Sunday, June 04, 2006

New York

Finnair had a great offer of 300€ for a return ticket to New York, so I decided to make a visit. I also found a reasonably priced hostel called Wanderers' Inn, which costs just 20€ per night, making this a very cheap trip indeed. Joel Spolsky from Fog Creek Software invited me to visit for lunch, so I had something to look forward to. I have been in New York for a week now. Yesterday I became sick and only reluctantly left the hostel. Later I regretted it, almost throwing up in central park. After walking about 4 miles away from the hostel, the sky opened up and the heaviest rain I had ever seen began. There was so much water it started flowing over from the street into the sidewalks. I had no umbrella and soon I was totally wet. And I was already sick. There was nowhere to go. Inside cafes it is so cold because of the air conditioning. So I walked 4 miles back in the rain. About a mile before reaching the hostel I managed to find a shop selling umbrellas. I almost had a fight with another customer for the last umbrella. Next night at the hostel I was shivering, obviously I had a temperature. I was confused. One moment I was feeling hot, the next I felt shivering cold, all the time feeling a pounding headache. I hope the rain will stop and I could enjoy the city and still see Fog Creek later on.