DC - NY : The roadtrip...

wo hoo... aku tak pernah terfikir yg dlm trip kali ni aku berpeluang driving dr DC ke NY or in fact driving di US. apparently, mlm yg tak jadi travel (see the reason in previous entry) tu, aku br lah tgk2 internet n cari kereta yg bersesuaian. with limited time and with no experience aku pilih kereta and company. first criteria was kedai tu dekat dgn public transport n senang aku nak ambik kereta pagi2 sabtu and 2nd nak return kereta tak jauh dr hotel. *aku tak terfikir langsung naik train masa tu, tp dgn condition my wife, kesian dia nak lompat2 masuk train.

so i chosed the National Rental Car, sbb dia ada office kat Union Station i.e. the main train station kat DC and tempat return kereta 3 blocks away from hotel yg dah siap booked plus harga pun considered ok, not the cheapest but beza tak byk. but the 2nd factor tu sgt penting pada aku, sbb kalau blh aku nak hantar kereta on time utk sewa sehari n tak nak simpan kereta mlm tu. i've checked parking kat NY 1 mlm paling murah pun $40 tu pun ntah celah mana. tp aku kena bayar mahal skit sbb return kat NY bkn pulang balik ke DC. so total cost for 1 day rent ($60), pulang kat NY ($100++) for 1 day plus GPS ($12/day) and taxes was $219! ok lah...When you rent a car kat DC ni, based on experience aku depa akan offer few things. 1. whether kita nak bayar prepaid fuel i.e. masa pulangkan kereta tu, tak payah isi penuh minyak tu depa akan isi semula sampai penuh n kita dah byr siap. according to the person, rate dia murah dr fuel price kat luar. aku accept je sbb malas nak fikir. apparently it was a good decision sbb aku tak perasan kat NY tu (aku dok kat empire state building area) mana kedai petrol, luckily dah siap bayar or else, rate charge isi penuh lagi mahal.

2nd question, whether nak beli ezpass toll card, which aku ambik je, aku tak tahu berapa toll kena tp it was again another good decision. kitaorg mcm lalu dkt 10 toll pelbagai price... and queue for paying cash panjang gile. similar mcm msia, touch n go laju je... byr cash panjang gile. dah lah tu, each tol berbagai harga so kena tanya berapa n kalau tak cukup duit susah. but it really save our time. they also asked abt insurance, aku tak ingat aku ambik extra ke tak.

driving to NY from DC was pleasant. ikut highway je and mengambil masa lebih kurang 4-5 jam kalau direct... kitaorg tak masuk bandar cuma sekali je aku masuk pekan kecik sbb nak beli ubat for wife. we passed junction g baltimore and few other cities. hoping jugak ada kena masuk bandar so we could say we've been there. tp mostly we went around the city je... tp ada gak nampak city from far. and mostly kiri kanan pokok2 je... it was pleasant experience lah... we really enjoyed the outskirt scene. but wifey penat melawan mengantuk sbb painkiller tu kuat giler utk dia. oh... exactly lepas keluar DC nampak gak motel2 murah n kitaorg terfikir, next time kalau ada rezeki buat roadtrip boleh je dok kat motel2 ni... mmg mcm dlm movie.

we stop few a couple of times utk beli lunch and toilet break. traffic was really good and the takde sesat. another reason we opt for the car instead taking public transport sbb kitaorg nak kejar jugak plan asal nak g ke woodbury premium outlet. yg katanya outlet terbesar kat US and the best in NY. jarak dia jauh gak dr NY lebih kurang sejam perjalanan. mmg plan asal nak ke outlet ni, n ikut internet bas tiket $42 sorang so total $84 utk 2 org. so kiranya kitaorg save from paying that lah since dah ada kereta n beli pun blh byk sbb senang bawak. so this made our rental cost tu terasa berbaloi. tp setelah driving 4 jam dr DC and lagi 4-5km nak sampai outlet tu, tetiba traffic jam teruk... mmg kereta beratur for dunno what reason. kitaorg patut sampai outlet pkl 3++ end up for jarak 1km we spend dekat 40 minit. masa tu mmg jadi tak sabar dah lah highway mcm PLUS kat msia tu takde jalan potong. tp ntah mcm mana ada simpang ke kanan ikut jalan x berturap yg ada few people divert, tak byk kereta pusing situ, tp dr GPS aku ada nampak possibility utk sampai ke outlet mall kalau aku turun jalan tu (yg tak berturap tu part keluar dr highway ke jalan kampung je)... belasah je... yup, from there 10 minit je lalu jalan kecik mcm jalan kampung we reached the mall dah dkt pkl 5.sbb dah lewat and plan nak return kereta mlm tu jugak we gave ourselves 2 jam je kat outlet mall in fact the mall pun mmg tutup pkl 7. luckily depa ada sedia wheelchair for rent (mmg dah cek sblm dtg) and masih ada available. tp sbb office wheelchair tutup 30 minit awal dr kedai, mmg kitaorg punya masa terhad je kat situ. It was a good place to shop especially brand coach lah... n tempat tu mmg handicapped friendly and having the wheelchair jadi senang jugak bwk barang sbb mcm trolley jadinya... hehehe... it was enjoyable sbb ada brg2 situ yg mmg worth buying tp since the handicapped issue, agak terhad lah perjalanan.

we left the outlet mall around 7.30pm and dah gelap dah masa tu and it took us about an hour utk sampai ke tunnel utk ke manhattan island. ingatkan dpt pakai brooklyn bridge utk ke Manhattan tp rupanya pakai tunnel je... but anyway, aku ikut je GPS tu, tak berani nak venture out. lagipun nak kejar time nak pulangkan kereta. the view was fascinating... bila drive tu mmg gile excited nak masuk NY. hehehe... tp yg jadi kacau nya... GPS jadi kelam kabut bila keluar dr tunnel tu. panjang gak tunnel tu. keluar je, GPS tak leh locate kereta kat mana n tak blh bg direction... serious shit... aku tak tahu nak belok kanan or kiri cumanya dia ada tunjuk kena ambik route color purple yg dia tanda but at that point of time aku tak sure am heading north or south. tp aku tau skit2 orientation bandar so kena tgk no jalan lah.. n aku tgk2 mana direction ke empire state building. mmg agak panik. dah lah jalan semua sesak and byk giler kereta. like ko takde masa sgt nak tgk kiri kanan... n kereta sgt rapat. tp luckily jugak NY ni blok blok and mostly one way, if you were supposed to turn to right tp tak sempat tunggu lagi 2 block boleh pusing semula.... and ntah mcm mana, bila aku berjaya bawak kereta sampai ke purple route yg GPS tunjuk, barulah dia bersuara suruh turn kanan kiri.. but by then dah dekat dah ngan hotel.

managed to reached hotel tp tak jumpa plak parking tepi jalan. ada satu slot tak leh parking nearby aku letak kereta while wife tinggal kat dlm. i tried doing the check in, it went smoothly. and masa aku ambik kereta wifey cakap ada polis dtg suruh ubah kereta nasib baik tak kena saman sbb dia bg 10 minit n polis tu kata kalau dia pusing balik n ada kereta tu lagi, dia saman. sampai kat hotel aku letak je tepi jalan sementara angkat brg ke atas and wife kena melompat2 (pakai crutches) utk ke lift. luckily we have requested for handicapped room and it was available. handicapped room ada toilet yg besar n senang bawak wheelchair masuk. tp wheelchair yg kitaorg pre-order tak dihantar, sbb katanya credit card buat hal... and bila aku no credit card br, dia promise hantar esok.after wife settled and brg semua dah angkat (termasuk yg beli kat outlet)... aku hantar kereta sendiri. dlm GPS mmg dekat and balik tu aku takde map, n hafal2 simpang mana nak pusing. patut 2 block je dr hotel. tp masa driving tu since all one way sana sini, kena jalan pusing2 sebelum sampai return point. masa aku jalan kaki balik, aku dah confuse sesat. (as map above point A was our hotel, point B was the return point). dah lah aku tak ingat betul2 nombor jalan hotel... alamak... tp jalan jugak lah based on my intuation, nak tanya org takde plak sbb masa tu dah 11pm. jalan punya jalan sampai aku jumpa satu restaurant yg aku pernah makan dulu (masa first time kat NY in 2008), kedai makanan islam yg aku blh beli dinner (mmg lapar pun) n aku tanya direction. rupanya aku dah 2 block lepas hotel aku n aku berjalan tu divert skit... but it was not that difficult afterwards utk sampai hotel.

sampai hotel dah dekat midnight. wifey dah risay gile sbb sejam dah keluar but was happy and we had very good food for dinner... very tiring day. full of adventure and experience. and paling best bila aku tolak wife on wheelchair sambil berlari masa kat outlet mall sbb nak kejar time utk pulang kan wheel chair (dia suruh aku pusing jalan jauh, dah suruh tgk map, tp salah bg direction, berlari aku kejar time hehehe... *pastu kena marah skit hahaha).