#BlogHer10: Day One in New York!
Before I dive headfirst into the first day of our trip, I have to get something off my chest:
Roberto?! Really… I mean, really?!
Chris was the perfect guy. He was the normal guy. He was the guy who was taking things at an appropriate speed and cautiously hinting at his feelings like, um, a normal dude would.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Roberto’s plenty nice on the eyes and seems sweet enough.
But Chris… Chris!
Dumb move, Allie. Dumb, dumb move.
My friend was so distraught over her choice, she chucked several M&Ms at the TV. You know a woman is pissed when she uses precious, crunchy chocolate as a projectile.
Despite the fact that we had to wake up at 5am this morning (Tuesday), Michelle and I stayed up to watch The Bachelorette season finale with my friends (I pretty much begged Michelle, a Bachelorette virgin, to go along with the idea. Thankfully, she did). We didn’t get to bed until after midnight.
I didn’t sleep much or well. Too many thoughts played like a broken record through my head and too many oddball dreams popped in and out while I floated between conscious and not.
Thankfully, I run exceptionally well on adrenaline and caffeine, with a dash of the medication I take for my sleep disorder to keep me awake. (Or maybe partially awake… I’m either part-way through a wink in this picture or my eye is rebelling against being awake on such a measly amount of sleep.)
At 8am, Michelle and I were boarded on our nonstop flight to New York City.
Our flight from Seattle to New York was, how shall we say, interesting.
The absolute saving grace of the whole flight was the fact that we had been placed in the exit row. We had so much leg room, in fact, we could stretch our legs all the way out and still not hit anything. I felt a little guilty for the tallies sitting behind us. (But only a little.)
Then, Crazy Lady appeared, in all her non-English-speaking, don’t have to follow the rules, completely insane-ness.
First, she informed the flight attendant that she requires a kosher meal.
“We don’t serve meals on flights anymore, you have to purchase it,” the flight attendant patiently explained. “Regardless, we don’t carry anything that’s kosher.”
The lady was pretty ticked, but went back to her seat.
Several times she stood up, walked forward, stood around, and was all-around a pain in the butt, and we hadn’t even taken off yet. After we were barely in the air, she got up again (while the seat belt sign was on, mind you) and asked for a blanket.
Again, the flight attendant informed her that there were no free blankets, that if she wanted one, she’d have to purchase it.
You can imagine how much Crazy appreciated that news.
Up and down, this lady went, never minding the flight attendants or the fasten seat belt warnings. She came and stood with her back to Michelle and began saying prayers, bending over continually, sticking her rear in Michelle’s face, nearly sitting in her lap.
The flight attendants, at this point, were getting mighty tee’d off. After Crazy got up for at least the 50th time, one brave flight attendant approached her and said, “You must stay in your seat. The seat belt sign is on, you are disrupting other passengers as well as being unsafe.”
The lady “psssh’d,” “baah’d” and “tsssk’d” her, waving her hand in front of the flight attendant in an obvious, “Don’t you tell me what to do” manner.
The flight attendant persisted. Crazy pushed her.
Pushed her.
At this point, I began wondering if we were going to be making an emergency landing to remove a belligerent passenger from the plane.
She did sit down, and ended up sleeping the majority of the flight. Apparently Crazies get cranky and throw tantrums before nap time like my kids do?
In between the Crazy mini-sodes, Michelle and I chatted, read, and marveled in the freedom of not traveling with children. A flight attendant came over the intercom, talking about headphones for purchase. I heard two dollars.
“Hey, you need headphones for the movie, right? Do you have two bucks?” I asked Michelle.
Sure enough, she did.
The flight attendant came by and Michelle handed her the money.
“I said over the announcement that we cannot accept cash,” she said, and then, already having been witness to Michelle’s and my smartass nature, added. “Why can’t you people listen to me?!”
Michelle was slightly embarrassed, “I’m a Kindergarten teacher, for Heaven’s sake. I should know better.”
The flight attendant jokingly tsk‘d her and moved on to the next row… who handed her cash as well. She mean-mugged Michelle, and said, “Another one like you!!”
“It’s an epidemic!” I joked.
After she made her pass through the cabin, she got on the speaker again. She was standing directly in front of us and said, “Our movie will begin shortly. I will be passing through the cabin one more time, if you’d like to purchase headphones for two dollars. Keep in miiiind… {Staring at Michelle} we cannot accept caaaashhh… {Glaring at Michelle} but on.ly. Car.ds. Thank you.”
Michelle and I were laughing so hard by the time she was through.
The rest of the flight was uneventful, aside from me making a complete idiot out of myself by busting out into lunatic snorts and laughter. I was finishing Rebel Without A Minivan (which I nearly read cover-to-cover) and couldn’t hold back. I probably seemed as stable as Crazy.
We made our way to Grand Central Station:
and then took an insanely expensive cab ride to Brooklyn, where we’re staying at Chateu Corey (a.k.a. my brother’s apartment on a shared futon that dips on one side). We had dinner at this nummy Mexican place (our burrito was spiiiicy!):
Tomorrow we hit New York City.
But right now… it’s 1am.
And I’m up.
Blogging.
I took my stay awake medicine too late in the day and now I’m paying for it. Plus, I’m still hopped up on adrenaline and I know it’s only going to get worse. But, it’ll be worth it. Tomorrow Today, when I wake up totally bleary-eyed, I’ll kick into gear pretty fast. It’s next week, when I’m home and fall-on-my-face-exhausted that I’m going to pay for this.
Still… worth it.
Because we walked down the road and this is what we saw:
I know, right?!
