New year's at Times Square, NYC

Looking back, new year's eve at Times square is something that is off my to-do list permanently (hopefully). I went to Times square with my friend Juhi and her husband Francis. We reached at 51st street at 6 PM only to find huge crowds. The cops there said that 42nd-51st streets are full and you'll be lucky if you could find space at 54th street.

Well, we first waited in the line at 52nd street to get the security point. We waited for almost 40 minutes only to find ourselves gone ahead may be by two meters. Francis went out of the line to look for a way in which we could get to the security checkpoint without waiting anymore in the line. Guess what, he was pushed to the security point and was inside the 54th street block. There were some people in the line, who also mentioned that people were allowed to go to the security point without waiting. Juhi and I now decided to break the line. We must have walked five meters and then our line moved. Now everyone was in except us. And we found ourselves among this huge sea of the people near the security point. We were crushed between several people. Juhi was just a little ahead of me and I was between this group of girls from Manchester, England. Well, the good point of this whole ordeal was that we had some interesting conversations. I was in that situation for almost 1.5 hours.

When we were finally at the security point, we were made to open our bags. At that time, a college student who had two champagne bottles in her bags was forced to give them away to two passerbys. It was quite funny.

Well, we made past the security point. I was reunited with Juhi, but lost my new found friends from Manchester. Then we walked to 54th street. It was now 8.15 PM. Now we had to wait in that area for almost 4 hours. It was biting cold and it seemed very frustrating. We waited and waited for the moment the crytal ball will drop and 2006 will come in.

I chatted with different people there. There were these guys from a small town in Ohio, who were making this first trip to NYC. There was a college student from Bronx. We swapped stories. Later they gave up on wait and left. Then I met a family from Massachusetts, a software engineer. We had a good time, talking, taking pics, sharing gum etc.

Finally the moment of hype arrived. Supposedly, the ball dropped but I did not see it dropping. Then there were some very nice fireworks that lasted for maybe just five minutes at Times square. There were other fireworks displays elsewhere. It was now time to wish new year to everyone and also time to bid good-bye to my new friends.

Honestly, I feel the ball drop is not worth the wait. You are better off, watching it on TV. To me the only thing that stood out was the different people I met, while I was there. It was a good one time experience. If you don't mind the cold and the wait, go for it.