New York (Uncensored): Day 5

October 21, 2006

Our last day. I so wasn’t ready to go home, but I was ready for some other people to leave! We wanted to jam pack as much into our last morning as possible. T & T decided that they were going to go to Canal Street to do some shopping. I found it quite rude that they hadn’t even asked any of us if we wanted to go, including Megan who was suppose to be on this trip with Tina.

Nicki & Scott had decided that they were sleeping in, getting ready & leaving for their flights.

So that left what I like to call the Fun Posse to hang out (Melody, Vanessa, Megan & Myself). First up we wanted to do some final souvenir shopping. I wanted a “Wicked Witch” bobble head that I had saw, & something Betty Boop New York for Tannis (good story behind that). Plus if I could find a I Heart NY charm I wanted that. We set off about 8am to find that most of the stores weren’t quite open yet. We decided to grab some breakie and ended up in a sit down restaurant! Ooops. Oh well, we had a great time. Vanessa & I split a $15 bacon & eggs but it was pretty good and there was lots. Did I mention that I was feeling a bit hung over? And I really didn’t drink that much: 5 milk + coca cream liqueurs.

After breakfast we continued shopping and figured we might as well hit Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum while we were close to it. Even though it was on the bottom of my priority list it turned out to be my favorite outing! We had so little time that we decided to blast threw it as quickly as possible but still try to do everything. We did the 1 ½ hour tour in 22 minutes! Some of the wax people were so real I didn’t know who was real & who was fake until they moved. There was also a Chamber of Horrors which I did NOT participate in; I do like to sleep at night. I waited at the other end and all three girls came running out screaming! It was awesome. Plenty of photo ops.

After we headed separately back to the hotel so we could finish packing up all our purchases and check out of the hotel. Tina & Tricia were waiting for us to brag about how cool a time they had. As you can tell I was pretty darn bitchy by this point. I am thankful that they picked up a fake Coach purse & pashmina for me though. I was trying to plan the last 2 hours so that I could go photograph the Met and Mel, Nessa, Megan could go to FAO Schwartz (famous toy store w/ large floor keyboard). However T & T were insistent that they were going to go have lunch together & “relax”. Thanks for taking one for the team guys. So the Fun Posse piled into a cab and we went to the Met. Got some shots. Hailed another cabbie. Went to FAO Swartz. Mel & Nessa tried to hit CocaCola thinking it was a store, but it wasn’t available to the public. Meg & I were going to go to William Sonoma but it was too far away to do it in time so we waited by the fountain. We met up again then headed back to the hotel with not a minute to spare.

Limo picked us up & we got to the airport at a decent time (the six group sans Nicki & Scott). We all managed to get our luggage in underweight after some rearranging. At the carry-on security part my snow globe was picked up in the machine. Right now security doesn’t allow any liquids in your carry-on unless it fits into the one-liter ziplock bag, even my snow globe (cuz yes I manufactured a “made in china” snow globe in four days in New York). Security was really nice though & luckily it fit in my ziplock so I was good to go.

We decided to eat some lunch as it was about 3:30pm New York time. The Chili’s waitress was really nice. Then we stopped in on a few shops, sporadically getting back to the departure gate. If we were smarter we would have realized that 4:29pm departure time means we leave the runway at that time. So we were the last ones to board the plane. Megan was ahead of me & one lady was giving her a hard time because she had a backpack as well as a shopping bag. However Melody had the same amount and type of carry on & they waved her through. The lady wasn’t being helpful in telling us what to do so we got a little stressed! Finally she left & another lady just hushed us and told us to get to the plane. In the panic Megan forgot her passport & boarding passes on the desk. The lady run to the plane with the passport but didn’t have the passes. Said we could re-print them at our next stop, Detroit.

Flight to Detroit was pretty boring. This gentlemen Raj sat in our row (Window, Crystal, Tricia, Raj, Aisle) and Tricia flirted with him the entire flight. He even asked for her email by the end of it (mine too but I think just as a cover up). We had to bolt to the next gate once we touched down in Detroit, even taking a airport shuttle thing.

No problems boarding in Detroit. Vanessa ended up trading seats with a lady so a couple could sit together, putting Vanessa in the same row as Tricia & I. Again, uneventful flight. Just really ready to get home now.

Few hours layover in Minneapolis. It was about 9pm there so stuff was all closing down. I decided I really like the “Butterfinger Crisp” American chocolate bar but was unable to find one. I was even willing to take a loss on an empty space in a vending machine but the machine was too smart & wouldn’t let me.

Landed in Edmonton about 11:00pm Saturday night local time. Went through customs and discovered that if you are out of the country between 48 hours & 7 days you only get $200 exemption. No it’s not prorated. L I was none to happy about that cuz Tina, who I’m sure spent loads (so much that she had to buy an extra piece of luggage) wrote she only spent $300 & didn’t have to pay. It was only about $11 but it was the principle that made me mad. Also the customs guy was super pissy and I didn’t appreciate that welcome back to Canada. Tina made a comment to me about sucking it up and I started to cry (cuz I was super sleep deprived, exhausted from the flight & hey it’s easy for her to say when she doesn’t have to pay anything). I hate crying in front of people, especially when you don’t want them to think they can effect you like that.

Everyone but Megan & I was finished and waiting on the exit side of the door. Megan went through & they asked her to go to another room. I was going to wait for her but they shooed me through. We ended up waiting for over an hour. She got bag searched (poor girl). And it turns out she completely forgot about a bunch of things she bought (make-up & credit cards can have that effect). I didn’t get the whole story but it sounds like she made it out okay. She’s a trooper. Think about it: if Tina can make me cry what about some customs guys? Scary.

So then Tina, Megan, Tricia headed back to Red Deer (Tina’s husband came to pick them up). Vanessa, Mel & I headed to Tyler’s mom’s to pick up Mel’s car. The house looked like they were all in bed. Vanessa & Mel headed back to Grimshaw and I went into the house. Turns out Mary, Robert, Cassie (Robert’s daughter) & Tyler were in the hot tub…so I told them some stories, showed them some souvenirs, ate some Chinese food & headed to bed. It was roughly 3am at this point.
That about sums up my trip. I had a mostly good time but some negativity as well. Learned lots about some people and traveling. Can’t wait to go on a trip again (however I am some kind of poor)!