There is still plenty to tell
about the trip and there’s also the craft stash I acquired during the trip which
my Stitching Friends are waiting for me to show off!
I have been so busy with work and
life that it is getting harder and harder to find time to spend on another one of
my passion and that is writing and blogging.
I hope it is still not too late
(stale) to continue where I left off, if not for anything else, but for my son
to read in years to come.
In my last posting on the trip,
on the 6th day of my stay in the US, I mentioned that all flights
out of New York, including my flight, had been cancelled due to unexpected
severe weather condition within the next 24 hours.
I hardly slept that night. I had
the Weather Channel on all night, so that even as I sleep (I am a light
sleeper), I could hear the weather condition being reported continuously.
I prayed that the weather
condition would improve in the next few hours or so, so that we may fly out of
New York the next day as per our schedule.
However, as I stayed up for most
part of the night, I could hear the snow storm coming in and could see the
heavy snow fall through my hotel window.
By morning, it was almost certain
that we were going to be spending another day in New York when the airport was
closed for all incoming and outbound flights.
A colleague joked that we have
been snowed in because someone had made a wish to visit Central Park but
because he never got to make that wish to become a reality yet, he had wished for another
day in New York to make that wish become true! LOL!
Anyway, back to the current
situation and the crisis at hand, once it was determined that we won’t be able
to make it for our scheduled 6.00pm flight out of New York, the next thing was
trying to get the next available flight to London.
We spent the whole morning in the
hotel lobby as frantic calls were made to our respective travel agents in
Malaysia.
Mind you that we have a 12 hour
time difference where it is night time in Malaysia as we struggled to get
whatever possible flights out of New York.
Some of us were lucky when their
travel agents stayed up late till 10pm to try to get us flights to London. Some were not that lucky when their travel
agents could not be contacted and they ended up having to make their own flight
arrangements.
It was also quite a task trying
to coordinate among the travel agents, us being so far away on the other side
of the globe, as we tried to get all of us on the same flight to London to make
it easy to make transport arrangements in London.
When that was not really possible
as thousands of other passengers who were also snowed in like us scrambled to get
whatever flights available out of New York, we decided that whatever flights we
could get, we will just grab it.
As if struggling to get the next
available flight to London was not bad enough, we also had a crisis with our lodging
arrangements when the hotel where we had already stayed for 2 days wanted us to
vacate our rooms to make way for new customers coming in.
It took a frantic long distance
call to the Malaysian Embassy in Washington D.C. to assist us that finally
managed to get our lodging issues resolved.
When it was all finally settled –
the flights and the lodging, it was already close to 1.oopm! Only then did we
all suddenly feel hungry! LOL!
Everyone went back to their rooms
to change out of their travelling clothes and into something more comfortable
for another day in New York.
At that point, it suddenly dawned
on me – WE GET ANOTHER DAY IN NEW YORK? Wow! Does this mean that I will get an
opportunity to visit a craft shop which I found out through Google is actually just
within walking distance from the hotel?
Ok, ok, don’t get excited! We are
not actually out of the crisis yet as the snow storm had not actually subsided.
Even though we had our tickets booked for the flight out of New York for 6.00pm
tomorrow evening, everything depended on the weather tomorrow and whether the
airport will be opened for operations.
But for now, we just had to make the
best of the situation, and first things first, we had to get something for
lunch.
I followed my colleagues to lunch
at a nearby halal restaurant.
After lunch, many wanted to take
the opportunity to do more sightseeing despite the snow still falling heavily.
Others wanted to do more shopping.
Me? I wanted to try to make way
to the craft shop nearby, but, I thought that I’d follow my colleagues for a
while to Macy to see what’s there as I did not get an opportunity to visit Macy
before this.
I managed to get myself an extra
blouse to wear for the extra day in New York.
After that, with the snow still
falling heavily, and it even started to rain a bit, I made my way in search of the City Quilter, 5 blocks from the
hotel.
Oooh! What I’d do without a GPS!
I have always been bad with directions, but ever since I could get Google map
on my hand phone, back home, I have been able to go to places on foot and by
car where I would have never tried venturing before, for fear that I might get
lost.
With the help of the GPS and
Google Map, I have become more adventurous, and what more, when it comes to
going in search of a craft shop! LOL!
It did not feel like it was a long
walk as I took in the sights around me, still not believing that I am actually in
New York!
After walking for about 30
minutes or so, I finally arrived at the City Quilter!
Gosh! Pinch me! I am here! I am
here! I am in front of the shop that I could only see in the pages of my quilt
magazines before this!
I excitedly entered the shop and
was in awe of all the quilting and sewing stuff I see before me! I feel like grabbing
and buying everything! LOL!
But alas, reality sank in, and I
had to be practical. I have limited bag space and there was the weight of the
luggage that I am limited to that I had to take into consideration.
It took a lot of will power to
control myself not to go overboard when choosing out what I wanted to buy. I
had to keep reminding myself to only get those things which are not easily available
in Malaysia, too expensive to order and ship it to Malaysia, and uniquely New
York.
Despite all the limitations and
constraints I set myself, I actually managed to get quite a good haul. I think
my Stitching Friends are going to be so envious of me! LOL!
After paying for my purchases, I
managed to get the Sales Assistant to allow me to snap a photo in the shop.
I
told her that this photo will be a part of my blog journey in search of craft
shops that will get my craft friends jealous! LOL! *wink*
Sorry for the almost identical photo, but some reason, photos taken in vertical comes out in horizontal when I upload it to blogspot.
I can't figure out how to resolve it. So, I decided to put 2 vertical photos together to force the photos to stay vertical.
Happy with my purchase, I made my
way back to the hotel, with the snow still falling heavily, and rain coming out in full force too.
I made a stop at a souvenir
shop to buy some souvenirs to take home for friends and families.
After a short rest to regain energy
that was drained from all the excitement of the morning of trying to get tickets
for the flight to London, reaffirming our extended stay at the hotel and
finding my way to a craft shop, I started organising my things to pack up.
It was an art of packing to get
everything compacted inside the bags and still be within the weight limit
allowed, without having to pay excessively for excess luggage.
I already knew
that I’d be paying for excess luggage when I bought an extra luggage, but I wanted
to be sure that I won’t be paying an exorbitant amount.
When that was done, it was
already late evening and the snow was still falling heavily.
I did my payers and prayed that
the weather would improve over the next 24 hours so that we may make our next
leg of our trip.
All night long, I had only the
weather channel on. My brother messaged me suggesting that I go out and buy
some food in preparation for maybe another long day in New York should the
weather not improve.
I went out to the nearest convenience
shop and bought myself these.....
I went to bed after having dinner
of leftovers from the meal I had with my brother and his family.
It wasn’t such a restful night,
as all night long, I kept listening up to the weather report to see if things would
improve....
End of Day 7 – 8th
February 2013 – an unintended extra day in New York.....
1 comment:
Getting with the kind of things it has and generally for me niagara falls bus tours from new york is always taking care of such things would surely be general outcome.
Post a Comment