Boston Weekend 2010, Pt. 2

Saturday. Julie and I woke up at 5a to catch the 7a Chinatown Bus for NYC. We ordered tickets online and ended up with a four seater towards the back of the bus. Perfect for putting our feet up.We rolled into Chinatown around 11 and made it to Times Square for tickets. We got great seats to La Cage Aux Folles starring Kelsey Grammer (Frasier!) and some other people. We sat in Times Square and had a snack while we waited for the show. It was brisk there, but sunny. The perfect day. We even navigated the subway from Chinatown to Times Square. We were excited and very proud of ourselves for A. planning a fun day and B. getting there in one piece.

The show was fabulous. The dancers were amazing. It felt great to be in a theater. After the show and the never ending search for a usable restroom, we connected with Julie's ex. We all went to high school together and they remain good friends. I've never really spent much time with him and I think Julie was a little nervous to see what would happen. It ended up being so much fun. He works right in the city so it was nice to walk with someone who knew where they were really going. We had a fabulous dinner at this little place near Rockefeller Plaza and we all ended up being great company together.

Now we should have (get that? should.) gone back to China town to see about maybe catching an earlier bus. Instead we decided to see the apartment where this guy lives.

He's got an incredible view of the crystler building. Before we knew it, it was 9:30 and we had to hustle to make our 10p bus back to Boston.

Look mom! We're gonna make the bus!!! -->

.....Well. We didn't end up making the bus.

Oops.

Look mom! We didn't make the bus.---->

No problem. Julie's ex came with us to China town to make

sure we were safe. Thank goodness he did. We probably would have called him for help if we had missed our bus. The fact that he was there made it easy and it was very nice of him to accompany us to make sure we made it safely. He was really the hero of the evening, even offering up his futon for the two of us that night. We were lucky that he was there. So what do we do?

We celebrate. We went to this tiny bar with a pool table and a bar shuffleboard. Julie and I dominated! We beat these two really competitive tall guys. They said our height (especially my lack there of) was an advantage. Apparently tall people do not have a good view of the board. This random guy was really into it.

We dominated. That was fun. We had a great time at the bar. We did drink a bit much, but everyone made it out okay and home safely. Except for one thing. :)

Now before I go on with the story, I have to add a small disclaimer. I think in the past few years I have really learned to laugh at the little hiccups in the road. Sometimes you have to laugh while these things happen. Getting extremely upset is going to be completely useless, especially when there is very little in my control. I've learned to just kind of go with it. Thank goodness.

By the time I was ready to get back to the apartment for the evening and fairly intoxicated, my purse was no where to be found. All of our jackets and bags where stashed in one place. Everyone else came out with all of their stuff. My purse was just gone. They searched high and low in the bar. Nothing. The next morning when we all called, nothing.

So I'm in NYC with no purse, no money, no credit/debit cards and no Drivers License. Oh wait, I would have to fly home the next day? Without identification. This sounds fun.

To tell you the truth, we had to laugh. The whole trip was ridiculous enough that only this would happen with me, with all three of us at that moment in time. I was more worried about flying home. I canceled the cards. I didn't have much else in there aside from traveling cash. I spent most of the morning on the phone with banks and my parents (they got a lovely 4:15a phone call--- to be fair it was already 7:15 in NYC) to let them know. I was feeling pretty inconvenienced but this kind of thing has had to happen before. We did research.

----> By the time we left NYC, all I had left was a bag of chocolate chip pancakes, a camera, 50 cents, and my cell phone

So Julie ended up paying for everything else, including my checked bag this morning. She was definitely my hero in all those moments. I don't know what I would have done without her. Of course it was a Sunday and it would have been completely useless to try and over night anything, like my passport or other ID for my plane ride.

We finally made it back to Boston around 3p and attended a recital at 5. That gave us enough time to shower and put on clean clothes, thank goodness. I was getting pretty grimy. A couple of Julie's friends were performing in the recital. It was fun to see them sing and to be back in a sort of conservatory environment. The recital hall had great acoustics and the accompanist was brilliant. It was like listening to an entire orchestra come out of the piano. I'm pretty sure I probably stared with my mouth wide open and maybe even drooled a little. We went to dinner with one of Julie's friends who performed and relived our crazy day in NYC and debriefed on all the recital stuff. I hit the futon and was out probably by 10 or 10:30.

This morning we were up early and headed ot the airport. I was worried a little bit about making my flight and dealing with TSA with my serious lack of identification. Mom emailed me a scanned copy of my passport. Including that, I had a check book, a business card and the ticket that got me to Boston in the first place. All I had to do was mention that my purse was gone in NYC and all these Boston people understood. Pretty funny. They sort of shuffled me through the security line, patted me down and swabbed my bags. I was on my way and literally walked onto the plane.

For future experiences: if you have a police report/police documentation, TSA will accept that. Its sort of like bringing a doctor's note when you miss school.

The flight was fine, except that it was 30 minutes delayed due to high winds at Logan and when we did get to SFO, we circled the airport 3 times before landing. Julie gave me some spending money for a bottle of water and some snacks. I sat down, opened my water, took 2 sips and lost the bottle cap. Go figure. I did get some sleep on the flight.

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Hands down, this was the best trip I have ever taken. At least the top two. Although all this crazy stuff happened and I came home without a wallet, it was the best time. I loved all the talking and catching up that happened. I learned a lot. We laughed. Even the crazy stuff. It was worth laughing at as it happened. We would be sitting on the bus in silence and then just start laughing. Oh dear. As Julie and I discussed, we don't get to spend that kind of time together, so I guess we felt like we had to make it count.

And boy did we.