My friends left Thursday night to head out to New York and I decided rather last minute to meet them out there.  I wasn’t going to miss one of my best friend’s bachelorette party in New York City!  I left Friday after work on the Red Eye.  I had never flown a midnight flight on my own before, and was nervous I wouldn’t be able to sleep.  Luckily, I was only awake a total of 20 minutes the entire flight.  I guess learning to sleep with my head down on my arms folded in my high school biology class really did pay off.

My ride to the airport

I arrived in New York around 6:00 in the morning.  The group of girls we were traveling with had rented an apartment north of Central Park [which is a fancy term for Harlem, by the way] and I took a cab straight there.  I was still pretty exhausted even though I slept great on the plane.  All the girls were dead asleep from their late night – so I climbed in the bed between Whitney and Kristina [the bachelorette] and zonked out for a couple of extra hours.  Turns out I had missed a pretty exciting time already – the first night had already involved a flooded dishwasher, burning a pizza in the oven, crazy hippies, and lots of dancing.

When everyone was up and going, we decided to head over to SOHO to go shopping.  It was Whitney’s first time in New York, and I was totally feeding off her excitement.

Riding the subway

Since it was a saturday, the crowds were intense and we were going, going, going.  We didn’t even realize we had skipped lunch until 4:00 pm!  So we compensated by hitting up a street cart and splitting a soft pretzel.  Then we had to head back to get ready for our dinner reservation at Room Service.  Zach and I had been there before with our friends, Morgan and Britton.

Most of us [missing Amy, Heiti, and Makell]

Room Service

It was beautiful and delicious – Thai food is always a great choice in my opinion.  After we stuffed ourselves, and my friends drank their sake – there was a strange moment where we all ended up on the bar?  Don’t ask, I was just along for the ride.  Whit, Britt, and I did make a pit stop at Pinkberry before everyone was ready to head out.  They have a new flavor – salted caramel!  Then we were off to try and get into the Boom Boom Room – unfortunately we had no luck because it was just as exclusive as it was rumored to be, and we moved on down the street to Kiss & Fly.  This is where we finally met up with my long lost love – Alison.  After she got off work she met up with us and we were all together for a while – which was nice because since she has moved to New York I only see her a couple times a year, if I am lucky enough to catch her while Zach and I are visiting her new home.  And yes, she has pink hair and jewels on her face.  NBD.  Friends since the second grade.

After a very late night of activities that would only be appropriate at a Bachelorette function, and sippin’ on my drink of choice Diet Coke all night, we hopped on the subway to return to the apartment.  Alison let me walk a mile in her shoes, literally.  Her giant tranny-looking platform heels.  She wore my flats and I tried to stay upright on the express train home.

Then we had to transfer and part ways with Alison to head up to our hood in Harlem.  Finally, I dozed off in another Katie sandwich between Whitney and Kristina.  Staying up past 5:00 am did a number on this old married hag, and I was out for the count and slept like a champ – even with three of us crammed into a Queen.

The next morning the whole group of us moved on over to Times Square – some to shop more, some to try and score killer Broadway show tickets at TKTS, and some just to observe the chaos that is Times Square.  We all ate lunch at a delicatessen – and yes, I did polish off my meal with a Black & White cookie.

Britt and her brisket sandwich!

Then I had to make the long and lonely subway ride back to the apartment to pack my bags to fly home.  I wish I could have stayed the extra day in the city with my friends, but this old lady had to get back to the daily work grind.

So I took a car to JFK, with a sweet Turkish man who told me all about Turkey’s underground city that Constantine built.  It was very educational.  He also ate some very pungent soup.  Don’t eat pungent soup and drive people – we almost had a near death experience.

This month I will fly a total of 5 flights completely by myself!!  Lame to fly solo, but great to meet up with some of my favorite people each time.  I don’t know why, but some sweet TSA worker must have taken pity on me, because he got me priority through security.  I didn’t even have to take my shoes off!  It was like a security miracle – because usually I am the one selected for random screening because they think I look sketchy I guess…or am hiding something in my sock bun.  Lesson learned, LAX AIRPORT – I AM NEVER WEARING A SOCK BUN AGAIN, OK???  You won.  I actually timed it and it took a total of 8 MINUTES for me to get my stinky soup-smelling self through security.  It also made me appreciate my husband even more, if that’s humanly possible.  He is a travel master – and I finally got to see how much travel organization New York takes when you are by your lonesome – organizing transport to and from the airport, checking in with flights, dinner reservations, navigating the Subway (I knew he would have been so proud of my subway skillz having to find my way through the maze that is the NY subway system with 9 other girls and myself – we didn’t get on the wrong train once!  Can I get an ‘amen’?  He taught me well.)

Overall, the trip was a short and sweet blur of activity.  I am so very happy for my sweet friend Kristina who is getting married in June and feel so lucky to have been able to make this trip with her and all the other girls that attended.  A very fun group of sistas, might I add!  So excited for you Chica Bonita!  You are going to be a gorgeous bride!