EXILED FROM CHINATOWN: the girls take on the big apple! THE END!!! p.25

[punkin413]

hi, all! if you're here, it's probably because you are reading one of the two TRs i have in progress right now, both of which are listed below in my signature. if that's not the reason, then i'm sure you just clicked on this link by chance and you should definitely stick around - it's gonna be fun! if neither of the above apply to you, you're probably either brooke or anna and are checking in here to see how the trip report is coming and who SHOULD get a disboards account but who, for whatever reason, don't.

anyway, i digress (is that redundant?). this is the story of how myself, my sister and my best friend went to NYC and what happened while we were there. this is the intro post, the post where i tell you who went, where we went, when we went, that sort of boring stuff. oh, and also where the index will be located with handy-dandy links to each update.

i will probably be back to start the actual story tonight. thanks for reading!


INDEX

friday, may 22nd
~flight, arrival in NY and lunch: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32032899&postcount=20
~times square and Toys R Us: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32072809&postcount=61
~first subway experience & dinner at mesa grill: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32126392&postcount=92

saturday, may 23rd
~morning stroll down 5th avenue (including st. patrick's cathedral & world of disney): http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32208070&postcount=128
~apple store, FAO schwartz & lunch at ellen's stardust diner: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32261817&postcount=157
~WICKED! http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32289749&postcount=174
~dinner at sardi's & cheesecake at junior's: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32400209&postcount=204

sunday, may 24th
~double decker uptown bus tour & the MET: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32418304&postcount=216
~central park: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32460164&postcount=234
~top of the rock & dinner at blue fin: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32524253&postcount=254

monday, may 25th - memorial day
~double decker downtown bus tour: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32544643&postcount=270
~world trade center site and st. paul's chapel: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32559789&postcount=278
~wall street, battery park/statue of liberty and lunch: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32592801&postcount=297
~brooklyn bridge, chinatown & little italy: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32667708&postcount=316
~twilight cruise around manhattan: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32713814&postcount=337
~dinner at an awesome italian restaurant, souvenir shopping and our flight home: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32855231&postcount=366



on to the cast!

first, there's my little sister, brooke. actually she's not little in that she's a good 6 inches taller than me. but she's 7 years younger so that counts as my little sister. she's the reason for this trip really. you see, she moved from nashville (where we grew up) to connecticut last summer and wanted me to visit her there. ray (my hubby) wants to take a full-fledged vacation to do this as he wants to drive up the east coast. we can't afford to do that this year plus we really don't need to take the time off. so i come up with the idea of having a girls weekend in NYC instead and brooke agrees that that's the next best thing. so the rest is history (and soon to be told to you in TR form). brooke is 25 years old and works at some place in connecticut that has something to do with DNA studies. she has a degree in biochemistry and molecular biology so she's tried to explain it before but she got the science gene in the family and therefore it all sounds like gibberish to me!

i'm going to use disney-related pictures to introduce the cast as this IS the disboards, even if this little TR of mine is not disney-related (hence that's why it's here on the community board instead of the trip report board).

here's brooke......

the next member of our cast is anna, my best friend here in georgia. anna has actually been wanting to take a trip to NYC with me for awhile. she's been several times and knew i would love it. so when i mentioned this, she was ALL for it! anna is a fitness trainer, mom and wife superwoman and will turn 29 this saturday! this picture was taken during our december 2008 trip. that's anna closest to the camera - not the girl in the background with the scarf!

then there's me. i'm dawn. i'm a 32-year-old court reporter and self-admitted total disney dork. ray, my hubby (who did not go to NYC) also loves disney but doesn't like to admit it. then he gets there and he's the first in line to buy new mickey ears. i love to plan disney trips and i've actually just become affiliated with a disney travel company that i will not mention here as not to get reprimanded (if you want to know more just PM me). we are taking a disney break until december 2010. this NYC trip was a good distraction to tide me over for a few months. we are thinking of starting a family soon so that will help with this long break, too!

here's me......

our dates were this past memorial day weekend - we left on friday, may 22nd and came home on tuesday, may 26th. we stayed at a hotel called the paramount on 46th street about a block from times square.

day one is comin up soon! lots of pics and details and crazy stories to come!!!!!

 

[LMO429]

Hey Dawn

I'm here! looking forward to the report!

 

[MeMom]

Signing on for the fun!

I think Jill is on right now, too, so she should show up any minute.

Jill? Where are you???

 

[hlrababy]

Hey Dawn!!!!! I am here!!!!!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Hi I'm here! And anxious to hear crazy stories! Congratulations on becoming affiliated w/ a Disney travel company. I'm going to PM you for more - I think that sounds great!

 

[coinkc]

I can't wait to read more! We are heading to NYC next week for the first time and staying at the Paramount!!!

 

[teruterubouzu]

A girl's trip in NY would be such fun. Can't wait to read more!

 

[shannon47142]

excited to read all about your trip!

 

[Charleston Princess]

I'm here to read all about your trip!

 

[Spartangirl]

Hey Dawn! I'm here! Can't wait to hear about your crazy adventures in NYC!

 

[CanadianWDWfan]

Hi, glad to be here too! Looking forward to every detail.

 

[Kaytee1210]

Hey Dawn! I love all your threads! You are so funny! I can't wait to read all about New York. I work at Target,(your favorite store) and yesterday in the dollar section,I saw all this tinkerbell stuf and thought of you! Have a blessed night!

 

[IluvXU]

Joining in of course. Can't wait to read all about it!

 

[VandyFan10]

I'm HERE!!!

I can't wait to hear more about it!! I was going through your pictures as I type and remembered I needed to come and see if you had started this.

Hopefully I at least made the first page

either brooke or anna and are checking in here to see how the trip report is coming and who SHOULD get a disboards account but who, for whatever reason, don't.

YEA GIRLS!!!!!! COME ON!!!!
Get a name and JOIN IN THE FUN!!!!

i love to plan disney trips

Woooooooo Hoooooooooo
Promoting yourself ...You SHOULD!!
I never asked but I assume I was your first How many do you have going so far??
We are getting down to 6 months!!!!

 

[xoktenox]

Hey Dawn, I'm here too of course! Can not waitttt to hear about all your fun in NYC. I have to admit...i did cheat a little and look on facebook at some pictures!

 

[jessily]

Love your trip reports! Can't wait to hear about this trip!

I LOVED Wicked. Wasn't it awesome?

 

[rentayenta]

I'm in!

 

[jordanyosh]

I'm looking forward to your TR....

 

[Happy Elf]

I'm in! Can't wait to hear about NYC!!!

 

[punkin413]

we start out this adventure on friday morning when my alarm went off WAY too early at 5:00 a.m. our flight was leaving atlanta 8:54 a.m. and it takes us an hour to get to the airport, so we were planning on leaving by 6:00. i kissed ray and my furbabies goodbye and was at anna's house by 5:45. we loaded up the car and were on our way!

i had done online check-in the day before so all we had to do was check our bags.....which cost $55......what a ripoff! we checked 3 bags and it was $20 for each first bag and $15 for each additional. i hate that.

anyway, once we got in the airport, anna realized she had forgotten her ipod and ran back to the car to get it. we were good on time so no big deal. we went through security pretty quickly. this was the first time i'd flown since 9/11 and so this was my first experience with the new rules. we had to take off shoes and our jackets, take my laptop out of the case and put everything in bins to go through the x-ray machines, then walk through the metal detectors and then get it all back in order. luckily they had a place to sort of re-dress after security in atlanta. i felt like i had to get naked just to fly on an airplane!

anna and i realized our gate was the VERY last one in the VERY large hartsfield-jackson airport but we decided to walk instead of take the train because we had plenty of time. we didn't know that apparently the air conditioning is broken in that area because it was HOT! we ended up taking the train the second half of that walk!

when we finally got to our gate we grabbed some burger king breakfast and a magazine and not long after that they were boarding our plane. i am a VERY nervous flyer and my family doctor had given me a prescription for xanax for the flight. i had taken 1 about an hour before our scheduled departure and i took another one about 15 minutes before we boarded the plane. it didn't make me loopy - just took the edge off. i felt like i'd had a couple of cocktails or something and i was kinda drowsy but that was it.

entertaining myself on the plane with the really cool catalog they keep in the back of the seats........

anna told me to act scared.....

anna on the plane waiting for takeoff....

this is what it looked like out my window in atlanta....

we finally took off and i soon fell asleep. i think a combination of my early morning and the xanax made me relax enough to doze off. i think i slept about 30 minutes. otherwise i just listened to my ipod and looked at magazines. i saw this at exactly 11:02 a.m.

i'd never seen it with my own eyes but that looks like manhattan to me! yay.....we were there!!!!!!!!!

i said a little prayer as we landed at laguardia airport and then we saw this as we got off the plan and headed towards baggage claim.

i texted everyone to let them know i was safe on the ground and then brooke called me and said that she and jon (her boyfriend) were there and would meet us at baggage claim.

waiting for our bags.....

continued in next post: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32032913&postcount=21