Monday, July 07, 2008

Maybe the city never sleeps...

But I couldn't wait to get to sleep last night. Our flight out of Austin was delayed about an hour and a half... which normally wouldn't be such a big deal, but we had a rental car reservation and the rental car places all close at 11:00. We even called from the Austin airport to ask if they could hang around for a few more minutes in case we got in past 11, and all they could say was to call IF we got in BEFORE 11, and then they'd wait until we got to the rental place.

And we took off right around when they said we would -- 6:15... and our flight time was supposedly cut from 4 hours to about 3 and a half. So, if everything had gone JUST right, we would've landed at 10:45 and had time to call the rental place and ask them to wait for us. And then some time around 10, I was checking the flight map on my little TV (that was probably the coolest thing about Jet Blue -- everyone gets their own TV... so we were able to watch the Yankee game... and channel 13 was a map with the position of our plane) and I noticed that our plane -- which had been steadily heading in a northeasterly direction -- was heading due west. There could only be two explanations for this -- either our pilot was confused and taking us to Toronto... OR, we were in a holding pattern.

And a few minutes later, the pilot finally explained that we HAD been in a holding pattern, but we were out of it now and heading for JFK, and we'd be landing in 20 or 25 minutes. It was a little after 10 o'clock, so Rick and I looked at each other and thought, "hey, we'll be there in time to call the rental place!" So we sat back and watched the game and waited for the lights of the city to appear. But I kept watching the time, too, and it seemed to be passing by more quickly than we were approaching the city... I also kept watching the map on channel 13, and we seemed to be taking the MOST bizarre route into the airport. A left turn... a right turn... go around in a circle... another right turn... go around in another circle... drop to 1800 feet... climb back up to 2000... take a left at the cloud bank... avoid the other planes circling the airport... etc, etc...

Needless to say, by the time we finished our aimless air wanderings, it was 11:10... Rick immediately turned his phone on and tried to call the rental place, but they were closed. So after getting our luggage, we had to wait in the slow-moving line to get a cab (it actually didn't move THAT slowly... but seeing as I was tired and just wanted to get to sleep, it SEEMED really slow). But we eventually got a cab, and had a fun ride into Manhattan (I mean, you know, if your idea of "fun" is flying down the highway at a rate of speed I can only assume was a couple dozen miles per hour over the limit... and feeling the rubber of the tires scrape against the concrete curb in the tunnel... and watching the panicked looks of pedestrians as your cab barrels down on them like they're bowling pins in a crosswalk...). And when we finally got to the hotel, and they told us our room was on the ninth floor, I think Rick was a bit disappointed -- I think he wanted a higher floor. But honestly, I was so tired that if they'd said, "your room is in the basement," I would've been like, "yea... a room... just show me the bed..."

So now we're getting ready to venture out into the city, and it's only, oh, 12:45. So we missed breakfast. And I haven't had any coffee. I need coffee. Must... go... find... coffee...

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