| The Staten Island Ferry is a fabulous institution. It is a | | | | was too quick for anyone else to react, although I |
| huge ferry that departs from a very modern, glass | | | | have to say, the crowd showed compassion and |
| enclosed terminal, holds several thousand people and in | | | | shock at what had happened. The minute the bus |
| just about 20 minutes whisks you over to Staten | | | | came to a stop, the two guys jumped out and ran |
| Island, very close to the Statue of Liberty, and all this | | | | away.Everybody was shocked. The Latino kid was |
| for free! One thing we really noticed about New York | | | | sitting there, rumpled, stunned, not seriously hurt, but had |
| City is that we definitely love the public transportation | | | | a very pained expression on his face. After he had |
| system. With our week long pass we have been | | | | calmed down he explained that about 8 kids were |
| hopping on an off subways as we please and we | | | | trying to extract money form him at the bus stop, he |
| have found the transit system to be very efficient, | | | | said he didn't have any and gave them an expired |
| pretty clean and quite safe (for the most part).The | | | | transit pass and 2 of the guys followed him onto the |
| Staten Island Ferry is a great insiders way of sneaking | | | | bus.I have never personally witnessed public violence, |
| a peak at the Statue of Liberty since it passes pretty | | | | so this was very shocking to me and I was glad that |
| close by Ellis Island. Not close enough to take really | | | | the kid wasn't really hurt. But I did feel very sorry for |
| great pictures with a simple digital camera like mine, but | | | | the victim and the whole event left a bad taste in my |
| I gave it a shot anyway.As we got off the ferry | | | | mouth, particularly since we had had the impression |
| terminal on Staten Island I had a bit of a hare-brained | | | | that New York City had felt so clean and safe. As a |
| idea: I suggested that we board one of the buses that | | | | matter of fact we had commented on that a number |
| was waiting there, just to hop on and ride around and | | | | of times, of how little litter there was in the street, how |
| see the island. Of course I didn't have a bus map with | | | | few street people or hustlers there were, how there |
| me, didn't have any literature about Staten Island, so | | | | was no graffiti in the subways, and how safe it felt to |
| didn't know where we were going or what the major | | | | be taking transit at all hours of the day. We heard that |
| destinations were on the island. So we got on the #46 | | | | former mayor Rudy Giuliani as well as current mayor |
| bus without any idea where we were going or how | | | | Michael Bloomberg have really been cleaning up the |
| long it was going to take. (I guess I figured how big can | | | | city, and it shows. I guess it still doesn't prevent all |
| the island be? Well, it's bigger than I thought...).But we | | | | violence from happening.After our return to Manhattan |
| saw a good chunk of Staten Island's neighbourhoods | | | | we subwayed it all the way up to 103rd Street and |
| and there are some pretty nice residential | | | | essentially walked all the way down through Central |
| neighbourhoods, although I had expected a more | | | | Park, admiring all the recreational facilities and the |
| upscale, more landscaped environment. The ethnic mix | | | | beauty of this giant green space. Further south we |
| in the area seemed to be very much characterized by | | | | strolled over to 5th Avenue and then down into the |
| Blacks and Latinos, at least those were pretty much | | | | Broadway Area just north of Times Square, where |
| the only people getting on the bus. School had just | | | | we had some quick Italian food at Ray's Pizza. The |
| ended so a bunch of highschool kids had gotten on | | | | evening was pretty chilly, probably only about 12 |
| with us.Well, we rode the darn bus until the end, which | | | | degrees or so and past 11 we headed back home on |
| ended up being a non-descript shopping mall called | | | | the Q train, processing the memories of another |
| "West Shore Plaza", where we ended up having a | | | | packed day and studying the behaviour of our fellow |
| sandwich and strolling around in a sports store which | | | | transit riders all the way back.Susanne Pacher is the |
| had amazingly good prices on most merchandise. | | | | publisher of a website called Travel and Transitions( |
| Then finally another bus showed up and we had to run | | | | Travel and Transitions deals with unconventional travel |
| to catch it.It was a pretty non-eventful bus ride, people | | | | and is chock full of advice, tips, real life travel |
| of all ages got on and off, then two young black | | | | experiences, interviews with travellers and travel |
| teenage boys got on, but didn't pay. The bus driver | | | | experts, insights and reflections, cross-cultural issues, |
| didn't question them and we just continued the ride. All | | | | contests and many other features. You will also find |
| of a sudden, I heard a big noise, like someone fists | | | | stories about life and the transitions that we face as |
| hitting another person and all the people in the bus | | | | we go through our own personal life-long |
| turned around, and the two young men were beating | | | | journeys.Submit your own travel stories in our first |
| up a young short Latino teenager. It all took just a few | | | | travel story contest( and have a chance to win an |
| seconds, right before a bus stop. The whole event | | | | amazing adventure cruise on the Amazon River. |