Okay, we don’t get much time off with weekly deadlines, so we decided this year to see two Broadway shows in New York City. Simple enough, we would leave the Rochester Airport at 6 a.m., get an early check-in at the hotel, grab some breakfast, take a nap and see the two shows, each booked on Saturday.
One show was at 2 p.m. “The Unknown” a one-person show with Sean Hayes. Then back to the hotel for a nap, dinner at 5:30 at the Capital Grille, then to “The Giant” featuring John Lithgow at 8 pm.
We would catch our ride back to JFK for an early check-in on Sunday morning, with a 9 a.m. flight and home to the dogs. Our grandson stayed at the house to care for the dogs.
Okay, now for the HELL part of almost perfect planning.
Sean Hayes was on stage, we were in the front row only 5 feet away from him. After a few moments I fell fast asleep and missed a great deal of the show. I awoke when everybody else gave him a standing ovation at the end.
Back to the hotel, a brief respite and on to our favorite Capital Grille when in NYC. Then to the second play starting at 8 p.m. I only fell asleep for about 10 minutes during the show.
We went a bit overboard and our dinner cost just over our $375 hotel room. Yeah, no biggee…we don’t go often.
We decided to leave early Sunday (4:30 a.m.) to avoid the onslought of crowds at the check-in.
Yeah, everybody in the world had the same idea. The crowd was disorganized and lines began forming, leading to other lines that seemed the blend together.
Hooray, after two and a half hours we made it through to secruity check-in and headed for out 9 a.m. loading gate. After about 45 minutes I checked with the desk to ensure our flight was on time. Unfortunately with my bad hearing after the ear operation a week before, I missed an important point.
Our 9 a.m. flight back to Rochester was cancelled. The next flight left at 9 PM hat night. Now, what do you do in an airport when you have 12+ hours to blow? We decided it was not worth exiting to a larger crowd of check-ins and go through that mess again. The only answer was walk around the lobby shops at the Jet Blue terminal.
Did you know a bag of M&Ms cost $18 bucks plus a 12¢ tax per dollar. Dare not mention the Jama juice drink and the sub-quality Chinese dinner costs. As the hours dragged on we found one place in the stands to recharge Wife Patti’s cell phone after she bought a very expensive charger for the phone. (Please note: she brought the wrong charger for her phone causing this purchase.)
We moved to a more advantageous table where we could at least put our heads down to whittle some time. Every time I looked at my watch, only minutes had passed.
Okay, …now we have two hours before boarding time. Unfortunately, Jet Blue kept changing the loading gates. This occurred three times with gates being at opposite ends of the Jet Blue terminal.
We finally boarded and ready for take-off, we arrived back in Rochester and made it home at about 12:30 a.m.
Things did not get better.
Our old Cavalier King Charles dog, Scout, age 11 was dying. I had to carry him in after he went out and collapsed in a puddle. We both knew the day had come, but why this weekend?
Scout held on till Monday and at 12:30 p.m. we took him in for his fianal trip to the vet. Tears flowed from us both, as we whispered love into his ears before his eyes closed for good.
Oh, I forget to mention, before the trip to the vet, I had a doctor’s appointment to ensure what I had already knew. Along with other assorted maladies, I have sleep apnea?
Life goes on and my old adage “I hate New York City” pretty much rang through this last weekend.