Good morning. Happy Tuesday. I am writing this early this morning. 5:30 to be exact. I stayed up late watching Little House On The Prairie episodes (thanks to Confessions of a Prairie Bitch) and admit I wasn’t sure I could get into the show again as I had as a child but find myself being pulled into the early days of the Little House.
As I had planned, today will be the first of several days of Book Expo recap. I love these recaps as I can go back and look at them each year and suspect these recaps will some be valuable proof when I am elderly and my grand kids or great grand kids think I could never have done anything crazy or amazing… it will then be time to dust off the old blog and show them…. I knew how to kick it once in a while. 😀
New York – Day 1
I arrived in New York exactly one week ago today. It was Tuesday. I woke up in my Minneapolis hotel at 3:00 am and caught the 4:00 am shuttle to catch my 5:40 am flight. Yes, I like early flights. If I am going somewhere, I hate to put it off, so I go as early as possible. I get to the airport and through security and get a COFFEE. Once boarded and the plane is in the air, the beverage service comes around and as I put my tray table down to get some water, I dump my coffee cup I am so carefully (or not) balancing in my hand and proceed to pour coffee on to my right pant leg. The coffee has cooled, that is not an issue – however it has left a lovely brownish stain on my jean capris. *sigh* I dab at it with my napkin and my water that I wanted to drink but am now using for cleaning myself up.
After we land in Atlanta I proceed to go into the lady’s room and do a little better job at cleaning up my pants. I have time so I go and relax in a sunny window by my departure gate and continue reading the book I had brought along while snacking on dark chocolate covered pretzels from my carry on. After a while I consider using the lady’s room before we board (I hate having to use plane bathrooms) and as I get up I notice that one of the chocolate pretzels has landed on my pants, in the same area as I had earlier cleaned up coffee and has melted into a gooey chocolatey mess.
Seriously?
I arrive in New York (after my two + hour layover in Atlanta) at approximately 1:45 pm. It is raining. I am bummed… Minnesota has rained every day for three weeks. I really really could do without the rain. I text my roommate for the week Cindy to tell her I have landed and on my way to find a taxi. Once outside with all luggage intact I see a bus that is $13 one way and will drop me off at Port Authority, approximately 3 blocks from my hotel. What a deal! A taxi usually costs me about $45 to go to the hotel. I purchase the ticket and board the bus and after we sit for about 25 minutes or so we go. We have a couple stops on the way and eventually (not sure what time it was but my guess would be 2:45 ish…. I arrive at Port Authority where I am plopped in the rain with carry on and luggage and told to go “3 blocks that a way” and I will be at my hotel.
Now, it takes me a little while to get oriented and landing in Port Authority I exited out a door and started walking looking for my hotel on 39th. After about 2o minutes of walking in the rain and being on what I think is the right block but I am sooooo unsure, frustrated and WET I text Cindy this message:
I am wet and I think lost. I am standing under an awning staring across the street at an Irish Pub thinking it might be a nice place to stay for the week. I shall live there and eat and drink there. It looks warm and dry… all thinks I am not.
At this point I discover I am about 1/2 a block from my hotel. Cindy asks if I want to go to Serendipity and I ask what it is and does it have to do with food as my mid morning chocolate covered pretzel snack has long been gone and I am sooooo HUNGRY. Yes, she assures me it has food and the famous frozen hot chocolate. I am in. We met up with Kate and Pam. They were fun to chat with while we hung out in a line to get in to Serendipity.
Once seated we proceeded to order and the 4 of us each ordered the frozen hot chocolate. And it arrived….
Yup. None of us finished it. It was good but LARGE and between the ice cream and the warmth of the cocoa and bits of chocolate and orange it was very filling. My advice, if you go, share one. 😀
Later that evening Cindy and I walked from our hotel to Yum Yum, my favorite New York restaurant (as of this writing). It is Thai food and so good. For $16.95 you get choice of an appetizer, soup or salad, a main course, and green tea ice cream for dessert. It is tasty.
After that we returned to out hotel for the night. I was tired and Wednesday would be the Blogger conference and the Harper Collins Party. And that… will be what I share tomorrow. 😀
Yesterday afternoon the first box of books I sent home arrived. I suspect the rest will follow either today or tomorrow. I have not opened the box yet, I like to wait until they are all in house before I dive in. It is another rainy day here in Minnesota. I plan to work and then hit the gym later this afternoon.
Book Journey 
Your spills sound like something I’d do, lol. Experience has taught me to wear black or dark denim when I travel. Love that you went to Serendipity. I probably would’ve finished my frozen hot chocolate 🙂
I wanted to finish it but it was so big – the picture does not do it justice… they were more candy dish size… maybe 3 or 4 cups of ice cream in there…. 😀
It’s STILL raining in MN??? ARGHHHHHHHHHH
Yup. Sunday was nice but it started again yesterday.
Love your recap. You are the best storyteller/post writer. 🙂 I do recall your telling me about the coffee-spilling adventure. 🙂
I am still in New York. Remember the hot temperatures? Well….they are over. 🙂 It rained yesterday and is chilly today. I hope your rain stops soon.
Looking forward to your continued recap.
Have a great day.
Elizabeth
Thanks Elizabeth! Still in New York? Doing anything fun?
No fun today. At the train station. Taking the train back to Pittsburgh today. I decided to stay a few more days to visit my son. 🙂
Have a good day.
I do love a good story…and this recap put me right there with you: in the airport, on the plane, cleaning up the spills…lol. And getting lost in the rain.
What came after was awesome, too.
LOL – I thought about skipping this “pre-show” day but eh, it was kind of funny.
Your pant story seems to be par for traveling. Last trip I wore white pants and they were a mess after about a 2 hour flight. Another time the toilet came up and splashed me-I was beyond disgusted-we were visiting my husband’s friends-I told the wife what happened and asked if I could launder my pants-her response was that laundry was done for the week. When I was in NY with you I discovered a dry cleaner close to the hotel as I spilled something on a skirt with grease and did not want it sitting there for a week. is Yum Yum where we went?
I would never wear white… I would be a mess…LOL. I remember you visiting the dry cleaner – it was right on the corner of our hotel. And yes, Yum Yum is the place you and I discovered on our way to Mama Mia! 😀 I try to go there every year.
I cannot believe you got one of your boxes already! So jealous! :–) (and of course of Serendipity. I tried to go two times: in Las Vegas and in D.C. Both times the lines were like 8 hours long and I gave up. But I fought my way through to do a walkthrough and ogle the stuff, and yes, your picture doesn’t, amazingly enough, do justice to the sizes!)
It was the box I mailed from the post office on Thursday. I mailed one on Friday too and that one did not arrive today so who knows…. 😀 We had about a 20 minute wait at Serendipity. It was good but I dont think I need to go again… once was enough 😀
I flew early to get to NY with no hitches. My flight home was later and it turned into an adventure. I will fly home early next time even if it requires a layover! My boxes haven’t come and I haven’t gotten notification that they’ll be here anytime soon.
The box that came I shipped at the post office on Thursday. Hope the rest arrive soon and yours too!
Thanks for telling us about your BEA experiences. Those of us who stayed home want to live through it vicariously! 🙂
Glad to share it 😀
Sheila if it makes you feel any better I never noticed the stains on your pants when you arrived. It just seems like it was yesterday when you were knocking on the door
I think I was leaning into the door and knocking with my head… ready to go in any room if you were my room mate or not… LOL 😀
Ok, let me get this straight – you flew from Minneapolis to Atlanta to New York? Girl, you check-marked the country! 🙂 Love reading about your adventures!
LOL thats the way they sent me 😀 Got to love the system.
Love your recap – I will say I always wear black or dark jeans when I travel for just that reason 🙂
Exactly.
I won’t have my books until my son comes home to visit next month. He is storing them at his home for me.
Enjoy your day, everyone.
Elizabeth
Makes me feel better that I’m not the only one that spills food on self! Looks like your first day was a hit even with the rain and feeling lost. 🙂
This story reminds me of our trip to Hawaii. When we left L.A., I was in the middle of the center section (ugh) and next to be was a man who though he was terribly important. He was upset that the guy sitting next to his wife would trade seats, proceeded to spread out the papers for the speech he was making in Honolulu, and ordered wine. Of course as he carried on and on, I ended up with his wine all over my skirt (which I had worn because it was comfortable). Had a devil of a time getting out so I could try to clean up, and he was no help at all – didn’t even apologize. To top it off, we were supposed to have aisle seats! Then our luggage didn’t get to our hotel for several hours. But from there on, our trip was heaven. 😀
Oops! the guy wouldn’t trade seats . . . I need a nap I think. 😀
Wow… he sounds….UGH.
Serendipity was a blast! I still can’t believe that we all managed to meet up and get seated, that rain was so crazy. I am in awe of your restraint on the BEA boxes. I very much doubt I could wait, but I brought home all my can’t-lose-will-cry ARCs because the wait last year was torture. I was positive some bookish post office worker was going to steal my boxes. I would. 😉
I know! It was fun 😀 I was so busy last night and I knew it would stress me out if I was only able to open the boxes and then not start putting them away…. very OCD.