Nov 13.2009 - New York, NY USA

DKP : Today is really just a continuum of yesterday... a 36 hr window of time to take in the city intraveniously and any other way we can see fit. Having mere hours before we have to head to JFK to fly back to the West Coast, we met up with Martina as early as possible to head for the Ice Skating Rink at 30 Rockefeller Center.

This has been something I have always secretly wanted to do but just never took the initiative to make happen on our previous abbreviated visits to NYC. This morning, our target is locked and loaded, so I am a kid in a candy store. After a morning pick me up consisting of big steaming Egg Nog Lattes, we sat and assessed the continuing Tree decorating and the "The Rink" in front of it to see what was in store, growing more excited by the minute.

Sandy decided to be the official photog for this outing, having no idea what a demanding position that would turn out to be ;-)) Photographing the "photographer" is a challenge not many are up for to be sure. After breaching security (in NYC of all places) and excitedly going IN through the OUT door, we finally found our way to the really bad skate rentals where we launched ourselves onto some of the worst ice I can remember, and this was AFTER the zamboni did it's cleaning. Nevermind, we're here!!

Keeping in mind my, now 10 week old, shoulder injury from my last skate in Monterey, I mustered up a new kind of fearlessness in order to stay in the right frame of mind to make this the amazing experience I always hoped it would be. Ms Martina, however, slid onto the ice with the greatest of ease and sped by like a true pro... announcing as she turned "I've been skating since I was 3"... well of course you have you Czech chick!!

Sandy was the true trooper, having to weave and dodge the camera around the other skaters in order to get the perfect shot of Ms M with the arms out and back leg extended out. 100+ shots later, the shot was had. The series on FaceBook pretty much tells the story, needless to say that the intolerance and bitch slapping that went on between the Photog and the Photographer just increased the hilarity even more.

After a brief bite at the infamous Dean and Deluca across from the NBC building, we cut our time short to see if we could squeeze in a taxi ride through Central Park, only to find out that Friday afternoon traffic in Manhattan is far worse than anything in California. After paying $10 to go around the block where we had just been, we all jumped out and wandered back the rest of the way, taking shots being mesmerized at all that this tiny sliver of this amazing city has to offer.

We missed seeing our friends and business associates in this short window, but the NYC experience has left us knowing that a longer return visit will be going on the books very soon. We will definitely return to this exciting vibrant beautiful city in the near future with a new purpose... to discover and promote it's take on the jazz and chillout scene as well as it's own unique way of incoroporating all of the cultural diversity that exists here.

I realize now, even in this short time, that New York IS the jumping off point for Europe. For most immigrants really, but especially Europe. I love discovering transition of culture, how the colors blend on the borders between countries (places we choose to draw borders of distinction). I love this because it is a real example of how WE create the dividing lines between ourselves... they exists because WE belive they exist. In reality, we all borrow from each other, we see and feel and experience things from other peoples of the world that we like, so we incorporate those things into our own lives... this is New York, this is America, this is Europe in some ways, this is Carnival Cruise Lines.

This was Ted Arison's dream, to have a culturally diverse cruise line that brought people together, that put them in close quarters working side by side so that they would have to learn to deal with each other. There is NOTHING easy about this concept, but what a legacy it has created in the last 30 years, what bonds have been formed and cultural myths dispelled. Lines have been crossed and boundaries have been breached and as a ship sails seemlessly across these invisible hand drawn lines in the vast openess of ocean that connects us all to each other... Sandy and I find this concept to be a very relevant component to our lives at this point.

Boundaries we thought were keeping us "safe" or in our place, don't really exist. After all, short wave radio waves span the world and now internet radio spans the world... the music travels freely now, without borders. It is our goal to travel like that music, to live in a mind set like that of a ship out on the open sea... with many new friends to meet in many new ports of call. The European Union has already embraced this concept with no passports being required to travel to any country in Europe once you pass port of entry... could this be a trend?? For us I say yes!!

So as we wrap up this latest epic adventure and the entire travel odyssey of 2009, we shed a few tears. It's been tough to say goodbye to the ship (again), and her crew and our families and the friends we found along the way... the saving grace in all this really has been the internet... the global web, that like the sea, connects us all. Thanks for reading. We'll be back in 2010 with nu music and travel concepts yet to be designed... stay tuned and stay open. And sign up to our Email Jazz Blast Subscriber list on the home page of SmoothJazz.com to get the first notice of our next venture.

With sincere gratitude... Donna Kay Phillips