NYC adventures, or a slow moving train.

So in an attempt to remember all we did and saw in NYC, I will chronicle it here, as best I can.

So let's see... I used Priceline to get a fabulous deal on a hotel room. A very nice Holiday Inn Express, with free hot breakfast and free ( though often crummy) internet. Great location. Very good service. We decided to take the train, which is about a 8-9 hour ride each way. I upgraded us to "Viewliner" sleeper room. I knew I was working the night before we left so I thought it would be a good idea to be able to sleep for a few hours in private. The night before I left, work was pretty boring. I had one patient and the open "code bed" I was sure to get all my work done quickly. Now, typically I am a talker and terrible at charting. I get my patient care done, but I hate writing out my charts. B-O-R-I-N-G. But Saturday night I was on the ball. I made sure my mother was going to be out on time too. We drove in together. I even sent the supervisor up to make sure she was getting her rounds done on time. If my co-workers saw her in the hallway, she would say "Tell Heidi I am done with midnight rounds before anyone else started them! I will be out on time!" My mother is one fabulous nurse and due to her being quite conscientious and sensitive, she often gets behind due to being pulled into impromptu therapy sessions and the like. And, like me, she knows EVERYONE, so typically she finds a connection with her patients and they chat her ear off all night. I was having NONE of that jazz. I work until 7 or 7:30am and my train left at 10am. My mother was ( GASP!) was even out early at 7 am! Miracle of Miracles!! Wahhooo!!

So what happens?? Yup. A code blue at 5:35. Fabulous. I was panicking. The patient didn't come down until after 6:30, when day shift started. And of course, my friends Sue and Lisa made sure they jumped in and I was out on time. Of course, my train was late. We didn't leave until close to 11. By that time I had been up for 27 hours. I was a hurting dog. Josh was he usual chatty self and I had a HUGE Tim Horton's coffee. Let me just say, I never drink coffee. And I tasted it all day as my body's punishment to me for attempting it. I felt badly, but I needed to tell Josh to leave me alone until lunch, you know, a whole whopping 2 hours of sleep later.

The ride was quite pleasant and much quieter than I would have thought. Our car was the size of a decent closet. Private, temperature controlled by us, ample beverages for us nearby and meals included. As in my lot in life, I was seated with a yappy man for lunch. Why does everyone feel the need to talk to me and tell me their life philosophy? I swear, I have that "please talk to me" face. I wanted to say "dude. I have had 2 hours of clickety-clack sleep for the last 2 days. I can actually feel my brain rubbing inside of my skull. Please don't tell me how to best learn the guitar." But I didn't. I listened. I asked questions. I looked interested. I ate fast.

Actually, even with leaving late, stopping in Rochester for fuel and changing engines( from Diesel to electric) in Albany, we got to NYC a bit early. For those of you who have not traveled by train, let me tell you how much easier it is...wow. No security to go through, quick baggage checking, you can take anything you want on board. It takes a bit longer, but Josh and I actually really enjoyed it. Our car had it's our attendant for the trip. That was a nice touch too. She made sure we had drinks, pillows, answered all our questions, let us know where we were about 30 mins outside NYC and was just generally helpful and pleasant. I even dashed off a note to Amtrak about her.


In general though, the trip there was a blur as I was so incredibly exhausted, but chatty Josh-man kept me upright and conscious.

After gathering our luggage and such, my friend Rohit met us at Penn station. We grabbed a cab ( Josh's first!)


Our hotel was only about 4 blocks from Penn station but with the luggage and such we decided to cab it would be best and since it was nighttime, we asked the driver to take us the long way...through Times Square. Josh was adorable and couldn't wait to be let loose there to shop and see the lights. However for both of us, it was an early night, dinner at a great Thai place and off to bed. Visions of Times Square in Josh's head.

:-)