31 Hours In Manhattan

An Ant on the Machine of New York

New York was somewhere I didn’t necessarily want to go. I wanted to go west as I was heading towards my grandmother. New York state did look intriguing, but I made the decision to go through New York City instead for two reasons. The first is that New York didn’t seem kind to hitchhikers. Only a couple of states are worse, and there was a chance I’d be stuck at least somewhere for a bit. The second reason was that I had other friends to visit in Pennsylvania. The quickest way to Pennsylvania was through the city.

I could do 31 hours in Manhattan. How hard could it be?

I got in Manhatten at 5:30 am. Calling New York the city that never sleeps I found was a touch inaccurate. I’m sure with as many people as I saw that the city truly cannot sleep, but the power and life of the city doesn’t turn on until 6:00 am. For thirty minutes I found myself shocked at the parking lot the bus dropped me off at. No station. No big train ride. Rather, just an empty parking lot. Still, it wasn’t all bad. Across the street from me was Madison Square Garden.

The legendary arena just stood there in silence in the morning. I watched the sun come up, and then looked for a place to eat.

I went into the station across the street from Madison Square Garden. It was Moynihan Train Hall. It was the only thing open in the area at the time, and I figured I’d have a little bit before a coffee shop opened, so I went there to find out more. The train station is incredibly elaborate. I sat down at a shop that wasn’t open, beside a gentleman that was nodding off, and waited. Another gentleman showed up, saw my backpack.

“What’s up?” He said, and we exchanged a few pleasantries. We talked for five minutes, and the gentleman offered me a muffin. I took it, and started looking for a place to work in the city.

That was as far as I know, my only interaction with a new yorker that wasn’t working for a place I stopped in.

I spent the next four hours looking for a place to work. A few of the coffee shops I found on the apps that sounded really good were missing some of my requirements. I needed a place to sit down, a plug and an internet connection. It took me 4 hours of exploring Manhattan to find one. I must have walked about two or three miles in that time, stopping into places to find out my disappointment.

New York’s space is a premium, and that part of it I definitely understand. Compared to other parts of the country or other cities, basic things that are readily available other places just weren’t there as easily. Some of that is size, but I do question the lack of availability of an internet connection in some of those places. Some things you can’t control, but that one feels like one you can.

I found a place, and tried a Marzipan Latte for the first time. That was delicious. I worked for a few hours, and then decided I would do laundry. Then I saw it in neighbourhoods. The garbage.

There are piles and piles just like this all over the streets. Again, I kind of get it. With a population that big, there’d have to be regular garbage pick up. It’s just incredible to witness the sheer amount of garbage I saw.

I found a self serve laundromat, and achieved probably my greatest accomplishment the entire time I was in New York. I managed to do my laundry for the whopping cost of six dollars and fifty cents. I had only one load, but I managed to achieve this feat. I was impressed with myself. That may sound like a lot of money to some, but that’s nothing compared to what I saw there. So feat achieved.

After Laundry, I walked around Manhattan for hours. I didn’t have a specific direction in mind at first. Eventually I made up my mind to go to central park. I didn’t quite make it.

New York is larger than life. The streets, the signs, it’s a giant billboard, and I could spend hours exploring everything I saw. I found the Grand Central Station, and that was a trip. To say the transit in New York is intricate is an understatement. A lot of care, thought and design is in New York’s Transit system. I sat there for a few hours and just watched people come by.

After grabbing a bite to eat, I contemplated where I was going to sleep. The airports are not a good idea in New York. I heard stories about the subway system, and I went back to Madison Square Garden to look.

If you explore the subway system long enough, you’ll find hidden corridors and tunnels. Sure enough, I found a place where a lot of homeless do sleep under the arena. Cops are there, watching them as they patrol. Everyone’s spaced out, in their section, sleeping. It’s kind of crazy. Watching this for a minute or two, contemplating if I’m going to sleep here, I realized why a lot of people chose to the sleep on the street. Throughout the day I saw people just sleep wherever on the sidewalk, without a soul bothering them.

I went back to Moynihan to charge my phone. At a certain time, the place was starting to shut down, including the port where I was charging my phone. When things close there, everything shuts down.

At 1 am, the machine was down, and only the dimmest lights remained. I decided to spend my time power napping at the parking lot my bus was coming at, and occasionally walking to the macdonalds. Just don’t make the mistake of falling asleep.

Everything turned back on at about 6 am. I spent a tiny bit of time at Moynihan, trying to steal a little sleep. There I met the only other person I chatted with, a tourist from Northern New York State. He spoke French. I thought that was the weirdest part of the whole trip. I didn’t expect to speak french in New York City, yet here I was, speaking french terribly.

At 10 am I went back to the parking lot and waited for the bus. When it finally arrived, I got on and let myself collapse. I was on my way to Pennysylvania, and had plenty of time to catch up on my rest. So I did.

That was my New York experience. Or rather, my Manhattan one.

I realized as I went through the city, that what happened to me wasn’t personal. The big bag gave me a definite tourist vibe, and the locals didn’t even bother to talk or reach out. The whole way the city operated was more like a giant machine. Something along the lines Sylvain Neuval writes about. New York and I were two ships in the night, and it didn’t even notice me at all.

If I were to do it again, I’d do it through friends I know in the city. I feel like the way is through networking. It’s better to know someone. And to be fair to the whole city, I only really had time to explore Manhattan. Maybe the Bronx, and Queens are significantly different. I can’t say for sure.

But this was my experience in New York. I’d be less than honest any other way.