Wednesday, July 25, 2007

My trip to NYC

Four nights in New York and it has been six nights since returning and I am STILL so tired and not even caught up yet! NYC was awesome! I have always wanted to go there and it was so much better than I expected.

Tonya and I stayed with a friend from here who moved up there about 6 months ago. He lives in New Rochelle and runs a bar in Manhattan so we got to experience riding the train right from the start. We flew in at night and it worked out well that another friend lives in NYC and volunteered to pick us up from the airport because Dan had to work. So, Rob picked us up and took us to the bar where Dan works and then we rode the train back to New Rochelle. We got in about midnight and the last train leaves at 1:57 so we had enough time for a beer.

The next morning we went to the trade show so Dan rode with us into the city and from there we were on our own. Thank goodness he was there though because we wouldn't have known what to do by ourselves! He told us how to identify the cabs that are available and told us how to give the directions to where we were going. We hailed a cab and got there, but unfortunately Dan had given us directions to the wrong place! We needed to go to Pier 92 on the Hudson and he sent us to Chelsea piers which happen to be Piers 58-60. So, we hailed another cab.

The trade show was fun. I have very minimal trade show experience so I really learned alot. It was also nice to finally meet some of the people that I have been working with for a year now and only corresponding via email and telephone. Everyone was really cool, really friendly and I got a bunch of new leads and new suppliers.

We cut out a little early and headed back to Dan's bar. We had a couple of cocktails and then Dan got off work and showed us around a little. That night we got a kick because one of our old bar backs from O'Malley's came and met us for dinner. Here we were in NYC and having dinner with two old friends from Hollywood! This happened to be the same day that the water main exploded and so we weren't able to ride the subway to Grand Central to get the train back, we had to take a cab to Grand Central instead.

The next day Dan joined us on the train again and we had lunch at a diner near Union Square. We got a subway pass and a map and Dan left us on our own to find our way around. We went to see the statue of Liberty and the World Trade Center. We got to the trade show by subway and then walking the last 10 blocks. We did some more buying and finished up so that we didn't have to go back the next day. Then, we went to Times Square and wandered all over the city. Then that night Dan's fiance came into the city and met us for cocktails and we had a great time.

Friday, our last day in the city. After sleeping in, we took the train into town on our own and found our way around with no problems. We found the lingerie company that I am trying to buy some sexy costumes from for my costume shop and it just happened to be on the top floor of a building right near the Empire state building and the guy was so cool as to take us out on the roof to get a great view. Then we took the subway to Greenwich Village and got a little lost. We didn't realize that we were lost until after walking for about 20 minutes we found ourselves at the same subway stop WHERE WE GOT ON! So, we hopped in a cab and told him to take us to the meat packing district. We had dinner at an outdoor cafe and then found Red Rock West. This is one of the Coyote Ugly type bars where the bartenders are also the entertainment dancing on the bar and pouring liquor on guys. It is a biker bar and the people there were really fun. Then we went to another bar that was pretty much the same thing called Hogs and Heifers but the people there were kinda obnoxious. Our next stop was a Rockabilly bar called Otto's Shrunken Head. This place was really cool! One of the bouncers at Dan's bar bartends there on Friday nights and he had told me about it earlier in the week as soon as he saw my business card. It was a ton of fun and I totally could have sold entire wardrobes to all the people there. I kept dropping business cards everywhere.
Trying to get back on the train by ourselves after visiting so many bars was not very easy and ended up proving to be impossible. Once we got to Grand central, Tonya started running one way and I was insistent that the train was the other way. Well, I was right but once you've missed the train, what really matters right? A $65.00 cab ride and about 45 minutes later we find ourselves back at Dan's but POOPED!
Our flight left EARLY the next morning and it was not a fun ride back.

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