The Staten Island Ferry is FREE, people.

If my life was represented in newspaper form, the headline would go something like this:  

The Staten Island Ferry is FREE!

Tammy spends entire day taking an adventure out to Staten Island without making a dent in her wallet.

Apparently everyone knew I went down to Staten Island on Saturday, and almost no one knew the Staten Island Ferry was free.

"The Staten Island Ferry is free??" Sam said, as our family was driving over to the Yees' house for a BBQ that night.  "Ooh, maybe Hai-xin and I could go down to ride it, just because it's free."

"I can't believe the Staten Island Ferry is still free," my dad said, who was part of the minority that already knew the Staten Island Ferry was free.  "That thing costs money to run it."

"Well, it's not the safest ride in the world," my mom said.  "But I didn't know the Staten Island Ferry was free.  I still remember when it was five cents."

"It hasn't been five cents for a long time, Fay," my dad said.

"But guys, we took the Staten Island Ferry when the Navajos were here that summer.  And it was free," I said.

"I didn't know it was free.  I thought we always paid," my mom said.

My grandma started talking in Chinese.

"Mom says she thought the Staten Island Ferry was five cents also," my mom translated for us.

I just sighed.

Then we got to the Yees' house.

"How was the trip down to Staten Island today?" Uncle Dex said, turning over some chicken on the grill.

"It was okay," I answered.  "I didn't trust Google and took the wrong train, but the weather was nice and the whole thing wasn't too bad at all.  I liked riding the Ferry."  I walked up the stairs to the backyard porch.  

"I heard you went down to Staten Island today," Auntie Di said.

"Did you know the Staten Island Ferry was free?" my mom asked.

"Really?  I always remembered it being 25 cents," Auntie Di answered.

"25 cents?  I thought someone said it was five cents," Pam said.

My dad grumbled.  "No, the Staten Island Ferry is free.  It's always been free."

I went to church on Sunday and after service Uncle Dave walked up to me and said, "Hey, I heard you went to Staten Island on Saturday.  That's a long trip!"

I stopped myself from rolling my eyes and wondered if he could tell from my face that I thought it was so bizarre how he knew I went to Staten Island.  "Yeah, it really wasn't too bad at all.  Hey, did you know the Staten Island Ferry was free?"

Well, people, the Staten Island Ferry is free.  Now you know.

It was my first time going out there on my own (not that I went to Staten Island much in my lifetime), so I printed out Ferry schedules, Staten Island bus schedules, and Google maps to make sure I knew where I was going.  I didn't listen to Google maps, which told me to take the 4 or 5 train down to Bowling Green and walk to the Ferry terminal because from my past experience I thought the 1 train was more direct and closer, which was true, except they closed down the train after 14th street for some reason.  So I had to get out, walk to Union Square and humbly took the 4 train down the rest of the way.  Then I took the Staten Island Ferry and then took a bus to the church.  All it cost me was three hours getting there and two and a half getting back.  I used Pam's unlimited MetroCard for all the buses and trains, and as you now know, didn't need anything for the Staten Island Ferry.

The weather was super nice, and I read a book and as an awesome introvert that likes to process things in her mind, enjoyed the whole trek out there on my own.  I didn't realize the extent of how long it actually took me until Joanna said that I could've gotten to Binghamton in the time it took me to get from Queens to Staten Island.  That was weird to think about.

I didn't really get lost, either.  And I figured I'd probably never make the trip out to Staten Island by public transportation ever again.  I only did it for Rachel.  She's been a good friend - the least I could do was make it to her bridal shower.