My latest adventure brought me to the wonderful state of New York! I went to visit my roommate Sarah, who is getting married this next week!!! I guess you could say it was our last roommate moment.
I flew out with Sarah and her mom from Salt Lake, and flew to Phoenix, then to Detroit, and finally to Binghamton, NY. Needless to say, there was quite a bit of time to get to know many airports. Our flight- with time changes- took basically an entire day. It was only my second time ever flying, and my first time ever having a layover. But luckily everything went smoothly, and we arrived on time.
We arrived at Sarah's house exhausted. I immediately noticed how humid it was (and I was excited to see how curly my hair would go!) I fell right into bed with the fan going and was out cold- I never realized how exhausting traveling is.
That next few days we slept in, rode bikes around her town and just chilled, which was so so needed! Saturday we went to Palmyra and watched the Hill Cummorah Pageant. It reminded me of when I visited the sites on Utah Valley Children's Choir tour about 6 years ago. That Sunday we went to her church and I met all of my friends (who are from there) parent's from my student ward.
On Monday we ventured down to New York City. We all got on a bus and drove for 4 hours. All I have to say about that is that Greyhound buses are gross. We got into the city and traveled through the Lincoln tunnel- which made me start quoting Elf, though no one got what I was talking about.
We were dropped off in the middle of the city. As I stepped out side the smell was something I had never smelt before, it was a mixture of humidity, heat, and smoke/ exhaust. It really is a concreate jungle. I felt so lost and had to quickly pull out the map to figure out where we were. We were right by Time Square, and we were only a few blocks from our Hotel. We stopped and ate at a restaurant called Schnippers** if you ever eat there, get a hamburger it was really the best**. The restaurant was right next to the New York Times building which was beautiful.
After eating, we walked down to fifth ave. seeing all of the places that I have seen in movies. It was fun to see the American Girl store- which was a mall for your doll, Saks, H&M, a store entirely devoted to Shape-Ups by Sketchers, and of course I had to stop and by my I heart NY t- shirt!!! We walked down to The Plaza and walked through- it is SO pretty! Then we went to AEO Schwartz and looked at all the fun toys. We gradually made our way to Central Park, where after buying a popcicle and sitting on a bench, I realized how much cooler the air was just because of the trees.
We were very tired and I didn't feel like walking anymore, so we sat and enjoyed to atmosphere. As we were doing so, a man came up and talked to us and tried to get us to buy a bike carriage tour. After saying we'd think about it, Sarah's mom said "Oh why not! Let's do it!!"
So, we got onto the carriage and this nice man from Africa talked about the founding of Central Park getting most of his facts correct :)
That night we ate at a fun pizza place that was just a few doors down from our hotel and then fell asleep.
On Tuesday we woke up pretty early and headed to Ellis Island! We took the Subway which I fell in love with. Although it was dirty and kind of sketchy, I loved it. We took the tour of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island that was SO fun!!! But, as we were getting off the ferry it started POURING rain. Like rain like I had never seen. I found some sketchy man selling umbrella's out of a garbage bag. Then we walked to Ground Zero, it is amazing how it is all construction now.
Then we took the Subway into China Town, where I got my knock off Coach bag!!! We also ate at this super legit Chinese Restaurant- so good! (and luckily, I knew how to use chopsticks, because this resturant didn't have any forks... at all!)It was still a bit rainy, and we had accomplished everything on our to do list, so we caught a bus going back to Newark Valley and traveled back home.
That next morning I flew out to come back to Utah. This time I was flying by myself. But it was the same route that I had taken to go out, so I felt fine. I flew out of Binghamton and made it to Detroit a bit earlier than expected, which meant that I had a three and a half hour layover. I was fine with it, and grabbed some food, a magazine, and was going to watch a movie on my laptop as I waited for my flight to Arizona. But, after I finished getting my food, and started heading down to my gate, I checked the flight screen once more. This time, my flight had changed to the other side of the terminal, and it was delayed by an hour. After quickly figuring out how long it would take to get to Arizona with time zone changes, I realized that I would miss my connecting flight by about 10 minutes. I started to feel a panic feeling inside. Though, I was trying to stay calm and figure things out. I called my dad and explained the situation. He then called the Delta customer service, and they did all they could to change my flight, and then I had to wait in a line to have a real person authenticate my ticket.
I still had about two hours until my new flight was leaving, but this line was SO long... and there was only TWO people working at the desk that I needed to get to. So I was patiently waiting and waiting. I was talking to the people in the line with me as we shared our frustrations. I kept calling my parents trying to figure out what was going on. After an hour I realized that there was still probably about two hours left in the line. I was going to miss my flight. I did not want to stay in Detroit, and I had to be at work in the morning. The man behind me over heard me explaining my situation on the phone. He told me to go up to the front of the line and he would watch my bags. I was worried that everyone would get mad that I was cutting in the line. He assured me that it was fine. I walked to the front and there was a nice looking lady and her young daughter. I started talking to them and then I started crying, and could not stop it. I probably looked like a fake/ crazy person. I explained that this was the first time this had ever happened to me and I needed to get on my flight before it left. I asked her if it would be okay if I went before her. She looked concerned and said that it would be fine with her, but all of the people behind her wouldn't be too happy. I really didn't know what to do. She asked me where I was in line, and I pointed to the man who was holding my stuff and kindly waving at us. She told me that her flight was already cancelled and that she would trade me spots in line. This made me cry even harder- because I had been praying for something to work out- I quickly told her that I could not make her do that, because she had a little child with her. She reassured me that it was okay and calmly said, "I am a Christian, and this is what God would want me to do." I lost it completely and all that would come out of my mouth was Thank You. Thank you. I got to the desk and got a new ticket. The lady told me to hurry to my flight. So, I took off. I thanked the people behind her in line and they cheered me on to my flight. I then went back to the man who was now holding my suit case and the nice women's stuff too. I thanked him and gave him some money to give to her. He then said "Hurry go get on your flight! You will make it!!!" I rushed off and got onto my flight just in time. I sat in the seat, feeling exhausted, but feeling the spirit so strong.
My hope in strangers was regained that day. I knew that these people had been placed in my life at the exact time that I needed help. My testimony was strengthened and all I could do was to stop and thank Heavenly Father for helping me make it home safely.
So, it was a wonderful trip. I experienced a lot of new and amazing things that I will never forget!!!
Kaits
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