London to New York
The big day was finally here!!! We set off for the airport early in the morning. It took a while to get through customs and everything, and then suddenly someone took Mew aside and asked to see inside her travel bag! Before I knew what was happening, a big scary strange man was picking me up and running a swab all over me! D8 I was very scared and thought I was in big trouble (even though I hadn't done anything!), but then they waved us on and said we were fine and could get on the plane now. What was that all about? Mew didn't know what was going on, either...
Oh well, it wasn't a problem in the end, anyway. Here's the aeroplane!
By 11 am we were on the plane and settled into our seats. We were sitting near the back of the plane; Mew and her mum had booked ahead of time and picked two seats by themselves, so they didn't have to sit with anyone else (apart from me :3). I was happy to hear I wouldn't have to meet any more scary strangers! But then the lady sitting opposite kept standing up and moving on the spot next to us every few minutes throughout the flight, defeating the point...
About half an hour later, we were off! The take-off was a bit frightening, but the rest of the flight was okay! We wanted to watch the Back to the Future movies, but they didn't have them on the entertainment system, so we watched the first two Harry Potter movies instead.
Mew: One odd thing was that it was the US version of the first film instead of the original UK version. I've never seen the US version before! It's weird hearing everyone say "Sorceror's Stone" instead of "Philosopher's Stone".
After Chamber of Secrets ended, there was still about an hour left of the flight, so not really enough time left to watch anything else. Mew got out her sketchbook and I modelled for this drawing :3
Finally, the aeroplane landed in New York! We got off the plane and had to wait in a huge queue for a while, but we got through customs very quickly. (Mew would like me to add that the US customs people were much nicer than the ones she encountered in France once.) This photo was taken at 2:50 pm NY time, which is nearly 8 pm back in England.
After going through customs, we hopped in a taxi (bright yellow, just like in the movies!!) that took us through New Jersey and into New York City itself! It took us about an hour to get there.
Mew: We'd barely gotten out of the taxi when a doorman came up to us and helped us to get our stuff inside! It surprised me since you don't really get that in the UK. Usually you just bring your own stuff in (and sometimes have to drag it up multiple flights of stairs...).
Here's our hotel room! We were staying at the New Yorker Hotel. Again, see if you can find me in this pic. ^^ The room looks small in this photo, but it was a good size really, Mew just didn't get it all in the pic.
The view from our window.
After unpacking some of our stuff and relaxing for a bit, we went to the McDonald's across the road.
Mew was pleased to see that they still had proper plastic toys in their Happy Meals :3
Mew: Although the box shows Elemental, I actually got a toy of Flounder from the new live action Little Mermaid film. He's pretty cute.
The milkshakes were very different to the ones we have in England. I wish I had a photo so I could show you. Here in New York they were much thicker and had this foamy cream stuff on top, and they tasted like raspberry ice cream sauce.
Mew: They were good, but very intense... more of a dessert item than a drink. They also had plastic straws! In the UK these have been replaced with useless paper straws that stick together, disintegrate in your mouth, and bend in half so you can't even drink from them, and also-
Mew, can I get back to telling the story?
Mew: Alright, alright, continue.
After that, we set off in search of the Winter Garden Theatre. Here's a funky little guy (or maybe not so little... he was BIG!) we found outside a Mexican restaurant.
Mew: This was about 7 pm NY time. (Just assume any time given is NY time from now on, unless I say otherwise, okay?)
Mew: Welcome to America!
Mew spotted this animated advert for the newest Transformers movie, and waited a while for it to come back round so she could take a photo of it.
Mew: I'm not into the Bayformers stuff, but these ads were pretty cool. I don't think this shows up in any of the photos, but we also saw a LOT of ads for the Barbie movie while we were there. They were all over the place since it was coming out next month.
While looking for the theatre, we found a Target! Mew got very excited about this. We don't have them over here, but she's heard they're good places to find new toys. They didn't have anything she wanted though, so we set off again.
Suddenly Mew spotted this advert from across the road!!!
Mew: This was the best photo I could get of the front of the ad, since it was right next to the road so I couldn't get too close to it. Oh well.
We crossed the road to get a better look at the side of the advert. It was actually animated, the flames moved and stuff.
The building behind it was so TALL!!!!
At 8 pm we got to Times Square. Lots of tall buildings, adverts, and people.
Mew: It's kind of like Leicester Square in London, but even more crowded and dirty and nightmareish.
40 minutes later, we finally reached the Winter Garden Theatre!
Mew: Okay, so I'm not good with directions... This is the back of the theatre, by the way.
We wasted no time in taking lots of photos. About 24 hours from now, this would be full of fans and press people, all excited for the first preview of the show!
Mew: This is a printed design, unlike the similarly-designed shutters at the Adelphi Theatre in London which are a proper hand-painted mural.
It still looks cool though!
Mew: Indeed it does. ^^
We walked around the corner and finally got to see the front of the theatre.
Mew: My photo of it didn't come out, so I didn't include it, but for the record, the poster to the right of the doors has a list of the cast and crew.
The Store windows were all covered up so you couldn't see inside, since it wasn't opening for business until the next day. After we'd looked our fill, we set off back for the hotel, getting back at around 9:30 pm.
Day 2: 30 June 2023