Hey all, I recently had a business trip to New York City. This wasn’t a vineyard-building related trip, but a day job related trip. The trip was a week long and it entitled spending time in a class discussing work-related things from 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM. It was a difficult week.
The week started out with an omen of things to come. My boss booked a hotel under his name outside of Manhattan in Newark NJ. The hotel was right nearby the airport, so I assume it was much cheaper than staying in Lower Manhattan (turns out it was the same price). When I arrived at the hotel, I couldn’t check in since my identity wasn’t my boss’s. So after an awkward 7:00 PM Sunday night phone call to my boss, it was sorted out and I was allowed to stay.
The next morning, I was required to take an airport shuttle, an airport elevated people mover train, a regional commuter train and finally a subway to get to the city. The price (which was of course reimbursed) = $24 round trip! What was more amazing to me was not the price but the travel time. It took 1:45 minutes to get there one way! I was only staying 5 miles as the crow flies. I knew it would take at least 30-45 minutes due to numerous rivers and highways to cross, but I never expected the trip to take that long.
After a hard day in classes, I trekked the same brain numbing 1:45 minutes back to the hotel. It was 7:15 PM and I was exhausted and starving. Because of an impending snow storm hitting the next day, I drove out to a convenience store to pick up dinner and food supplies. I eventually ate around 8:00 PM.
The next day, the storm hit, causing a complete shut down of all movement throughout the region. I spent the day wandering around the hotel, reading in my room and enjoying no free wifi. I don’t understand how if you stay at a “nicer” hotel, the wifi becomes a paid service? The wifi was free for Hilton members, which I am one, but my information would not work because my account was not associated with the room. My bosses information was. Alas, a week away becomes a week without internet.
On Wednesday, I proceeded as usual to the class, albeit an hour early and staying an hour later to make up time. We did the early/later routine for Thursday and Friday morning too. For my commute, I did some research and drove to a parking garage two miles away. I then hopped on the subway, saving my company $8 in train tickets and me over 1 hour of time wasted. It was a good day in the commuting department.
On Thursday, my car broke down in the parking garage. I have an 18 year old car that is very reliable, only if you keep up on the routine maintenance. My car’s timing belt was due for a replacement-it had almost 10,000 miles over its recommended replacement interval. After a terrible grinding noise, burning smell and smoke coming out of my engine, I pulled into the subway parking garage. I later found out after having it towed with the help of some family, that the timing belt was failing, but it did not actually fail yet. After the belt cover was removed, I found the interior portion of the belt was frayed and ripping apart, while the two outer edges remained intact. Thank the Lord the belt did not snap! If it did, I would be stranded and my car’s engine would be destroyed. For who ever thought it was smart to have a machine with moving parts occupy the same exact space at different times, I have a common sense question for you!
Friday was a good day. The class started early, there were no transit delays, breakfast was provided for us and I passed the class test. I got to leave Manhattan and North Jersey around 3:00 PM and was home by 6:00 PM.
The week was tough. I don’t want to sound like I am complaining, but I am a little. Some things were out of my control but I like to think I handled them effectively. The moral of the story that I like to take from my experience is that life may throw many hard obstacles in your path. You just have to break them down into pieces to get past them.