“Start spreading the news, I am leaving today, I want to be a part of it…….New York, New York” lyrics from the movie.
We’re headed NOB to NYC. It’s Zero dark hundred for our airport pick-up – 3 am for our 6 am flight to the Big 🍎. Guadalajara airport was crazy, jam-packed on an early Sunday morning – por que?! David volunteered to handle our outbound immigration forms from instructions I created from our last trip: Step up to the window, hand over your passport, green card, and complete FMM form, have it stamped, and then head over to the airline counter and you’re all set to go. Easy peasy, right?! (Coming home and you don’t get it right, you’re cooked.)
We hung out at DFW for three and a half hours since American Airlines cut back their flights due to the 737 Max airplane fiasco. Luckily, our time spent was pleasant enough in The Club facility. It hovers airily over the main concourse and we ate, lounged, and caught up with Mother’s Day calls as we wiled away time before our last leg to NYC. Side note … David’s having “a moment” – he’s got an actual hard copy of the Sunday NY Times newspaper in his hands vs. online reading.
Most of you know that I traveled for work Sunday to Thursday for over twenty years, with a few breaks between assignments. At DFW airport I saw myself in countless robotic faces – pulling their black standard roller case and lugging a heavy computer backpack. Never realized how expressionless and tired-looking we were rushing about getting to our final destination. Not missing the drudgery.
All flights were on schedule but still made for a long, travel day. Hopped into a cab, and we’re in the Lincoln tunnel and having a … “Wake up, Dorothy” moment …You’re in the big city now…………rush, rush, RUSHING. Just where are all the people going in such a hurry?! After the relaxed, slow-paced way of life in our little provincial town. This is a 5 alarm wake-up call and I 💕 the chaos.”
Our Airbnb is a charming, compact apt. in an old brownstone conveniently located in the theater district. Every inch of space is utilized with exact precision. It’s in the rear and includes a postage stamp-sized outside patio – too bad the view is a brick wall, but there’s actual greenery. Dropped our bags and rushed down to Chinatown to meet David and Eileen at the Great NY Noodletown restaurant. We coordinated our visits so we can also spend a day or two together on the East Coast. Our waiter quickly took our orders: shrimp wonton soup, salt-baked shrimp, garlic eggplant, braised green beans, fish with flowering chives (specialty), and vegetable fried rice….the dishes started arriving as quickly fired and devoured as quickly…..sorry no pictures. Before jumping into our Uber, we had one more stop, the great Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, for a scoop of creamy red velvet…..now the day is fully complete.
Happily we collapsed into restful sleep.
