Our New York (via Iceland) Journal

We are taking our first ever trip abroad sans children and probably the last for a while since our third baby is due in approximately 12 weeks. We have been looking forward to this trip for ages. Neither of us has been to New York or Iceland before. We kind of know the places we want to visit, what we want to get out of the trip and what we expect it to be like.

We are taking Loquax Duck (No 9) with us on. He was in Cornwall before he came to us and like all the Loquax ducks will be travelling around the world with other loquats. We are also combining another interest - bookcrossing i.e. leaving a book in a public place for someone else to find.

Thursday 26th May

As it is a regular day (work for Nigel, nursery for Emily etc) our adventures don't start until early evening when we say goodbye to the girls and Jan's parents and start our journey.

Saying goodbye was much more difficult than either of us imagined, despite having being thinking about this moment all week. The longest we've been apart from Emily was our 3-day honeymoon and neither of us has been away from Lucy overnight. It doesn't help that Lucy's eyes are red rimmed and she has developed a runny nose.

We are travelling light so only have our hand luggage and one tiny suitcase which we wheel down to the bus stop. We are nervous, excited and giggly. We sit on the top deck of the bus and chatter non-stop until we reach Edinburgh Waverley. We buy some sushi to eat on the train to Glasgow (first class no less) and some chocolate cake and wine for later. We catch the 905 Citylink airport bus and check into the Holiday Inn Express. We are assured by text message that the kids have settled down for the night and told not to worry. For the first time in we don't know how long, we are alone, without kids clambering onto our bed. We turn off the lights and…fall asleep for a straight eight hours! The wine remains unopened.

Friday 27th May

It's our holidays! We wake up refreshed and after a pleasant breakfast, stroll over to the terminal and check in. We buy some last minute camera batteries and change our currency then "release" our first book into the wilds of the Departure Lounge before boarding our Icelandair flight to Rekjavik. The in-flight entertainment takes the form of "Zoolander" but alas the flight is shorter than the film so we don't get to see the ending.

At Keflavik airport we release a book in the terminal building before joining the coach on the 15 minute journey to the Blue Lagoon passing "rock families" made by huge boulders placed on top of each other.

The lagoon itself is absolutely magnificent. We bathe in wonderfully warm waist-deep waters marvelling at the occasional hot spots we come across. There are bridges, small pools, caves, mud spas and waterfalls. A mist hovers permanently over the lagoon making the whole place seem magical. We vow to return with the children and rejoin the coach back to the airport passing by the main town of Keflavik on the way.

On our return to the incredibly quiet airport, we notice that the book has been "caught". We have a quick bite in the restaurant overlooking an unusual egg-shaped sculpture and send the girls a text before starting our onward journey to JFK.

Our hair starts to feel really yucky having been effectively doused in salt water for an hour. We settle down for the next leg of our journey, try to sleep, listen to some Icelandic pop, complete our customs forms and watch parts of "Ocean's Twelve".

We arrive at JFK and, having passed through immigration/customs control, collect our case and are on the New York Airport Service Airport Bus for $15 each. This bus calls at each terminal so it seems like forever before we get out of the airport. When we leave the airport behind us we are rewarded with the most brilliant sunset over Manhattan which looks spectacular when viewed from Queens. We pass interesting 3-storey houses along the Van Wyck Expressway and get a clear view of the Unisphere - a remnant from the World Fair - before travelling through the Midtown Tunnel, our excitement mounting by the minute. The bus stops at all Midtown hotels but we decide to jump off at Grand Central/42nd Street (where passengers transfer to a waiting shuttle) so we can get our bearings and some fresh air. Mindful of the need to tip everyone who so much as looked in our direction, we duly tip the driver only to be told it isn't necessary.

We find 125 East 50th Street and check into The Benjamin. Our room on the 16th floor, which is described as a one-bedroom studio, has a small kitchenette and every gizmo anyone could possibly need and some we probably wouldn't (Bose radio, fax, playstation). We had already selected our pillows via the pillow concierge (yes, such a job title really exists!) and these are waiting for us on a massive bed. The compact but stylish bathroom is well stocked with Aveda beauty and music from the Bose is piped through.

We decide to venture out and head for The Empire State Building which is lit up red, white and blue for Memorial weekend, but on arriving are told that there is a two-hour wait so decide to take a few photos instead and walk back to the hotel via New York Public Library and Bryant Park. It is only midnight in New York but our minds and bodies are screaming 5.a.m. so we go to bed.

Saturday 28th May

On waking, we realise that neither of us can get a signal on our mobile phones and our hair is still full of Icelandic salt water. Thankfully the power shower sorts out the latter. We have breakfast at the New York Luncheonette just a couple of doors down from our hotel. Nigel has a salmon and cream cheese bagel while Jan wolfs down scrambled egg and potato.

We walk east along 51st Street to FDR Drive where we discover a staircase leading down to Peter Detmold Park. We traverse the small footbridge which affords us great views of the East River and Roosevelt Island with its derelict smallpox hospital. We continue south through MacArthur Playground and take a seat at a chess table. We continue to the United Nations building where there seems to be a lot of building work going on. We don't take the tour but continue exploring this part of town and buy a picnic at an Amish Market. We pay a visit to Midtown Comics, go to Macdonalds and look round the beautiful Grand Central Terminal. We plan to join the subway but on seeing the queues to buy Metrocards quickly change our plans and hail a cab to Ground Zero. The cab drives quickly down FDR drive and we see the Brooklyn Bridge on our left. We have to press the cab driver to take a tip. On reaching the site of the former World Trade Center we are relieved not to see anyone selling 'souvenirs' - something we had read about. Instead there is a quiet dignity about the place.

From here we take the subway to Canal Street, the heart of Chinatown, picnic in Columbus Park and wander past the courthouses. We take the subway to Delancey Street in the Lower East Side. From here we pop into the Theater for the New City (where there is a designated bookcrossing corner!) and then wander around the stalls and stages that form the LES Arts Festival where Jan gets a henna tattoo. We discover a lovely Cafe Charbon in Orchard Street and enjoy some time wandering in and out of the speciality shops in this lovely area - including thrift shops!

Later that evening we visit the two nearest landmarks to our hotel: the Rockefeller Plaza where the famous "I believe" quote is inscribed and, St Patrick's Cathedral.

Sunday 29th

We plan to eat in a different diner each morning so cross the street to Oscars. On entering we immediately realise this is not your average diner and certainly not what we had in mind. It turned out to be the dining room of the Waldorf Astoria! We make our way to the Oxford Diner where the service is fast, efficient and polite and the food is really good.

We take a tram to Roosevelt Island! The views 250 feet above the East River and of the Queensborough bridge on this four minute journey are stunning. We explore the tiny island and leave a book in a portaloo by the perimeter fence of the Renwick ruin. We later discover that the now derelict former hospital is named after its architect who also designed St Patrick's Cathedral.

By now we have the subway sussed and stop by Bloomingdales to pick up some of the famous big brown bags. We have fantastic pizza at Two Boots in Bleecker Street - Nigel has "The Night Tripper" (Sun-dried tomatoes, roasted garlic & jalapeno pesto on a white pie with a spinach crust) while Jan has a "Tony Clifton" (Wild mushrooms, vidalia onions, sweet red pepper pesto & mozzarella).

Thus fortified we visit the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art on Broadway where they are holding a Will Eisner exhibition. We seriously dent the plastic in Mulberry Street (blame Cath Kidston) and do some more shopping at Pylones and Levis and then explore Little Italy.

We visit Eileen's Special Cheese Cake store where we deposit yet another book and travel south to catch the Staten Island Ferry.

Having been to Staten Island and back and taken more photos we spend some time in Battery Park.

As darkness descends we decide against a walk through Central Park.

Monday 30th May

We check out of our hotel.

We have breakfast at The Red Flame, 67 West 44th Street before taking a cab to West 30th Street Heliport.

When we booked our "Big Apple" helicopter tour we hadn't taken into account that today is Memorial Day and the helicopters were grounded for about an hour while there were flypasts and other Fleet Week activity. The tour itself was fun and we took some good photos.

We unwittingly passed through the Hell's Kitchen area, ate at a health food bar and passed the enormous General Post Office building bearing the inscription "Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."
We wandered through Penn St Station and had pizza in a diner before collecting our remaining luggage from the hotel.

We left plenty of time for the journey back to the airport as we had been told that everyone heads for the beach on Memorial Day and we were unsure of how that would affect our travel plans. Needless to say, the E subway to Sutphin Blvd/Archer Ave and the airtrain to JFK ran like clockwork so we had four hours in which to review our trip and plan a return visit.