First Monday: 2013-09-01

New York served as our springboard into our traveling adventure. New York tops the list as “America’s Favorite City”. And consequently, boasts the highest number of visitors of any city. We were determined to at least appear like we were more than just mere tourists. Our goals this trip are to experience what it is like to actually live in a city, as opposed to just visiting it. So, we enacted “Operation Local”. The only rule? Do as the locals do.

We bought the weekly unlimited MetroCard. Skipped a hotel and opted for an apartment from AirBnB; all 586 glorious square feet of it. We felt like New Yorkers. Well, for a while.

Once rain falls in New York, a few things happen. Obviously it gets wet. But what we don’t know (and the locals do) is that rain in the summer equals humidity like you have never felt (unless you’re a real local, I guess). The Subway system works just like a street-based hot dog cart. Water collects in the tracks and basically steams everything inside. And that smell… I wish for your sake, that postcards had a scratch and sniff option. To be a local, you have to know that smell.

In retrospect, we stuck out like sore thumbs. New Yorkers don’t wear jeans when it’s 85 degrees and raining. And they seldom, if ever, forget their umbrellas. We should have written a note…

Real locals don't take the metro at 10:45 on a Wednesday. They're in the middle of a 60 hour work-week, trying to pay rent for their own 600 square foot slice of the Big Apple.

But we were on that train. And so are the beggars. Shaking coffee cups, grocery bags, once-used Chinese food to-go containers. Anything they can scrape up in a delirious stupor that might hold just enough change for their next fix.

Locals can spot the real junkies. The tourists break out their dollars like frat boys at their first strip club.

As we walked past a park in Alphabet city (near Avenue A of "Rent" fame) I couldn’t help but notice that some of these vagabond "kids" (aka Beggars) were probably younger than me. Clever cardboard signs scrawled in Sharpie proclaim that they are "down on their luck". Or perhaps “just traveling through”. I wouldn't have guessed that this demographic would be prone to carrying iPhones, but the locals do. The locals know it’s the iPhone 5, too (usually in black). My gut feeling was that "dinner" was slightly higher up the priorities list than "data overages", but again, I'm no local.

This week was FULL of contrast, irony and adventure. We had our calm moments with a picnic in Central Park, a paradise of tranquility among the throngs. We had our over-full subway cars; when locals always seem to find space, tourists are left standing on the platform (or taking a sliding door to the shoulder) and bumps, bangs and toe-steps are all just collateral damage in the daily grind of Manhattan.

We did Brooklyn, drank local beer (passing on Stone Brewery’s selections for obvious reasons) and patronized the local boutiques and the flea market.

We ate street food, waffles prepared out of the back of a truck; octopus “balls” made with poached octopus and a sublimely eggy batter with nori and bell peppers worked in. The coffee was incredible, lots of people who really care about crema. And of course, we had our fill of the sights, sounds and consequently the smells that only New York can offer. (see Subway above).

Next week we’ll be in the capital of Iceland. Reykjavik is the world’s northernmost capital. It boasts a population of 200,000. More people take the #6 train in Manhattan every day…

We’ll see you there!

-DH