Homeward Bound

Thursday, our last day. We are pretty gutted really, as we have had a FANTASTIC time out here. New York is a hell of a place. The people are so friendly and the whole place has an amazing energy and buzz. Contrary to popular belief, Manhattan is now a safe place. I would not and did not have any trouble wandering around at night after dark in places that we were not familiar with. The police presence here is very impressive. Literally wherever you look there is either a police car, a couple of cops on the beat or a mounted police man.

Having said all of this, nowhere have I seen a starker contrast between the people who have, and the people who do not. The classic New York "Bum" unfortunately does still exist and there are all too many people sleeping on park benches and eating out of bins. On the other side of the street, millionaires are being helped out of their chauffeur driven limo and ushered into their 5 star hotel. In a city with 8.5 million residents its not surprising that you can be shoulder to shoulder with people from ALL walks of life in the space of one city block.

We managed to arrange a car back to JFK and when we arrived we were pleasantly surprised to be give a free upgrade on our flights! :) We left JFK at 18:00 and arrived in Gatwick at 05:00. Apparently the trick is to now stay up until a reasonable bed-time tonight. That could be rather tricky :(