Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Mission Monitor Board Every 10 Years Forum My Trip to the America's

The holiday was a first for Gigi before this she had never been on a transatlantic flight and she is not the best of flyers as it is. But the planes were all on time and the connection at Amsterdam was quick and efficient so it was without too much problem that we found ourselves at JFK on a Friday afternoon waiting to get through immigration. The line was not too long but as is usual with us we got stuck, this time behind a family who were having problems with the visa’s. Gigi was getting worried as it was taking a long time to get through the lines and we knew Kent was waiting for us the other side to pick us up. Eventually we got through and went to pick up our bags, a temporary panic when we could not find them on the carousel but then realised someone had taken them off for us, and we were through. Entering the terminal we were faced with a sea of people! Oh no! how could we possibly find Kent in that throng? Well we needn’t have worried, the daft old so and so had drawn us a large Legion L with Gigglebot and Faraway on it and was waving it high in the air.

And so off we went on our way to the big apple. The traffic was pretty heavy but after a while we got to one of the bridges and received our first view of Manhattan with the Empire State standing proud and high on the sky line. It looked just like it did on the movies and both Jen and I were doing our best “gawping tourist” impressions.



After finding our hotel and unpacking Kent was gracious enough to hang back and offered to show us the sites of little Italy and we ended up going to a place called Lombardi’s and eating our way through a mountain of Clam Pizza. We then drove on a little and found a little comic shop, St Marks I think it was called, where only two hours into New York I bought two legion figures. The first of many of this holiday. (What can I say the exchange rate was so good and Gig was standing at my shoulder in her best little red devil outfit saying “buy it buy it buy it” )

After that we were a little tired, it was, after all, getting on for 3.30 am British time. So we made our way back to the hotel and collapsed into bed tired but very happy.


The next day we met up with sturat who was able to spend all day showing us around some of the sights of the city including Ground Zero. We walked around Chinatown and had lunch before moving on to other parts of the town including I think, Tribeca, Soho and the Village. Where ever it was we chatted and had fun before somehow falling into a bar where I had my Gigi and I had our very first Margaritas. Nice! Then we moved on to Forbidden Planet where little devil Jen was at it again, so I bought two more figures and an archive.

Day three dawned bright and sunny so we decided to take ourselves down to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I was pretty impressed with old lady liberty especially during the ferry ride over. Ellis island museum was pretty evocative and it was easy to imagine the sights and sounds of all the immigrants waiting in the large hall. Everyone of them desperate to start a new life in America. Still as a museum the complex is a little lacking in exhibits (its almost all reading from signs and boards) and could be developed into so much more.





Well we’ll leave it at that for now and I’ll post more tomorrow.

hee-hee ...
that backpack looks almost like a small cape.

Sounds like you had a great time, buddy!! Can't wait to hear more about your trip!!! AND THE PICTURES!!!!!!!!

Wait until you see the pictures I got of POV, Cobalt, Kent and Loser.

hey Darden !!

glad you had a cool time in NYC !! can't wait to hear more, and keep those pictures coming !!

i can't wait to see the LW members that you met along the way .....

Matthew.

So what else did we get u to in New York. Well we saw a lot of the city by just walking and gawping. I had to laugh because Gigi walked into Macy’s stood at the door and said “well there’s nothing in here I like” now that’s my type of shopping.

We did the carriage ride around central park which was nice in all the sun and stuff. I have to admit to being worried that it would be a huge rip off but was pretty impressed both with the price and the driver.



Then we had a drink in the revolving restaurant in the Marriott in Times Square. I had a bourbon martini which had a kick like a mule, once Gigi had tasted it we had to order another each and s we sat sipping martini’s and watching New York revolve around us for a change. They must have been strong drinks mind you because my head was still spinning a bit after we got back onto the ground.



I love architecture so a trip to New York had a lot going for it. I got to see Grand Central Station and even dragged poor Gigi off to one side so I could get a good view of the Chrysler building



A trip up the empire state building was a real treat. We arrived around 5.30 more by accident than design but that seemed to be the best time as the limes were pretty small and moved quickly. After the usual bag check we stood and waited for a lift to take us to the observation tower. Well actually two lifts, one takes you to the 80th floor where you have another line to wait in then its into another lift and up to the viewing platform. We were lucky in that we saw all of New York city in daylight then got to see a glorious sunset and the lights come on in all the buildings. Definitely a highlight of my trip.






Last day in New York we had to check out and then kill some time until our after noon train to Pov’s. So we stored our bags in the Hotel and walked down to the USS Intrepid aircraft carrier.



A nuclear missile submarine and Concord added to the fun and with the sun shining it was a perfect way to end the New York leg of the Trip. Then it was back to Penn St Station to start our journey to rural America.

And just to keep things in chronological order. Heres Kent and myself enjoying a pizza, New york style

Arrrgh! You had drinks at the hotel directly across the street from where I work & I had no idea!!
Sorry I missed you guys!
If you hit the city again, stop at the Millennium Broadway(44th & B'way) & say hello.

It looks and sounds like the two of you had a WONDERFUL time!!

I can't wait for the Canadian Excursion. =Þ

OK sorry this has lagged a little, I dont know where the days are going to. I guess I just have to put it all down to age.

So there is one more thing I want to say about my time in New York.

It all started with an 11 o’clock taxi ride to 1700 Broadway. Yes we were off to see the wizard the wonderful wizard of …. No sorry that’s not it, what we were actually off to do was to see Boy Editor Extreme, Mr Steve Wacker in his fortress of Solitude deep in the bowels of DC’s offices. Yea!

The fan boy in me was over the moon but to be honest I was a little nervous about going. Even Jen noted it and said I was a lot quieter than normal that morning.




So here’s me a 45 year old Brit about to enter the hallowed portals themselves and to be honest I’m not sure what to expect. I mean will it be a load of suits all running around discussing the business side of things with no time to enjoy the comic themselves? I needn’t have worried though soon we were inside a pretty non descript office block and then up the elevator to the DC floors.




Once out of the lift though things got a little funkier with the main reception being dressed out as if we were in the batcave!!! After a couple of minutes we were collected by Harvey Richards assistant editor and taken up to see Steve. His office is just as you might expect, busy, covered in papers with the walls covered in prints of the artwork. Steve is one of the nicest guys you could want to meet and, if the figures on the shelves are any guide, a major baseball fan.

We left Steve with a bottle of Pov’s pint as a reminder of our visit which left him a little bit bemused as he doesn’t have a lot of time to visit LegionWorld but I think, once he caught on, he saw the funny side. I also got Harvey and Steve to autograph a copy of issue 5 for me. After all, as I said, the editors don’t get much fan recognition normally.

Jen and I sat for a while discussing how an editor works and the problems he faced in getting the comic on the shelves which included everything from creators missing deadlines to printing and distribution issues. After a brief phone call to Barry Kitson in the UK Steve showed us how he receives the pages from Barry via e mail and let me see some of the artwork for up coming issues. As a special treat he even gave me a black and white copy of issue 6 (which was not due out for a fortnight, so I knew about Orando and the letters pages etc long before you lot and keeping it quiet was killing me)

After that we went to lunch and a certain senior editor of whom some of you may have heard of, a Mr Mike Carlin? Joined us.




We went out to a Chinese restaurant near to the office and spent a very happy hour chatting. And do you know for the life of me I can’t really remember about what! I think that’s the sign of a good time. It wasn’t strained it wasn’t forced and it was pretty wide ranging. I listened and smiled at the tales of “the old days” of creators and editors past, we chatted about life in New York and working and commuting and stuff. Nothing was given away about the future of the legion or the forthcoming crisis, and although I felt honour bound to ask about the crisis I was all too happy when Mike said nothing was coming out of the “topfloor” as they wanted to keep the surprise for as long as possible. Having avoided spoiler threads on LegionWorld myself I really appreaciated that and we swiftly moved on.

Alas all too soon the lunch was over and it was time for the poor drones to get back in the cubicles whilst Jen and I headed off in the direction of Central Park.

So a definite highlight of the trip and a big thanks to Barry for putting in the good word for me which probably tipped the balance in getting us into the building in the first place. I am pretty certain that without that, I might have got the old polite thanks but no thanks we are too busy.

Oh and by the way Steve wanted me to “say hello to the Internet” from him. So you guys must have scarred him for life down at Dallas. And you know what he confirmed the presence of a mole on the board who tells him what we say!!!! ---- or did he

Hm, tourists always seem to have more fun in NYC and I live here ....

wow Darden !!

you must have had an amazing time at the DC office !! i wish i'd got to inside when i went to them a couple of years back !!

and how cool was BARRY to have put a good word in for you with TPTB, to get you inside and meet STEVE etc !!

Matthew.

No fair!!! You get to have all the fun. I want to meet Kent Shakespeare.

So kewl!!! Handsome Barry seemed like a real sweetheart in Dallas, and this proves that he is! --and the Wackster is a real cutie!

Hmm... mole, eh? Let the speculation begin!! I say it's ... hmmm, I dunno... Grendel.

How come I don't get to meet Geoff??? I mean, you get to meet Barry and Steve... *pouts*

But, wow. Awesome trip!! I live in the good ol' U.S. of A. and I'm jealous~

Sounds awesome Faraway Lad! I love NYC. Soho, Tribeca, and the Village are the cool spots. Glad you got to see some of that besides the touristy stuff. I've been to Forbidden Planet but never St. Mark's. Never found it. Glad you had a good time mate.

Cali,

what can i say I am just lucky i guess.

And so we left New York and headed off towards the sunshine and Poverty.

A nice little train ride and we were deposited in the railway station of New Haven. And there coming down the stairs to meet us was our very own Pov. He’d very kindly offered not only to put us up for a few nights but had driven out to pick us up and drove us back to the Pov Palace.



Brian is the perfect host and made Jen feel so at ease. We had a pretty lazy day planed and only went up to one of Brian’s local comic shops. And that’s where we had a little adventure. After arriving and parking up we discovered that we had left the keys in the car!! So we had to call out the AAA to unlock us. That wasn’t so bad as we were in effect locked into a comic shop until rescue arrived. The best bit came later when we witnessed the following conversation between a very confused Pov and two attractive women who had called into the shop looking for something for a relative (I think)

First Lady “Brian? It is Brian isn’t it?”

Second Lady “It is Brian, it is?”

Brian puzzled look on face as he obviously has no idea who these two are “yes”

First Lady “Brian Fletcher, how are you”

Second Lady “Brian don’t you remember us”
Brian “sorry……not really”

Lady’s “you must remember us we were all at school together”

“No…..no…..sorry”

at which point these lassies collapsed with laughter, and handed Brain his driving licence back pointing out that he had dropped it outside whilst dealing with the AAA man.
Whole shop including Brian bursts out laughing.
After that we drove home, still laughing and after stopping for an ice creme ended up back at Casa Povichino’s and then we met up with Cobalt Kid after a night spent sampling a case of the finest Harpoon ales, plus some old speckled hen from home, Jen out her sensible head on and told us to get an early night as we were driving up to Niagara Falls the following day.

So it was we set out on what turned out to be a longer drive than I thought. Stopping to pick up Kent along the way we trundled along through Connecticut, New York State all the way up to the Canadian border. Even with Brian’s best efforts to p off the guards and toll booth attendants it was easy and quick to get the Canadian stamp in the passport and then a short hop and we were in our hotel. Unfortunately the weather was poor and the vaunted “falls view” room just gave us a view of a lot of mist and spray. After settling in we headed downstairs to wait for Loser to arrive. Poor lad when he did I only just caught myself in time and shouted out Bill rather than Loser which had formed so easily on my lips. Bill is a real gentleman, quiet and thoughtful and really good company.






Anyway it was wet and Kent had hurt his ankle so we didn’t want to go far that night so we headed across the road to an outback stake house. Food was good but the company was better and we were soon laughing and joking. Gig even managed to get Pov out of his pants and into full length trousers.




Still the beer was nice and Jen and I had a great time



Then we thought we would have a bit of a look around. We wandered down to the riverside to see the falls but the weather was still against us, so we headed back up to the casino, as neither Gigi nor I had ever been inside one in our lives. We had to smile when out of the entire group only Cobie got asked for proof of age. I have to admit I was not impressed, I guess it was just not the sort of thing I was expecting next to the falls. Plus to be honest no one really looked like they were enjoying themselves. Cobalt decided to spend some of the money he had embezzled (I mean he had received as head of security) from Legion World to play on the roulette table. This was the point of the infamous gambler incident, when we all stood open mouthed in amazement.
Anyway it was getting late and we decided to call it a night and head back.


The next day dawned sunny bright and warm so we headed down for a coffee and Danish and waited for loser to join us again, then off to the Maids of the Mist for a boat ride to the falls. There are no words to do the falls justice, they are spectacular, awe inspiring and, at least when I was there, bloody freezing. You certainly need those ponchos as you get soaked.





Afterwards we mooched around the park then decided to go off to visit a place called Niagara on the Lake. This is a lovely little town on the shores of Lake Ontario and it was so nice to just wander up and down the shops on the main street in the sun.

And then all too soon it was time to leave and say our farewells to Bill. Jen still talks about the way Bill starts his car. But I have to say meeting Loser who was one the first people to talk to me on line was a real pleasure and I just wish we could have had more time together. And so it was back into the car and away we go. Cobalt driving this time
The journey back was pretty uneventful until we got almost home, then the heavens opened and it came down cats and dogs. The spray coming up off those big trucks was a wee bit scary, but we (obviously) got back safe and sound. After waving Cobalt off, we all collapsed tired but happy into bed.
And that was our time in Connecticut. It was time to head off for Boston and the last leg of the journey. Brian drove us up to Framlingham and dropped us at the station and then we boarded the local train for Boston. Gigi was dead chuffed to see a double decker train! The arrival at Boston is like so many train stations pretty grim and its made worse by the so called big dig. Jen was not impressed. But then we got to the hotel, literally next to Quincy Market and she changed her mind. Like me she loves Boston, it’s a big city with a small town feel to it and the pace of life is much softer than New York.

Thanks everyone for a lovely holiday

An extra special thanks to Pov for putting us up for a few nights. How’s my favourite cats, hope you are looking after them for me.

oh and Stu if you read this, I still have the blister on my foot from New York, but it was worth it ;-) Just wished you could have come to Niagara with us as well. ;-)

Gigglebot Girl,

It was a pleasure to meet you too. Faraway is a lucky man.

That I am Quis that I am.

So now we are in Boston. We have arranged to meet up with Quis and I am really looking foreword to seeing him again. Quis is one of the happiest funniest people you could ever meet and had promised to take Gigi and I out for dinner.

Our hotel was perfectly placed right next to Quincy Hall with a T stop outside the front door. In fact its such a good location I am thinking of using it again in September.

Quis and I had our usual problems in meeting up as he arrived at the Hotel to ask for me only to be told there was no one of that name staying at the Hotel. Which was partially ok as the room was booked in Gigi’s name not mine. So we got to the position of me standing on the landing of the atrium using a mobile to ring Quis whilst he was in the lobby just below me using the hotel phone to try to ring me. Anyway off we went to Harvard and a glorious meal at Mr Bartley’s and Jen was truly impressed by the frappes.



Yum yum.


We wandered around for a while and I think it was this night we went to the Boston public garden which is a really nice park in the middle of the city and Cheers (I know but we are tourists what you gonna do?) then a few beers in an Irish bar opposite the hotel and bed.

We went to Salem and I think I own poor Rob an apology because I walked the legs off them. Salem is a nice town but the witch stuff is a bit repetitive. We visited the house of the 7 gables which is a nice trip but may have meant more if we’d read the book.



We did buy sweets from the oldest confectioners in America and whilst we were in the shop saw 150 year old sweets which the owners claimed were still edible. I wasn’t going to try them though. That night I dragged everyone off up to Fenway Park (home of the Baseball team) and we had a night in the Boston Beer works. A nice little brewery where Jen and I sat and worked our way through most of the beers on tap. But I have to say the worst beer of my trip was had in this otherwise fine establishment. It was a blueberry beer. Yes that’s right beer with real blueberry’s floating in it. Well they looked like nothing else but rabbit dottles floating up and down in the glass and to be honest the beer didn’t taste much better. However the other beers more than made up for it. Them we got the T back to the hotel. Surprisingly I got stopped by the guy selling tokens for the subway who was English and a fan of West Ham United who had just been promoted to the premiership. We had a job getting away from him.

We spent our last day just relaxing. We did the duck tour of Boston which is a great laugh and I really recommend it as a way to see the city, listen to some very knowledgeable guides and have a bit of fun. The tours take place in old amphibious vehicles and not only do you drive around the city but you drive on the water as well. Well worth the price.

Rob took us to a seafood restaurant called, I think, Legal Seafood’s and we had a wonderful meal. Again a highly recommended from the Brits. I don’t know if it was the food or the company that made it so special but if pushed would have to come firmly down on the company. Thanks again Rob. Gig and I even finished the meal with three small glasses of 10, 20 and 30 year old port rather than a dessert.



Now have I missed anything

So that’s our trip to the colonies. We had a wonderful time. Met some wonderful people, without whom I could not imagine having done this or having had such a blast. I mean it when I say thanks guys without meeting you this time round our holiday would not have mean so much to use.

Now when are you lot coming to see me over here in Newcastle