The MTA system of New York City can be a bit daunting for the amateur subway commuter. It’s easy to find yourself lost somewhere in Gotham City if you happen to choose the wrong letter of the alphabet when boarding a train. Maybe it’s the small town boy in me but no matter how confident I am that I have chosen wisely I always find myself second guessing the decision I made the second the doors close.
I suppose that even the most seasoned of riders does a double-check every now and again just to make sure they’re heading in the right direction. For someone like me, a person who rarely visits the big city or rides a subway for that matter, it’s even more distressing. The thing is when you’re trying to make it to an appointment at the casting offices for Wooster Street Social Club (or anywhere else downtown for that matter) you definitely don’t want to wind up going uptown to Central Park. And this was no ordinary visit to the Big Apple to sight see either. My promptness was even more necessary because in this case producers and film crews were involved.
You see I was a man on a mission to get my first tattoo filmed for the second season of NY Ink and could hardly afford to be late for such a surreal and unique experience. So I took comfort in the fact that every street name I read on the subterranean wall at every stop matched the one I had on my pre-printed schedule.
Before too long the train came to a stop at the Canal Street station and I hurriedly departed. After quickly readjusting the backpack I was carrying over my shoulder I made the walk up the concrete staircase and into the bright morning sunshine on the Avenue of The Americas. The hustle and bustle of traffic and people mindlessly walking in step to get to their destinations reminded me that I was not in the small town of Easton, Pennsylvania anymore. This was the big time.
I pulled out my phone to check the time and was relieved to see that I still had an hour before I needed to be at the studio. It’s times like these, the in between arrival and actual appointment times, when nothing but coffee will suffice and I quickly spotted a Starbucks and made my way inside.
A contented smile came across my face as I sat down with my Venti bold. My biggest challenge upon arriving in NYC was to take the A-Train (or 8th Avenue Express) down to Canal and into the heart of SOHO with time to spare.
Mission accomplished.
go.Jimmy.go 
Glad you made it downtown…the hardest area of the city to navigate, for sure. Just remember for the next time…no one in NY EVAH calls it Avenue of the Americas…that’s strictly for tourists. It is and will always be… plain old 6th Ave.
Happy there wasn’t a horror story involved in the ride…ya never know in the city.
kath
I’ll have to remember that. although everytime i go there I always feel like a tourist.. haha
That reminded me of a time when I met my soon-to-be niece in the city. I followed her directions to the letter (pun intended) but she neglected to tell me if I had to go uptown to downtown and I ended up in the Bronx. The change from one way to the other was quite eventful! I saw rats larger than both my dogs, and I lived in Boston, over a Chinese restaurant and was still in shock. I also witness a big drug bust with the “purps
LOL – I can just picture that. You must have been horrified!
Never taken the subway…but can still relate to the panic of checking and rechecking your directions just to make sure you read them right the first or tenth time!! 🙂 Add in the nerves I’m certain you had raging…..that made it especially impressive that you made it with an hour to spare! Well done!