#keys to a successful trip on a New York Subway or who moved my corn bread?

1. Google Maps – tells you schedules up to the minute
2. Purchase your tickets before you get o the station. The subways, buses and waterways can be found on mta.info or New Jersey at panynj.gov/path
3. If you have an I-phone “there is an app for that
4. Never get on at the entrance where everyone comes to get onto the train, those cars get crowded the fastest.
5. If you are sitting down and the train gets crowded, make sure you get up at least one stop before you have to exit the train. This way you are not fighting the crowd to try and get off.
6. Sit on the same side of the train that you know the doors will open at your station so that you can exit easier. You will learn this with experience.
7. Be patient sit back and enjoy the commute. You could be sitting on the road in rush hour traffic, paying increasingly higher tolls and outrages parking prices

I am sure there are plenty more but that’s all I could think of for now.

Coming from Atlanta I imagined New York subways would be easier to navigate- Wrong. In comparison Atlanta has North, South, East and West lines. New York has one of the most extensive subway systems in the world. There are letters and numbers and connections via tunnels to other stations, in addition connections to the New Jersey Rail Road, Amtrak, New Jersey Path subway, NY Ferry, Bus Systems, Long Island railroad etc...I am sure I left a lot out. My experiences are varied but I finally have a system down for work and pleasure. 

  I would like to talk about one of the many times I got lost assuming I knew my way and ending up spending two hours underground caught in the system, oh I forgot to mention without cell coverage or Wi-Fi ....wow. The thought of going anywhere without either today is puzzling to me, especially in an international city. I was headed to an appointment to check out an apartment and because I had used the E train before to get there I thought this would be easy. Little did I know that on weekends is when most of the track maintenance is done, so they have to reroute services to other trains. I jumped on the E train as normal and headed toward downtown, head phones on blasting Jay-Z not paying attention. I started to look around and see that even the seasoned New Yorkers had a puzzling look on their faces, right then I knew I was I trouble. I turned off my music to listen to the message “next stop West 4^th Street exit here to transfer to the C train and continue on to Chambers St for the World Trade Center stop”. If you could see the look of horror on my face wtf…do what and go where to catch what at what street? Needless to say I did not want to seem lost because I have been told to always look like you know where you are going so that you don’t stand out in a crowd, so I kept my composure and tried to follow everyone else but even the seasoned riders were lost asking me for directions. 

The train that I was supposed to be transferring to was two floors down and not on the tracks that the signs indicated. So instead of asking someone I jumped on the first train I saw, which was crazy but I panicked. There are local and express trains in New York so I headed toward Brooklyn got off at the first stop that I thought I could come up for air and at least see where I was because I had traveled downtown a few times before. I came up onto the street, I looked around and nothing absolutely nothing looked familiar. I finally went back down to the station and asked an MTA agent for directions. The only problem was I left out some key information for her to guide me in the right direction. I asked her how to get to the Path so she told me how to get there via 34^th street, which was back uptown where I came from. What I should have said was how I get to the Path at the World Trade Center which would have placed me four minutes from my appointment. So I took her directions and headed to 34^th St and caught the Path which of course was not running on its normal schedule because it was the weekend. Needless to say I spent two hours underground for my mistakes. On top of all this it is July in New York; it seemed to be ninety nine degrees down there. When I finally got out the subway I could have kissed the ground.

A relaxing Saturday in Union Square turns into Protest or anybody know where Peachtree St is?

This is not the first time I have ended up in some place I should not have be in, I couple of weeks ago I was in a train at the World Trade Center as I came up out of the tunnel from the Path New Jersey's transit system, the were soldiers, FBI agents with dogs, protestors everywhere then it hit me the date September 10th 2011.

I am new to New York so I thought I would I would go visit Union Square to see the farmers market.Nice relaxing way to spend a Saturday in New York right, I have the worst timing I walked right into a major protest. Police are everywhere and so are protesters. No big deal according to the New York Times, 80 people were arrested. I was in the National Guard in Atlanta when the Democratic party had their convention but this was no comparison, New York's finest were formed into a small army equipped with their own cameras to record the event. I thought that they were out because the United Nations Delegates were meeting. Have you ever had the feeling that you did not need to be somewhere, I made my way to Madison Square Park just in time as squadrons of police cars lights flashing sped back to where I had just left. I should have taken pictures but I was not with the press or with the protestors so I did not take any chances.

Wow Clueless in New York.