The Big Apple

Well, I forgot the cable for my camera, so you're going to have to do without pictures for now. My trip is off to a great start, though.

I left my office about noon today to head out to DFW for my flight. When I got there everything was cool. We had about thirty minutes before we were supposed to board. Right at the time that we are supposed to start boarding, though, they informed us that there were delays in NY, so we would need to wait another twenty minutes or so before boarding. No big deal; almost every flight that I've been on lately has been cancelled or delayed. At least I wouldn't have to wait on the plane. Or so I thought.

We finally boarded the plane, and we sat at the gate for an extraordinarily long amount of time before starting to taxi. Once we were sufficiently far from the gate so that no one could hear us scream or rescue us, the pilot came over the intercom and told us that he was sorry for not speaking to us sooner. He explained that normally he would inform his passengers of delays the minute that he knew of them, but in this case he was a little embarrassed. It turns out that when he heard there was a thirteen minute delay, he missed the part about the hour. In other words, there was actually an hour and thirteen minute delay on our flight.

So here we are, out in the middle of nowhere at DFW airport, between two busy runways with the engines shut off and an hour or so left to wait before we can even get in line to takeoff. No one was happy, least of all the baby two rows in front of me.

An hour later or so, we got in line to takeoff, and about twenty minutes after that we were in the air. My arrival at 6:30pm EDT was blown. We were actually on the ground a little before 8pm EDT. On the descent, though, I got to see NYC lit up with a good view of the Statue of Liberty, Manhattan, Shea Stadium, and many of the famous bridges. It was very cool.

Once I was off the plane, I hopped in a cab to get to my hotel. My first NYC cab ride, and it was just another adventure. I'm glad I didn't try to drive because you just think the drivers on I-20 are prepping for NASCAR, these guys are in a whole different league. We were driving on the shoulder, cutting people off, making pedestrians dodge on the sidewalk. It was nuts, but we got to the hotel in one piece and in a hurry.

Safely there, I put my stuff down and met up with Alvin (business associate) to grab some dinner. We headed out to Times Square since it's just a few blocks from the hotel figuring that there would be food and sights there. It was very cool. As cool as it looks on TV and then some if you ask me. We ate at Bubba Gump's Shrimp Co. which was kind of touristy but still good food, and we got them to give us a window seat on the second floor so we could get a good look at Times Square while we ate.

Overall, I really like this city so far, and I'm definitely going to plan a return visit with Leah.