NYC Trip: Up, up and away!

We left from the university parking lot a little after 7:30 a.m. Michelle and I travel with two others. Michelle added a couple of extra people to the trip at last minute and found it would be $800 more to get them in our group for tickets, so she purchased four separate ones. So, we ended up being separate traveling mates from the group.

I have to say this was quite nice. We had a 40 minute ride to the airport (instead of three hours on a bus) then after a fairly short wait, we flew to Detroit and connected to our flight to Newark Airport. Now I pretty much have no concept of time. I think we got in around 3 p.m. We ate in their little holding area (we hadn’t had any lunch) we had to squeeze together and wait for a table for room with seven people. That area was packed, and we were kind of surprised to see so many people who weren’t eating. It really wasn’t a comfortable place to be, yet everyone flocked there.

We ate, Michelle and I had a yummy chicken sandwich with grilled onions and french fries. It looked like a lot, but after scarfing it down, we found it was just the right amount.

The rest of the group went down below to more comfortable chairs and less crowded areas while Michelle and I waited for the group. When we found a monitor that we could see (the one on our level was faded or the sunlight made it unreadable), it said they were on-time, then landed at 4:30. I was started to get worried about where they were. What a start.

Finally they came out and everyone got their bags. The bus came, we loaded on people and luggage. We traveled through the Lincoln Tunnel, crawling through the first half.

The sights outside of the city were interesting. The growing buildings, juxtaposed against stacked apartments. Then there was a castle-like structure, almost surrounded by a moat that we saw was a library (with a German or Polish looking name).

After some time we were actually in, traveling through the maze of tall buildings. I noticed spanish grafiti below the ramp that we passed through. We got to the hotel, got our room keys, jumped out and jetted up to our room. Only to jet back down and do a walking tour of our four block area: Rockefeller Center, Times Square, TKTS booth. We passed the NBC Studios, got in the way of the locals and marveled at the lights.

After the tour we broke off into a group of six and went to the Stardust Diner. That’s where the hopeful actors and actresses sing on tables between serving your food. It was a short wait to get in, and after talking to others in our group they were discouraged by the line down the street and didn’t go.

I ate the Captain Video—which was a grilled chicken breast sandwich with avocado, salsa and the usual burger fixings. For dessert I had a pecan tart, a little dry, but still good. Our waitress was a cute blond who was sweet and chatty—and a pretty good singer (and not all of them were good singers).

I think we got back to our hotel at around 11 or so. We really weren’t too exhausted, probably running on the thrill that we were in New York City and the trip ahead of us.