New York City

I'm in New York City for the weekend, killing time before my meeting in Philadelphia on Monday. I'm staying at the Hotel Newton on W 96th St & Broadway. It's right next to a subway station, so it's super convenient to everything. I've had the best time in the city today.

I took the red-eye from Seattle last night at 11:00pmPT and arrived at JFK this morning at 7:00amET. It was my first experience on a red-eye and I think I managed it rather well. I took the Long Island Railroad from JFK to Penn Station and then grabbed the subway to W 96th. It was very easy but it took me about 90 minutes. I dropped my suitcase off at the hotel before coming back at 2:00pm to check-in, when I rested until about 4:00pm.

The people in NYC are super nice. I've only encountered kind and generous people here. For example, a gentleman saw me struggling with my luggage up the subway stairs this morning and picked up my bag for me and carried it all the way up (and it was a long way) to street level. Also, no one is too busy to answer my stupid tourist questions. On the contrary, everyone I've stopped has responded kindly and then asked me where I'm from, which is super nice.

I spent this morning exploring the city and taking pictures and shopping and I spent this evening at Wicked, which is perhaps the best entertainment money I've ever spent. It was awesome! I bought a singles ticket this afternoon and wound up 4th row center orchestra. What amazing seats!

I haven't been to NYC for almost 10 years, so it's nice to be back. The last time I was here, which was also the first time, was on our honeymoon. We only spent one full day here, so it wasn't really any time at all. Of course, that's all the time I'm spending in NYC this trip, too. Hopefully we'll get back here soon for a longer trip. Perhaps next time my job sends me this way, I can extend the trip and Mike can join me, like what we're doing in Washington, DC later this month.