Today I arrived back in Los Angeles. I am coming from Hawaii where I worked 2 months painting the rooms of a Youth-hostel.

Paul, the Manager of a few Hostels in LA, informs me that Brian, the owner of the whole Hostel-chain, who also sent me to Hawaii, wants me to go to NY to help with the renovation of his newly leased, 13 floor hostel/hotel.

To be honest, to go to New York now in October, heading towards winter, doesn’t really excite me very much. But, on the other hand, it is of course very tempting to live in this huge cosmopolitan city for a while.

And, I need a new job anyway because there is nothing left for me to do in the hostels here in LA.
Besides, Brian is offering to pay for the flight to NY. So accept the offer and off I go to The Big Apple.

Now, the decision made, I begin to look forward to get to know the city

I’ve been to NY before, a few years ago on a flight from Puerto Rico via NY to Madrid, where we had to stay overnight in NY due to plane problems , but at the time, I didn’t see much of the city due to lack of time. I just walked around a little near the hotel.

On the 1 October, I fly with Continental to New York. After a 5 hour flight and three hours time difference, we land at Newark Airport. I pick up my luggage and take the bus into town to the Port Authority bus terminal. From there I walk to the Hostel which is down south between Madison and 5th Avenue.

The hostel – hotel (= half and half) is obviously very much under construction. On the upper floors, a few rooms have already been renovated, but the larger part of the building is still under construction.
I get checked into a dorm room on the seventh floor. The room is a bit cold and has no furniture, except for three mattresses on the floor and a bedside table in the corner. That’s it.
Man, where I am here?! after tropical Hawaii ending up in freezing New York in this barely heated, spartan furnished room!

Well, nothing I can do now. I guess I have to make the best of it.
Later I go down to the lobby where I meet Brian, the Boss. He invites me out for dinner where he explains to me what needs to be done in the house and what my job will be.

I start working tomorrow.

The next morning Brian shows me around and introduces me to a few people who also work here.

All are backpackers from different corners of the world who have stopped here to earn a few dollars for their onward journey. Most of them are between 20 and 30 years young. Except for Adam the Australian foreman who is in his mid thirties.

Almost all of them live here in the hostel, in two- or four-bed dormitories.
I am warmly welcomed in the team and Brian put me right-away in charge of painting, since this is my actual profession. I quickly familiarize myself and see that most people have no idea about construction, let alone have any professional Craftsmanship training. Except Mike, an Englishman, who is a trained electrician.

On my first day I don’t do too much, I only organize and buy materials and tools.

Then, the next days, the first task is to spray-paint Brian’s previous Hostel, which is an entire floor in a 10-story building, in a dark gray. He wants it to become almost uninhabitable, because he doesn’t want the new tenant to be able to reopen the hostel right away and become a competitor.

In the evening I go with Christian, my roommate, to a bar near Madison Square Park. We drink a few beers, chat. check out the women, having a good time.

On Monday I start working at our place. There’s a lot to do here, 13 floors with about 160 rooms.

The first and second floor are reserved for us, the workers and staff. There is also a big kitchen and lounge for the Staff on the first floor. The next five floors are reserved for Bunk-bed Rooms = Hostel, but only a few rooms have been renovated so far and are ready for Guests. The rest of the building is intended for regular hotel operation. Here too only a few rooms are ready for occupancy.

The building was used as a welfare house before the takeover and is in a pretty miserable state.
Now it’s our job to get this thing back to a presentable condition.

A few days later, I am being relocated to a staff room on the second floor, which I share with an Englishman.

In the meantime, I got to know the people who live and work here . On the whole, they are all quite okay. It’s a very international team, English, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Nigeria, South Africa and so on. We all get along really well, and there is a good atmosphere among all. On weekends we always go out in groups, venture into the crazy nightlife of the East, West & Greenwich Village, and sometimes other neighborhoods.

My life here is fairly routine, almost like at home. Work 9 to 5, hang out in the evening, watch TV, going for a drink in a Bar nearby every once in a while, going out on weekends and so on.

The city…. well, the city is simply fantastic, the shops that leave no wish unfulfilled whether from the small comic shop to the big department store, cinemas on every corner, the inexhaustible selection of restaurants with specialties from every region of the world etc etc ect

But of course the nightlife surpasses everything, I think here you could visit a different bar or club every night for a lifetime.

I have become a big fan of this city even though I don’t know much of it yet.

I’ve been around a bit, took a tour in a boat around Manhattan, went up and down Broadway and fifth Avenue, was in Greenwich Village, Central Park, briefly in Little Italy, Chinatown and Soho.

I really like Greenwich and Soho, it has many bars, restaurants, live music, good pups and clubs, galleries, all sorts of shops, markets on weekends and a really curious, interesting scene.

We also discovered, among others, a Bar with great life Blues Music, and in the Meatpacking district a Country-music joint with some incredible ambiance, the bar girls dancing on the counter, pouring liquor directly into the mouths of the screaming people, fantastic atmosphere!

Unfortunately, the city is quite expensive, especially if you go out often. So I keep my ventures limited. But luckily, I have a flirt with a Finnish Woman at the Hostel who also works here so that gives me a good reason to stay home.

Nevertheless, despite it all, I want to get out of here, I am sick of this freezing weather.
By mid-January I will have saved enough money to leave the City for a few months, heading back to South America. I’m so happy to turn my back on frozen NY.

Departure NY, 5° arrival in Caracas-Venezuela 22°.

After traveling 4 months through Venezuela, Brazil and Colombia, I return to New York by the end of May.

On my last entry into the US, I was given problems by immigration at the airport in Miami because of the many stamps in my passport:
The officer wanted to know how much money I have and how long I was planing to stay.
Well I had $400 cash, no credit card and I wanted to fly from NY to Europe in two weeks time.
“What, you want to stay in the US two weeks with only $400 and even travel to New York?” he responded in astonishment and immediately called another officer who summoned me to a separate room. There I spend the next hours answering questions, and hey even luggage and body searched me, until at last, finally let me through.
Shit, lucky me. They could have easily sent me back to where I came from!
So that’s why on this current trip, before flying back to NY, I report my passport stolen to the police in Caracas. I receive a police report, confirming the theft, and with this I apply for a new passport at my embassy. Everything went smooth and relatively quick.

So now I enter JFK with a brand new passport. In addition I show the officer at customs my most sympathetic “me-not-speak-english” smile and he waves me through with no further ado.

Back home, eh, I mean back at the Hostel, I am greeted by my “old” work colleagues and they immediately demand report about my trip to South America.
A few people have left, other new faces have appeared, apart from that everything is the same and I quickly settle back in and get set up to painting again.
This time I am accommodated in a two bunk room which I share with an Englishman and a Kiwi. But, as I get involved with a woman who also works here, I ask Brian for a single room in order to have some privacy, which he kindly grants me.
Life goes on in the same rhythm as before, but this time I need to stay longer than just three months since I am completely burnt out of Money.
The plan for my next trip is to travel around Asia.

But in order to be able to travel for 5 months or longer I need to save up a lot more money.

That’s why this time I’m staying a total of eight months.

I love New York, I do have a good time in this City and in the Hostel, but 8 months is way too long, for me anyway.

Time to leave! Departure to Thailand in January 1994.