rachael goes to new york.

Dear Jessica,

Greetings from the atmosphere!!! I’m currently in the air (how cool is it that flying exists?!!) and thought I would begin the story.  I was going to write you when I got back from the NJ/NY trip, but I realized that when you travel across the country there are two major components- the getting to & from and then being at the destination.  And when you’re just going for the weekend, most of your time is spent doing the former.

I feel like the getting to & from part is typically underrated, probably mostly because it is generally a pain in the ass and not much fun to talk about, but I swear, airports are one of my favorite people watching venues of all time.  I’m also amazed at the amount of effort it takes to move your body and some clothes to different locations.  Between getting to the airport, sitting around the airport, weird pressure changes in the air, sitting around the airport some more, making bad snack choices, weirder changes in the time, then figuring out where the heck you even are when it’s over, I’m surprised so many people do this whole flying business.

Of course I didn’t pack last night.  I sat around with Kevin and his friend Jenny drinking beers and then sneaking off to my room & passing out in my jeans at like 10 pm when they went out for a smoke.  Luckily, my flight wasn’t until 1 pm, so I was reasonably coherent when I packed (hopefully, to be confirmed when I try to get dressed tomorrow).  I would like to be a more efficient traveler/packer, but I’m never really happy with my bag options and never seem to have the tiny toiletries, even though I feel like I’m constantly purchasing new versions of these for EVERY flight.  Also, it’s very hard to pack multiple pairs of boots if you’re not checking a bag.

Since I graduated from college, I have moved on from the standard juicy sweatsuit and Uggs flying ensemble (may or may not be true, I do have a tendency to lie to myself about these sorts of things…)(don’t worry, I still own all of said sweatsuits, I just don’t really wear the hoodie and pants together…unless I’m feeling really silly, and then obviously it’s the paisley one).  I was in the Mac store on Stockton yesterday trying to see what to do about the tragedy that is my cracked iPhone screen (did you know you have to get an appointment like days in advance?!?), and I got a little jealous when I saw a blonde girl with a ponytail in a navy velour sweatsuit with tan Uggs.  If it had been a side ponytail and 2006, that would have been me and I would have been righteously indigent that she (and half the country) was copying my horrible fashion sense.

I digress.  Since I began my airport adventure at 11 am (it’s now 5:42, but I’m not entirely sure what time zone I’m in right now), it’s been a day full of highs and lows:

• long term parking full=sweet vouchered parking right next to my terminal.
• guy behind me in the security line points out that my new sweater/sweatshirt thingy still has the security tag on the back. AWKWARD. Trying to keep it covered with my hair…
• guy is on my flight and is pretty nice and non-creepy. Engage in somewhat entertaining banter, except he doesn’t like San Francisco.  He’s from SLC and thinks Utah is cooler.  So confused…?
• Peanuts and cranberry apple juice “cocktail”.
• Beer and pizza on my layover in SLC.  Lady sitting across from me is hilarious.  Straight up 80’s shoulder padded business suit and curled bangs extending approximately 3” from her forehead.  She is pounding beers while having very intense work phone calls.  I sort of want to be her friend/help with the outfit-bang situation.
• Peanuts and cranberry apple juice “cocktail” again.
• Realization that I will not be consuming anything green or considered a vegetable today.  Read Whole Living magazine to make myself feel better.

I’ve definitely spent some time today being introspective and have developed some goals that I’m going to try to follow up on for future travelling and life in general:

1. Make sure salespeople remove stupid security tags.
2. Get bags that are easy to transport stuff in & I like (this is going to be difficult because I feel like this has been a goal for a while and even though I have MANY bags, they never seem to be the size/look/feel I want).
3. Have better snacks prepared/make better food choices when travelling so I don’t feel like crap.
4. Continue to not wear sweatsuits.  NEVER going to give up the Uggs, though.
5. Try to embrace periods (.) even though I want to end every sentence in a combination of exclamation points and question marks.  Maybe it’s time new punctuation marks be invented.  The amount of exclamation points and emoticons in my test messages is embarrassing…
6. PACK IN ADVANCE.

Yes, I wrote you an entire post on my trip on just getting to New Jersey.  I’m sure you loved every second of it.  I can only hope that going to New York for the first time will be at least as exciting as today, if not more.  Who even knows what can happen on the rest of the flight, renting a car at midnight, and attempting to drive to a lovely Hilton in East Brunswick, NJ for my work conference tomorrow? Shit could get crazy, but don’t worry, I’ll tell you about it soon!

Also, I wish magazines were not so darn expensive.

XOXO rachael