This was the day I’d been looking forward to for weeks now. I ‘m going to New York to visit Uncle Tom. I was sitting in my bed, smiling euphorically, stranded in a day dream when mum shouted from downstairs: “Suzy, if you’re not down here in 10 seconds your dad will drive to the airport without you.” I ran down the stairs and saw mum standing there with a lonely look on her face. “I’m not sure I made the right decision letting you fly to New York alone, you’re only sixteen after all.” She said. “I’m sure I’ll be just fine, bye mum.” I sang while throwing my luggage out in the hall. “Bye then.” She hesitated. I sat down on my seat inside the car and waited for dad to move my baggage into the boot.

My dad was a tubby little man always wearing a black little hat and orb-like glasses. When dad sat into the car and started driving, all these crazy thoughts entered my head. “What if I never get to new York? What if the plane gets taken over by some Muslim hijackers like on September 11th?” Suddenly dad interrupted my scary chain of thoughts. “Nervous?” he said. I was really not in a very talkative mood so I just responded with a grumpy “No!” Reaching the airport was like starting a new independent stage of my life, it was really happening to me, I was going to New York. We checked in my luggage and sat down in one of those busy airport cafeterias. “You’re really excited about this trip, aren’t you?” dad said while trying really hard to enjoy his too strong airport-cafeteria-coffee. I replied with: “Yes, sure!” And continued staring emptily towards gate 37.

Suddenly a female voice sounded from the speakers saying: “All passengers attending flight 384 to New York go to gate 37.” “Well, I guess you’d better be off then.” Dad said before he gave me a hug and left. I went on board the plane and sat down besides an old, wrinkled woman who was chewing on a banana. When I arrived in New York I went down to the baggage claim only to find out that my entire luggage had been misplaced and hadn’t arrived in New York. Now I only had my wallet, disc-man and cell-phone which I’d been carrying in my pocket. Outside the airport I took a dab to Uncle Tom’s house. But before I reached the house dad rang me and told me some really disturbing news. He said that Uncle Tom had been arrested for drug possession. And he told me to drive to Sunway Hotel instead. “To Sunway Hotel, please.” I told the driver.

Sunway Hotel was a hotel which caught your eye at once, with its many suns on the top of the building. I went over to the reception-desk, the receptionist showed me my room. I had a feeling this was going to be some of the worst days in my life.