Cancun to New York to Albany
Tuesday, November 20 2007
8:00 am: We’re off. After the absolute drenching we got on the ferry, pretty much all our clothes are hanging over anything available in an attempt to dry them off. It didn’t work. We pack up our wet clothes in our suitcases and get ready.
9:00 am: We head to the airport. Our flight out is at 12:40pm. Way too much time.
9:15 am: We get to the airport. After finding the JetBlue check-in line, there are exactly 3 people ahead of our group.
9:40 am: We get to the security line. There are two people ahead of us.
9:45 am: Time to kill. I take a moment to bask in my rightness… then I realize that I have 179 more minutes of rightness to bask in.
10:00 am: There’s a Burger King at the airport. Fun Lost In Translation of the weekend. The cashier says: “Would you like apple OR pumpkin pie with that.” instead of “Would you like an apple or pumpkin pie with THAT?”. I say apple, assuming in an odd south of the border twist that they were included with breakfast. In fact, they were not and her statement was actually a question. In other news, the apple pie was delicious.
10:30 am: Breakfast is done. Only two hours and ten minutes left. It’s a burden being right all the time.
11:30 am: ugh.
12:30 pm: I’m bored enough that I take out my Blackberry to check my work e-mail. Kids… I’m bored.
12:40 pm: We board the flight… fuggin finally… and we are the only plane taking off that HOUR.
5:15 pm EDT: Land.
5:30 pm: We are now aimlessly wandering JFK looking for the rental car station. Little did we know that we had to take the AirTrain a few stations. Fun story… we weren’t able to find a rental car anywhere in the city being the day before the big Thanksgiving Exodus. However, Ms. L has the ability to get a car through her company and one of the car rental companies is apparently required to find one for her. So, we got a car. As we were in line for our last minute car, no less than 3 guys came in asking for cars. They got shot down. I giggled.
5:35 pm: A white PT Cruiser… cute.
6:00 pm: I discover that the bridge to Staten Island costs $9.00. Nine friggin dollars to go over a bridge. Amazing.
6:45 pm: Ah Manhattan during rush hour… where 20 miles takes more than an hour.
6:50 pm: The original plan was just to go upstairs, repack the luggage, get the cat, and take off. Due to the fact that everything in the luggage was still wet. Instead, it turned into go upstairs, pack new bags, get the cat and go off.
7:15 pm: The cost for parking in Battery Park City for 22 minutes: $16. I love this town.
7:45 pm: We pick up our passenger… one of Ms. L’s other co-workers who is splitting the car with us to drive her home.
7:50 pm: Two girls who haven’t seen each other in 6 days can really talk.
8:15 pm: and talk.
8:40 pm: and talk.
9:00 pm: and talk.
10:15 pm: Passenger dropped off. My ears are ringing.
10:30 pm: After 5 hours of flying and now 5 hours of driving, I’m fading fast. Ms. L uses this opportunity to put on Christmas Music… because that will keep me from driving the car off the Thruway.
11:45 pm: FINALLY at my parent’s house. We’re picking up bedding and an air mattress to bring down to my townhouse since all that’s in there now is the mish-mash of mismatched furniture that tends to collect in an apartment no one’s really in. Fun story, I’m currently fending off a full bedroom set for the extra bedroom.
12:00 am: I drop off Ms. L and the cat. Since no trip upstate is complete without an absurd hour trip to the super market, I go to Price Chopper for cat food.
12:15 am: I once again amaze myself at the absurdly cheap prices in upstate super markets as I get my normally $5 cat food for $3.50.
12:30 am: Back to my place… unload all the suitcases and start separating laundry into the “moderately wet and dirty” and “really wet and dirty”.
12:45 am: Shower… it’s a Top 5 shower*
1:00 am: I start setting up the air mattress for Ms. L. I take out the air pump… and it’s got no cord. Only batteries. I actually stared at the box for 10 minutes, praying it was lying to me.
1:10 am: Back to the super market. I’ve never been so dejected.
1:30 am: Finally bed.
I consider this the end of my “vacation.” The rest of this was basically your standard “home to see the fam” weekend. Was a good time.
* A Top 5 shower goes back to a trip to Montreal I had in college. It was one of those stupid “Let’s go to Montreal” trips where you have nothing planned, but just pile in the car and take the 2 hour drive. We left on Saturday at like 10 am, bar crawled for most of the day and night, went back and slept about 8 people to a single hotel room, and drove back on Sunday. The shower that I took that night, after a day full of travel and drinking filth felt better than any shower I’d ever taken until that point… it was amazing. This came up in conversation and someone agreed with me and said it was one of the Top 5 showers he’d ever taken. Since then, those kind of showers have come to be called Top 5 Showers.