Jason has surprised me with a trip to New York City for my birthday this year. Not really surprised me, since I've known about it since March, but still...the whole thing was his idea. And what a great idea it was. We just finished Day 1 and I'm feeling the urge to document the day so that I don't forget what we did, and even more, how I feel.
We left Reno last night at 11:59 p.m. We took the JetBlue redeye, which was my first experience on the airline and on a redeye flight in general. Even after two margaritas and a Xanax, I was wide awake, yet exhausted, and pretty nervous. I don't know from what or from where this fear of flying has come, but it is not fun. I was genuinely convinced the whole flight that we weren't going to make it. Every change in sound, every bump, every light flicker has me assuming that something bad is happening. It's awful...and I need to get a grip on it because I don't want it to affect my desire to travel.
We arrived at JFK at 8:30 a.m., and were met by our lovely Armenian driver Asa. The 17-mile drive took us a solid 90 minutes, through Jamaica and other parts of Queens, and finally over the Queensborough bridge to Manhattan. Asa told us a lot about how he had been in the rug restoration business until 2001, when, after 9/11, people stopped buying Persian and Turkish rugs. Whether the economy changed or people didn't want to buy rugs from him he didn't know, but he changed careers and became a driver. He was warm and open, and gave us a nice rundown of each area through which we passed as he drove us to our hotel.
We're staying at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. As we were pulling up, we passed both the Imperial and Richard Rodgers theaters, home to The Great Comet and Hamilton, respectively. I am completely obsessed with the latter, and have been for about six months. Turns out Jason surprised me with tickets, thanks to help from Tina Wheeler (thanks, Tina!), and the theater is honestly next door to the hotel. J also got tickets to the Great Comet for Wednesday afternoon, and that is on the other side of the RR theater from us. We had no idea when we booked the hotel that the Theater District was right here, let alone that we would be next door to the part of the trip to which I'm looking the most forward.
The best part of the hotel---aside from its great location, is that it's free! We managed to secure six nights using points that we accrued from the season on the Marriott card we got at the beginning of the season---total score!
After checking in, we had a $70 breakfast buffet (!) at the hotel, and then took a much, much needed nap.
We woke around 4 p.m to walk around and explore a bit. Before we knew it, we'd purchased tickets for Lion King on Wednesday night and to a play called The Play Gone Wrong for Thursday evening. Our week is shaping up so nicely; quite frankly, I could stay in this little area and go to a play every single day.
We decided to look into School of Rock and tickets for tonight were available. We grabbed a quick dinner of Greek salad, spinach pie, and a delicious coconut macaroon at a nearby deli before heading back to the Winter Garden Theater for School of Rock. The show was great, the kids were darling and incredibly talented, and we left with huge smiles on our faces. We then found a small Irish pub and watched quarters 3&4 of Game 7 between Celtics and Wizards. Boston came out on top as we had steak, shrimp, and veggies for dinner, followed by strawberry ice cream and Bailey's for dessert.
Tomorrow we have a tour planned at 8:15 a.m at the 9/11 Memorial, followed by a day with Brenna and eventually Nevada. I am so grateful to have kept relationships with them as an adult, and am especially grateful that J is also excited to see and spend time with them, and vice versa.
It's really important that I remember days like these (weeks like these, actually) as they are the majority of my days and I am so absurdly lucky. It is a luxury to pick up and leave home for a week, stay in a beautiful hotel, buy tickets randomly to multiple Broadway shows, and not have to worry about money spent on food or transportation. I never, ever want to forget or take for granted how fortunate I am, specifically for our resources, but especially for having a partner who has ensured our success and stability. We've both worked hard, but it's his vision that has secured this life for us. Plus, he is just really fund to hang out with!
The lineup for the week:
Tuesday: 9/11, Trinity Church, High Line, and Nev and Bre Day!
Wednesday: The Great Comet 2 p.m., Lion King 7 p.m.
Thursday: The Play Gone Wrong
Friday: HAMILTON!!!
Saturday: ??? SNL? Live taping of a show???
Sunday: ??? Flight leaves at 7:30 p.m.
Lucky, lucky, lu
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