Taking a bite out of the Big Apple

I meant to post this last week when we got home. But you know, it's Christmastime... and there were a few other things on my to-do list.

Rachel and I had fun exploring the BIG Apple. Did I mention that it was BIG? Everything seemed really BIG. And also, just plain BIG. So we were a little dazed and overwhelmed when we arrived. Not to mention that just getting there was quite an adventure!

We arrived at the airport to find that our flight had just been cancelled due to technical problems in Salt Lake City. They re-routed us thru Atlanta... which meant a 5 hour wait at the airport. Then we found out we had an "illegal" connection to NYC... we had less than 20 minutes to get to our next flight once we landed in Atlanta. No problem - we'll just ask the flight attendants to help us get off the plane first and we'll be fine.

Hmm. Except that apparently "it's not their policy to ask First Class passengers to stay seated." Elitist pigs! (would I trade places and sit in First Class? In a heartbeat!)

Wouldn't have mattered whether or not the piggies in First Class stayed seated... because the jetway was malfunctioning. Frantically watching the minutes tick by and kissing our hopes of seeing Matt Lauer slip away... the pilot decides to do a play-by-play of the jetway mechanic's progress. "Xxxxppp... he's climbing the ladder. He's opening the control panel. He inserted a small screwdriver into the panel. He's pressing the button... oh, that didn't work. He's radioing for a supervisor. We should have some additional assistance in just a few minutes, folks. On behalf of our cabin crew, we thank you for choosing Delta."

Right. Thanks for NOTHING! It gets worse.

We missed our connection. And as we're standing there looking for some clue as to where passengers with crushed Matt Lauer dreams should go next, we ask a large woman in a long blue cardigan who has overheard all of our confusion, "Do you work for Delta?" She grunts and peels back one side of her sweater, revealing her large "Delta Cares" button pinned to her shirt, "What do you think?" Apparently Atlanta has no knowledge of the reputation the South carries for hospitality. She waves her hand abruptly and sends us to A4. We check at that gate, the next flight is overbooked and checked in as full... but we can still try standby. Sure. That sounds like a good plan.

We finally find someone with a brain and an ounce of compassion - and of course, she's from Washington originally and grew up in the town where we live. It's a small world after all. This lovely person puts us on a plane to DC and books us with a legal connection to LaGuardia. *phew* We lost 7 hours of our reign of chaos in New York City... but at least we got there in one piece... found our luggage (which took completely different planes and probably has its own story to tell) and we were on our way to Manhattan!

We found this AMAZING ribbon store in Manhattan called M&J Trimming and the nicest girl wrote down idiot-proof directions to take the subway to SoHo and find Kate's Paperie. We were restored in mind, body, and spirit after spending a few hours back in our creative zone.

I'm just hitting the highlights... Wicked was awesome! We loved Serendipity 3... loved the huge Macy's - even if I did lose Rachel for about an hour and she got panicked... loved Times Square and the throngs of people... and loved going to Little Italy with Bob & Heather!