All Blogs
|
March 12 2009 Stephanie SelesnickJust returned from the Big Apple, New York where I had the pleasure of speaking to the NY IAEE Chapter. Actually started out in New Jersey to see my sister Hillary, her husband Andy and their two kids, Sam (9) and Alexa (6). Lugged my coat across the country and brought along long sleeves, sweaters and umbrella, per the weather forecast on weather.com. Oops. When we landed at Newark, it was 70 degrees F (20 C). Like I said, Oops. Coincidentally, my dad Marvin and his wife Linda were also visiting that weekend from L.A. too. Needless to say, it was a fun time except for the part that was Sunday morning waking up on a 4-HOUR time difference (the usual 3 hours PLUS Daylight Savings Time). My nap that afternoon following a fun Purim Carnival at their temple and lunch was really enjoyable! Monday morning after saying bye to the kids, took the Jersey Transit train into Penn Station with Hillary. For someone who does not commute to work and doesn't take rapid transit very often, it was quite the adventure in people watching. The guy next to us had a kindle - the e-book reader from Amazon with the ability to wirelessly get almost any book and many newspaper and other subscriptions in a matter of seconds. I asked him how he liked it and he said it was great. The only problem is that if you are flying, it's electronic and has to be shut off before take-off and landing. I'm pretty sure that you can get in trouble for using it when the doors are closed before take off, even if you are in the hour-plus-waiting-to-take-off-line-from-hell. So I would need a book and magazines anyway because I MUST have something to read on a plane (any plane) at all times. Hillary patiently walks me to my hotel (the Hotel Pennsylvania) literally across the street from Penn Station so I don't get lost. Seriously. It's a hugely funny thing (well to others, mostly) but Stephanie who jets around the planet and never gets lost anywhere is ALWAYS LOST in New York City, arguably one of the EASIEST cities to navigate ON THE WHOLE PLANET. And I get lost. LOTS. What's even funnier? My sister has a famously lousy sense of direction. And she's telling me where to go and I'm listening to her! So anyway - I say bye to Hill and am able to check into the hotel early. Yay! Spent the rest of the morning working on my speech for the next day to the New York Chapter of IAEE, the association I've mentioned many times before. My first "appointment" of the day is to meet Margaret Pederson (who I haven't seen since Nanjing, China) at the clock at Grand Central Station for lunch. This is a famous meeting spot I'm told. Grand Central Station is BIG. VERY BIG. FAMOUS too. Sure enough what happens on my way to the Station? You guessed it. I got lost. "How?" you may ask. Let me explain. I took the subway - even successfully changed trains and exited the train at the correct station - it's called Grand Central Station so that's kind of hard to mess up on, right? Not so much. Then the trouble began. No signs pointing the way to Grand Central! I exit up some stairs ending up on 42nd street in the cold drizzle (happy I brought that coat after all!) and wander about eventually asking a street vendor for directions to Grand Central. So I follow his directions and, after taking the stairs under the Hyatt Hotel, I find the not only the station, but the clock!!! YAY! Found Margaret too, although she was not exactly at the clock. We had a lovely lunch at the Oyster Bar Restaurant. The food was far superior and a lot less interesting than the last place we had lunch! What a cool restaurant. Then it was time to make my way (walking!) to Rockefeller Center for my next "appointment." Thankfully, Margaret's son Max (who had met up with us at the end of lunch) gave me terrific directions. I only made one wrong turn and had to ask a cop where to go. Then passed the entrance of the GE Building and had to double back after entering the wrong building. OOPS. Cursed I tell you! I"m Cursed! Met up with Kathleen Thomas, another biz friend who lives in the City and has interestingly never owned a car (but knows how to drive). I always find that fascinating being an LA Native, where we are our cars. Anyway we meet up to go see the taping of the Jimmy Fallon Show - VIP'd. Only reason we got the VIP is cause Hillary is the Coordinating Producer on the show (thanks again Hill!). It was fun!!! The Roots, the house band seriously ROCK. The show was really funny and thoroughly had a great time. Next we met up with a longtime friend - Julio Marquez (a friend of mine from high school in Mexico City). Question: What happens when you put two M&A people together with some wine in a financial crisis? More whine? Nope! Not these two. It was actually a blast. Kathleen took pity on me and shared a cab home - dropping me off at the entrance of the hotel. Whew! Tuesday dawned early. Duh. Dawn is early! Had a nice breakfast with Lew Hoff from Bartizan, another fellow Chinese adventurer. This morning's adventure was finding a breakfast place near the hotel! After returning to the hotel, it was time to give my seminar on Exhibitor Retention and Sales Through Excellent Customer Service to the NY Chapter of IAEE. Wasn't too worried about getting lost on the way to the event since it was being held on the 18th floor of the hotel. It was a great group and a great time. I'll be presenting a similar speech at CAEM outside of Toronto in June. The handout is up on this site - and I LOVE feedback! Following lunch, it was time to head to the airport to fly home. Special thanks to Ray Giovine who told me about taking the Long Island Rail Road to Jamaica Station then transferring to the Air Train - a direct train to JFK Airport. It cost me at total of $10.50 and took less than 45 minutes to get to my terminal!!! (Compare that to 1 or more hours and cost of about $60 by taxi.) It's so easy EVEN I didn't get lost! After a long (6.5 hours non-stop!), but uneventful flight home, there is still nothing like the view of landing at LAX on a clear night. Successfully found my way home without getting lost. Whew! Steph's Travel Blogs |
||||
|
