The first thing I did in New York was vomit. Right there on the subway platform. But to be fair, I HAD flown 6 hours without any food (cheap old Icelandair), coped with the stress of US customs, ridden the New York airtrain and dragged my luggage onto the subway. The subway is not the smoothest ride, let me tell you. And seeing as 8pm US time was about 2am Iceland time, my poor jubbly tummy was not a happy chappy. The upside was that I had enough warning to drag Timon off the train, onto the platform and grab a plastic bag from our suitcase. I instantly felt better.
We found our hotel, The Gershwin, fairly easily and checked in. The free wifi wasn't working in our room so any internet action had to be found in the lobby. The hotel was funky - the walls were covered in paintings, there was a giant apple face man (Magritte) in the elevator and a signed Andy Warhol Campbells can. We found a 24 hour cafe just around the corner on Fifth Avenue and 28th Street which had a massive buffet of hot and cold food. We ate most of our meals there over the next week.
There's not a lot to be said about the 10 days after we arrived. We woke up super early due to jetlag and spent hours trawling Craigslist for apartments. We sent a million emails, bought new mobile phones, made a billion calls and heard back from few. We uncovered a thousand scams and visited a plethora of apartments, some ok, some terrifying. We learnt some stuff - like a railroad apartment is a long, skinny place where each room leads into the next. Like a train carriage. We learnt about brokers and their astronomical fees, about lies and studios and that Harlem is often called Morningside in listings. If we could do it all again I think we'd go straight to a broker. We would have also stayed in Europe longer so that our arrival was timed with the 1st Feb (when most apartments seem to be available). We saw a couple of nice places in Brooklyn, but the neighbourhoods were dead-end and a little scary. We were sent on this wild goose chase by the rudest broker ever, who gave us a list of places, a key and a group of equally desperate apartment hunters. The only place on his list that was anywhere near our budget was filled with the previous tenants crap and when I asked him when it would be cleaned, he ignored me and answered his 'ringing' phone. We're talking clumps of hair, open tins of dog food and a manky old mattress. I still have nightmares.
Most recently we found a great place through this broker called Alex. Sure it was a little out of our price range, and we'd been sent there with instructions too essentially break in, but we loved it. Alex agreed to us paying 6 months upfront, we filled in the application and thought that was it. He called back later saying the landlord wanted 12 months upfront. Bust. The next day Alex found us another place, closer to our price range and with a 6 month lease. This time we got as far as signing the lease and laying down a deposit. We arranged to meet him on Friday and turn over more cash in exchange for the keys. After we checked out of the hotel, dragged all our bags in a cab to his office, we were told by his manager that we couldn't move in until early Feb. Devastation. I know it's hard to get a rental property in Melbourne, but I've never felt that the real estate agents were evil bastards that lied to your face to get your money. It feels like an impenetrable wall.
Right now, we're in a cheaper hotel and considering a move to a hostel. We've picked another broker off the internet and fingers crossed she helps us out tomorrow. Friends and family have been amazingly supportive, encouraging us to stick it out and not run home too soon. Thanks to everyone who has emailed us contacts, names of people they met once, and for those scouring the internet for leads. It means a lot.
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