We had been planning a trip from Los Angeles to New York City for about a year as part of our East coast vacation. I had never been to New York but had worked with people from that area for years. My perception of New Yorkers was loud, argumentative and always in a hurry, so I really wasn’t looking forward to dealing with people with attitudes when all I wanted to do was see the sites and relax. New Yorkers to me were going to be just the opposite of the slow paced, easy going California beach lifestyle that I grew up in. I had developed a preconceived opinion of the area after working for years on sales to the area. My other interest in visiting the area is that the company I worked for and was a small owner in sold products to keep birds off of buildings and because New York is such a large city with a variety of structures it was one of our largest bird control markets. We have had bird proofing products installed all over the city including famous sites like the New York Stock Exchange, The Lincoln Center, Trump Buildings, Madison Square, Columbia University etc.
Our trip to New York did not start off as planned, as luck would have it our flight out was booked for Sept 20, 2001, about 1 week after the awful events of Sept 11. After watching the terrible events unfold we started wondering how this would affect our trip or should we even go to New York. Like everyone else at the time we did not want the terrorists to win so our plan was to still go on the trip which we were determined to stick with. Now when our friends, family and co-workers heard about our plans all we heard is “of course your canceling your trip”, “go someplace else” , “or “don’t go there it’s too dangerous they might get attacked again”. But after a week of hearing about how we should cancel and were crazy for considering going we decided to stick with plan. Which was easier said than done. The airports at that time were a nightmare of security and slow downs. We had an early morning flight so we thought we would be smart and get to the airport the night before our flight since the airport officials were telling everyone to be at the airport 2 to 3 hours before your flight. Our flight was scheduled for early in the morning so we just needed to kill a few hours before our departure. We had assumed that the airport personal would show up early to help out with all the confusion, but no such luck. So we started our vacation in a half empty and mostly closed airport trying to stay awake. When it was finally time to board the plan we noticed that hardly anyone was boarding, which was weird and a little unnerving since I was already worried about flying at that time. On the bright side the plane was practically empty which meant we could stretch out and sleep and the flight crew was very thankful that we choose to fly with them. The New York based flight crew couldn’t thank us enough for flying to their city. Flights at that time were going out mostly empty which was killing the airlines but great for the passengers that were dumb enough to fly.
We arrived in New York refreshed and ready to hit the town after being personally pampered as if we had chartered the plane ourselves. We took a taxi to our hotel which was located within walking distance of Madison Square Garden’s. After checking in and freshening up we decided to go for a walk. I was prepared to walk in to a sea of people, because all I have ever heard or seen about New York City is that there are tons of people working around in a hurry and don’t even think about driving. Well in my first experience the traffic is light and the sidewalks are empty. It was like walking around in a ghost town except this one had tons of famous buildings and the ghosts here were happy to see you and glad you came. We decided the first thing we were going to do is visit a customer that I had known for years by phone. He worked for a company which we found out from him was located across the street from the United Nations. We set off to walk there feeling like something was out of place but yet the people were happy to see us. When we asked for directions the people couldn’t of been friendlier and when we mentioned that we were on vacation it was like we were famous dignitaries visiting for the first time. During lunch with my friend and his boss I found out the building they were in also housed the Afghanistan Embassy which didn’t sound like a safe neighbor and this was before the US went in to Afghanistan. We said goodbye and continued our walking tour taking in sites like Times Square, Empire State building, and St Patrick’s Cathedral. Everywhere we went the locals were warm and open and thanked us for visiting their city. I started thinking to myself where are the New Yorkers that I was expecting; everyone we are running into is friendly, helpful and surprisingly didn’t have a comment about us being from California… After our walk about we rested and made plans for dinner. We heard that “The View Restaurant” had a great view of the City. The View is located on the top floor of the Marriott and is known for its amazing view of Times Square and the City plus it’s the only roof top revolving restaurant in New York. That sounded good to me, so we arrived and took the elevator to the top floor only to find that we were the only people in this amazing restaurant. I guess we didn’t receive the memo telling us that everyone was avoiding high rises, their lose, we were getting spoiled again, a great restaurant and a full staff that was super happy to see us, again I was feeling like a rock star, maybe they heard a famous beach bum was heading to the city so they closed the restaurant down and brought in extra staff just to serve us. A great night for us and a big tip for them, I like being famous. The next day we set out to see Ground Zero. The subway ride was quiet and reflective as if we were on our way to a funeral. Not many people were talking they just had strange looks on their faces as if they didn’t know what to expect and were questioning why they were going. I think a lot of the people on board were local’s maybe they wanted to see for themselves that 9/11 was real or it was their way of processing the fact that they were still alive. As the car got closer to the site it began to take on an unpleasant smell of melting rubber, steel and other unthinkable words. The stop was farther away from the World trade center then in the past but still after more than a week the station was filled with smoke as it someone had just put out a fire. We walked the remaining distance with groups of people still in stock by what had been done. Upon arrive we viewed the area in disbelieve and sadness that a group of unhappy people could do this to so many innocent people. I left the area sad, confused, and unsure about what lies ahead. But I left New York happy that I made the trip, I little wiser for the experience and maybe most of all my perception of a New Yorker was changed forever.