Planes, trains and taxis in NYC Do you ever walk through the airport strolling along looking at shops and taking your time as the "moving walk is nearing its end..please watch your step. Thank you," and then get pushed my some sprinting individual running through the terminal like their hair is on fire? Well, that hair on fire individual was me this past weekend.... 3 TIMES.
Arriving at the airport at 6:00 am heading to NYC, I found out 45 minutes prior to take-off that my flight was not delayed... but cancelled. Hmmm, going to be tough to play in NY when I am not there! I negotiated with the agent to find me another flight meanwhile having a "real" agent (my mom) look online to find me another flight. She found one leaving in 15 minutes, but the problem it was on the TOTAL opposite side of the airport. Wishing I was wearing tennis shoes, I sprinted down the halls of PDX from B11 to C23. Even worse I had a huge backpack on and my carry-on suitcase (yes, I am a reformed packer now, thanks to the $15 bag check fee), so I was one of those crazy people running with their backpacks flying side to side. I thought I was an athlete but it takes great athletic skill to run with a backpack and look cool, while rolling a suitcase. As people were watching me, a huge flash of red pass, I dropped my boarding pass but it didn't matter since once I got to the gate they told me they were completely full. After getting paged on the loud speaker, picking up my dropped boarding pass, I went to the bathroom for a towel down and I should have changed out of my sweating clothes.
After staggering back to the original gate after my sprint workout (thinking how badly I wanted to have a horse to ride through the airports), I plopped down on the chair and sat there for about 3 hours until my next flight would take off. I boarded that one at 11:00 am and of course my boarding pass beeped when I passed through, which was due to the fact they thought I got on the other flight so cancelled my reservation! GREAT! For those of you who already know I am NOT a morning person, this was not good news! After many words, I got the last middle seat on the plane, however I was due to land in Detroit at 7:00 pm and my connecting flight left at 7:25pm ...hmm..
At 6:50pm we started to land when the pilot shifts the plane into acceleration and then we circled for 15 minutes until I got off the plane at 7:15 in another dead sprint to my next flight supposedly leaving in 15 min. Once again backpack flying and wheels sparking I ran through the Detroit airport to see the door to my gate closed. Fortunately, after looking at the screen, I saw it was delayed for bad weather. This ended up putting me in New York around 11:55pm. Longest travel day ever!
The next morning I woke up and knew I needed some fun after that crazy day. Luckily my friend/agent/coach/professional chef, Peter flew out from Chicago to hang out, so we got to see the Broadway play, Avenue Q, and a showing of an independent film from a mutual friend in CA. It was a pretty fun day except for the never ending confusion of the NYC subway. The D to the A to the 1? Seriously!! Local vs Express?? Sometimes stops depending on if its rush hour vs late night hours? I needed to hire a professional subway rider just to get around town. And every time I would be off the subway, I never knew what exit to take and then just popped up out of the tunnel and somehow tried to find my location but thanks to my amazing Iphone, I survived. I seriously felt like a mole though, scurrying underground just to pop up to the surface to look around confused to go on my next adventure.
Friday morning Chrissie and I would make our partnership debut against the #15 team and after the 65 minute commute on the Q train (yay) we warmed up and started our match. The first game was close at 19-19 until they took the first game 22-20, and took the momentum into the second game to beat us. We had about 35 minutes rest and then played our next match to stay alive. Unfortunately, Chrissie and I never really got into a rhythm or groove and lost that match as well to be eliminated.
A week sure does make a difference. From going to winning a tournament to loosing your first two games is a tough one to take. I know it would be great if we win all the time, but it just made that win last weekend in Vail that more sweet. Peter's friends from New Jersey, Marty and AJ were great to cheer Chrissie and I on even though it wasn't our day.
After a disappointing loss, it's always tough to know what to do. When you fly across the country to play and don't do as well as you hoped, it puts a damper on the trip. Luckily I do have the best agent/coach and he found a great restaurant to go to, we then watched Transformers, went to the Hershey's store, walked downtown times square (NUTS) and went to a comedy club. (where Jerry Seinfeld got started) I told him I wanted to laugh and we ended up making the most out of the day we had in NYC. I was amazed in the number of people who are at times square. It was like a cattle call.
Wanting to get back to Oregon to spend a couple of days with my family on July 4th, I must have talked to 6 different Delta agents and all said that I could get a confirmed ticket day of as long as I called 3 hours before the flight. All of them said I could get on the 8:15 am flight, so I woke up at 5:00am to call them after talking to them "day of - central time" (1:00am my time). At this point the lady said the only flight I could get on was at 6:45 am since the others were operated by NWA. Problem...I was in my hotel room at 5:35 am, still packing and needed to get to JFK (at least 30 min away)
Quickly I threw my things in the suitcase (which included souvenirs from the Office show I got at the NBC store), sprinted outside and yelled for a cab like they do in the movies! Ha ha! I said, "step on it" and then laughed at myself for being a dork. The cab did a great job of speeding through the streets of NY at 5:45am, and got me to the airport at 6:10am. I grabbed my stuff, sprinted yet again to the ticket agent, got a ticket, and then full dead sprint in the JFK terminal to hand agent my boarding pass at 6:35 am, sat down in my seat and then I wanted to cry.
After this adventurous trip, I have found two new potential professions. 1) Professional subway assistant in NYC, although couldn't think of living there. 2) Teach a seminar of the proper way to run through airport or the "classy," "cool" way to run, sorry SPRINT with a backpack on! I just keep adding to my possibilities.
Up next is Manhattan beach, July 16-19. Chrissie and I are playing together again on the 17th and it will be one of my last 2 CA stops. So if you are in CA and want to come watch me play, these are your last couple of chances to come watch the AVP. Let me know if you would want to come down! :-)
Thanks again for all your support and encouragement!
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