Day 214
Today we've been away for SEVEN MONTHS!!!!
Niagara Falls, Buffalo, USA
It's Day 4 of our Washington DC/Niagara Falls tour..and we're off on another day of bus riding! Arrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhh YUK. But you get that when you want to see the sights!
Firstly, this morning we hovelled around in our group, in the hotel lobby, waiting to get on the bus to head off on our Niagara Falls boat cruise! While we waited for others, thanking god it wasn't us that were late, for fear of being severely chastised, Greg and I had a coffee (US hotels all have fresh coffee brewing in the lobbies!) and just relaxed...
We didn't have breakfast because Julia said NOT TO and we couldn't be bothered getting out of bed earlier to hunt down a suitable breakfast place (Greg was going to check out breakfast because he said when the guide says NOT TO have the breakfast, it makes him more curious! But we slept in!).
After piling on the bus and hearing grumbles from the Spanish because we switched sides so we didn't have to worry about putting our seats back...we got told off on the bus microphone for changing seats, and told to change back to our original seats after we get back on the bus!
Geepers..talk about rigid!
Anyway..it was only 3 minutes until we were on there...We literally drove the bus to the other side of the border (from US to Canada) to catch the Maid of the Mist so i don't know what they were complaining about!!! I mean, a change is as good as a holiday and we were feeling quite indignant at being told off for changing seats when the seats we took, were the parents of the kid that were causing us problems! (Let them know what they're kids are like!)
Anyway...
We unloaded, scrambled about because everyone was shoving and cursing, and got to the Niagara Centre to wait for the boat..and to see more of the falls and the rapids....and to have breakfast (another bagel and cream cheese with maple syrup!).
Then we lined up at the Maid of the Mist ticket office, grabbed our blue raincoats they are famous for and so we didn't get wet from the spray of the falls when we went under them..and lined up ready to go on our cruise.
What the blue raincoats look like!
And off we went! And...it was fantastic! Wet, but fantastic be on a boat at the base to see the Falls rolling, tumbling and thundering over and to FEEL the mist! We all got totally soaking wet!!
Some of us, (Greg) had the good sense to take their shoes off...and to roll up their jeans....but some of us (me!) got totally wet and looked like drowned rats!
But it was so much fun!
I haven't laughed like that for ages! Giggling girts we all were! Including almost drowned Greg.
Patricia, "The Lady" didn't come, and stayed on the bus, reserving our seats! hahaha
It was so much fun..reminded me of the victoria Falls again. We got really wet there from the spray too...and had to buy raincoats. Only difference in South Africa was we had to pay a fortune for the raincoats and had to have guards to accompany us!
By the way, there were two English ladies on the tour who said Zimbabwe now had eight thousand per cent inflation!!! Imagine that!!!! Magabe has truly ruined the country. Greg says there will be a civil war there before long.
The boat cruise passed too quickly. We kept our coats as souvenirs but the thought of getting back on the bus loomed up all too quickly.
But on the bus we got..and the Spanish mob didn't join us. So we had a great trip back in our comfy spacious seats because they were spacious ones and we could stretch out...We watched Oceans 11, chatted to our new friends and read our books.
We had lunch at a fast food place that sold pizza, icecream or burgers. We had burgers.
And afternoon tea/dinner was a muffin and coffee at .. you guessed it, Starbucks!
By the way, there are Starbucks Coffee places on practically every corner here in New York! ANd i love it!!! And so does Greg, especially the chocolate chip bickies!!!!
Talking about Starbucks...we had a long conversation on the bus about where Starbucks originated..i thought it was Vancouver because they seemed more rife there in 1995 when i was there, than in California when we were travelling around there....
But it seems, so we found out from a reputable source (the internet at one of the stops!) that it originated in Seattle..which probably explains the Canadian connection...Seattle is close to the western border!
Apparently there are now over 5,500 cafes around the world!!!
And to think..it only took till now for me to actually enjoy a starbucks coffee!
The little things in life seem to be the greatest pleasure at the moment. Maybe i'm becoming depraved?
At the end of the tour...as we were approaching New York City....
The TIP thing came up.
Julia said the customary thing was to pay $5 per day, per person for the driver and the guide!
Which meant Greg and i had to pay US$80! For the four days. 2 tour guides and two drivers. Who were all pretty useless.
And that was on top of the tour which cost $539! Each.
It was a stretch for us to even go on the tour, even though it included accomodation and one breakfast, and it saved us having to think and plan for four days....without having to pay $80 on top as well!
So what do good Australians do.
Decide to pay the money and be done with it. Well, in our case, to pay for the 2 days at least. The other tour guide and driver weren't there so it was only Julia and Erik we felt we had to worry about.
Patricia had her $2 ready for them.
The german girls just looked at each other with a 'no way' look.
The two English girls behind us, from the Isle of Man, were discussing it all as we were arriving...
And then the bus stopped.
The South African couple got off the bus, said thankyou and left.
Patricia's leg suddenly got better and she jumped off the bus and headed off to meet her son-in-law who was picking her up to take her to the Opera (she's 80 - i hope i'm like that at 80!)
And..then a pile of other people pushed us about as they scrambled to get off as well...we yelled thankyou as i searched my pocket for the tip and the next thing Greg had our packs out of the bus, and the bus started moving and that was that.
We were $80 richer!
Geepers....
How'd that happen?
Not sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing..but i guess it was just a thing that happened....
And apart from a few of us...we considered after, that if everyone paid what she expected, she'd be making more than any of us. There were fifty of us on the bus!
Tipping...
An incredible custom really.
Anyway...
Here we are now, at our hotel, at another airport hotel in New Jersey. We decided to get close to the airport (Newark) where we leave to go to Chicago.
We took a train here, from the biggest subway station in New York, you should see it, amazing! Cost US$15 to get to New Jersey. And then we had to take an air shuttle to Newark Airport..and rang accomodation from the hotel who sent their free shuttle bus to collect us (got it for half the price as the JFK airport hotel which we thought was cheap, but this is way cheaper!!)
And that's that...we're here for a couple of days before we head off again. Internet is for free here in the lobby! It's great! I can catch up on what's happening and maybe send a couple of emails..although, tomorrow, we'll be out most of the day. We're going to try and see a Grid Iron Game as well. Hopefully we'll even get to see a baseball game while we're here! (If we don't get to see one here, we'll hopefully see the Chicago Bulls in Chicago!)
But now, it's time for bed!
Nighties...xoxox
PS Patrica told Greg and I that everyone on the bus were calling us "The Handsome Couple!" And I said, "Oh really, why?' and she said because we always looked so happy and we were smiling all the time...
Awww....
That's us.."THE HANDSOME COUPLE!"
That means we've gotten more compliments in America than we have in any other country! And all in the space of four days! I think...America is very much like Australia...and people here appreciate what we appreciate at home!
It sounds like i'm searching for compliments hey....but it's not that at all. It's just that it was such a surprise to actually hear one that it has become very memorable!!!! (And especially when i'm feeling like junky jen at the moment! With my travel clothes, no jewellery, no makeup, no nothing! Oh dear!)
