July 29, 2007
Musings of a Texas Gal in NYC - Planes, Trains, and Subways
I’m going to begin my musings with describing my travel to/from/within NY. I flew Delta Connection (run by Shuttle
There was a baby on board who was very unhappy and it seemed like no matter what the parents did, the baby was determined to be unhappy. I helped them out by giving them something I had in my purse, but I’m not even sure they knew it came from me because I asked the people in the row in front of me to pass it up…it seemed to calm him down a bit. It gave me an idea for a future Baby Tip by Babble Soft that I’ll post about soon.
The thing I found most unusual was that for a 4 hour flight over lunch time they had no meal service. They had a few snacks but by the end of the flight they had run out of the Sun Chips and they had run out of Ginger ale! I don’t drink ginger ale but some of the women sitting across the aisle from us did.
So once at JFK, I was of course starving. Seeing only a Burger King with a huge line and a non-descript Pizza place, I decided to wait until I got to my cousin’s place. I made my way to the Air Train and was helped by a nice MTA employee named Mohammed. He helped me buy my $5 Air Train ticket and when I told him I would be here for about a week, he advised me to by the unlimited week long $24 Metrocard. On Wednesday after the conference was over, I realized I probably only needed a $14 card. I think he assumed I was a tourist and was going to use the subway a lot, but I only used it to/from the airport and the conference. Anyway, his intentions were good and he was extremely helpful.
From the Air Train I took the A train towards Brooklyn. An Asian woman let me look at her map and once I got out at the appropriate stop an African American woman could tell I looked clueless asked me if I needed help and pointed me to the right exit. [I mention the races of the people who helped me primarily because I was attending a Multi Cultural Women’s conference, and I will elaborate more on the race topic in future posts.]
Contrary to what people usually say about New Yorkers being cold/rude, I experienced the opposite. Stereotypes are quick to surface and not so easy to change. I always find it funny when people ask me if I have a cowboy hat or cowboy boots and if I know JR just because I live in Texas. For the record, I do not currently own a cowboy hat or cowboy boots and I don’t know JR.
The subway is so convenient and full of life. It’s a sea of humanity all crowded into a bunch of little tubes. I am always amazed at how many different kinds of people are on the subway.
I’m typing this post on my return trip on the same type of aircraft. Our flight was supposed to depart at 5:25 pm but we did not actually take off until 9:30 pm. We sat on the tarmac waiting to get into the line to get on the runway for over 3 ½ hours. They told us that one runway was closed down but they didn’t say why. They allowed us to turn our phones on and when I called my husband he said all they said was there were delays due to weather and I can assure you there was no inclement weather….a few clouds in the sky but that’s it. Personally, I think there was some security issue going on because later the attendant said the reason was that for planes flying SW they have to fly over Robinsville 6 and that was shut down and that it would be up in 30 minutes. Huh??!?? I was scratching my head over that one. [Found out later from a friend who works at NASA and another friend who flies planes that Robinsville 6 does exist so it wasn't a conspiracy after all!] So 15 minutes later we were taking off. The flight attendant is funny and cheesy at the same time. If he was trying to distract us from thoughts of imminent doom, he did a good job.
Since they were showing off their signature drinks, I decided to try their $5 Passion Fruit Mojito with a splash of OJ while waiting. Many others on the flight also enjoyed a drink. My guess is that they made more money on drinks on this trip than normal. So far I’ve had some non-descript Biscoff biscuits and a bag of Sun Chips for snacks. Thank goodness I had that horrible $11 tuna salad sandwich with soggy fries in the airport before I got on the plane. 
Now it’s almost 11 pm NY time so I think I’ll attempt to read a book and lull myself to sleep. Oops just hit a patch of turbulence they said would last 20 or so minutes so no book for me. I miss my family.
Update: I arrived in Austin around midnight that night and realized the next day that I left the book I mentioned above in the seatback in front of me. I have called lost and found twice and left two messages but still have not heard back.
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Posted by Aruni @ 12:56 pm • new york city, travel
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July 30th, 2007 at 12:36 am, Musings of a Texas Gal in NYC - Planes, Trains, and Subways by travel.ZapiZapi.com Says:
[...] a week, he advised me to by the unlimited week long $24 Metrocard … article continues at Aruni brought to you by travel and [...]
July 30th, 2007 at 7:37 am, Thom Singer Says:
Ahhhh, the musings of the road warrior. I recently discovered on a trip that I am very impatient. I think it is a cultural issue, in that we have been spoiled in the US that most things work well and run on time, thus we expect travel to always be such. One would think as the parent of two highly spirited daughters that I would have given up on expecting things to go my way long ago!!!
Welcome home.
July 30th, 2007 at 9:34 am, Aruni Says:
Thanks Thom! I’ve enjoyed reading about your recent trip to Ireland as well. Now that you’ve kissed the Blarney stone, I expect you to persuade me to do something next time we meet.
July 30th, 2007 at 9:36 am, Aruni Says:
From my best friend Jackie:
Just read your latest blog. We, too, flew Delta to Seattle. The Austin-Salt Lake City portion was handled by Skywest. Same small airplane you described, with only two seats to each side of the plane. Same Biscoff cookies. Going and coming, we were at the back of the plane – seated in the very last row on our flight home. We had to keep asking people to shut the door to the lavatory. Thank goodness we didn’t sit on the tarmac as you did.
On our flight home we had a four-hour lay over in Salt Lake City (our itinerary changed after I booked the flights). Fortunately, the Salt Lake airport had a few small “playgrounds” for kids. Our son kept himself busy and made new friends. I have to share a story about him. He was playing in this pretend house in the play area. An Asian family came in (I’m thinking Taiwanese or Chinese) – two sisters and a brother. The little boy looked about three years old and was not speaking any English. He approached Will in the playhouse. He has been going to karate for several months, where there is a large poster of Bruce Lee on the wall. We have also let him watch portions of a Bruce Lee movie, so he knows that Bruce Lee is one hot-shot karate guy. Anyway, he looks at this little boy and suddenly does a side kick in the direction of one wall of the house (not at the little boy). I crack up laughing, because I realize that he thinks this little boy looks like Bruce Lee. (He’s never suddenly done a karate move when playing with new kids at the park, McDonald’s, or Chick-fil-A, and I don’t think he’s ever seen a Chinese child). The cute thing was that the little boy understood that he wanted to play karate with him, and they both started doing karate moves (nothing precise, mind you) outside the little house. Kids can make friends so easily.
July 30th, 2007 at 11:49 am, Babble Soft’s Blog » Blog Archive » Baby Tip by Babble Soft - Babies (or Snakes) on a Plane! Says:
[...] Musings of a Texas Gal in NYC - Planes, Trains, and Subways [...]
August 26th, 2007 at 1:59 pm, Babble Soft’s Blog » Blog Archive » The Art of War for Women - The time has come for the Woman’s Century! Says:
[...] Ancient Strategies and Wisdom for Winning at Work by Chin-Ning Chu. You may recall that I lost the free copy I got at the Working Mother Multicultural Conference (POWER: OWN IT. USE IT. SHARE IT.), so I [...]
September 18th, 2007 at 9:04 pm, entrepreMusings » Blog Archive » Working Mother Multicultural Conference Summary Says:
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