After my first taste of life in America – I knew I had to go back that summer before I went back to University and my heart was set on New York City.

My lovely sister hooked me up with a summer job as a transit van security guard…yes the ones that wear a helmet and get robbed fairly regularly, especially in east London. To be fair, a van I was in was only followed once that summer. I was too young to drive the vans or hold the gold bullion so I was the walkie talkie kid. Man I spent so many hours squashed in the back of those security vans and all I dreamt about was being in the sky on a plane whilst listening to music pretty much all the time.

So after 10 weeks I earned enough to buy a return to JFK, New York…with Kuwait Airways. I didn’t care it was an airline from a country that had been central to a war back then – it explained the rock bottom price but the potential high cost of a terrorist I guess. The cab to Manhattan fleeced me of most of my cash. Internet was still new back then so no influencers to guide me through that money pit cab journey.

My travel agent booked me a cheap but safe hotel or so I thought – the Guns n Roses song ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ was the perfect song for this city. To explain, in 1996 New York was not the ‘safe’ city it is today. Crime was much higher and I was bang in the middle of somewhere I was unable to walk alone at night! I loved it – we all have a dark side and this danger connected with me somehow. I headed into midtown Manhattan for the famous empire state building I had dreamt about – I went there 3 times during that week lol.

I was fortunate to have two UK friends from Uni meet me – quite surreal from the dirty streets of Leicester. We ate like the Americans and hit some Irish pubs but I enjoyed the New York bars the best even though I was too young to drink…The Vibe was like nothing I experienced before and I had lived the whole London scene.

Rockefeller was as the movies but what I was really looking forward to was the Twin Towers. These majestic towers always caught my imagination and when I arrived…I was in a trance – the beauty of these two buildings. It took an age to get to the top – about 4 elevators. 104 floors up and wow the view of Manhattan was immense. I was incredibly sad 5 years later when the 9/11 attacks took place – a piece of my memory and heart also died that day.

Two days before my flight back to the UK I was presented with the hotel manager his baseball bat and my suitcase. He said I had to checkout and I owed $80 in phone bills – my room didn’t have a phone! My 19 year ego was sure I could take him on and I was black belt in Tae Kwon-Do but this was not Mr Miyagi in the Karate Kid or Hollywood. I thankfully reasoned with myself that if he was willing to whack me with a baseball bat what else was behind that desk? I bundled my way on a long walk to Penn Station where I had to count quarters and dimes to pay for bus to JFK and thankfully I had enough for one meal.

I got to JFK 48 hours before my flight!!! I guzzled down a burger king meal – how I wished I waited. 48 hours felt like a week in that terminal and the staff told me not to sleep or I would be mugged…fantastic. Hunger killed me but I am a people watcher so I spent hours watching the arrivals area and people embracing – that was nice but made me homesick. Then there was cinnamon buns…damn these Americans – they made the best smelling buns and I couldn’t have one. Hang on one darn minute (please excuse my Americanism) my friend gave me an 8 pack of chocolate Reese cupcakes. I spaced one out every hour – life saver!

During those 48 hours I had so much time to think. The Statue of Liberty came to mind – freedom to do and be myself and not to be constrained by society was high up the agenda in my brain. I grew up that summer and I also decided a Medical career was not my path. A big decision but I hated my course and the people teaching it. University was more about the people and less about my course. I was lucky to have a photographic memory to cruise the final year.

Finally I was able to board my plane. I was like a wolf waiting for it’s kill in regards to the plane food. Delays – why oh why??? I was sat 2 rows behind two Arabs and the stewardesses were in a long dialogue with them – having not slept for more than 48 hours, I had my security mind switched off and all I thought was of my meal and sleep. 45 minutes had passed and from the distance a tall blonde pilot that looked like Thor from the Avengers came over and guided these 2 guys off the plane. My hero because food was served as we took off.

I wolfed down my delicious Arabic curry dish so fast that when I looked at the guy next to me and his plate – he covered it with his hand to warn me off. I smiled at him with a teeth snarling thinking ‘you can’t deny a wolf when he is hungry’.

What a trip – I was exhausted. But what a summer. In 3 months I had travelled to America twice – traversed 5 states on a shoestring budget, worked as a security guard with shotguns as a part of the job experience and was also threatened with a baseball bat in New York. But what I really learnt was the incredible human kindness that helped me grow as a person and also sharp my long term future.

Summer of 1996 – a truly memorable and relentless summer.