The Long Way Home

It was a rough trip home. Friday was hot and muggy morning which turned into a stormy afternoon. While making the plans for my trip, I didn't want to want to book a super early flight, but I also didn't want to have to check out of my hotel and deal with my bags around the city before heading to the airport. I ended up with something in between. The W Tuscany was nice enough to hold my bags for a few hours once I checked out. I was a little sad to leave and hope to stay at another W in New York again soon. I just love that chain of hotels. I bought a New York bagel with cream cheese for breakfast and settled in to read a good book at a Starbucks nearby. I decided I was done seeing the sights and didn't want to stress before my train to Newark airport. I reclaimed by bags around 1:00 PM and walked three blocks to Grand Central to connect to Penn Station. The rain was so threatening, I actually considered taking a cab those short blocks since I knew I wouldn't be able to manage my bags and an umbrella!

Luckily, I made it to Grand Central before it started to rain. Unexpectedly, it was a day where I got a lot of help from New Yorkers. Maybe it was the big bag I seemed to be struggling with or people where just in a helpful mood that day? First, a 30-ish aged man carried my bag down a steep flight of stairs to the S (shuttle) train to the 42nd Street Station. Then, another man (seemingly older and somewhat smaller than me!) from the S train, picked up my bag and carried it for me all the way to the A train I needed to take to Penn Station. Wow. I said "thank you" and he disappeared into the crowd of commuters. The week had worn me out and I was grateful for the help with my things. Although I was a little wary... what if one of these people took off with my bag? No, they just ended up being nice.

I got on the NJ Transit train and made my way back to the airport. The line at Delta to check bags was ridiculously long and and barely got it checked before the cut-off time. My flight was planned to take off at 5:00 PM and I was to change planes again in Salt Lake City before arriving in SFO around 10:30 PM PST. It was not to be. The rain storm was bad and the plane we were to be on to head West was diverted to Albany, NY before finally getting to Newark around 8:30 PM. Yes, it was very late! Before the plane finally arrived, we knew we would miss our connecting flight to SFO. The choice was to go back to NYC and stay another night, or fly to Salt Lake and stay there. I decided Salt Lake was the best option for me since I was ready to head West. We finally made it to SLC around 12:30 AM. So sleepy... the airline offered a discount at a nearby hotel (No, it wasn't free. Delta claimed to not be responsible for the cost due to bad weather. It was not a mechanical or airline-caused delay). I had called ahead and reserved a hotel in SLC before we took off from Newark, since they had not given us any options at that time. since I lived in Salt Lake years ago, so I was familiar with a few of the hotels downtown. By the time I got my bag and took a cab to the Sheraton, it was 1:30 AM.

I slept for maybe 4 hours and had to get up to catch the first flight to SF. I couldn't wait to get home. The 8:30 AM flight was uneventful. I gathered my belongings from baggage claim in SFO and called my parents to tell them I was back in the Bay Area. I jumped in a cab and was on my way to my apartment. When I got there, I immediately crashed and took a looong nap. It was good to be home.