bacon ranch salad around with me for the duration of my trip. Well that is about all the updating to be done for the moment so I'll leave it there for now and send another report as soon as anything interesting happens. Bye for now Katie