Written by Paula Gayness from Columbus Ohio with an awesome NYC story dated back to 1966.
I am always telling my stories about a wonderful vacation I took in New York City so why don’t I tell it to you tonight? It was in 1966 when I was ummmmm, 4? Haha – no – it was actually one year after graduation from high school and I had yet to turn 18! But my parents, and those of my two girlfriends, decided we were responsible enough for 9 days in the Big Apple so away we went!
Our very first adventure after we checked into the Barbizon Hotel for Women on 63rd in Upper East Manhattan was to take to the subway and find the Brooklyn Bridge. I would like to say right here that whomever we spoke with for whatever reason in NYC was as pleasant and helpful as ever could be to three young teenagers on their own in the city! I have heard people say New Yorkers can be rude and too busy to accommodate but we never ever encountered this. Quite the opposite – everyone we spoke to – and there were many – were very happy to share their beautiful city with us. I have many wonderful stories and I would be happy to occasionally share them.
We were told by the man who ran our hotel what subway to take and where to get off right at the bridge so off we went to see the famous Brooklyn Bridge. When we came up out of the subway the bridge really looked very intimidating to 3 young ladies from Columbus, OH so I hailed a cab and when he stopped to pick us up he asked rather quietly like he was tired, “Where to?” and lowered the rate flag.
I said “Please drive us over the bridge and bring us right back” — He turned around with a quizzical look on his face and said something like “Why do you want to do that?”
I told him about who we were and why we were there, where we were from and that when we returned home, we wanted to be able to say that we had been across the Brooklyn Bridge. We did not want to get lost and the only thing on the agenda that evening was this cab ride.
He flipped the rate flag back into the up position, asked us if we had some time to spare and when we said yes of course we did, that wonderful man told us he would not only take us across the bridge but he would give us a tour of Brooklyn and Flatbush and drop us off at a subway that would take us straight to the Barbizon! And he did just that! We had a 1 hour private tour from a native New Yorker – he pointed out everything and explained what is was, when it was built, etc., and gave us a running narrative during the entire trip.
When the hour was up he indeed dropped us at a subway entrance, told us what line to take back and what exit was ours at the end, and when I asked him how much we owed him for the trip he asked if $1.00 apiece was okay? Okay?? Oh yes it was certainly okay! To this day I think fondly often about the man who took an hour out of his job to give 3 young ladies from Columbus OH the first of many wonderful adventures in his town.
I have discovered that wherever one travels the best way to learn about the destination is to engage in communication with the people who live there no matter what job they have. People are proud of their heritages and are usually willing to talk about their city, town or country in length answering all your questions. Too many people travel and don’t take advantage of this communication and then say…”Oh the trip was nice” instead of “Wow! What an interesting place and how lovely are the people!” Opening up one’s own communication lines to others ends up a 2-way “happy street” traveled both by traveler and native.
Have a wonderful evening Scott and family and thank you for the opportunity to share and communicate something wonderful in my life. I just might send more for later at some point!
Paula Gayness
