NYC Recap- Day 1

Well, the "recap" of my NYC trip will be coming in installments because so much happened it would be impossible to fit into one blog entry.
The trip was quite amazing, and a ONCE in a lifetime experience. Although, I LOVED the experience I will probably never go back, because 1) it is expensive, 2) it's not a very relaxing vacation, and 3) I think we saw every square inch of Manhattan the 5 days we were there, so what else is there to see??
So...let's get on with the recap.....

Day 1

After only getting a little over 3 hours of sleep I woke up at 3 a.m. to start getting ready to go to the airport. I flight was scheduled to leave, and everyone knows that you have to be there like an hour and a half in advance. Well, the airport didn't open until 5, so we (Mom, Dad, and I) went to pick up the girls at their house a little after 4a. We made the short drive to the Peoria airport which took all of 20 minutes and then began the process of checking our bags. Thankfully, Holli had already printed our tickets out online, so we didn't have to use the check-in kiosk. We just went straight up to the baggage check-in and then went to stand in line for security. This is when our parents had to say goodbye. Well, sort of. I think my mom was a little reluctant to see us go, so we stood around outside a gift shop for 15 minutes or so, and then when security finally starting moving people through they sat down in some nearby chairs and waited while we went through security. My mom was a basket case. I'm sure she cried the whole way home. So, they sat in their chairs very quietly until the last one of us was "safely" through the metal detector and then they left.
Thus, begins our wait to board our plane (Lisa's first flight!!). I of course had to whip out the camera to take a picture to forever capture the enthusiasm exuded from our faces.

We finally got to board our tiny little plane (2 seats on each side of the aisle, about 20 rows), and once we were in the air I suddenly became very sleepy. I'm one of those people who can fall asleep in the car without a problem, so the roar of the engine and the sway of the plane was just about enough to do me in. Of course there was no time to sleep when the flight attendant was busy demonstrating the standard "This is how you operate your seat belt", "Here is how you use the oxygen mask if cabin pressure decreases", and "This is how you use your seat cushion as a floatation device" techiniques. Then once she was done with that I thought I would get to rest for a bit. No such luck. Soon here she comes with her food/drink cart. I mean seriously... do we really need cheese and crackers at 6 in the morning? Don't get me wrong, she was a very nice flight attendant, it's just that I was more in need of a couple extra hours of sleep, and instead all I got was a glass of water and some crackers. Oh well, the flight was only about 1 hour and 45 minutes.
Let me back up a second though. Did I mention that this trip was Lisa's first experience with flying??

Well, she was all excited as we boarded our flight from Peoria to Atlanta. She listened intently to all the instructions the flight attendant was telling us, and was anxiously peering out the window to see the view. Well if you've ever been on a plane before you know that you have to wait for the plane to back out of the gate and then swing around and get in position at the end of the runway so they can have enough room to take off. Well, as we crept along she kept looking out her window excitedly. Then we kind of started moving again, but then slowed down. Just as she gets out of her mouth "Isn't it going to go faster than this?" The engine starts to roar and the plane jolts forward to start ascending into the air. Holli was cracking up, because Lisa exclaimed, "Holy Cow!! It's fast!!" She proceeded to use the term "Holy Cow" about five more times throughout the flight. I'm glad she enjoyed it, although she did complain of minor discomfort due to the air pressure change and what-not. I would give her two thumbs up though for being a good little first time flier. :)
This brings us to our 1 hour connection to our flight in Atlanta. Once we got off the plane we started walking to our next gate. (Although Lisa would have loved to be the one running through the airport (like you always see in the movies), we did not need to. In fact we had the option of taking a little subway car thingy, but instead we walked the entire distance to our gate. Here begins where my feet started hating me. :() We did utilize the moving sidewalks though. So fun! :)

It's the simple things in life that make you happy, like doubling your pace while moving your legs at the same speed as before.
So, our second flight was a little more turbulent than our first. The captain even had to put the seatbelt sign back on because the plane was shaking so much. I was not enjoying this...not because I was scared, but because I was still tired and was hoping to have a little bit of time to sleep. However, once again I was sitting in the aisle (because I kindly gave up my window seat so Lisa could look out the window again) so the flight attendants were making their ways through with snacks and beverages once again. Once we landed at LaGuardia (which was kind of a rough landing...something was wrong with our plane and we had to be TOWED into the gate. Uh, HELLO... not comforting to the people who have just been flying on this aircraft for over an hour and a half!!). Once we were in the airport Lisa looks at me and says "I felt much better on that flight." ..... are you kidding me?? The plane was shaking constantly! She said her head didn't feel as funny as the first flight. I guess it's all in how you look at it. Her head felt better, but my stomach wanted to crawl outside of my body. Ick!
Well, this post has become quite lengthy so I will leave you with a tease for "NYC Recap-Day 1:Part 2".............. We landed in LaGuardia and met "Slim Shady" or rather "Disheveled and Shady" (also known as Howie...our driver). Doesn't this sound fun?? Oh, it's going to get soooo much more interesting.... Stay tuned!
Until...................................................