New York Trip Post: Heading Home and Recap

Phew! What a busy week! We are ready to go home. If you haven't read my other posts please do. Just head to the home page or search New York Trip Post to find them. 

We woke up, walked around the corner for breakfast, and then the girls wanted to do some last minute shopping in Times Square. By this time, I had walked so far behind them at times (because of my feet) that I was like "go ahead, you guys can navigate this place just fine." I headed back to the hotel to put my feet up and chill for awhile until they got back. 

I was excited that I could put my birkenstocks on with really no pain this morning and thought these would be the easiest to wear on the plane since I knew I'd have to take my shoes off at least twice at airports, and trying to get athletic shoes off with blisters, bandaids and swollen feet would not be fun. I also decided to wear my Americana leggings from Lularoe no matter how hot it was outside. 

The next thing I was trying to determine was, do we take a cab to the train station or an Uber to the airport. I was opting for Uber, not realizing that during certain times the fares go up. When I looked about 15 minutes before we were going to leave it had doubled. We were like, no thanks, we'll walk to the bus station. Our passes were still good so we figured, why not. We had carryon luggage so it wasn't too much. So, we loaded all our luggage and trekked up several blocks (did I mention that NYC blocks are a lot longer than average) to the station. I'm glad we gave ourselves plenty of time to get where we needed to go. We arrived at the Newark airport about 2 hours before our flight, but that was okay. We chilled, ate some salads, read magazines (well, I read magazines) until it was time to leave. 

We had one stop in Chicago and by the time we landed, we had just enough time to get to our gate with about 15 minutes before we had to board.  My feet were swollen so I needed to loosen my Birks and I developed cankles. Ugghh.. Glad I didn't wear the athletic shoes. I enjoy traveling, I hate flying. We did see a lightning storm while in the air which was kind of neat and as we landed in Portland we could see fireworks (it was the 4th of July when we flew home). We got home around 11:00 and went right to sleep. 

It took about 2 weeks for my blistered feet to totally heal. Holy cow! I learned that lesson big time. Make sure your shoes are well broken in! 

Would I go to NY again? Yes! Are there things I might do differently? Yes but not as much as I thought I would. We really were well prepared. 

I might:

1. Stay in an Airbnb next time just to have a bit more space.

2. Wear shoes that were more broken in.

3. Save a little more for food or else plan that a little bit better so we aren't spending so much each time.

4. Plan our locations a bit better, and how to see more in the time we have.

5. Go either in late spring or early fall. It was really hot!

That's about all I can think of right now. It really was a great experience and one I'd totally do again, though it would be fun to take our other daughter and her husband as well. 




With Joy Unquenchable,