NYC On My Own

As I’ve mentioned so many times before, I love traveling to New York City. For this trip, I traveled to celebrate Jane’s birthday with her. She was working a normal day and I just didn’t want her leaving work and just going home without doing anything on her special day. She had just returned to NYC a couple of days earlier. Her office is closed from Christmas to New Year’s Day, so her birthday is the first day back in the office. It is also Eliz’s first day back at school, so she really can’t take off, since the kids are a little revved up after not seeing their friends for a while. That was why I went on my own.

Purchasing My Amtrak Tickets

Once I asked Jane if she’d be okay with me coming for a visit on her birthday (she didn’t have any plans,) I booked my tickets on Amtrak. I wanted to get into the city in mid-afternoon and then head home around 9.00 pm. I had no trouble with my ticket to New York. I got the one I wanted and was scheduled to arrive by 3.30 pm. Coming home was a different story. All of the lowest fare tickets were sold out for 9.10 pm train. I really didn’t want to take the train that left in the 10.00 pm hour, because I figured I would probably just be sitting in Penn Station waiting. After searching around to see if there were any sporting events or concerts in town that night and finding nothing, I returned to Amtrak’s site to find my session had timed-out, so I had to start the process of purchasing my ticket from the beginning. That was lucky, because someone else must have had the last $60 ticket in their cart for the 9.10 pm train and also timed-out. I grabbed it and checked out. Boom!

What I Did On My Own In NYC

I knew I’d have about 2 1/2 hours before I’d need to meet Jane at her office. She works at HL Group on Madison Ave. My first thought was to go to the Museum of Modern Art. It is a little over a mile from Penn Station. I also wanted to go to Winter Village at Bryant Park, which isn’t far from Jane’s office. After thinking about it, I realized I wasn’t going to be able to do both, since it would probably take me around 25 minutes to walk to the museum from the station and then 10-15 minutes to wak from the museum to the park. And that is assuming I make all the correct turns and didn’t get lost. Since I didn’t want to miss Winter Village, I came up with another idea: go to B&H Photo and browse the store. That was on a few minutes walk from the station and even if I did make a wrong turn — which I did — I’d still have plenty of time to do both the store and the park.

Browsing At B&H Photo

Once I found my way to B&H Photo, I took my first NYC blind selfie at the corner of Ninth Ave and 33rd St with the store in the background and then headed inside the store. There was a man at the entrance and I asked him where the GoPro gear was located. He told me he was a security guard and didn’t know, but the lady up ahead could tell me. He pointed to her, but, of course, I didn’t see her. I walked about 20 paces forward and a lady asked if she could help me. I’m not sure if that was the lady the guard was talking about, but she directed me to the second floor for the GoPro gear. I can only imagine what other shoppers were thinking as they saw me going through the store with my white cane. Once on the second floor, an employee asked me if she could help me. She must have noticed me wandering around. I told her I was searching for the GoPro area and she walked me over to it. After speaking with Brian about the GoPro 8 and some GoPro-branded accessories, I asked Brian where the Pro Audio stuff was because I wanted to look for some podcasting gear. It’s easy to read about the gear online, but I need to feel it to see if I’ll be able to use it with my very limited vision. That gear was on the first floor, so I made my way back down. Once down there, I did some wandering. I was approached by another employee (they seemed to have a ton) who asked if he could help. I asked him where mics and mixers and other podcast gear was located. He told me I was pointed in the right direction and it was about 25 feet away. He was the last employee that helped me. Once in the Pro Audio section, I was not approached by anyone. Everything was behind glass cases, so I used my iPhone and SeeingAI to find what I wanted to see. Namely a Zoom H6 and some mixers from Rode. I couldn’t find either, so after 20 minutes or so, I decided to head to the park. I was disappointed I couldn’t check out the podcasting gear.

Making My Way To Winter Village At Bryant Park

I exited B&H Photo through the same door I had entered, so I knew Ninth Ave was in front of me and I needed to go right and then right again at the next intersection. That put me on 34th St. I just had to take that down to Fifth Ave and hang a left. My “miracle” on 34th St was finding a woman who walked at a good pace and had shoes or boots that made loud footsteps. I stayed behind her for a few Avenue blocks, weaving through the rush-hour foot traffic. (Note: Avenue blocks in Manhattan are about three times as long as street blocks.) Once she turned off, I had to slow down until I another “noisy” pedestrian walking at a speed I liked. I never found anyone as good as her. When I realized I was near the flagship Macy’s, I paused to take another blind selfie with the store across the street in the background. Once I got to Fifth Ave, I crossed over 34th St and counted until I counted the streets until I got to 40th St. I crossed 40th and made a left, walking alongside of the New York Public Library. Bryant Park is just past the building, but I waited and entered at the second entrance after the building. I wanted to get another blind selfie around the same spot I had taken one in the summer. I found an empty seat where I thought that was and snapped a couple of pics. I continued wandering around Winter Village until I got to the ice rink. I took another blind selfie with the rink in the background and then took another image of the rink without me in it and texted it to Eliz.