Michael and I, at this point, have travelled a fair amount together. We’ve had a fair share of issues or, in other words, curses (Michael has cursed any trip to places that end with “land” i.e. Ireland, Iceland, and Poland). Some issues being massive airplane delays, or staying the night in probably the worst possible airport. Most of this luckily, or unluckily, happened on our very first trip together while we were still dating.
Our first trip was in July 2018 to New York City. At first, I was going to go with a tour group by myself, but after I had gone on two trips already that year (May to Florida, and June to Seattle), Michael wanted an adventure. So, I jokingly, but sort of seriously, was like you could like come. To which in about 30 to 45 minutes later he had booked the trip with me with the tour company Contiki.
Contiki is a tour company for social travel for young adults. I picked this group because 1 – I was in that age range, and 2 – it’s recommended for a solo traveler. They travel literally anywhere and have an itinerary for basically any travel style. I wanted to cross New York City off my bucket list and this was the best way to do it safely.
Michael’s part of the trip trouble started immediately. First, he had issues booking and then was able to book, but for some reason not able to get the extra day in the beginning. So, he had to book the extra day for the hotel himself (which was a good thing). The day of our travel to the Big Apple, Michael wasn’t feeling 100%. Then our flight was horribly delayed and we didn’t get to the hotel in New York till 1am. I had notified Contiki so they could notify my roommate for the hotel that I will be getting in extremely later than planned. Well once we arrived, Michael escorted me to my hotel room to lo and behold it is locked and we could hear the roommate snoring loudly. I banged on the door and tried my best to wake the apparent dead to no avail. So turned to be a good thing that Michael had a room to himself and I was able to stay in it. We slept and got up. Michael wasn’t doing good at all.
This day we were to explore around New York City with our group. My main goal was to see and touch the Bull on Wall Street, it’s superstition that it will provide wealth and good fortune (I guess it ends up being true cause Michael and I could have ended our relationship with how bad this trip went and never got married).
We went around seeing all the highlights, all the while Michael was miserable. At lunch time we found some medicine for him to take and later on in the afternoon he was doing a lot better. While waiting to get everyone back together to continue the tour around the city, we were each telling people where we were from. One guy was like “Oh Kansas City! I love the Royals! Do you know they are playing the Yankees in a few days?” Michael and I were like "ooh really" so booked a game for our last night. We continued exploring various spots like One World Trade, Times Square, and 5th Avenue. Michael and I had discussed before the trip that we had to do a Broadway musical. So, this was that night and we had picked Anastasia. Honestly, this was worth the trip and made up for all the terribleness.
The next day was our tour with our group to The Statue of Liberty. I enjoyed the boat ride out to the island and seeing the city from a different angle. After our tour, our group was going to go to Empire State building and One World Trade Center to see the city from above, however, it was extremely cloudy. Michael and I decided we’d check to see if we can get the tickets moved to a different time and use this time to explore Ellis Island which was included in our tour of The Statue of Liberty. Why the tour company didn’t recommend going to Ellis Island afterwards? I have no idea. We toured Ellis Island via the headset they gave us. This let us go at our own pace.
Once we had finished our tour, we went to One World Trade and got a different date for our tickets. Then we decided it was time for lunch, so we went to O’Hara’s Pub which is across the street from where the twin towers used to stand. This pub is a traditional Irish watering hole, but with the events of September 11, 2001 the pub windows were blown in and it reopened seven months later. That’s when the pub became a destination for the workers at ground zero. The pub’s walls are completely covered in patches of fire, police, paramedic, and military from all over the world.
After eating, I wanted to explore Central Park to find the Balto Statue. That evening we decided to go to the top of the Empire State building, first we went to the Chrysler building by mistake before going to the correct skyscraper. It was still fairly overcast but you could see the lights of the city. As the clouds were wrapped around you occasionally, they would lift and you get to see the city in its full glory.
The next day we had a free day to tour around and decided to see the Brooklyn Bridge. We walked across the bridge to Brooklyn sadly we did not see Captain America so walked back to One World Trade to look from the observation deck. The elevator up to the observation deck made my stomach turn because wrapped around the elevator was screens which did a time-lapse of New York being built up over the centuries. While the view was still foggy, we did get to see lots of the city.
We then decided that lunch was needed again so went back to O’Hara’s, which we got recognized by the servers and managers, literally they saw us and were like “Oh you two! Again?” We then travelled to Washington Square Park where I was able to get some geocaches. Then we went to Yankee Stadium to watch the Royals game.
That evening was our last evening with our tour group so we met up at a bar for dancing and drinks. Since Michael and I had an early-ish flight out we left early. Unfortunately, I was rudely awakened by my roommate who had brought back a male guest to the room and started being intimate with him on the bottom of our bunk bed. They finished by having pillow talk of how it’s hard to have a good committed relationship, in which I responded “maybe don’t shack up with someone on vacation in a shared bedroom and if you feel like having round two go to the bathroom”. I woke up and made as much noise as possible because I didn’t care about being rude.
Michael and I then got to LaGuardia. I was extremely tired. Michael wasn’t feeling great. And then our flight got delayed a bit. Then we boarded the plane and got on the tarmac and sat there for 3 hours, in which according to regulations they had to let us deplane so they aren’t kidnapping people. Then after some more waiting by the gate we then were allowed to board again. Being exhausted at this point I promptly fell asleep on Michael’s lap. Michael then woke me up, I was like oh we are already home, thinking I just passed out and magically was back in Kansas City. Only to be told nope. The pilot had come on the speaker as the plane was about to take off to inform us that his copilot was now ineligible to fly so we would not be able to leave for another 8 hours. I cried.
We were then deplaned and were given paper thin blankets and pillows to sleep in the airport because by this time it would have been too late to leave the airport to find a hotel. But since it was so late there was no more restaurants open and the only place open was a newsstand that had only a few bananas for sale. So, we ate scrapes and slept in a lit-up airport on the cold hard ground. Later when we finally left and got back to Kansas City, I told people of our overly delayed flight and was told well at least it wasn’t the one on the news. I had to inform them that it was indeed the one on the news. Oh and it turns out Michael had a sinus infection.
Thus ends our miserable trip with a handful of highlights to a city that Michael never wants to visit again except maybe to see a musical on Broadway.
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