We packed plenty of bananas and donuts for the road (which were somehow stolen from us on the bus—the most interesting part is: why donuts specifically??) along with clean water. The trip to NY would have been fine if not for that two-to-three-hour layover in Richmond. On the way to Myrtle, it was easy to remember because it was early morning and we were well-rested. But this one was in the middle of the night, and we, used to snuggling in our beds at that time, were standing (because there was nowhere to sit) at the boarding gate. Manually carrying all the stuff we’d accumulated over the summer during moments like that felt like a huge ordeal.
The multi-kilometer arrival in NY is felt back in New Jersey, when the tiny bus with a skinny cheetah logo weaves between massive dump trucks. I, like a madwoman, miraculously snapped a photo of that NY landscape in the gray-blue haze through a row of heads sitting on the bus (it's just a pity I couldn't capture the spire of the Empire State Building). I was in a fever! It was exactly how I imagined it! Still so new and mysterious, but already so close...
The Lincoln Tunnel, which we had to pass through to get to the main Greyhound station in the country, seemed too long to me. And then, we stepped out into the pitch darkness onto the ground of NYC (in the dark because the bus from Myrtle arrives on the second basement level). We made our way out into the light of day. It was about 7 a.m. We dropped off all our unnecessary things at storage, strapped on our backpacks, and stepped out into the big, unknown world...
The noise, the hum of cars, the sea of people, and the surprisingly light and fresh air instantly penetrated us and carried us along the streets like waves. I won't even describe my feelings; it's obvious. I was amazed that no one pushed or trampled two people staring wide-eyed at everything (no comparison to Moscow, naturally!), we were completely safe, and the new, huge world turned out to be kind and welcoming. Our feet walked on their own, turning wherever they wanted, and they wanted to go straight to the Empire State Building. I recognized it immediately from that silhouette I snapped on the bus.
We were soaking up everything around us, and besides the impressions, I was mechanically soaking up portion after portion from every Dunkin Donuts, McDonald's, and Burger King... iced coffee, Iced Mocha, which I would be consuming all the way to Philadelphia. And so, we wandered unnoticed for about eight hours until we realized we needed to take the full tour on the little red open-top buses for $70. We bought tickets on the street from a dark-skinned gentleman who explained everything about the routes to us in about 5 minutes, where to get off to gawk at the sights we were interested in, and said that the ticket included all possible excursions, including the ascent to the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty.
