Just Jul Lee

Searching for a Suitcase in NYC, Come Fly With Me Revisited

Searching for a Suitcase in NYC, Come Fly With Me Revisited
DATE: August 1, 2005

My mom and I set out rather early to find a suitcase. We walked up and down a street near our hotel, looking in all the souvenir shops, before we finally found one. It was a really large one that could be zipped down to a carry-on or unzipped to four feet high or so. We only paid thirty dollars for it so it was quite a bargain.

We returned to the room and finished packing. I had bought twenty-five or so shirts and my mom had bought ten or so plus all the other shopping we did. Needless to say, we managed to fill the bag with little effort.

We got something for breakfast and then returned to check out. We called for the bellboy, if that’s what they’re called, and had our luggage taken downstairs.

As I went to check out, I found out that they charge you every time you use the phone in your room, even if you call downstairs. Since PJ used it the majority of the time, I told him the tab was twenty-nine and change and that he could pay me later on.

We headed for the airport with me seriously irritated and my mom and PJ pretty much sick of me. Then, the man checking in our luggage made us empty some of the large suitcase and add it to the other bags because it was too heavy. He then stood there and complained about the weight of my bag loudly and irritatingly. I was about ready to scream at him but I just walked inside and watched him through the glass doors to make sure he placed my luggage on the plane.

My mom said that he was hinting for a tip and I said that I didn’t care. The way I look at it, I’m a woman who is overweight and doesn’t work out…if I can lift it without effort, surely the man who does it for a living shouldn’t have a problem.

Needless to say, he stood there looking annoyed and frustrated for a full minute or so before he picked up my bag and added it to the others.

We hustled through the busy airport and to the gate that was on our boarding passes. PJ went and got something to eat and then my mom and I went to find something, since we discovered that they don’t feed you meals on the plane anymore, and I stopped and looked at the screen announcing gates.

“I knew it,” I muttered.

“What?” my mom asked.

“We’re at the wrong gate,” I supply miserably. PJ had led the way without bothering to stop and check the screens and I have a horrible fear of getting lost so I didn’t stop to look. I had finally had my chance and my fear of us waiting at the wrong gate had proven valid. “See?”

My mom looks and we go back to inform PJ that we’re at the wrong gate, gather our possessions and head to the correct gate.

PJ, as I said I was irritated and he was sick of me so needless to say I got annoyed easily, stops and checks the screen. I resist the urge to roll my eyes. (Now do you see why I’m better off single?) We go to the correct gate and wait.

The long flight from NYC to Dallas/Fort Worth has all three of us separated. I sit next to a flight attendant dead heading it back to Dallas/Fort Worth in order to work a flight back to NYC. I’m on the aisle and I’m thinking how horrible it would be to be there for the hours of flight when I discover that the guy by the window is an aisle man. We happily switch places.

I am able to see Central Park as we fly out, the large patch of green amidst the monstrous buildings. I flew in at night, saw the beautiful city alight, saw the Statue of Liberty glowing in the harbor and then I fly out during the day and see the streets and buildings, the green of Central Park and the water sparkling in the sun. What a wonderful way to end the trip.

The movie they are playing was supposed to be Miss Congeniality 2 but they play something else instead. I can’t remember what. Isn’t that sad? I think I spent the time reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and writing the earlier blog journals, the ones that are actually coherent and have information these recent ones are lacking.

The flight from Dallas/Fort Worth to Albuquerque has PJ sitting a few rows ahead of my mom and I, who are actually together. I just can’t wait to get home.

We arrive safely and we go to wait for our luggage. Mine takes forever to be spit out of the hulking beast and then we say our good-byes, meet PJ’s friend and my mom and I head out to meet my sister-in-law, Erica.

We go to Red Robin for dinner, we talk about the trip, we laugh, tension flees and I am ready to see my room, my books and my bed. It was a fun and long trip, something I’ve wanted to do for so very long, and I know that I would love to visit NYC again…I would just plan better.