VISITING MARCI IN MASS.

SUNDAY – May 15, 2011

Left Seattle 8:20 a.m. Direct flight to JFK in New York City (5 hours). Mom had to cancel due to illness, so my trip will be alone. I had a middle seat towards the back of the plane. (I was supposed to have a window seat, but somehow ended up in the middle.) By each side was a nice and quiet male that was not too large, so the space seemed comfortable. I rested and then worked about 4 hours on an Adoption study.

Arrive at JFK around 5 p.m. and waited for over an hour for a bus that was supposed to arrive every 30 minutes to take me to Grand Central Station ( 45 minutes ride). On the bus I visited a little with a young man that was born in Bulgaria, living in USA going to college and coming to NY for an internship. When we arrived at GC, we walked 2 blocks together and figured out how to get our subway ticket for different locations. I was waiting in line for mine when the young man came up, looking distressed, and said he had misplaced his small black bag with all his important papers. I was able to reach Marci by phone and get a phone number for the bus station. He had to leave quickly and left distressed, hoping he would be able to get his bag another day. Too bad I didn’t know his name or ever know the end of the “story”.

After getting my ticket, I purchased a “not so good” sandwich and watched the people at GC. Interesting. Then I found my way to the subway I would be taking and check with the ticket checker to make sure I was in the correct place-----didn’t want to arrive in the wrong location. I found my seat and a seat for my large suitcase and made myself comfy for the ride. As I ate my sandwich, sauce squirted all over my shirt. I rode for several hours, transferred to another subway and eventually arrived in Wassaic and was immediately greeted by a happy Marci who was excited to see me. It was now around 11 p.m., Mass time and 8 p.m. WA time. Long day of traveling, but I survived and ended up where I wanted to be. The drive to Monterey (Marci's current "home") was about an hour.