FIFTY STATES AWAYDay 3 – NYC to New Jersey
We woke on what would be our last morning in NYC to a beautiful snowy scene outside. We’d been waiting for snow to hit back in the UK before we left, but were left disappointed. New York certainly made up for it and it was awesome to finally have a little dusting. We were a little weary upon waking, with myself finding it especially hard to adjust to the new time zone. The biggest time difference I’d ever experienced up until this point what two hours, which isn’t that noticeable. I can say with certainty that five hours is a whole other game, my body doesn’t quite know what to do with itself and I frequently feel like I need a good few afternoon naps!
With the breakfast and packing all out of the way it was time to say goodbye to the sights that Manhattan, Brooklyn and New York City had to offer. We have enjoyed our time here so far and the dining experience far surpasses the UK, endless refills of tea and coffee are rather favourable. On our journey towards new horizons our next state will be New Jersey. We’ll be heading over to Newark initially to pick up our car, a Chrysler 300. We are looking forward to hiring an American brand of car and are in especially good spirits with the ‘Road trip’ about to begin.
Picking up the car
After catching a minibus to Newark Airport we arrived to pick up the car, hoping that they did indeed have the advertised model in stock. We were a bit taken aback to find that not only was the Chrysler ready and waiting for us, but a Chevrolet Impala as well. After being shown to the cars we were left to take a look and try out both cars for size. It was a very hard decision and whilst the Impala seemed to have a few more features, we ultimately felt that the Chrysler was more luxurious inside and decided to stick with our original choice.
With the car packed and ready to go, it was now that the real hard work began. Prior to the trip we’d decided to buy a SatNav once we were out here, this was based on Ben’s experience of taking his own along previously. So it was off to a local Walmart, with a vague set of instructions retrieved from the internet the night before. We didn’t have any data on our phones or a map, so it was quite the experience. We did get a bit lost and ended up driving around random residential streets, seeing much of Newark in the process. After some time we finally came across the Walmart we had been hunting for, a nice recovery after what had been a rather exploratory drive.
We hadn’t imagined picking up a SatNav would be as difficult as it turned out to be. After the extended drive we arrived to face the expanse that is Walmart, after looking around for sometime and coming up empty handed I approached a staff member to ask for help. I explained that we were after a SatNav and politely asked if he could point me to the right aisle, baffled the poor guy just stood there with a rather confused look on his face. I was getting no where with no idea what could be wrong. It was then that Ben re-joined me and realizing what the problem was promptly saved the day and asked for a ‘GPS’ to which the guy smiled and immediately led us to them. We had a good giggle about it all and left having acquired what we came for.
Newark has been snowy and quaint, very pretty indeed! Much quieter than New York. With the day not over just yet, we simply couldn’t resist heading further down into New Jersey to visit Atlantic City. Arriving at just the right time, with the evening drawing in the lights were amazing! We plan to save the gambling for Vegas, but did stop for some food at a restaurant called Applebee’s.
