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Last year our team made a friendly match visit to New York, however a few short hours after their arrival, our past president and one of our founding members, was taken from us due to a heart defect. In honour of his memory, our two teams vowed to meet each year to pay tribute to his memory.
With this goal I made my way to Toronto last Thursday and met up with my domino group for a weekend trip to NY. Of course, the bus was to depart at 11 pm, but stragglers were still arriving at the departure spot until almost 1 am [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/crazy.gif[/img]
The bus finally loaded and our lovely trip planner made a few announcements before we left - one of which was reminding everyone that if their papers were not 'adequate to cross the border' to step now... followed by our procedures at the crossing. With a brief prayer and cheer we were rocking on our way!
After driving through spasms of snow flurries we arrived at the Canada/US border, waited in line for our groups turn. One officer boarded and started checking passports etc until another one said to bring us all inside to line up... three hours later we were finally on our way again - minus our trip planner. Apparently, a bus group had tried going through with a lot of fake Cdn ID and we felt the brunt of that. (I guess her employment union activities were a little looked down upon)
In spite of the delays and the increasing snow patches we reached New York in record time...BUT... the driver got lost (didn't check his trip details but rather listened to MrKnowItAll back seat driver) [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/ideathink.gif[/img] and we had a vague poor excuse for a city tour which added another 2-3 hr delay [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/70374-lipsrsealed.gif[/img]
The bright spot was - we did get to see the Statue of Liberty, ALL of Broadway; Brooklyn Bridge, and a few other highlights, although for the most part we were too far away to 'capture the moments' [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/70361-embarassed.gif[/img]
We finally arrived at our host location where most of us were greeted with hugs, handshakes and food (that's another story in another forum in another lifetime)...anyhooo... we were then on the road again to secure our hotel -wayyyyy out near the airport (Holiday Inn JFK, good hotel, nice rooms, staff and services, good group rates). Got our rooms organized - freshened up and headed back to the host location where we partied until the wee hours.
Second day we were up early and headed for shopping on Flatbush - from 10 am to at least 6 pm (which meant we would be late getting to the tournament -which started after 3) - great shopping (although we missed Bobby's), I ate at Manna's Soulfood (buffet) and will definitely be eating there again! Picked up some cheese and patties at Golden Krust, and back to the hotel to unload, freshen up and head for the match - my Nova Scotian friend decided to continue shopping at Green Acres Mall - which apparently had everything she wanted - and did not join us for the evening. We'll be adding that to our itinerary next time.
The match was well in progress when we arrived at the Police Sports Club, Tilden and Barnes(?) and excitement was definitely high! Got lots of photos from the match ESPECIALLY in the final showdown when our Canadian team reigned victorious once again over the host Americans. Funny how the NY guys ran like rats when the match was over [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif[/img] We celebrated for a while and were glad to head back to the hotel for a rest... no time for shopping in the morning though [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif[/img]
On Sunday we were up and heading back for breakfast (kidney and food) at the host location, followed by a not-very-brief awards ceremony, great pics though. Of course, true to tradition, the bus pulled out 2 hrs late, and we were once again on our way home (dreading another stop at the border). Made an unscheduled drive passed ground zero (lousy photo op thanks to the driver), through the Holland tunnel and on the road again! Crossing at Niagara Falls was uneventful - no harassment at all!
Arrived back in Toronto in record time (driver was glad to be shod of us I'm sure) and we spent yesterday relaxing (and recovering) - until next time!
~~~The End~~~
With this goal I made my way to Toronto last Thursday and met up with my domino group for a weekend trip to NY. Of course, the bus was to depart at 11 pm, but stragglers were still arriving at the departure spot until almost 1 am [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/crazy.gif[/img]
The bus finally loaded and our lovely trip planner made a few announcements before we left - one of which was reminding everyone that if their papers were not 'adequate to cross the border' to step now... followed by our procedures at the crossing. With a brief prayer and cheer we were rocking on our way!
After driving through spasms of snow flurries we arrived at the Canada/US border, waited in line for our groups turn. One officer boarded and started checking passports etc until another one said to bring us all inside to line up... three hours later we were finally on our way again - minus our trip planner. Apparently, a bus group had tried going through with a lot of fake Cdn ID and we felt the brunt of that. (I guess her employment union activities were a little looked down upon)
In spite of the delays and the increasing snow patches we reached New York in record time...BUT... the driver got lost (didn't check his trip details but rather listened to MrKnowItAll back seat driver) [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/ideathink.gif[/img] and we had a vague poor excuse for a city tour which added another 2-3 hr delay [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/70374-lipsrsealed.gif[/img]
The bright spot was - we did get to see the Statue of Liberty, ALL of Broadway; Brooklyn Bridge, and a few other highlights, although for the most part we were too far away to 'capture the moments' [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/70361-embarassed.gif[/img]
We finally arrived at our host location where most of us were greeted with hugs, handshakes and food (that's another story in another forum in another lifetime)...anyhooo... we were then on the road again to secure our hotel -wayyyyy out near the airport (Holiday Inn JFK, good hotel, nice rooms, staff and services, good group rates). Got our rooms organized - freshened up and headed back to the host location where we partied until the wee hours.
Second day we were up early and headed for shopping on Flatbush - from 10 am to at least 6 pm (which meant we would be late getting to the tournament -which started after 3) - great shopping (although we missed Bobby's), I ate at Manna's Soulfood (buffet) and will definitely be eating there again! Picked up some cheese and patties at Golden Krust, and back to the hotel to unload, freshen up and head for the match - my Nova Scotian friend decided to continue shopping at Green Acres Mall - which apparently had everything she wanted - and did not join us for the evening. We'll be adding that to our itinerary next time.
The match was well in progress when we arrived at the Police Sports Club, Tilden and Barnes(?) and excitement was definitely high! Got lots of photos from the match ESPECIALLY in the final showdown when our Canadian team reigned victorious once again over the host Americans. Funny how the NY guys ran like rats when the match was over [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif[/img] We celebrated for a while and were glad to head back to the hotel for a rest... no time for shopping in the morning though [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif[/img]
On Sunday we were up and heading back for breakfast (kidney and food) at the host location, followed by a not-very-brief awards ceremony, great pics though. Of course, true to tradition, the bus pulled out 2 hrs late, and we were once again on our way home (dreading another stop at the border). Made an unscheduled drive passed ground zero (lousy photo op thanks to the driver), through the Holland tunnel and on the road again! Crossing at Niagara Falls was uneventful - no harassment at all!
Arrived back in Toronto in record time (driver was glad to be shod of us I'm sure) and we spent yesterday relaxing (and recovering) - until next time!
~~~The End~~~
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