I had one of the most amazing travel experiences getting to the city on a Saturday morning. I literally left my house in North Carolina at 7:10am, arrived at the airport at 7:25am, walked up to the kiosk to get my ticket, walked through the process of security in a matter of minutes, got a coffee, used the bathroom and when I got to the gate, was able to board right away. The 10-15 minutes I waited for us to take off gave me time to stow away my bags and gather the essentials for the trip, which included a pen, the sudoku puzzle in the airline magazine, and headphones. After the smooth takeoff, we had a very smooth 50 minute flight along the eastern coast. Sitting on the left side of the plane allowed me to see the Chesapeake Bay, Philadelphia, the Jersey Turnpike and the Manhattan Skyline. We literally flew in a straight path along the coast, over brooklyn and queens to LaGuardia airport. It was fun to identify Atlantic Ave in Brooklyn; the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg, and Queensboro Bridges; McCarren Park, and all the major buildings in Manhattan as we descended. Outside of the airport, a cab was readily available and since it was still before 10am, I reached the upper west side by 10:15am. I was amazed at the 3 hour door-to-door service!
My friend and former teammate, Jenny, served as my hostess on Saturday and we enjoyed preparing a delicious brunch that included banana-nut muffins, a ham and cheese quiche, and a salad. We also walked from her upper east side apartment to the Flatiron District to do some shopping and have dessert and hot chocolate at The City Bakery. I've never had such rich hot chocolate in my life - and I choose hot chocolate that was half milk!!
After enjoying the beautiful day, we climbed the 5 flights of stairs to her 6th floor walk-up and prepared ourselves for an evening out with some of our teammates. Galway Hooker was our destination for dinner and drinks. It was a nice outing and felt great to catch up on the lives of my friends. When the pub got too loud and was no longer conducive to talking in a normal voice, we decided it was time to go.
Earlier there were 7 girls, but one girl left and Steve joined us
I'm sure he enjoyed this scenario
Sunday was another enjoyable day where my parents came to visit me in the city. They took Megabus from Providence to NYC, and used the bus' free wifi to e-mail me the details of their trip as they traveled (yea - my parents are pretty hip!).
We decided to check out the World Trade Center area and were pleasantly surprised that we didn't need advance tickets to get into the Memorial (they were not busy, so we got standby tickets). I was amazed at how much has been done - even though there is still a lot to do. I think the Memorial fountains were tastefully done and walking around brought out mixed feelings. There is always a deep sadness and some anger about what happened on September 11, 2001, but the Memorial offered me an opportunity to value the lives that were lost on the planes, in the buildings, and among the first responders. I look forward to the day all those blocks of lower Manhattan are rebuilt and people can walk freely up to the Memorial lost in their own thoughts.
The Freedom Tower still under construction
The Museum still under construction
One of the completed Memorial fountains
Overall, it was a wonderful start to my 10 days in the city. I didn't have an opportunity to feel like I was in the city alone - not that you can ever really feel alone in this huge city! Having friends around and my family visit allowed me to quickly reconnect to a place that was once my home.
What helps you reconnect to the places you've lived when you come back?
