Tuesday 2nd September 1997
New York
0037hrs (Eastern Time) [Technically Wednesday]
Well, here we are at last. Most of today was spent on the plane, reading and watching TV (every seat has a tiny telly in the back, which is very twenty-first century). We then got in a cab which brought us to the youth hostel - New York by night by car did at first seem much the same as any other city in the world under those conditions, but towards the end of the journey the mammoth skylines and flashing neon hinted at what's to come.
The youth hostel seems all right. As soon as we entered it a fellow traveller recognized Colin from university, crushing immediately any ideas we might have been forming that we're doing anything remotely original or intrepid. The bathroom facilities exist, but not much more can be said of them, and I must confess, as I sit rather uncomfortably up in bed, blanketed only by little more than an oversized tea towel, to a yearning for home comforts, and a small part of me is asking whether this was all such a good idea. But according to my body clock it is a quarter to six a.m., and that part of me is very tired, and I look forward to the morning when I expect it to be fully invigorated, and anticipating the next three and a half weeks with a new enthusiasm.
They have weird toilets here.
