We arrived home last Wed evening from our sixth grandchild trip to NYC since 1996. I don’t runaway FROM my grandchildren, I runaway WITH them! (Check out photos on my Facebook page to see some of our trips with the grandchildren.)
Our twelfth birthday gift for each grandchild is a trip to NYC to see the sights, plays, The American Natural History Museum, ride the subway, visit the Today show, etc. We have such a fun time and it gives us a great bonding time with each grandchild BEFORE they become teens. We take the early Amtrak Train to NYC from Buffalo. The fun starts as soon as we take our seats, lots of time for doing homework , playing cards, eating from the dining car, reading and taking naps. Seven hours later we arrive at Penn Station. (Amtrak travel is a well kept secret @ less than $45.00 per one way ticket!)
Now you’d think as often as we’ve done it , we’d have it down to a science. Not. I’d promised Hayley a photo with the Statue of Liberty behind her. We ran out of time, there’s just soo much to do and see in NYC. So at 8:30 a.m. on Wed. after we’d eaten a quick breakfast, we hailed a cab and headed to Battery Park. Forty five minutes later, my husband was getting worried, we were moving through morning traffic at a snails pace and the Statue of Liberty was NOWHERE in sight! I asked the cab driver, “How much longer? We have a 10:20 train to catch.” He looked at me in the mirror like I was from another planet, “Lady, can you take a later train?” A few minutes later, we could finally see Battery Park. The cab driver suggested we take quick photos and then ride the subway back uptown. We took our photos and rushed to the subway, but the ticket seller was not in his booth. People hurried past us left and right. Some went through the handicap gate so before it closed Hayley and I entered without a ticket, I asked my husband to come through too. By then it was 9:30. He refused to move an inch, “No, we can’t go without buying our tickets!” Then a NYC cop approached us. “Is there a problem here?”Hayley and I went back out the gate and stood beside my husband, we explained our predicament. The cop showed us an automated ticket machine but it wouldn’t take our money. So, the cop used his universal ticket and motioned us through, telling us to take the uptown line. He even shouted, ”Good luck,” as we were ran down the stairs.
We arrived at our hotel, rode the elevator to the 16th floor, grabbed out luggage, hailed a cab, told the driver we had to be at Penn Station in ten minutes. And we made it after one wild cab ride! We flashed our tickets to the security people and told them our train was boarding now and they rushed us through. We actually had two minutes to spare before the train departed for Buffalo. “I kissed my hubby and said, “We made it with a minute to spare!”
Now, you’d think all was well. If only. A couple hours later, I decided to get organized for our arrival, which included having the car keys ready. I emptied my purse. Twice. No keys. I searched my luggage, my husband’s luggage, then my granddaughter’s luggage. No keys. My husband checked all his pockets. No keys. I could remember taking them out of my purse so it would be a bit lighter to carry as we were out and about in the city. But where did I put them?? I finally called the hotel housekeeping department and sure enough they had our keys, (and promised to mail them to us the next day.) So, we had to take a taxi from the train station to the airport and rent a car to drive home. The next day a friend rode with me to return the rental car and pick up our car at the train station. (Of course, we had an extra set of keys at home.)
Still not the end of my saga, I lost our garage door opener somewhere when I returned the rental car… the rental car company and the taxi company denied finding it. And so it goes…
More later. Ann