Amy BoughnerHere I am, sitting in Laguardia, with my flight now delayed by an hour and ten minutes. This is the first semi annoying or bad thing that has happened during the course of my trip, and I don’t even really care. It just reduces the amount of time I’ll have to wait in Toronto.
I landed in New York City on Monday morning and I have made use of just about every moment I have been here. I took a bus tour, I went to shows, I walked across the city. I enjoyed it all.
My knees hate me, but I enjoyed it all.
Even the shuttle from the airport to my hotel was interesting, because it gave me an opportunity to take it all in.
I’m not sure how much of my current calm mood is because of my trip, my experiences, or the fact that I haven’t really seen the news in almost four days, but here it is anyway.
And I’m sticking to it – I even upgraded my seat on the airplane so I’ll have actual leg room. Money well spent. (The plane on the way in was teeny tiny and I had to ask for a seatbelt extender, which was a new and not great experience, though I wasn’t embarrassed about it).
It feels good to know that I can travel alone. That I can take care of myself. That I can explore New York City without once getting lost.
I have a lot of good things to say about a grid system with numbered streets.
On this trip I got to see landmarks that I’ve only even seen in the movies. I got to see not only my first musical on Broadway, but a Tony-award winning one with it’s full original cast. I got to see Bette Midler play Dolly Gallagher Levi – a character I have adored since I was a young child and my mother showed me who Barbra Streisand was.
For four days I have made every decision about my schedule, based on my interests and how I was feeling. Including cabbing to Queens just to see the Jim Henson exhibit at the Museum of the Moving Picture.
Pretty much every bit of this trip was what I wanted it to be or more. (Dear Evan Hansen was so much more).
I know I will be coming back, I know I will have to bring my husband and my daughter, and I know they will love it too.
Would I ever live in New York?
No, no I would not. Because it’s expensive and I would never feel comfortable driving there and also it is in the USA and I feel much more comfortable in Canada. But will I save up to spend a longer vacation here at a more central hotel with many more theatre tickets? Oh yes.
