No Accommodation in Brooklyn
Accommodation in Brooklyn
So I forged my way back overseas to finally mount the last remaining hurdles that stand between me and my university degree.
But an enormously tall, think wall now stands in my way:
To find accommodation that I can afford in Brooklyn.
--------------
Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
in Brooklyn, New York, USA- September 4, 2008
Travelogue -- Travel Photos
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I have tried find accommodation in apartments, spare rooms, and spare closets in family homes all over New York City, but nothing has yet turned up.
As of tonight I am now, officially, homeless.
It is 2 PM. I have a handful of hours to find a home.
Hotels are laughably expensive; hostels run $40 a night. I do not have a home but my pride remains intact.
I could continue commuting between Philadelphia and my school in Brooklyn as I have been for the past two days until this Saturday - which is an eight hour round trip porthole to porthole - but on Sunday this is not even an option.
I am stuck. I am enrolled in school and I now have to pay. But I have nowhere to live.
I talked to my academic adviser about this situation and she recommend that I live on a subway train that runs all night.
"Yeah, Wade," she said, "you could write a little book about how to live for free in New York for this credit this semester."
I think she has a good idea.
But it is an idea that carries a good amount of personal baggage. I suppose the writer sometimes needs to put themselves in uncomfortable situations to work up a good story, but a writer is also a human and has limits to their tolerance.
To sleep on a moving subway train all night and show up for class the next day simply sounds funny to me. I have lived in a makeshift mountain hut when I was a student in Japan, so I know that I could pull this off. But to be a student at an expensive university and also homeless is a ridiculous bit of irony.
But I know that I am not alone in this ironic bit of drama, as I am sure that I am just one of a posse of hidden homeless students in this city of high education but low housing options. As of now, I know of two other students who began classes today who also cannot find a place to live (but they have the money for hotel rooms).
I can spend $500 a month. If anybody reads this and knows of a closet, a loft, a warehouse, a kitchen, a corner of a doormat, that I can live on please email me at vagabondsong@gmail.com.
Blogging friends, if you could make a post saying something to the effect of Wade from Vagabondjourney.com is looking for a $500 a month hovel in New York City along with my email address, I would be very appreciative.
Thank you,
Walking slow with the knowledge of this impending night on the sly in the Big Apple,
Wade
New York City Hotel Accommodation
Links to previous travelogue entries:
No Accommodation in Brooklyn
* Travel Blog Directory * Vagabond Journey.com * Travel Photos * Travel Questions and Answers
So I forged my way back overseas to finally mount the last remaining hurdles that stand between me and my university degree.
But an enormously tall, think wall now stands in my way:
To find accommodation that I can afford in Brooklyn.
--------------
Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
in Brooklyn, New York, USA- September 4, 2008
Travelogue -- Travel Photos
--------------
I have tried find accommodation in apartments, spare rooms, and spare closets in family homes all over New York City, but nothing has yet turned up.
As of tonight I am now, officially, homeless.
It is 2 PM. I have a handful of hours to find a home.
Hotels are laughably expensive; hostels run $40 a night. I do not have a home but my pride remains intact.
I could continue commuting between Philadelphia and my school in Brooklyn as I have been for the past two days until this Saturday - which is an eight hour round trip porthole to porthole - but on Sunday this is not even an option.
I am stuck. I am enrolled in school and I now have to pay. But I have nowhere to live.
I talked to my academic adviser about this situation and she recommend that I live on a subway train that runs all night.
"Yeah, Wade," she said, "you could write a little book about how to live for free in New York for this credit this semester."
I think she has a good idea.
But it is an idea that carries a good amount of personal baggage. I suppose the writer sometimes needs to put themselves in uncomfortable situations to work up a good story, but a writer is also a human and has limits to their tolerance.
To sleep on a moving subway train all night and show up for class the next day simply sounds funny to me. I have lived in a makeshift mountain hut when I was a student in Japan, so I know that I could pull this off. But to be a student at an expensive university and also homeless is a ridiculous bit of irony.
But I know that I am not alone in this ironic bit of drama, as I am sure that I am just one of a posse of hidden homeless students in this city of high education but low housing options. As of now, I know of two other students who began classes today who also cannot find a place to live (but they have the money for hotel rooms).
I can spend $500 a month. If anybody reads this and knows of a closet, a loft, a warehouse, a kitchen, a corner of a doormat, that I can live on please email me at vagabondsong@gmail.com.
Blogging friends, if you could make a post saying something to the effect of Wade from Vagabondjourney.com is looking for a $500 a month hovel in New York City along with my email address, I would be very appreciative.
Thank you,
Walking slow with the knowledge of this impending night on the sly in the Big Apple,
Wade
New York City Hotel Accommodation
Links to previous travelogue entries:
* Travel Blog Directory * Vagabond Journey.com * Travel Photos * Travel Questions and Answers
Labels: new-york-city, usa
posted by Wade Vagabond Journey.com at
1:48 PM
6 Comments:
Have you considered staying someplace that is a half hour or hour long train ride away? Bridgeport CT? New Jersey? Some other godforsaken place? I spent a short time working in NYC and I took the comuter train from my dad's in CT to NYC I would ask if he has room, but you would still need a car to get to the train station. But I would guess there are cheap rooms for rent somewhere along the comuter train, although CT is not exactly a cheap state.
Bob L
Wade -- you need to get on COUCHSURFING, stat. I count 301 people in New York, New York that say "YES, I have a place ready for you to sleep."
Find approx 20 people to live with over the course of 15 weeks -- probably very easy given your personality and the number of opportunities, and live for free.
This couchsurfing thing is really going great here in Hungary!
Hello Bob and Craig,
Thanks a lot for the suggestions, but I find myself a little picky in this circumstance. I am no longer viewing this time in NY as a chore that I have to finish up to take a degree but rather as something that I can dive into and enjoy. Likewise, I sort of want to live in the city, thought very highly of commuting from Connecticut, southern NY, or New Jersey before I got here. I think this would be a good option if I was planning on making an extended stay out of this.
As for couchsurfing, I really, really, really do not want to couchsurf. But it is looking like this is inevitable and with the proper turn of perspective I could make something of it. Like you suggested, Craig, I could couchsurf 20 times for 15 weeks. This is a good idea. I know that between couchsurfing, making hobohideout pages, and volunteering work for a place to sleep I could make this run through New York on $0.
Hmm . . . I was sort of looking forward to having a place to abscond to and allow my misanthropic tendencies to vent for a few months but this is not looking like the case. I am sure that this would be a far more interesting time and I would get to know far more of the city if I stuck to my vagabond roots and lived on a whim.
Good suggestions Bob and Craig. I have found apartment searching far too annoying to be worth the effort, and I think that I am finished with it. I cannot afford a place on my own, and I know that I would have to rent out a room in a pre-established apartment and have roommates that I do not know. If I am going to have roommates, I may as well just couchsurf.
Thanks for the suggestions!
Walk Slow,
Wade
If you are planning on spending $500 a month, you may be able to use that cash on drinks and pick up a "girlfriend" and move in with her for a while. :)
Seriously though, be sure to check craigslist. There are a lot of rooms on there. It looks like you would have an easier time if you could front $750 or so though. Ouch.
Hello Scott,
Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it. Yeah, $750 a month is looking like a more realistic price to pay. I am going to make a go at tramping it.
Don't know how this will turn out.
Thanks!
Wade
$18 to $20 a night
http://www.nylofthostel.com/
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