After a bit of a rocky landing at JFK and a shaky walk through customs we got a very convenient shuttle bus straight to the hotel door. It is quite cheap and you share it with other people that are going to different hotels relatively close to each other. In this way you get to see some parts of New York by car and it didn't take as long as I expected. Highly recommend this hassle free way of getting to your hotel if you have 20 dollars to spare (that is tip included). The ride was however a bit crazy since the driver didn't hesitate to go as fast as he could wherever he could.
We are staying at a hotel called Hudson which is located on west 58th street, south west of Central Park. When we arrived there was a big party in an outside garden where chefs, with apparently big names, held a BBQ. It was however very expensive to join this party so we went out to get a bite to eat instead. The receptionist recommended the roof top bar in the hotel that we will definitely check out later. On our way to the room we stood in a crowded elevator with people who where dressed to party, so we felt a little out of place. On one of the floors there was an audition for "El factor" which is Mexican "X factor" and one of the judges came in the elevator. One girl asked if he was famous and he said he wasn't famous here but in his country. He was the Simon Cowell of Mexico.
We walked around in Central Park for a while where there was a lot of people. Everywhere. The park is filled with people walking their dogs, running, and playing. Hyde park never gets this busy. Central Park seems to have a great amount of activities and facilities for people to use which is lacking in Hyde park. We stopped to watch a baseball game for a while, climbed some rocks, and looked at a castle. We didn't see the Alice in wonderland statue this time but I will definitely see it before we leave the city.
After our little stroll we walked to Broadway where we found a Thai restaurant next to three sushi bars (sushi bars seem to be as frequent as pizza places in this area). I had a very nice but spicy chicken dish and Josh a seafood platter. When we were about to leave the waitress came running back with our money saying we didn't tip enough!!! We had put down 10% in tip but she said it is customary to give 15%. This is one of the negatives with USA that you HAVE to tip a certain amount. And you have to tip everyone who lifts a finger for you. There are tip jars everywhere you go. But for her to come back and say you didn't give me enough tip?! I wanted to say that we give as much as we want to tip unless its included in the bill. It's ridiculous that you have to pay for service that you didn't get. And she definitely did not give us service worth 5 dollars. And doesn't she get paid by the restaurant for serving people food? Or what are those money for? Oh well. This country is cheap, but since you have to tip almost everyone i would say it amounts to UK prices when going out for food.
After the meal we went back to the hotel to sleep off the time difference. It was 3 am in London.
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