A snapshot of things to come.

What an adventure!  So daughter and I went to NY for her college spring break.  I don't know how many times I have left to get her all to myself, so I grabbed onto this opportunity while she is still under 18.

We saw Lion King, and If/Then, a new play starring Idina Menzel (Adele Dazeem per John Travolta).  We also met with some friends, had dinner with my dad, and shopped until we literally dropped.

The thing that stood out to the most in my week with my daughter who is 3/4 of the way through her freshman year in college is that she is all grown up.  She makes decisions easily. She navigated NY like a pro, dragging me along. And thank goodness, her sense of direction is better than mine. She makes wise food and shopping choices, and she's got a quick wit and off-beat sense of humor.  I love being around her.

I know that our week was just a snapshot of things to come because she fully  intends to move to NY when she finishes her degree to get a MFA at a NY theatre program. She is already making a list of schools, and our next trip to NY will be mostly to look at programs.  Scary, but I know she can handle it.

Our Graduation Trip Adventure to NYC

Things didn't go exactly as I'd planned.  We did, however have a very good time, and everyone wants to do it again.

My daughter and I set out by car to Virginia to the Army base where my brother lives.  We took our sweet time, stopping often to stretch, eat, and even shop.  We did the 8 hour trip in 12 hours.  We crashed at my brothers house and when his wife, who had just gotten of of 24 hour duty was available, dragged her into the car and headed out for NY.

At this point, it there was a small chance that any traffic issues could risk our Wicked tickets.  So my very tired sister-in-law did the bulk of the driving because I am a notorious slow driver. Everything was going great until we got to the Lincoln Tunnel.  It was CRAZY.  Bumper to bumper traffic at its finest... but we got to the hotel in time to drop our bags, change our clothes and run 12 city blocks to the Gershwin theater!  So. Worth. It.  Wicked was great.

Photo taken in lobby of Wicked (Gershwin Theatre)

Then the adventure really began.  I hoped to get into one or two more shows while we were there, but we couldn't find anything we felt was worth paying the expensive prices for- for last minute tickets.  Next time, we will need to plan ahead.  Instead, we did a ton of walking and exploring.  A bit of restaurant eating... including having "breakfast" at Cake Boss two days in a row.  Yum!

Photo taken in restaurant/ bakery, while watching the show on the big screen

We had a bit of a surprise in our hotel room which I had chosen because it was one of the few NY hotels that did not have a bed bug report... (high standards, right).  Well, there were no bugs, thankfully,  but someone had stashed a large amount of clothing, and seemingly stolen goods under the bed.  In the end, we were only charged half prices, after arguing the the idiot clerks who instead of refunding a night as their manager said, they charged me an additional night.... and acted like I was inconveniencing them!

We also went to MOMA (museum).  Thanks to my SIL who is active military, we got in free and viewed the modern art and photography exhibits.  We also kind of bumped into Chris Rock, the comedian/actor and SIL forgot she wasn't in her military gear.  She tried to get his attention and he was not feeling it.  Normally she can get ANYONE to take a photo with her, but no-go with him.  She even got two police officers to take a photo with her, and entertained us with her forceful, but fun personality the whole trip.

We crashed at my brothers house on the way back and decided to stay an extra day.  I was just too tired to do the drive home.  We got home late yesterday after visiting with my son at college a couple of hours.

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Remember when travel was fun?

I spent two hours today trying to find an inexpensive but quality hotel for Sunday night so I could take my daughter on her preview weekend and theater audition for one of her college choices.  It was exhausting.  The college is in a bit of a rural area and it was difficult to find a local hotel.  Then the ones I found had sketchy reviews, and that made me nervous.  I finally found one recommended by the college and payed a little more than I wanted in hopes that I could avoid spiders and bedbugs.

Do you remember when travel was secure?  You'd call a travel agent, or go through the phonebook and call a few hotels for quotes, then  you would book your trip on nothing more than a verbal handshake. I don't remember every having a bad experience, I think it was because the travel agent knew you were coming back to visit them if anything bad happened on your trip.

Do you remember when travel was affordable? Even 15 years ago, in the early days of internet travel websites, I could book flights to Las Vegas or LA for a decent price, and still have money left over for your rental car and hotel.  Now, I can barely afford the gas to drive two hours and have one overnight
stay... and I am better off financially now than I was then.

Do you remember when travel was carefree?  Actually, it's kind of hard to remember.  Even before 9-11, I remember my then 3 year old son being frisked and having his shoes removed.  I asked why (you could at least ask in those days), and we were told his name was picked randomly because it was unusual.  I asked if they considered his age, and they just shrugged their shoulders at me.  Meanwhile, he was trying to figure out why all these people we touching him.  To this day, he still hates for strangers to touch him.

Remember when travel was exciting? Reading the hotel reviews really filled me with dread.  One review stated that they asked to be moved 3 times, and each time found spiders in the bed.  Now this was the hotel's only really bad review, and it is really hard to believe that there were spiders in 3 beds in one hotel, but who can read that and then book a room.  True or not... that's just freaky and filled me with serious dread.  Not excited about my hotel stay at all.

As this will be the first of several college trips for us, I really need to count my change and do my homework. When we're done picking a college, we'd really like to take a Spring Break trip together.  Our plan is to go to NY and take in some Broadway shows.   I hope I can survive the planning process.