Travel: October 2008 Archives

I grew up on the east coast in a small city called Syracuse. Although people in Syracuse will say it’s located in central New York, most folks from NYC would classify it as upstate New York. Then again, most New Yorkers will classify anything north of the Bronx as upstate. For the last 4 years, I’ve been out in Seattle. Quite a different experience from Syracuse, but an even bigger one from NYC.

While spending the week out in New York city, I’ve put together a small list of the ways New York differs from Seattle.

Enjoy, and chime in if I missed anything.

1. Street crossing against the Don’t Walk sign is expected and encouraged. You do it with at least 2 dozen others, usually including 2-3 cops. If oncoming traffic gets too close, you usually slap one or two of the cars on the hood.
2. No New Yorker will ever smile at you as they pass by. And they definitely won’t say “hi”.
3. People go to symphonies on a week night, and the guys break out their best tweed blazers with elbow pads.
4. Free Wi-Fi is not something your local Laundromat owner has ever thought of, or even understands.
5. One drop of rain = thousands of umbrellas appear.
6. When ordering out for lunch, the number of restaurants you can choose from within a 1 mile radius is approximately 3,248.
7. The Apple Store is a tourist attraction, and no one has ever heard of a Zune.
8. Coffee is fuel, not arm candy.
9. Women in New York wear stilettos, a designer purse, a skirt, and no jacket in 20 degree weather. In Seattle, the ladies sport flip flops, a backpack (with Nalgene bottle), jeans (with stubble underneath), and a North Face fleece… in 45 degree weather.

In an attempt to stimulate their patrons’ brains, the Westin has been posting signs throughout their hotel with various tips for life, love, and increasing one’s intellectual horsepower. The latest, and perhaps most disturbing, includes a math problem posted on the shower wall. Naturally, updated daily.

Can you solve it? It’s actually not as hard as it seems.

My favorite part is how they have been periodically substituting in other signs that don’t have math problems at all. Instead, they tell me to “Take your workout to the next level by using Wii Fit”. Did they really not expect me to notice such blatant advertising?

P.S. – when you click to see the enlarged version, you’ll likely see the answer written upside down on the bottom left corner.