The Angels are in America!

Since our last blog we left the remaining tour members, our guide Salvatore , Helen and Graham from WA and Evelen and Pedro from Venezuela in Helsinki. They were going on to Russia and we hope they are having a good time and staying safe.

Wendy arrived back from her night out with Charlie a little "chirpy" to the point she could not remember the room number! She had to take her key to reception to find her way home !

We made it to the airport in plenty of time and checked in priority as we were flying business class . We also had a good time in the Lounge. The good times ended there. The aircraft was not the scheduled one but something from the last century. Limited locker space as two in the front row were filled with airline equipment. Guess which row we were in! Well Pam and Trish were - Wendy was placed on the other side of the plane and in another row. Luckily a nice man swapped with her. The seats did not work properly, the entertainment units were tablets with very limited options AND they ran out of battery charge before the end of the flight. There was one toilet for 24 business class passengers which got a good work out! Also there was no duty free despite them handing out leaflets on the "specials". We could go on but what is the point. We have told our great travel agent Armen from Flight Centre Castle Hill. Anyone looking for a good travel agent should use him - we can supply contacts

Despite this we arrived safely in the USA and made it through customs in about 20 mins! Taxi to the hotel was a typical New York ride - scary. The hotel is fantastic and on check in we received a wonderful surprise. The lovely Lisa had organised champagne strawberries and cream which we decided to leave until later to get maximum enjoyment.

At first we thought the hotel staff may have thought we were some sort of celebrities from Australia as we have never been treated so well in a hotel in our lives. They even supplied Trish with her own tea maker. However as each day passes we find they treat everyone as a celebrity!

We checked out the second floor lounge where they provide free wine and nibbles from 5-8 each night. The nibbles are awesome to the point we decided to make lunch our main meal and the "nibbles" our evening one.

Tuesday saw us heading off to Grand Central Station which is just around the corner to catch the subway downtown for a helicopter ride. Found our way to the helipad OK but went round in circles for a while looking for the subway on the way back.

The helicopter ride was pretty awesome. The pilot somehow knew Wendy had been a flight attendant and insisted she sit up front with him. Pam and Trish were relegated to the back section with the other tourists. We could only hear snippets of their conversation - and Wendy has insisted we comply with the old "what happens on tour stays on tour" which we will do and leave it to your imagination about what went on!

That evening we met up with Ellis Wendy's friend from her tea ceremony training in Japan who is also a published author. It was a most interesting evening. Another early night as we had a big day planned for Wednesday. The only problem was that Wendy woke around 2 am and Trish around 3 am so they decided to have a cuppa, and replan the next days activities much to Pam's delight (NOT).

We headed off early with the first stop being St. Patrick's Cathedral where Trish lit a candle for Pam's Mum who passed away 12 months ago.

Then low and behold Wendy spied a ZARA store. However much to her dismay it did not open for another hour or so, so off we headed to Macy's which was very disappointing but on the way we passed through The Rockefeller Centre, Broadway and Times Square. Then it was back to Zara where Trish and Wendy did a bit of damage.

After lunch it was off to the musical Chicago ( courtesy of the Lovely Lisa). It was fantastic and one of the best shows we have ever seen.

It was a long day but we managed a couple of wines and another early night. Wendy woke early again but at least it was closer to 5am!

Today we are doing the Downtown and Uptown Hop On Hop Off tours and which will take in Ground Zero and Central Park before meeting up with some people who have stayed at Wendy's Villa in Bali and who she has never met. Should be interesting,

So until next time we hope you are all well and enjoying life - we are

Pictures will be posted over the next day or so.

The Angels