Ducks @ Oregon - University of Oregon

Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears

Korrin B.

August 28, 2009 - 4:00 PM

Today, my travel buddy, Yentl, went to the airport to head back home to the Netherlands. I will be staying in New York until the 31st, however, so I had a friend of mine who I met in Greece last summer, but who lives in Long Island, come pick me up in the city to spend the remaining couple of days with her. Her family owns a diner in Long Island, so it's nice that I can spend these last couple of days relaxing and eating with her in Long Island and when she has to work, Manhattan is just an hour train ride away. I stayed out here with her cousin during one of the session breaks from camp, the one where I went to the Hamptons - Ah, the Hamptons.

Anyway, since yesterday was Yentl's last day in New York, there was a lot of shopping that she wanted to get done. I wasn't quite as in the shopping mood, so we decided to part ways for the day so that each of us could get done what we wanted and then we would meet up later for dinner. Yentl headed off early in the morning to Soho to shop and I leisurely began my day around eleven.

I love traveling alone. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy having a travel buddy sometimes too, but there is just nothing quite like the beauty of traveling alone. There is just something about the adventure of it. You are left more open to meeting new people. You have no restrictions on where you want to go or when you want to go there or how fast you feel like getting there. As I walked down the streets of the financial district with a strawberry banana smoothie in one hand, my newly purchased Calvin Klein purse hanging on the opposite shoulder, and my new Dereon sunglasses on my face declaring, "I know, I'm too fabulous," I felt completely at peace. I even got stopped and asked questions by tourists who assumed I was a local. I walked confidently with my head held high and a smile on my face. At stoplights, in true New Yorker fashion, I started inching my way out before the light even changed, because I'm too fabulous to stop. I could've walked all day not knowing where I was going, but still looking fabulous doing it and I would've been just fine with that. However, I did have a particular place in mind. Nearby to the area I was staying was the port that had ferryboats to Liberty and Ellis Islands.

So, I walked my way to the beautiful waterfront park at the bottom of Manhattan that was home to these ferryboats. I bought my ticket and got in the long line of tourists waiting to be shipped out to view the history of New York. After about a twenty-minute wait, I was ushered onto the ferryboat, Miss New York. She would carry me through the waters to my final destination. I love boat rides. There's just something calming about the wind blowing through your hair as the boat rocks back and forth, presenting never ending, perfect views of the surrounding skyline. Miss New York's first stop was Liberty Island. I stood on the top deck of the boat and gazed at the Statue of Liberty. There it was. I had seen it so many times, but I had never actually seen it until now. Eager to get to Ellis Island, I concluded that seeing Lady Liberty from the boat was good enough for me and so I stayed on until Miss New York pulled into her second stop - Ellis Island, the gateway to America.

As recommended to do by a friend who had been in New York last year, I picked up the audio tour and began my walk around the building. The audio tour explained the history of the building, its restoration, and described what it was like for one of the many immigrants who came through Ellis Island. I followed the audio tour as it took me up the same steps that one of the immigrants would have walked and into the same room where he or she would've been met by doctors and other processors. I tried to imagine the room as crowded as the audiotape described it as. I went through many rooms, learning different things about Ellis Island and the process of becoming a citizen there.

In one room, I found myself a little embarrassed as I began to tear up a bit. The room was entitled "Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears." It explained how for most, Ellis Island was a place of hope. It was the beginning of a new life for tons of immigrants to America. It went on, however, to discuss the few that got sent back to where they came from. If an immigrant did not pass all of the legal and medical tests, they could be sent back. One woman spoke on the audiotape about this experience. She had come over with a huge group of her family, including her grandmother. Her grandmother was found to have some sort of small growth on her finger though and because of this, only she was sent home. I could hear the pain in the woman's voice as she explained that they never saw her again and that she still cries about it to this day.

The audio tour was very calming for me. I turned in my headphones and player back to the front desk and wandered outside. I sat and leisurely had lunch at the café while I enjoyed some quality people watching. Afterwards, I walked around the grounds outside of the building. Outside of the building, there is a long wall that lists thousands of immigrants to America who came through Ellis Island. I searched and found all of the Bishops, Pokres's, and other family names from my genealogy. Then, I stood at the railing right by the water and gazed out at the Manhattan skyline. It was a beautiful day and as I stood in this place of such history, I felt connected. I was so happy that I could experience this moment alone because it allowed me to stand there for as long as I wanted. There were no restrictions. There was no one standing there to ask me why in the world I was standing there, gazing for such a ridiculously long amount of time. So, I just stood, gazed, and took it all in. Ellis Island has a beautiful energy about it.

Finally, when I could feel that I was ready to go, I left. When my ferryboat reached land again, I walked back to my hotel and met with Yentl for our final dinner together. Now I am on my own until I go home. I'm looking forward to these next couple of days where I can enjoy some more of the solo travel magic.