Its hard to believe that this time last week I was sitting on the Amtrak train on my way to NYC.
This time was different for me and I’m not quite sure why. Perhaps all the planning I did put a bit of a damper on the festivities. The last time I went to NYC and BEA was in 2010 and I was packed and ready almost a week before I was leaving. This time the only thing I had prepared and ready to go was my planner everything else (clothes, make up bag, camera etc) was literally packed the morning I was leaving. No word of a lie.
Thankfully we managed to get out the door on time and as soon as we got to the train station I grabbed a red cap and he took my bags for me as this is one less thing to lug down the stairs. Even though I had one suitcase it was kind of heavy because I put a smaller one inside the bigger one.
I found out the night before that Natalia from Dazzling Reads had decided to attend and was super excited when I found out that she was going to be on the same train as me. I found her when I got to the train station.
I am always amazed at how nice people can be (when you pay them of course) and the guy who brought my luggage down was no exception he got us pre-boarding so that meant we didn’t have to wait in line. Natalia and I decided to sit together on this trip and as the train was boarding I quickly commented on how nice it was that we got pre-boarding because the train was getting full.
It was nice to have a familiar face to talk to on the way to NYC and it made the trip that much more bearable and easier. I found the time flew by rather quickly.
Thankfully we arrived in NYC on time which was shocking because they always seem to be a little late due to the border (customs). I was happy to see a familiar face at Penn Station when I got in because Tina from Bookshipper had decided to meet me there. We spoke for a bit before leaving.
I then decided to hop in a cab to my hotel to meet up with my roomies for the week, Kate from Midnight Book Girl , Kim from On the Wings of Books and Kellie from Rea Write . I was super excited to finally meet them in person. Sadly I found out that Kellie was going to come in later the next day.
We stayed at the Hampton Inns Manhattan/Time’s Square South. I will have separate post about that later this week.
So all in all day one wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.
Stayed tune because more to come this week.
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I’m glad you had someone to travel with!
Glad to hear that your trip started smoothly! And it’s always nice to travel with friends, as that makes the time go by quicker. Looking forward to the rest of your posts!
Cindy,, I felt the same this time. I had a crazy few weeks before I left and next felt entirely prepared.
Hmm, you failed to mention how your rude American roommates made you walk to Pinkberry to meet them… 😉